13 War Films To Get To Know Matty C

A new genre-specific deep dive approach to our baker's dozen cinema series.

My first entry into the 13 Films To Get To Know Me canon was really nothing more than a simple exercise I had first seen online. It seemed like an interesting challenge, and in putting it together, I eventually shared it with my family movie club. They were all very intrigued.

Almost immediately, my mother set to making her list. She then encouraged everyone else in the movie club to do the same, and voila, we had our next theme. For the last ten weeks, we have all shared our 13 Films lists and then each chosen one film from that list to watch and discuss with the group. It’s been a marvelous window into the viewing habits of people I care about deeply, but also a way for me to learn more about myself as a film-lover.

To expand the power of the 13 Films concept, I am going to share a baker’s dozen list with you on a variety of genres. Hopefully, this will pique your interest on some films you have not seen, or perhaps haven’t viewed in ages. It should also allow me as the writer and you as the reader the opportunity to learn more about what I love, and why, and how that has shaped me as a person. Maybe it can teach us some larger lessons as well. Here’s hoping.

Let’s begin in that most Dad Rock film genre of all; the war picture. I’ll run down all thirteen picks in alphabetical order along with some notes on why each film made the list.

Here we go.

Anthropoid (2016)

I first saw Anthropoid in the months after its initial release with my daughter Hannah. This was the beginning of a war film (and Cillian Murphy) phase for her. Hard to argue on both accounts. We both were fascinated by the story, which I had never heard before, of an intricate plan by resistance fighters to attempt to assassinate a high ranking Nazi SS Officer, and the subsequent German response.

It’s a riveting tale of history, intrigue, and sacrifice. Cillian Murphy and Jamie Dornan are very good in the lead roles, and the supporting cast is aces. While the film is imperfect, it expertly relays true facts in an engaging and entertaining way.

Beyond its cinematic bona fides, this film also gets qualification in this list due to the fact that Hannah, my dad, and I all got to visit the church in Prague where key events in the film took place. It was an emotional, and awe-inspiring experience. Before our visit, my dad had not see the film. After we returned from our vacation, the three of us watched it together. It felt remarkable to be connected to a film, a place, a history, and my family all at once. That my friends, is the power of cinema.

Army Of Shadows (1969)

In Army Of Shadows, French director Jean-Pierre Melville left behind his typical oeuvre of hard boiled crime pictures and cool assassins for the French Resistance of World War Two. Based upon a hybrid of fiction and truth, as well as Melville’s own experiences in the resistance, the core of the story is adapted from a novel by Joseph Kessel.

The film brings us into the world of a small band of resistance fighters working throughout France. These combatants maneuver between safe houses, extract information from unwitting sources, and continually seek to disrupt the Germans at every turn. More than one sequence in the film will have you on the edge of your seat, or perhaps even standing fully upright as I did during much of my first viewing.

There are brilliant performances from legends like Lino Ventura, Simone Signoret, Paul Meurisse, and more. Melville’s gritty and handheld approach lends the film a documentary feel in moments of deep tension and movement. It’s a brilliant look at an underworld of fighters that helped to bring the war to an end.

The Ascent (1977)

Soviet filmmaker Larisa Shepitko only made two features before her untimely death in a car accident at age 41. The Ascent, the last of the pair, is a transcendent look at the human cost of World War Two in the Soviet Union.

Centered on a pair of Soviet Partisans seeking shelter and food in the brutal Russian winter, the film is a granular look at the suffering of the Soviet people during the War. The movie begins with a shot of telephone poles in a bleak winter landscape looking like crosses in the snow. This is just a hint of the religious imagery that abounds in Shepitko’s film. But instead of seeing faith as salvation, see views it as a wholly undelivered promise.

This is truly one of the bleakest films that I have ever witnessed. I have only managed to watch it just one time. It’s haunted me so much that I am still unable to view the legendarily intense Soviet War epic Come And See which was made by Shepitko’s husband, Elie Klimov. Despite its bleakness, it offers a reminder at the beauty of the life we have today and the possibility of peace, should we ever manage to find it.

The Best Years Of Our Lives (1946)

This film is nothing short of shattering. Made in the immediate wake of the end of World War Two, The Best Years Of Our Lives attempts to relay the experiences of three men coming home from a horrific experience in wartime, and back to a “normal” life. The transition for them is anything but easy.

I’ll refrain from divulging any plot points, but the story centers around three soldiers who meet on their flight home to the same hometown of Boone City. We learn about their disparate lives before the war began, and then we are privy to their deep struggles upon returning home as they wrestle with PTSD, physical disfigurement, and self-medication.

We are further privy to the challenges and the difficulties of these servicemen as inflicted upon on their wives, families and loved ones. It is perhaps the single best example of the personal cost of war ever crafted in Hollywood. This one is a masterpiece.

Breaker Morant (1980)

I have already written about this film more than anyone in the history of Substack, maybe any site ever. Still, it’s marvelous and you should watch it for the first time, or one more time.

The film centers around three officers in an Australian offshoot of the British Army during the Boer War in South Africa at the turn of the 20th century. These officers are on trial for three separate murder charges. The Australians are seen by the British Empire as possible sacrifices in a chess match designed to eventually end the war in South Africa.

The three defendants; Harry ‘Breaker’ Morant (Edward Woodward), Peter Handcock (Bryan Brown), and George Witten (Lewis Fitz-Gerald) are played masterfully by the actors inhabiting the roles. Woodward delivers one of the finest lead performances in cinema history. Brown’s Handcock is both devilishly hilarious and dangerously aloof.

Pay close attention the cinematography of Donald McAlpine, particularly the outdoor shots. The final sequences of the film, which take place at sunrise, were filmed over two days and create one of the most gorgeous settings for a climactic sequence that I can recall. The exacting script, the tight direction, and the riveting performances make this film a piece of true brilliance.

Bridge On The River Kwai (1957)

This is David Lean’s best war picture. I know, you all think it’s Lawrence of Arabia, but it’s not. It’s this one.

Alec Guinness gives one of the most ardent and fully compelling performances in film history in his portrayal of the stubborn, obstinate Capt. Nicholson. As he clashes with Japanese Camp Commander Santo, played by the brilliant Sessue Hyakawa, we see a battle of wills play out that feels as though we are watching two Greek Gods batter each other with nothing more than words, ideals, and honor.

Part philosophical look at duty, part prison break, part adventure film, Lean captures it all in stunning glory and vivid technicolor. Excellent supporting performances by William Holden and Jack Hawkins enrich the film that much further. This one never gets old.

Force 10 From Navarone (1978)

This is not a good film. It is not on this list for its quality, but if you want to know me as it pertains to war pictures, we have to acknowledge the 900 pound gorilla in the room; Force 10 From Navarone.

This film was on HBO endlessly when we first signed up for the nascent subscription service in my youth. My parents had gifted me a television for my birthday and I was even able to watch this in my room whenever it was on. Recording it to VHS ensured that I would watch it more than fifty times at least.

The movie itself is a would be sequel to The Guns Of Navarone with Gregory Peck. I had seen the original, but the sequel was far more appealing with its inclusion of current stars that I knew and loved; Harrison Ford, Carl Weathers and Robert Shaw. They had all been in movies I adored like Rocky, Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jaws, and The Sting. Now I got to see them all together in a plucky war film.

What plays out is your typical small band of heroes carrying out an all-important mission to enable the war effort against the Axis. It is fun, ridiculous, and juvenile. Of course I loved it as a twelve year old, and I am not gonna stop loving it now.

Glory (1989)

Much like earlier entry Anthropoid, this was a story with which I was unfamiliar until I saw the film version. Glory details the assemblage and experiences of the Massachusetts 54th Infantry, the first regiment of black soldiers to be martialed by the Union Army in the Civil War effort. While the white savior angle is a bit troubling in moments, the film is a harrowing and fairly accurate depiction of a crucial moment in American history.

Denzel Washington won a much deserved Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his portrayal of an angry former slave-cum-soldier. Andre Braugher and Morgan Freeman give brilliant performances as soldiers in the new brigade with varying degrees of aptitude. Matthew Broderick is also terrific as leader of the unit, Robert Gould Shaw.

Glory was pivotal in exposing an undertold portion of our history, and delivering it to us in stunning detail. Fascinating history meets compelling filmmaking.

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Grand Illusion (1937)

I wrote about this one in depth a while back, but it still deserves inclusion here. This is the Rosetta Stone of Anti-War film.

Renoir’s anti-war masterpiece is perhaps the finest film ever made about war, but maybe even more lastingly, it also defined many of the individual aspects of that entire genre. There are prison break sequences that helped to set a course for films like The Great Escape. The boredom and comraderie of POW life displayed so artfully here are echoed throughout Billy Wilder’s Stalag 17. Many of Renoir's anti-war devices are also implemented quite well into anti-war classics like Breaker Morant and Paths Of Glory. These examples can only begin to scratch the surface of its sphere of influence.

Much like Casablanca after it, Grand Illusion has been copied so many times because it is so perfect. Every worthwhile war film made since seems merely to be an homage to this peerless classic. And Renoir does it all with fewer than ten gunshots. How's that for efficiency? 

If war films were lightbulbs, Jean Renoir would be Thomas Alva Edison.

The Great Escape (1963)

This film is really something of a marvel. It’s the true life story of a group of Allied POWs who dug a series of tunnels to escape from a Nazi prison camp. The actual tale is utterly remarkable. In the hands of filmmaker John Sturges, we are not only privy to the tense attempts at escape, we are shown the plan from its inception along a path that is fascinating, hilarious, charming, and riveting.

Steve McQueen is a goddamned movie star and you should watch it just to see what that looks like. Because he is it. James Garner, Donald Pleasance, Richard Attenborough, and even Charles Bronson fill out a great supporting cast. The theme will have you humming for days as well.

Here is one with another personal connection. In the summer of 2016 when our family was visiting London, Hannah and I saw an exhibition at The Imperial War Museum called Real To Reel. It was an impressive collection of artifacts and memorabilia used in various war films. There were a number of set pieces used in the The Great Escape, including the motorcycle that Steve McQueen rides in the latter parts of the film. Bad ass.

Inglorious Basterds (2009)

Quentin Tarantino’s World War Two masterstroke is nothing more than artfully done historical fan fiction. And I am so here for it.

The film features an outrageously genius performance by Christoph Waltz as the evil German Colonel Hans Landa. Tarantino packs so many old film references in, it’s almost impossible for even the most adept of cinephiles to keep up. And of course, there are the set pieces. The chewy, glorious set pieces.

With flair, dark humor, and razor sharp tension Tarantino transforms a country French kitchen, a small cinema, and a dreary cafe into war zones of unimaginable carnage and riotous hilarity. The film is vicious in its violence, and ruthless in its humor. It is unflinching, unforgiving, unrelenting, and unbelievably great.

Paths Of Glory (1957)

A companion piece to Break Morant and Grand Illusion, Paths of Glory retells the true-life tale of three soldiers in the French Army of World War One who were courtmartialed as an example of what happens to soldiers that disobey orders. Col. Dax, played with gritty determination by Kirk Douglas, refuses to send his men on yet another suicidal mission to attack and hopefully acquire a section of high ground, that is likely meaningless to the overall war effort.

Stanley Kubrick helmed this stark and haunting tale of morality in war. It is one of the most deliberately anti-war pictures ever made, yet its portrayal of trench warfare is as stunningly accurate as any film had been up to that point.

Instead of opting for verbose melodrama or courtroom theatrics, Kubrick presents the disparate storylines into simple grievances, duties, and expectations. No one is spared the gory work of war, or the chilling horror that follows in the silence. The ending of this film makes me sob like no other.

Rome: Open City (1945)

Roberto Rossellini’s Rome: Open City captures the war in stark reality and in near real-time. It is a staggeringly frank look at Rome during the Italian Resistance of 1944. It is the antithesis of the fan fiction in Inglorious Basterds.

Rossellini managed to capture Rome as an honest to God city at war when he began filming on the streets in January of 1945. The director captures Rome just after the Fall of Mussolini while the city is under strict Nazi occupation. The resistance is represented by a young pregnant woman, her fiancee’, and the progressive Priest who agrees to marry them and aid their resistance activities.

It’s almost impossible when viewing Rome: Open City to see it as documentary. The camerawork is so deft and fluid that it feels impossible to have been staged. Anna Magnani as the pregnant Pina is shatteringly good.

Cheers,

Matty C

Wanna share your 13 Films To Get To Know You with me? Leave me a comment below and we can connect. Let’s do it.