War is hell, and it’s simply a reality of the world we live in. From the earliest days of cinema, filmmakers have explored violent conflict from all kinds of angles with different intentions. On screen, depictions of war can serve as cautionary tales, tributes to those who served, pure spectacle—or some combination of all of these.The best of these filmsremain relevant, studied, rewatched, and sometimes controversial.
Even lesser war movies can serve as a respectable entertainment, even as history lessons, but the following intends to single out and praise exceptional motion pictures that explore history and humanity to unforgettable effect. These are allamong the greatest war movies ever made, each pretty much perfect from beginning to end.
13’Zero Dark Thirty' (2012)
Directed by Kathryn Bigelow
Mired in controversy even before it was released, and artistically resplendent all-around, directorKathryn Bigelowand writerMark Boal’sfollow-up to Best Picture winnerThe Hurt Locker(also one of the greatest of all war films),Zero Dark Thirtyis a gripping, lengthy and intensely personal examination of the manhunt for Osama bin Laden. In the role that garnered her first Academy Award nod,Jessica Chastainplays CIA analyst Maya, a composite character based on multiple women who were largely responsible for tracking down the leader of Al-Qaeda.
Over two hours of absorbing procedural leads up to a breathless, muscular, intensely realistic reenactment of the successful Navy SEAL mission that took out the most wanted man in the world in May 2011. It’s important to noteZero Dark Thirtyhas always beenhighly controversial for its depiction of torture.It’s also been widely acclaimed and even favorably compared to Bigelow’s much-laudedHurt Locker; which pair to forman uncommonly psychological double bill of the war genre.
Zero Dark Thirty
A chronicle of the decade-long hunt for al-Qaeda terrorist leader Osama bin Laden after the September 2001 attacks and his death at the hands of the Navy S.E.A.L.s Team 6 in May 2011.
12’Come and See' (1985)
Directed by Elem Klimov
From its poetic early stretches to a finale that’s perhaps the most notoriously intense and disturbing in all of film,Elem Klimov’sCome and Seesees the Nazi occupation of Belarus through the eyes of teen Florya (Aleksey Kravchenko, in world film’s most effective loss-of-innocence performance). Thisdarkest of all coming-of-age moviesfollows the boy as he recesses from a naïve, wide-eyed patriot who dreams of the resistance to a shell of a young man, all within a matter of hours.
In the final scenes ofCome and See, the Nazis burn a packed, locked church to the ground. It isn’t seen so much as heard. It’s a scene that probably should be accompanied by a surgeon general’s warning. That’s not to in any way not recommend the movie; it’s a European cinema landmark that every cinephile should watch once, if only once.Sometimes it’s the movies that remind us of what evil looks like and is capable of.Come and Seebecomes the rarest of things: an exploration of the ugliest parts of humanity that is breathtakingly beautiful in its artistry.
Come And See
Come and See is a 1985 Soviet war drama directed by Elem Klimov. The film follows a young Belarusian boy named Flyora as he witnesses and experiences the horrors of World War II. Through his eyes, viewers are exposed to the brutal realities of war and its devastating impact on humanity. Renowned for its stark portrayal of violence and suffering, the film is considered a powerful anti-war statement.
11’The Best Years of Our Lives' (1946)
Directed by William Wyler
An ensemble cast includingDana Andrews,Fredric March,Myrna Loy,Teresa Wright,Virginia Mayoand perhaps most notably non-actor and real-life vetHarold Russell, former U.S. Army operativeWilliam Wyler’s critically revered box-office hit (this was the most-attended film in North America post-Gone With the Wind) explores the lives of three U.S. servicemen of varying ranks returning to their homes of varying social stature. This is an essential American drama, and one of the first movies about the social aftermath of the Second Great War.
The ironic titleThe Best Years of Our Livesis frankly about as captivating as the film itself. This is a picture that explored the intergenerational cost of war in a way that was ahead of its time; it’s still a highly potent work enlivened by terrific performances. Along with the more escapist and purely entertainingCasablanca, thisrepresents the greatest of the Greatest Generation.
The Best Years of Our Lives
Three World War II veterans, two of them traumatized or disabled, return home to the American Midwest to discover that they and their families have been irreparably changed.
10’Black Hawk Down' (2001)
Directed by Ridley Scott
Ridley Scottis a visual stylist without peer, one of the most purely talented compositors of moving images to ever live; it’s also not really a hot take to say he’s often only as good as the script he’s working with. In his follow-up to Best Picture winnerGladiator, he’s working with a propulsively dramatic and focused script byKen Nolan, about military catastrophe, namely the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu, which stranded dozens of U.S. soldiers in hostile Somali desert.
Black Hawk Downis a high-wire act that successfully balances action that’s bothfittingly harrowing and pulse-pounding, all while juggling many characters in a way that only strengthens the punch to the gut, the statement about the cost of war.Black Hawk Downwas nominated for four Oscars including Best Director, andRoger Ebertnamed it the best film of Scott’s career, ahead of classics likeBlade Runner,AlienandThelma & Louise.
Black Hawk Down
The story of 160 elite U.S. soldiers who dropped into Mogadishu in October 1993 to capture two top lieutenants of a renegade warlord, but found themselves in a desperate battle with a large force of heavily armed Somalis.
9’Platoon' (1986)
Directed by Oliver Stone
Oliver Stonehas directed numerous American movies that are varying levels of controversial, many that are great with some notable misfires. The Oscar-winning, boldly confrontational Vietnam War dramaPlatoonstands asperhaps his magnum opus. Charlie Sheenstars as an idealistic university student whose idealism and psyche take a hit upon enlisting in 1967.Tom BerengerandWillem Dafoealso star.
In addition to directing the picture, and its immersive, groundbreaking action scenes, former Vietnam infantryman Stone wrote the script, notable for its compelling characters who fundamentally spar along the lines of morality and the futility of the war. This is the first Hollywood movie about the Vietnam War written and directed by a veteran, and out of eight nominations,Platoonwon four Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. This is the first of three Vietnam War pictures from Stone, followed by similarly acclaimedBorn on the Fourth of Julyand the tepidly receivedHeaven & Earth.
Chris Taylor, a neophyte recruit in Vietnam, finds himself caught in a battle of wills between two sergeants, one good and the other evil. A shrewd examination of the brutality of war and the duality of man in conflict.
8’Hacksaw Ridge' (2016)
Directed by Mel Gibson
Bombastic, graphically violent, and sentimental in the extreme in a way that borders on schmaltz without ever crossing that line,Mel Gibson’sHacksaw Ridgetells the story of Desmond Doss (Andrew Garfield), Congressional Medal of Honor recipent who never lifted a weapon in battle. It’s a story that almost feels too sensational to be real, butthe basic facts that drive the film(Doss rescued 75 men, and ultimately became the first conscientious objector to receive the U.S. Armed Forces' highest military decoration) simply play out, if in remarkably dramatic fashion.
Garfield received his first Academy Award nod, for a nimble, something like balletic performance that’s still a career-best. Supporting turns fromVince Vaughn,Hugo Weaving,Luke Braceyand the ever-underratedTeresa Palmerare also of great value to the film. This isa picture whose resounding emotional power is hard to overstate.
Hacksaw Ridge
7’Three Kings' (1999)
Directed by David O. Russell
At this point in time,David O. Russell’s professional reputation is—well, let’s just sayit could be better.Still, it’s impossible to ignore the fact that he’s made some of the finest, critically acclaimed and audience-approved American films of the past quarter-century: fromSiliver Linings PlaybooktoAmerican HustletoThe Fighter. Some would even contend his best movie is thisdark comedy set in the aftermath of the Persian Gulf War.
George Clooney,Mark WahlbergandIce Cubestar in the genre-bending thriller with elements of classic American caper in its DNA, but with a modern and even prophetic cynicism. It’s about U.S. soldiers who attempt to steal gold from Saddam Hussein’s troves, when a kidnapping and chaos ensues. The production was infamous (succinctly, Russell was reportedly overbearing on set and even fought with Clooney), but the end result is stunning to this day. In a rave four-star review, Roger Ebert calledThree Kings"aweird masterpiece, a screw-loose war picture that sends action and humor crashing head-on into each other and spinning off into political anger."
Three Kings
Rent on Apple TV
6’Full Metal Jacket' (1987)
Directed by Stanley Kubrick
There’s a case to be made forDr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the BombbeingStanley Kubrick’s best war movie (or perhaps itsPaths of Glory), but the perfectionist auteur’s penultimate movie absolutely feels like his definitive statement in the genre. Based onGustav Hasford’s autobiographical bookThe Short-Timers(Hasford co-wrote the script along with Kubrick and Michael Herr) Vietnam war picFull Metal Jacketplays out in two distinct halves: the first playing out in a South Carolina boot camp under the tutelage of an abusive drill seargeant (R. Lee Ermey), then the screen time is dedicated to deployment and all-out warfare.
ThoughFull Metal Jacketreleased to critical acclaim and is widely regarded asa remarkably intense (if exceptionally cynical and perhaps even nihilistic) war classictoday, it’s worth noting Roger Ebert had a famous dissenting opinion, giving a thumbs down on his TV show, saying in print he felt the movie was “unsure of where to go.” Ebert also famously never embraced Kubrick’s iconic and disturbing sci-fi adaptationA Clockwork Orange.
Full Metal Jacket
A pragmatic U.S. Marine observes the dehumanizing effects the Vietnam War has on his fellow recruits from their brutal boot camp training to the bloody street fighting in Hue.
5’Saving Private Ryan' (1998)
Directed by Steven Spielberg
Saving Private Ryanis absolutelynotSteven Spielberg’s only war film, but as was the case with Kubrick andFull Metal Jacket, this arguably feels like an iconic director’s definitive contribution to the genre. As was the case with 1930’sAll Quiet on the Western Front, this is a watershed moment in terms of how combat is depicted on-screen, most famously in its hyper-realistic depiction of D-Day. Spielberg’s epic drama centers on a group of soldiers (spearheaded byTom Hanks' Captain John Miller), tasked with the mission of safely delivering the titular officer (Matt Damon) home after his three brothers die in combat.
As sentimental asFull Metal Jacketis cynical (each so very fitting within their respective directors' filmographies),Saving Private Ryanis specifically an American enterprise, bookended with haunting scenes filmed on-location in the Normandy American Cemetery. For over a quarter-century,Saving Private Ryanhas beena uniquely emotional experience for veterans and their families.
Saving Private Ryan
Following the Normandy Landings, a group of U.S. soldiers go behind enemy lines to retrieve a paratrooper whose brothers have been killed in action.
4’Casablanca' (1942)
Directed by Michael Curtiz
The best WWII film made during wartimeremains, quite possibly, the most enduringly beloved winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture. Humphrey Bogart played many iconic, much-quoted roles in the Golden Age of Hollywood, smooth-talking club owner Rick Blaine is the part he’s best remembered for, andone of the best screen heroes of all time.
InCasablanca, expatriate Blaine is gobsmacked when former flame Ilsa Lund (Ingrid Bergman) walks into his gin joint (of all the gin joints), only now she’s partnered with noble freedom fighter Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid). There areonly two letters of transitout of Casblanca, you see, and this is where the drama kicks off. It’s as absorbing and affecting as screen drama has ever been, and the best thing aboutCasablancais how proud we are of everyone in the end; all of the heroes make the difficult, but right choices.This is the best of us.
Casablanca
A cynical expatriate American cafe owner struggles to decide whether or not to help his former lover and her fugitive husband escape the Nazis in French Morocco.
