BEST OF THE BEST - WAR FLICS

 

Gone With The Wind (1939)

The War: Southern belle Scarlett O’Hara’s idyllic life is ripped apart by the American Civil War, bringing her into an on/off romance with Rhett Butler (Clark Gable).
Human Element: Bluntly, with its cavalcade of births, marriages and deaths, this is pure soap opera – but it’s always the war that looms largest.
Grab The Tissues: The camera pulls back and up to reveal just how

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Master And Commander: The Far Side Of The World (2003)

The War: Captain Jack Aubrey (Russell Crowe) pursues a French ship during the Napoleonic Wars.
Human Element: The ship’s doctor, Stephen Maturin (Paul Bettany), is more interested in looking for rare species on the Galapagos Islands than in fighting.
Grab The Tissues: Aubrey’s bromance with Maturin sees the two playing music together below deck

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Land And Freedom (1995)

The War: Left-wing scouser David Carr (Ian Hart) travels to the Spanish Civil War to fight Franco.
Human Element: An illuminating look at an oft-forgotten war, given added relevance to British viewers by its hero.
Grab The Tissues: David sees his lover Blanca (Rosana Pastor) killed, and returns to England with a handful of Spanish soil to remember her

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Kingdom Of Heaven (2005)

The War: Balian of Ibelin (Orlando Bloom) journeys to Jerusalem to take part in the Crusades.
Human Element: A centuries-old war, given relevance by thinly-veiled references to the contemporary War on Terror.
Grab The Tissues: A bittersweet reunion with his father, Godfrey (Liam Neeson) - Balian is knighted, but then his pa dies.
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Empire Of The Sun (1987)

The War: Separated from his parents, Jim Graham (Christian Bale) beocmes a prisoner in Suzhou Creek Internment Camp in Japan.
Human Element: Spielberg combines his two favourite subjects - children and WWII - into a loss of innocence story made moving by Bale's brilliant performance.
Grab The Tissues: American troops shot the Japanese kid whom Graham had befriended as a prisoner



 

Witchfinder General (1968)

The War: Sadistic Matthew Hopkins (Vincent Price) uses the English Civil War as the pretext for making a fortune by torturing and murdering suspected “witches.”
Human Element: Roundhead soldier Richard Marshall (Ian Ogilvy) is driven insane after Hopkins targets his lover Sara (Hilary Dwyer).
Grab The Tissues: Sara’s uncle Lowes (Rupert Davies) is executed by Hopkins’ men

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Born On The 4th Of July (1989)

The War: The aftermath of Vietnam, as paraplegic vet Ron Kovic (Tom Cruise) struggles to asserts his rights.
Human Element: Kovic’s decline into depression and redemption as a spokesman for his fellow soldiers.
Grab The Tissues: Kovic gatecrashes the Republican National Convention to make an impassioned anti-war speech

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The Hill (1965)

The War: British PoWs (including Sean Connery) face the cruel and unusual punishment of marching pointlessly up and down a man-made hill under the African sun.
Human Element: The twist – the camp is run by Brits for deserters and troublemakers. There isn't a single Nazi in sight.
Grab The Tissues: Soft-touch prisoner George Stevens (Alfred Lynch) dies after being pushed too hard on the hill by a sadistic sergeant (Ian

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No Man's Land (2001)

The War: During the Bosnian War, three wounded soldiers – one of them lying on an unexploded land mine – are trapped in a trench.
Human Element: A pitch-black comedy that forces soldiers from opposing sides to confront their differences in a highly unusual situation.
Grab The Tissues: Cera (Filip Šovagović) is left for dead by the U.N. when they realise the land mine cannot be defused.

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Patton (1970)

The War: Biopic of General George S Patton (George C Scott), under whose command the U.S. Third Army in WWII liberated more territory in less time than anyone before or since.
Human Element: Scott’s rascally, Oscar-winning performance makes Patton into a enormously likeable hero, both man of faith and anarchic rebel.
Grab The Tissues: Patton's superiors sideline him because of his maverick style, causing him to miss commanding troops on D-Day. The BASTARDS !!!