Films About War: Support or Avoid?
We almost went to see Stop-Loss this weekend, but didn't. We also intended to see the following films in the theater, but will rent them instead:
- Grace is Gone
- In the Valley of Elah
- The Kingdom
- Lions for Lambs
- Rendition
We did go see Charlie Wilson's War, but that was much lighter fare than those above; more of a farce and character-heavy piece, and not a very successful one at that.
When I was younger, my vision of war was formed by films like M*A*S*H and Rambo. And in college, I had to compare Apocalypse Now to Joseph Conrad's The Heart of Darkness. Now THAT was quite an assignment...I think I got an A-.
I don't really have a favorite war movie, but I suppose a contemporary choice would be Three Kings. I would count both of Spielberg's toward the top (Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan), as well as The Bridge on the River Kwai. My choices from the 80's include Born on the 4th of July, Casualties of War and Platoon. On a somewhat cinematically cheesy level, I have to admit that I also loved both The Last of the Mohicans and Dances with Wolves. But my true guilty pleasure for this genre is G.I. Jane; don't judge me...you can't flip past the one-armed push-up scene either. I'll take bald badass Demi over psychotic break bald Britney any day.
I digress. And we're back.
There have been very few films about war which I really disliked; Life is Beautiful and Cold Mountain are two of them.
Do you tend to support/attend movies about war? Which are your favorites?
One of the reasons these Iraq flicks aren't performing well is that it's just too soon for them. It's bad enough to see the War on the TV news for free, so people aren't interested in paying to see the War in theaters.
All of those war movies like "Platoon", "Apocalypse Now", & "Saving Private Ryan" are great history lessons about those wars. Also, those movies aren't pushing agendas like these Iraq War movies are. Sure, I want to be challenged when I watch a movie like this but I don't want to be preached to.
Don't feel guilty for digging "Last Of The Mohicans", it is complete & total greatness!
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The Deer Hunter
The Killing Fields
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OK, maybe I am just one guy who is politically right of center who reads your blog -- perhaps the ONLY person right of center -- but I think the continued barrage of dead-on-arrival movies about the current conflict in the Middle East has more to do with the over-the-top, anti-American celluloid vitriol that we continue to get from our "cultural superiors" who live in Studio City and environs.
Take a gander at the recent results (as of March 29, 2008, per americanthinker.com) -- Valley of Elah, $6.8 mil box office (b.o.); Redacted, $0.6 mil b.o.; Lions for Lambs (with Redford, Cruise and Streep), $15 mil b.o.).
And there are many, many others -- none who have earned anything notable at the box office. And ALL of which have lost money...that's right, LOST money. (Funny, I thought it was Show BUSINESS.)
Bottom line -- defeatism...does not sell; more importantly, wishing that your country loses a war...does not sell.
Some, like another commenter, will say that "we need time and space to get creative distance to current conflicts." Puh-Shaw, is the correct response to that...
Why did they not need more time and space during World War II to make creative films about that war? Say something as haphazardly thrown-together as 'Casablanca?' (I mean, who remembers that?! It was what...Best Picture of 1943; and One of the Best Pictures of All Time, per AFI...and that came out within, what, a year after Pearl Harbor?)
At least, in that film, the Germans were the obvious villains.
But now -- and since the 60's, the Left is not sure who is "the Villain". Sadly, many of them think WE are.
And so, the Left -- which now means most of Hollywood -- is willing to lose a war (or two) to show that they are a citizen of the world. Worse, they are willing to propagandize against their own country.
Speaking on behalf of myself and most of the Red States -- spare me your high-brow elitism. Or, put simply, "shut up and sing. (courtesy, L.I.)
(and if you doubt me -- talk to me about recent box office numbers...not $$, thanks to higher ticket prices, but actual attendance...or just as easy, tell me about viewership of the Oscar telecast...the Left is in danger of preaching to an echo chamber.)
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