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There is certainly no shortage of war movies in Hollywood. There are some pretty famous ones like Black Hawk Down (2001), Saving Private Ryan (1998), and the recently-released Netflix movie All Quiet on the Western Front (2022).
Most of these movies are either true stories mixed with the usual Hollywood dramatization or fictional stories in a real setting. However, these films all commonly feature the heroism and brutality that soldiers have to face and inflict to survive or finish their mission. While it’s important to recognize the deeds of these brave warriors, there are also many unsung heroes and victims, many of which are civilians.
‘The Imitation Game’ (2014)
The Imitation Game is a World War II drama about British mathematician and scientist Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch). Turing is known as the grandfather of modern computing, and this movie shows audiences exactly why.
Turing was assigned by the army to create a machine that would decipher the encoded messages sent by the Nazis. What resulted was a massive machine still considered by many to be the first real computer. Turing wasn’t alone, of course. In fact, he had a crew assigned to help him. Their efforts were successful and would prove instrumental to the Allied victory with their newfound ability to intercept German plans.
‘Sophie Scholl: The Final Days’ (2005)
Sophie Scholl (Julia Jentsch), along with her brother, Hans (Fabian Hinrichs), and their best friend, Robert Mohr (Alexander Held), were three German college students who lived during World War II. The three are famous for being among the few to speak out against the Nazi regime.
They started an anonymous resistance group known as the White Rose. They posted fliers and graffiti all over their university, exposing the atrocities committed by the Third Reich, including the Holocaust. They had to do this in secret, as under fascist rule, speaking out against the government was punishable by death. Though their efforts were valiant, sadly, they were caught and executed in 1943. What’s impressive about the movie is that the courtroom scene is word-for-word identical to the transcript of the White Rose’s show trial.
‘The King’s Speech’ (2010)
The King’s Speech is another true story about King George VI (Colin Firth), who ruled the United Kingdom during the World War II era. The film takes place in 1939, just before Britain officially declared war on Germany. King Geroge VI, the new ruler then, had to give a radio speech to the British public announcing the Crown’s choice to go to war. There’s just one problem: King George VI had a speech impediment.
He wound up seeing Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush), an Australian speech therapist, to help him make his address. In the end, the King delivered his address without error and was able to rally the spirits of a nation on the brink of the deadliest war in history. The movie won Best Picture at the 83rd Academy Awards, so it’s worth a watch.
‘The Day After’ (1983)
The Day After is a TV movie created near the end of the Cold War. The movie, fortunately, is entirely fictional. With the tension from the Cold War beginning to simmer down in the 1980s, fewer and fewer people were still holding their breaths, anticipating a nuclear strike from one of the world’s superpowers.
The Day After decided to stir the pot a little bit and show what would happen if a nuclear missile was launched in rural America. The movie is horribly depressing and focuses more on the individual struggles to survive in the middle of such a devastating conflict.
‘Threads’ (1984)
Threads can be seen as a British version or a riff on the themes in The Day After, but it cranks the fear factor up to eleven. It explores the same premise: the Cold War is nearing its end, but the world’s superpowers end up exchanging nuclear warheads, and a few of them fall on the city of Sheffield, England, which leaves its inhabitants struggling to survive.
Shot with a fairly low budget, this movie contains some of the most disturbing imagery ever put in a film. Not only is it sad, but it’s also genuinely terrifying in a way that no horror movie could ever hold a candle to. This film was also TV-exclusive but was only broadcast on BBC once due to an influx of callers complaining about the movie’s imagery. It’s an excellent movie, but be warned: you will never be the same after watching it.
‘Grave of the Fireflies’ (1988)
This World War II film is a beautifully-animated survivor’s tale from Studio Ghibli based on a 1967 short memoir by Akiyuki Nosaka. It occurs in 1945 when a Japanese family’s home is destroyed in an American bombing raid. The perspective follows two children: a teenager named Seita (Tsutomu Tatsumi / J. Robert Spencer) and his little sister, Setsuko (Ayano Shiraishi / Corinne Orr).
After their mother dies in the bombing, the siblings search for refuge. The movie was made in Japanese, but an English dub was released ten years later, in 1998. It’s a must-watch movie for any cinephile, but its contents are soul-rending.
‘When the Wind Blows’ (1986)
This animated feature is right up there with The Day After and Threads, following a similar premise. It’s also a fictional story about the Cold War if it had resulted in the exchange of nuclear weapons. The story concerns an elderly couple living in rural England who begin to hear talk of impending nuclear strikes on the UK.
They don’t think much of it at first and react inadequately. By the time they realize that, yes, there is a nuclear strike inbound, it is too late. They survive initially, but being so ill-prepared and in a vulnerable stage of life, they are incapable of doing much to survive. It’s a genuinely tragic movie that shows how the innocent are the primary victims of conflict.
‘Ivan’s Childhood’ (1962)
Ivan’s Childhood is a Russian historical fiction film that takes place during Operation Barbarossa, which was one of, if not the largest and bloodiest military campaign in human history. The Axis Forces carried out the large-scale invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II.
The story is about Ivan (Nikolai Burlyalyev), a 12-year-old boy who has become orphaned as a result of the invasion. Wandering across the war-torn landscape, he is seized by Soviet soldiers, who wish to take him to a refugee camp. Ivan, angered by the death of his parents, insists on spying on the Germans instead. It takes some convincing, but eventually, the Soviet army allows him to carry out his wish.
‘Zero Dark Thirty’ (2012)
Zero Dark Thirty is a war movie about the true story of Operation Neptune Spear, a mission conducted by the United States which killed one of the most dangerous terrorists in the world. The movie doesn’t focus on the Navy SEALs leading the mission until the end, though. Most of the story revolves around a CIA analyst named Maya (Jessica Chastain).
Maya, whose real-life analog is Alfreda Scheuer, was one of the key assets in locating the United States’ most wanted man in the world. Of course, she didn’t act alone, but she found that her work became an obsession. She heavily surveilled the target’s compound and conducted years of work to confirm his true identity. Ultimately, the mission was successful, marking a huge moment in American history.
‘Lincoln’ (2012)
Nearly everyone has heard of American President Abraham Lincoln (Daniel Day-Lewis), who was the US President to abolish slavery throughout the nation. His decision wasn’t appreciated by everybody: the prominent slave-holding states of America ceded from the union, formed the Confederacy, and started a civil war in America to maintain the status quo.
Of course, they were thankfully unsuccessful in doing so. Lincoln, directed by Hollywood legend Steven Spielberg, focuses heavily on the President’s life and internal struggle during the height of the American Civil War and all the difficult decisions he has to make.
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