Movies -- A Recap -- Part XXI -- The War Movies Edition

These run the gamut from a traditional action movie to heavier, psychological stuff.  Choose what suits you:

Enemy at the Gates is a relatively old one.  It stars Jude Law and Joseph Fiennes as two snipers -- one German, one Russian -- stalking each other during the Battle of Stalingrad.  I wasn't impressed by the acting, but the movie kept my interest, despite requiring an unusual amount of suspension of disbelief and knowing who was ultimately going to win.

Prior to Last Flag Flying, I had only seen Steve Carell in one serious role that I can recall (Beautiful Boy).  This one is every bit as sad, and also a little bit sweet.  A group of Vietnam vets reunites to bury the son of one of them who was killed in Iraq.  Plus, special props have to go out to the starring role given to the Bob Dylan song, Not Dark Yet, which was such a perfect choice for this film.

Greyhound is a fun chase movie.  Tom Hanks plays himself -- the tortured hero.  In this particular film, he's the captain of a destroyer and leader of an American convoy of ships which is trying to outrun a pack of Nazi submarines through an otherwise unprotected section of the north Atlantic.  I know the movie (and The Good Shepherd, by C.S. Forster, the book it's based on) are fiction, but it's nevertheless amazing what those destroyers could do.

A Midnight Clear is a classic.  I am surprised I hadn't seen it.  It has a great cast.  It's heavy -- very heavy -- and weird, almost to the point of being funny.  Definitely recommend this one if you're interested in a WWII story.

A Private War is a PTSD story from told through a war correspondent.  For reasons I mostly cannot explain, I have always been fascinated with war correspondents.  They do incredible work under the worst of circumstances.  But, back to the matter at hand -- A Private War is about Marie Colvin.  She was American journalist who worked for the very British Sunday Times through some nasty business all over the world, including the Middle East.  Rosamund Pike delivers a great performance.

 

Le Chant du Loup (The Wolf's Call) is a submarine movie.  And it's French.  Who knew the French had submarines?  Anyway, the version of this that we saw was unfortunately dubbed, to the point of being distracting; subtitles would have been better.  Nevertheless, this near-future film is a creepy reminder that subs are always out there, spying, lurking, probably up to no good.  It was more intense than I anticipated.  A good pick if you needed more cause for paranoia.

 

Since we're already underwater, how about Das Boot?  It's another classic, and a tad on the long side; something like two and a half hours if I remember correctly.  We were watching some German movies before our trip to Germany, and this one consistently came up as one of the best.  It's the tale of one U-Boat crew during the Battle of the Atlantic, being asked to do the impossible with a creaky old sub, when all they really want to do is go home.  The length of the film is an asset to the plot, because it really illustrates how long and fraught the journey back towards Germany was, and how claustrophobic the sub gets.  Definitely worth the time.

While we were in Germany, we found a movie theater in Frankfurt showing the original release (aka English language) version of Top Gun: Maverick.  Fans of Top Gun are pre-programmed to like this movie.  Because it's almost the same.  It has a good cast, and generated some genuine chuckles.  It's not as good (and how could it be without Goose?), but quality is different from likability.  Enjoyable.

In a real change of pace, how about Glory?  Yet another classic, which I had not seen.  (I'm filling in a lot of holes in my movie-watching, it appears.)  It is, as one probably would guess, terribly sad.  But also inspiring, and amazing.  It boasts a fantastic cast.  The only thing that troubles me a bit -- but this is often the case with black ensemble movies -- is that that hero is a white guy.  (See also: The Help, Hidden Figures, and others.)  To some degree, I suppose that was the nature of the times.  Regardless, it was a great one.

The Railway Man falls squarely into the category of films which also holds Unbroken, Memphis Belle, and Empire of the Sun.  They are psychological profiles of people who were put through the absolute worst the world has to offer during wartime and come out on the other side, not unscathed but alive.  In this particular case, our hero (Colin Firth) was captured in Japan and forced into labor building a railroad in impossible conditions.  Years later, he discovers that the man who tortured him when he was a prisoner is still alive, and he travels back to the Far East to confront him.