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An anti-war film is a genre of war film that is opposed to warfare in its theming or messaging.
Anti-war films typically argue that war is futile, unjust, a loss for all involved, only serves to benefit few in society (usually an elite or ruling class, or the state), makes people do or support things they normally would not (such as homicide or discrimination), is extremely costly both in money and lives, or is otherwise undesirable for those fighting it, the target audience, or everyone in general. To illustrate their point, anti-war films often present the effects of war—such as destruction, suffering, war trauma, casualties, war crimes, war's impact on the environment or on children, or the excesses of war—in a negative manner. Though many anti-war films make this negative depiction explicit and clear for the audience to understand, some are more subtle in delivering their anti-war messaging (such as making the ostensibly good side as brutal as their enemies), or may use parody and black comedy to satirize wars and conflicts.
While most anti-war films use real historical or then-ongoing conflicts—commonly modern wars in recent memory that the intended audience is familiar with or understands, such as World War I, World War II, the Vietnam War, or the war on terror—as their settings to criticize those wars, their casus belli , or their effects, others use hypothetical conflicts (e.g. World War III), fictional wars involving fictional countries, or even a conflict in a fictional universe, an alternate history, or the far future. Some anti-war films may not depict front line or battlefield conflict at all, and instead present anti-war messaging through depictions of the rear, military hierarchy, military operations other than war, military misconduct or corruption, the military–industrial complex, refugees and survivors, or the aftermath of wars, ranging from the immediate post-war recovery to the post-apocalypse.
The following is a list of anti-war films.
Roger Joseph Ebert was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He was the film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. Ebert was known for his intimate, Midwestern writing style and critical views informed by values of populism and humanism. Writing in a prose style intended to be entertaining and direct, he made sophisticated cinematic and analytical ideas more accessible to non-specialist audiences. Ebert endorsed foreign and independent films he believed would be appreciated by mainstream viewers, championing filmmakers like Werner Herzog, Errol Morris and Spike Lee, as well as Martin Scorsese, whose first published review he wrote. In 1975, Ebert became the first film critic to win the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism. Neil Steinberg of the Chicago Sun-Times said Ebert "was without question the nation's most prominent and influential film critic," and Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times called him "the best-known film critic in America." Per The New York Times, "The force and grace of his opinions propelled film criticism into the mainstream of American culture. Not only did he advise moviegoers about what to see, but also how to think about what they saw."
Unforgiven is a 1992 American Western film produced and directed by Clint Eastwood. It stars Eastwood himself, as William Munny, an aging outlaw and killer who takes on one more job, years after he had turned to farming. The film co-stars Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman, and Richard Harris and was written by David Webb Peoples.
Clint Eastwood is an American film actor, film director, film producer, singer, composer and lyricist. He has appeared in over 60 films. His career has spanned 65 years and began with small uncredited film roles and television appearances. Eastwood has acted in multiple television series, including the eight-season series Rawhide (1959–1965). Although he appeared in several earlier films, mostly uncredited, his breakout film role was as the Man with No Name in the Sergio Leone–directed Dollars Trilogy: A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More (1965), and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966), which weren't released in the United States until 1967/68. In 1971, Eastwood made his directorial debut with Play Misty for Me. Also that year, he starred as San Francisco police inspector Harry Callahan in Dirty Harry. The film received critical acclaim, and spawned four more films: Magnum Force (1973), The Enforcer (1976), Sudden Impact (1983), and The Dead Pool (1988).
Hyperlink cinema is a style of filmmaking characterized by complex or multilinear narrative structures with multiple characters under one unifying theme.
Apocalypse Now is a 1979 American epic war film produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The screenplay, co-written by Coppola, John Milius, and Michael Herr, is loosely inspired by the 1899 novella Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, with the setting changed from late 19th-century Congo to the Vietnam War. The film follows a river journey from South Vietnam into Cambodia undertaken by Captain Willard, who is on a secret mission to assassinate Colonel Kurtz, a renegade Special Forces officer who is accused of murder and presumed insane. The ensemble cast also features Robert Duvall, Frederic Forrest, Albert Hall, Sam Bottoms, Laurence Fishburne, Dennis Hopper, and Harrison Ford.
Mel Gibson is an American actor, director, and producer, who made his acting debut on the Australian television drama series The Sullivans (1976–1983). While a student at the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney, he was given an uncredited role in I Never Promised You a Rose Garden and subsequently appeared as a leading actor in the micro budget surf drama Summer City. Gibson rose to prominence during the Australian New Wave cinema movement in the early 1980s, having appeared in his breakthrough role in George Miller's dystopian action film Mad Max (1979), portraying the eponymous hero. He reprised the role in its sequels, Mad Max 2 (1981) and Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985). He appeared in Peter Weir's war drama Gallipoli (1981) and the romantic drama The Year of Living Dangerously (1982). Five years later he played Martin Riggs in the buddy cop action comedy Lethal Weapon alongside Danny Glover—a role he later reprised in its sequels Lethal Weapon 2 (1989), Lethal Weapon 3 (1992), and Lethal Weapon 4 (1998).
American-born Australian actress and producer Nicole Kidman has appeared in numerous film and television projects, as well as in theatre productions. She made her film debut in the Australian drama Bush Christmas in 1983. Four years later, she starred in the television miniseries Bangkok Hilton, for which she received the AACTA Award for Best Lead Actress in a Television Drama. Her breakthrough role was as a married woman trapped on a yacht with a murderer in the 1989 thriller Dead Calm. She followed this with her Hollywood debut opposite Tom Cruise in Tony Scott's auto-racing film Days of Thunder (1990). Her role as a homicidal weather forecaster in Gus Van Sant's crime comedy-drama To Die For garnered Kidman a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical in 1996. She worked with Cruise again on Ron Howard's Far and Away (1992) and Stanley Kubrick's erotic thriller Eyes Wide Shut in 1999.
Denzel Washington is an American actor known for his performance on stage and screen. Washington made his feature film debut in Carbon Copy (1981). In 1982, Washington made his first appearance in the medical drama St. Elsewhere as Dr. Philip Chandler. The role proved to be the breakthrough in his career. He starred as Private First Class Melvin Peterson in the drama A Soldier's Story (1984). The film was an adaptation of the Off-Broadway play A Soldier's Play (1981–1983) in which Washington had earlier portrayed the same character.
American actor and producer Morgan Freeman has had a prolific career on film, television and on the stage. His film debut was as an uncredited character in the Sidney Lumet–directed drama The Pawnbroker in 1964. Freeman also made his stage debut in the same year by appearing in the musical Hello, Dolly! He followed this with further stage appearances in The Niggerlovers (1967), The Dozens (1969), Exhibition (1969), and the musical Purlie (1970–1971). He played various characters on the children's television series The Electric Company (1971–1977). Freeman subsequently appeared in the films Teachers in 1984, and Marie in 1985 before making his breakthrough with 1987's Street Smart. His role earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Two years later he appeared in war film Glory (1989), and starred as Hoke Coleburn in the comedy-drama Driving Miss Daisy (1989). Freeman won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for his performance in the latter and also earned a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor.
American actor Robert Downey Jr. made his acting debut in 1970's Pound, directed by his father Robert Downey Sr., at the age of five. In the 1980s, Downey was considered a member of the Brat Pack after appearing in the films Weird Science with Anthony Michael Hall (1985), Back to School with Rodney Dangerfield (1986), Less than Zero with Andrew McCarthy (1987), and Johnny Be Good again with Hall (1988). Downey also starred in the films True Believer (1989) and Chances Are (1989), and was a regular cast member on the late-night variety show Saturday Night Live in 1985.
American actor Matt Damon made his film debut with a small role in Mystic Pizza (1988), after which he played several supporting roles. His first leading role was in the legal drama film The Rainmaker (1997). His breakthrough came later that year when he played the title role of an unrecognized genius in Good Will Hunting, which he also co-wrote with Ben Affleck. They won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and Damon was nominated for Best Actor. He followed it by playing the title roles of a soldier in Steven Spielberg's war drama Saving Private Ryan (1998) and of the criminal Tom Ripley in the thriller The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), both of which gained critical and commercial success. Damon and Sean Bailey worked on the television series Project Greenlight since 2000, helping newcomers make their first film.
Julia Roberts is an American actress and producer who made her debut in the 1987 direct-to-video feature Firehouse. She had her breakthrough the following year by starring in the coming-of-age film Mystic Pizza (1988). For her supporting role in the comedy-drama Steel Magnolias (1989), she won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress. Roberts' next role was opposite Richard Gere in the highly successful romantic comedy Pretty Woman (1990), for which she won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Musical or Comedy. In 1991, she appeared in the psychological thriller Sleeping with the Enemy, and played Tinker Bell in the Steven Spielberg-directed fantasy adventure Hook. Two years later, Roberts starred in the legal thriller The Pelican Brief, an adaptation of the John Grisham novel of the same name. During the late 1990s, she played the lead in the romantic comedies My Best Friend's Wedding (1997), Notting Hill (1999), and Runaway Bride (1999).
Stanley Kubrick (1928–1999) directed thirteen feature films and three short documentaries over the course of his career. His work as a director, spanning diverse genres, is regarded as highly influential.
Controversial upon its original release, The Americanization of Emily was a vanguard anti-war film
It is anti-war, not anti-American.
[...] has become a classic anti-war movie since its 1980 release
Through this parable about the unconscious cruelty of people to what is different, and the need of tolerance, runs another theme, that of anti-war preachment.
David Lean's controversial anti-war epic The Bridge on the River Kwai...
Nichols made the mistake of reshaping Joseph Heller's bitterly satirical novel of the second world war into an overly arty anti-war movie.
Ince was also a director on Civilization...a film which is considered one of the first anti-war films.
The Day The Earth Stood Still, despite its age, holds up as a great science-fiction film. With a tight, 92-minute running time and a bold anti-war theme
Though the earthbound story was more about politicking than outer-space wonder, the film preached a daring anti-war message for its time
The Bushes and the Bin Ladens: passionate anti-war film is a tale of two families
Kihachi Okamoto's Fort Graveyard (1965) is a curious war film. It is both a serious anti-war film and something of a comedic farce.
Still, The Free State of Jones is an anti-war film
Drawn from Ford's own experience as a war correspondent for The Nation, it has become the "overlooked anti-war classic" that kicked off a genre in January of 1978.
The glassworker is an anti-war film.
Patricia Foulkrod, a longtime documentary filmmaker, has created a movie with an unmistakable anti-war agenda
"Hair" is an anti-war story full of hippie tenderness, psychedelic fantasies, and successful musical numbers.
It is an antiwar classic.
...topical anti-war messages about Vietnam...
the movie's not just an anti-war satire inspired by the Holocaust and the Bosnian War, but an exploration of childhood and a tribute to mothers.
The most irreverent anti-war satire in years, it repeatedly ridicules fanaticism.
Joyeux Noël, a glossy French antiwar movie
In the pantheon of anti-war movies there's nothing quite as sublimely weird as this Vietnam-era take on mercenary World War II G.I. Joes slogging deep behind enemy lines in the hope of stealing a ton of Nazi gold.
Clint Eastwood stars as the title character in this anti-war comedy/bank-job caper directed by Brian G. Hutton.
In this anti-war WWII caper, Clint Eastwood's titular tight-lipped ex-lieutenant and his merry band of misfits hear about Nazi gold stashed in a bank behind enemy lines in occupied France, and go AWOL to steal it.
Many Wars Ago (1970), is an anti-war drama set on the Italian/Austrian front during World War I
This is probably the first anti war film ever made and it is quite striking.
Made just before Europe exploded into chaos, this neglected classic of anti-war cinema is both deeply human and devastatingly prophetic.
German director Michael Verhoeven's anti-war film o.k., about the rape and murder of a Vietnamese girl by US soldiers, sparked heated controversy.
He made his film debut in 1970 in the film o.k., a West German anti-war film directed by Michael Verhoeven.
this movie is unashamedly anti-war, ecumenical, and about love for all men and women whatever their race, color, creed, nationality or whatever
But the movie, which was scrimped together and shot despite the ravages of war, is anti-war and humanistic.
Pretty Village, Pretty Flame is one of the most audacious antiwar statements ever committed to the bigscreen.
...like every other anti-Iraq war movie...
Peirce plays the antiwar game fairly.
Kang's film is a vicious, brutal anti-war statement
Alex Gibney is the Oscar-winning director of anti-war documentary Taxi to the Dark Side
Resisting other offers, he played a cameo in Peter Brook's anti Vietnam-war movie Tell Me Lies (1968)
"Testament" may be the first movie in a long time that will make you cry. It made me cry. And seeing it again for the second time, knowing everything that would happen, anticipating each scene before it came, I was affected just as deeply....The film is about a suburban American family, and what happens to that family after a nuclear war.... And the last scene, in which she expresses such small optimism as is still possible, is one of the most powerful movie scenes I've ever seen.
It can be called an anti-war film
...elusive and intangible anti-war film...
The British anti-war classic 'Threads' is coming to Blu-ray.
Three Kings is not the first anti-war movie in which opposing soldiers have recognized themselves in one another before pulling the trigger
And here's his best, most vigorous, least tarted-up work in years — an affecting, old-fashioned, antiwar story
it's a mournful anti-war movie
this film remains the most powerful anti-war and anti-Fascist Russian film
The film was given good reviews in Japan and abroad and was mainly renowned as an anti-war drama.
Under the Flag of the Rising Sun is an absolutely superb and highly engrossing, haunting and powerful anti-war film