War and Anti-War Films
"War and Anti-War Films" often acknowledge the horror and heartbreak of war, letting the actual combat fighting or conflict (against nations or humankind) provide the primary plot or background for the action of the film. Typical elements in the action-oriented war plots include POW camp experiences and escapes, submarine warfare, espionage, personal heroism, "war is hell" brutalities, air dogfights, tough trench/infantry experiences, or male-bonding buddy adventures during wartime. Themes explored in war films include combat, survivor and escape stories, tales of gallant sacrifice and struggle, studies of the futility and inhumanity of battle, the effects of war on society, and intelligent and profound explorations of the moral and human issues.
Listed below are all the very best of this genre. Scroll yer heart out....
Gold Cinema Collection: Carve Her Name With Pride / Cottage to Let / Sea of Sand (1958)
Director: Anthony Asquith, Guy Green, Lewis Gilbert
Starring: Virginia McKenna, Paul Scofield, Jack Warner, Leslie Banks, Alastair Sim, John M...
'Carve Her Name With Pride' (1958) Violette Bushell is a young woman living in London in World War 2. She meets a young French soldier whom she falls... Read more
Good (2008)
6.2/10
Director: Vicente Amorim
Starring: Viggo Mortensen, Jason Isaacs, Jodie Whittaker, Steven Mackintosh, Mark Strong,...
Viggo Mortensen is the bespectacled Professor Halder, living in 1930s Germany with a neurotic wife, two demanding children and a mother suffering from... Read more
Good Kill (2014)
6.4/10
Director: Andrew Niccol
Starring: Ethan Hawke, Bruce Greenwood, Zoe Kravitz, Jake Abel, January Jones
A Las Vegas-based fighter pilot turned drone pilot fights the Taliban by remote control for 12 hours a day, then goes home to the suburbs and feuds wi... Read more
Grace is Gone (2007)
6.8/10
Director: James C Strouse
Starring: John Cusack, Alessandro Nivola, Gracie Bednarczyk, Shelan O'Keefe
John Cusack stars in this poignant drama as a father who must tell his two young daughters that their career military mother has been killed in combat... Read more
Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
8.5/10
Director: Isao Takahata
In the aftermath of a World War II bombing, two orphaned children struggle to survive in the Japanese countryside. To Seita and his four-year-old sist... Read more
Green Zone (2010)
6.8/10
Director: Paul Greengrass
Starring: Brendan Gleeson, Greg Kinnear, Jason Isaacs, Matt Damon, Khalid Abdalla, Amy Rya...
Matt Damon reteamed with "The Bourne Ultimatum" director Paul Greengrass for this action-packed thriller set against the backdrop of the United States... Read more
Green Zone ( Blu-ray ) (2010)
6.8/10
Director: Paul Greengrass
Starring: Brendan Gleeson, Greg Kinnear, Jason Isaacs, Matt Damon, Khalid Abdalla, Amy Rya...
Matt Damon reteamed with "The Bourne Ultimatum" director Paul Greengrass for this action-packed thriller set against the backdrop of the United States... Read more
Guns at Batasi (1964)
7.1/10
Director: John Guillermin
Starring: Flora Robson, Jack Hawkins, Mia Farrow, Richard Attenborough, John Leyton
Richard Attenborough won a BAFTA for his portrayal of Regimental Sergeant-Major Lauderdale, a martinet of the worst type, stuck out in a remote coloni... Read more
Guy X (2005)
5.1/10
Director: Saul Metzstein
Starring: Jason Biggs, Natascha McElhone, Jeremy Northam, Hilmir Snaer Gudnason, Michael I...
It's 1979. Jason Biggs is Corporal Rudy Spruance who joined the army to avoid jail-time and now finds himself on the receiving end of a small but sign... Read more
Hacksaw Ridge (2016)
8.2/10
Director: Mel Gibson
Starring: Hugo Weaving, Rachel Griffiths, Vince Vaughn, Sam Worthington, Teresa Palmer, An...
Directed by Mel Gibson and with 9 AACTA award wins and 3 Golden Globe nominations, this Australian production is an extraordinary true story. Desmond... Read more