War Movies as Art
Although I made my bones as an activist campaigning against the war in Iraq and I actively discourage young people from enlisting if they have other choices (and they always do), I am not a true pacifist. I count myself as a supporter of the people who end up in the military. I feel the moral burden they bear and the sacrifices they are called to make endue them with a gravitas most of their civilian counterparts lack. I don't think anyone has truly "fought for my freedom" since the greatest generation defeated fascism in 1945, but there have been any number of brave and selfless acts in the conflicts since then anyway.
It should be no surprise that war movies are among my favorite. Among the best are the ones that have a linear connection to artists who have actually known military life and combat. World War II gave us an entire collection of actors who served on the front lines: Lee Marvin, a Marine scout/sniper; Jimmy Stewart, a decorated bomber pilot; James Doohan, wounded on D-Day; Charles Bronson, who flew combat missions. Later conflicts gave us Michael Caine, who was surrounded by Chinese soldiers in Korea, and Oliver Stone, who served a year in the infantry in Vietnam. Rob Riggle, the comedic actor and former Daily Show correspondent, is a retired Marine who was shot at in Kosovo and deployed to Afghanistan in the early days of the war.
Even actors like Elvis Presley, Drew Carey, and Adam Driver, who are veterans but never served in combat, still have an everyman's connection to an experience only a minority of Americans have faced. I do not have any respect for the Ronald Reagans of the world who lost the ability to distinguish between their real-life military service (making movies) and the movies they played in.
Some of my favorite movies in the genre include:
- Platoon - Oliver Stone's 1986 Academy Award-winning masterpiece about good and evil in Vietnam, starring Charlie Sheen as the FNG with Tom Berenger and Willem Dafoe as the senior NCOs in a combat infantry platoon.
- Full Metal Jacket - Based on The Short-Timers by veteran correspondent Gustav Hasford, with contributions from another virtuoso writer from the Vietnam era, Michael Herr, Stanley Kubrick's film featured former Marine Drill Sergeant R. Lee Ermey in an unforgettable performance.
- Saving Private Ryan - Featuring an opening scene on Omaha Beach that was so realistic that D-Day veterans had to be warned about it, this realistic and respectful film retains its power even after multiple viewings.
- The Thin Red Line - Filmmaker Terrence Malick's 1998 film was based on the second of World War Two veteran James Jones's memoirs, the first being the classic From Here to Eternity. This film is about a real-life battle during the Guadalcanal campaign. It is an excellent study on the meaning of bravery and the reality of command.
And one I didn't like:
- We Were Soldiers starring Mel Gibson - about the Battle of the Ia Drang in Vietnam in 1965. It was done in almost a documentary fashion without taking any position on the humanity of the 1st Cav soldiers and their NVA counterparts in the battle. It was based on a truly epic book by Joe Galloway, a correspondent who was present at the battle, and Hal Moore, the commanding officer on the ground, but the film was done as an action movie, and I felt it was disrespectful and exploitative. After seeing it, I didn't watch another war movie for years.
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