War films with a difference. (10 titles)
Few of these films would probably appear on a list of classic war films. Some aren't exactly 'war films' at all. But they all come at this same subject from unusual angles and show this genre is hell of a lot more than just Saving Private Ryan, Platoon and Black Hawk Down e.t.c....
90% from 2 members
The Wind That Shakes The Barley
No dazzling armoured blitzkriegs or aerial assaults here. This is war first as bitter, dirty, grinding insurgency then as intimate civil strife, tearing apart families and people who were once friends.
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The Wind That Shakes The Barley
on DVD
(2006)
Starring: Cillian Murphy, Padraic Delaney, Liam Cunningham
Director: Ken Loach
Certificate:
A gripping drama from Ken Loach, The Wind That Shakes The Barley is the story of the Irish Civil War in the 1920's - a fight for freedom which saw the Irish Republican Army up against the occupying British forces. Workers from field and country unite to form volunteer guerrilla armies to face ..read more »
68%
from 24,188 members
Jarhead
You won't find any valiant, last ditch stands against the enemy in this. That's because the enemy is so pathetic and hopelessly outmatched there is hardly any real fighting.
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Jarhead
on DVD
(2005)
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Jamie Foxx, Peter Sarsgaard
Director: Sam Mendes
Certificate:
Based on former Marine Anthony Swofford's best-selling 2003 book about his pre-Desert Storm experiences in Saudi Arabia and about his experiences fighting in Kuwait.
62%
from 55,870 members
The Beast
More conventional war film territory here, surely? But wait....it's about Russians! In Afghanistan! And the Russians are speaking American-accented English. And there's an Afghan Muslim fighting on their side. And a bunch of other Afghan Muslims fighting against them who are the good guys.....or are they? Definitely different, so definitely cool....
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The Beast
on DVD
(1988)
Starring: George Dzundza, Jason Patric, Steven Bauer
Director: Kevin Reynolds
Certificate:
The Soviet Union is engaged in a battle with the Mujahedeen guerrillas in Afghanistan, 1981. A crew from a Russian T-62 tank becomes separated from their patrol and what ensues is a cat and mouse battle to the death...
62%
from 1,591 member
Lord Of War
War from the perspective of the guy who supplies the hardware. He doesn't give a damn who wins so long as the orders for the Uzis, RPGs and mortars keep coming.
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Lord Of War
on DVD
(2005)
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Ethan Hawke, Jared Leto
Director: Andrew Niccol
Certificate:
Based on actual events, this black comedy-drama stars Nicholas Cage as international arms smuggler Uri Orlov. The story follows Uri from his humble beginnings as a Soviet immigrant in 1970s Brooklyn and peaks with his involvement in selling off the stockpiled arsenal of post-Cold War Ukraine to ..read more »
65%
from 57,919 members
Buffalo Soldiers
What do soldiers do when they don't have a war to fight? Nothing very heroic according to this....
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Buffalo Soldiers
on DVD
(2001)
Starring: Scott Glenn, Ed Harris, Elizabeth McGovern
Director: Gregor Jordan
Certificate:
Joaquin Phoenix stars in this dark service comedy as Ray Elwood, an Army clerk stationed in West Germany just before the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Part of a company made up almost entirely of ex-convicts and school dropouts, Elwood takes advantage of his daft commanding officer, Col. Berman (..read more »
62%
from 14,689 members
Three Kings
What a trip this film is. It is war as farce, opportunism, comedy, political comment and a bit of good old-fashioned Hollywood schmaltz thrown in at the end. Watch out for the bit where we hear the dead American redneck soldier is going to have his body buried in a Shia Muslim shrine. And the bit where a nervous Iraqi soldier tries to sell a stolen Kuwaiti sound system to another American soldier. And the bit where.......oh just watch the whole damn film!
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Three Kings
on DVD
(1999)
Starring: George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Ice Cube
Director: David O. Russell
Certificate:
David O. Russell makes his entry into the major studio big leagues with this electric war dramedy. The charged script, based on a fictional story by John Ridley, is a sly reworking of KELLY'S HEROES that concerns four Gulf War soldiers who discover a map that potentially leads to an enormous stash ..read more »
64%
from 11,542 members
No Man's Land
Bosnia. Some time in the 1990s. Three soldiers - two from one side of the conflict, the third from the other side - are stuck in a trench in no man's land. One of the pair of soldiers on the same side is injured and lying on a landmine that will explode if he tries to move off it. A great setup for a great film.
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No Man's Land
on DVD
(2001)
Starring: Branko Djuric, Simon Callow, Rene Bitorajac
Director: Danis Tanovic
Certificate:
Dani Tanovic's debut film, about the futility of the Bosnian War, stars Branko Duric as Ciki, a Bosnian soldier with really bad luck. When he and a few other relief soldiers try to join their Bosnian comrades on the front, they get lost in fog, fall asleep, and are awakened at dawn by Serbian ..read more »
69%
from 2,511 members
The Quiet American
The French are fighting Communist-nationalist insurgents in Indochina and having a pretty rough time. A jaded middle aged English journalist looks on with a 'seen it all before' expression, though he is helped by the fact that he has a FIT Vietnamese girlfriend (always a good thing). Then an American bloke has a bright idea...
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The Quiet American
on DVD
(2002)
Starring: Michael Caine, Brendan Fraser, Do Thi Hai Yen
Director: Phillip Noyce
Certificate:
Set in Saigon, Vietnam, in 1952 during the French Indochina war, THE QUIET AMERICAN is based on the mystery story by Graham Greene, and directed by Phillip Noyce. A middle-aged British reporter for the London Times, Thomas Fowler (Michael Caine), has been working in Vietnam, covering politics and ..read more »
62%
from 11,015 members
Bullet In The Head
Three Hong Kong Chinese wide boys try to make a fast buck out of the Vietnam war and get more than they bargained for. Director John Woo shows you don't need smart tactics to defeat a military enemy. You just need to be able to fire accurately while leaping through the air with a pistol in each hand and being propelled by the blast of a massive explosion. Sun Tzu will be spinning in his grave.
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Bullet In The Head
on DVD
Starring: Waise Lee, Jacky Cheung, Tony Leung
Director: John Woo
Certificate:
Not for the faint-hearted, John Woo's unflinching account of individual destinies caught up and mangled by the greater madness of the Vietnam War remains his greatest cinematic achievement to date. More a three-act tragedy of epic proportions than a conventional action film, it follows the fortunes ..read more »
60%
from 2,336 members
Children Of Men
No, this isn't a war film. But the most searingly brilliant extended scene in it shows what the future of war might be like in the Western world. Ghettos full of immigrants staging bloody but doomed uprisings like the Jews in Warsaw in 1943. Scary stuff.
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Children Of Men
on DVD
(2006)
Starring: Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, Michael Caine
Director: Alfonso Cuaron
Certificate:
In 2027, in a chaotic world in which man can no longer procreate, a former activist agrees to help transport a miraculously pregnant woman to a sanctuary at sea where her child's birth may help scientists save the future of mankind.
67%
from 86,037 members
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Average rating for this collection:
90% from 2 members
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