Recommend/Discuss Good War Films and Series

[Wereduck]

Not many things compare to the balls-out awesomeness of Band of Brothers. However, I can give an enthusiastic +1 for Paths of Glory, Force 10 from Navarone, Lawrence of Arabia, The Longest Day, Midway, Das Boot, and Enemy at the Gates.

Referring back to the OP though; all I can say about The Thin Red Line is that it's a 3 hour long war movie and the only strong feeling I took away is that the south pacific is beautiful and I should take a vacation there someday. I encourage you to NOT see it as hard as you possibly can.

 

[redknightalex]

I'm going to throw my hat in for The Thin Red Line because I've always found it to be a much better film than the one that got all the attention in 1998, aka Saving Private Ryan. It's an excellent film that, while much of the movie is either in the midst of combat or cowering behind the lines, it focuses so much on the individual lives of the soldiers who fought in Guadalcanal that it's much more of an introspective piece than a "real" war film. I also find it hard to disagree with the music or the emotional resonance.

That being said, as Wereduck point out, it's a long movie and it's pacing can be tedious. Characters are barely given names you can reasonably follow and their stories are told almost as if they were mere afterthoughts. It's definitely a movie you need to think through, and as many reviewers will point out it's more about the philosophy of war and the men who fight (hence the title) than the actual battle specifics. It also relies heavily on acting, flashbacks, and the viewer being invested in the story. I've recently re-watched it and it's still a fantastic movie.

As for others, many good ones have been pointed out so I won't reiterate them here. However, if you need a comedy, you can't go wrong with Dr. Strangelove. It may not be a traditional war film but it does deal with the Cold War in all of its wonderful black humour. Now that is certainly a classic.

(Has anyone mentioned documentaries? The War by Ken Burns is also worth a watch. Heavily American based but tells more personal stories like all of his other works.)

 

[Lorpo]

Generation War, three part series billed as the German 'Band of Brothers'. Recently aired here on tv and was really bloody good. Follows a group of five friends, two brothers who are soldiers, a girl who becomes a semi famous singer, another girl who becomes a frontline nurse and jewish bloke. Shows WW2 from the German side, how Hitler duped to populace and how the war looked through some of their eyes.

 

[Lorpo]

Generation War, three part series billed as the German 'Band of Brothers'. Recently aired here on tv and was really bloody good. Follows a group of five friends, two brothers who are soldiers, a girl who becomes a semi famous singer, another girl who becomes a frontline nurse and jewish bloke. Shows WW2 from the German side, how Hitler duped to populace and how the war looked through some of their eyes.