From the trenches of WWI to the beaches of Normandy, we're diving into the most authentic war films ever made. Join us as we explore movies that capture the raw emotions, historical accuracy, and brutal realities of combat. These films go beyond Hollywood glamour to show war as it truly is.
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00:00Do you want to explain the math of this to me?
00:02I mean, where's the sense of risking the lives of the eight of us to save one guy?
00:05Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the films
00:09that best capture the raw emotions of war and accurately present historical events.
00:14We'll be focusing on movies that portray the military and combat,
00:17not so much the effects on civilians.
00:20Nobody hates you, Leonard.
00:22You just keep making mistakes, getting everybody in trouble.
00:26While acknowledging that this is a western perspective on the Middle East,
00:34the film is still hailed for its accuracy.
00:36Come. I will take you to Faisal.
00:40I do not want your company, Sharif.
00:42It doesn't rely on a strict adherence to history.
00:45It admittedly takes some liberties with historical events.
00:48But for a 1962 epic, Lawrence of Arabia successfully captures the chaotic spirit of war.
00:54The film follows T.E. Lawrence,
00:56a British officer navigating the Arab revolt during World War I.
01:00While it dramatizes Lawrence's exploits, the film nails the paradox of heroism.
01:05He's both a strategic mastermind and a flawed, larger-than-life figure.
01:20Historians dispute the exaggerated role of Lawrence in uniting Arab tribes,
01:24but the film contains a deep emotional truth.
01:27War is messy, transformative, and often driven by egos as vast as the landscape.
01:34There are those war movies that get it right, and there are those that get it wrong.
01:38Gallipoli is often praised as one that gets it right.
01:41Oh, well, you learn something every day.
01:45Film can't see what it's got to do with us.
01:48If we don't stop them there, they can end up here.
01:50The 1981 Australian war film doesn't glorify battle.
01:53Instead, it lays bare its futility.
01:56Set during the infamous Gallipoli campaign of World War I,
01:59the film follows two young Australian men swept up in a war they barely understand.
02:04When they finally do reach the battlefield,
02:06they come face-to-face with brutal realities.
02:09War is deeply traumatizing,
02:11especially in light of severe miscalculations by the British.
02:15Gun for the neck tomorrow.
02:16Neck?
02:17I reckon the Turks got machine guns everywhere.
02:19Yeah, well, ship's gonna knock them out before we go.
02:22While some details are fictionalized,
02:24the broader strokes are chillingly accurate.
02:27The needless slaughter, the camaraderie, and the lingering question of why.
02:31The movie's final moments are stark and devastating.
02:36The second installment in Polish director Andrzej Wajda's war film trilogy
02:40is an intense psychodrama about the horrors faced by the Polish resistance.
02:44["Powstanie w Warszawie zbliża się do tragicznego finału.
02:48Padły już dawno Starówka, Powiśle, Czerniaków i Zadywa.
02:52W Śródmieście Żolibórz i Mokotów,
02:54odcięte i otoczone przez duże siły niemieckie, płoną."
02:57Set during the waning days of the Warsaw Uprising,
03:00we follow a Polish platoon.
03:02The film starts with an incredible four-minute tracking shot,
03:05introducing the team as their final assault fails.
03:08They flee to the sewers,
03:09and we stick with them as they attempt to escape.
03:12The squad fractures as they navigate the underground labyrinth,
03:15searching for a safe exit.
03:17Whenever they try to emerge, they're attacked by Nazis.
03:20The strain and psychological torture proves to be unbearable.
03:35The members are picked off one by one,
03:37and the survivors are forced to confront their impending doom.
03:42Torah, Torah, Torah.
03:43This isn't just a war movie.
03:45It is a meticulous history lesson in cinematic form.
03:48Chronicling the events leading to the attack on Pearl Harbor,
03:51the film splits its focus between the Japanese and American perspectives.
03:55According to this latest intercept,
03:58Tokyo wants to conclude negotiations with us no later than November 29.
04:05After which, and I quote,
04:07things are automatically going to happen.
04:10Capping off a decade of movies that glorified World War II,
04:13the film was unusually balanced for its time.
04:15Painstakingly researched, it sticks close to real-life events.
04:19From the missed warning signs to the tactical brilliance of the Japanese strike,
04:23this dedication to accuracy is its triumph.
04:26There are no over-the-top heroes,
04:28just bureaucratic errors, cultural misunderstandings,
04:31and the inevitability of war.
04:32Ultimately, the film underscores the reality of war.
04:36Human error, hubris, and strategy collide to reshape history
04:40at the cost of sacrifice and destruction.
04:42You want a confirmation, Captain?
04:46Take a look.
04:47There's your confirmation.
04:49Number 26.
04:50Flags of Our Fathers.
04:52War photographer Joe Rosenthal took a picture in 1945
04:55that became one of World War II's most iconic images.
04:58Clint Eastwood's Flags of Our Fathers
05:00peels back the layers of myth-making around that photo and Iwo Jima.
05:04Every jackass thinks he knows what war is.
05:09Especially those who've never been in one.
05:13We like things nice and simple.
05:15Good and evil.
05:17Heroes and villains.
05:19While the image galvanized a nation,
05:21the film reveals the reality behind it.
05:23It was a staged moment, a propaganda tool.
05:26The myth it created was a huge burden for the men it depicted.
05:30The film's combat scenes are raw and brutal,
05:33reflecting the hellish conditions of the Pacific theater.
05:36Just as compelling is the story of the survivors,
05:38forced to grapple with survivor's guilt and the weight of being called heroes.
05:43They may have fought for their country, but they died for their friends.
05:46For the man in front, for the man beside him.
05:51And if we wish to truly honor these men,
05:54we should remember them the way they really were.
05:56Number 25.
05:57Battle of Britain.
05:58This film dramatizes the pivotal 1940 aerial campaign
06:02where outnumbered Royal Air Force pilots faced off against Hitler's Luftwaffe.
06:06So don't threaten or dictate to us until you're marching up Whitehall.
06:12And even then we won't listen.
06:14It is the single greatest source of British national pride during World War II,
06:18a portrait of defiance in the face of near impossible odds.
06:22Using real World War II era aircraft and consulting veterans,
06:26the film recreates the dogfights with a visceral intensity unmatched by modern CGI.
06:31It also doesn't sugarcoat the stakes.
06:33Civilian bombings, internal tensions, and the sheer exhaustion of war are all laid bare.
06:38The film dives deep into the strategies,
06:40leadership dynamics, and the famous few whose efforts saved a nation.
06:45I'm not very interested in propaganda.
06:49If we're right, they'll give up.
06:52If we're wrong, they'll be in London in a week.
06:55It's more than a movie.
06:56It is a tribute to a moment when the skies determined the future.
07:0024. A Bridge Too Far
07:02You may not know this based on Hollywood's typical fare,
07:05but more often than not, failure lies at the heart of war.
07:09A Bridge Too Far unflinchingly embraces failure as its core theme.
07:13They can't get us all in at once.
07:14Too many men, too much equipment, not enough planes.
07:17It's going to take three days to get the men into Arnhem.
07:19The film chronicles Operation Market Garden,
07:22the Allied attempt to end World War II early by seizing key bridges in the Netherlands.
07:27It was a bold plan.
07:28But even the best-laid plans crumble under real-world conditions.
07:32Market Garden was undermined by flawed intelligence,
07:35overconfidence, and logistical chaos.
07:37The film meticulously portrays these blunders.
07:41We can't clear the streets, sir.
07:42Enemy strength keeps increasing, and it's just impossible to get through to the bridge.
07:45Eyes out.
07:46Thanks, Sergeant.
07:47Sir.
07:47Gerald, it's imperative that I get back to HQ
07:49before this situation gets completely out of hand.
07:51The filmmakers often brought their star-studded cast to the actual locations.
07:55As a result, the film successfully captures the desperation,
07:59heroism, and inevitable heartbreak of the campaign.
08:02Number 23.
08:03Gettysburg.
08:04Historians often cite the Battle of Gettysburg
08:06as the turning point of the American Civil War.
08:09I think we should concentrate here.
08:11All the roads converge just east of this gap,
08:14and this junction will be very necessary.
08:16Yes, sir.
08:17I left my spectacles over there.
08:18What is the name of this town?
08:23Gettysburg.
08:24The 1993 classic Gettysburg is an immersive plunge into both sides of the battle.
08:29The filmmakers utilized both the actual battlefield
08:32and thousands of Civil War reenactors dedicated to authenticity.
08:35From Joshua Chamberlain's heroic stand at Little Round Top
08:38to Pickett's doomed charge, the events unfold with impressive accuracy.
08:43The uniforms, tactics, and emotional weight were all painstakingly recreated.
08:47At times, Gettysburg feels less like a dramatization and more like a portal into 1863.
08:54The spirit of the Army is still very good, very good indeed.
09:02We will do better another time.
09:04The dialogue captures the era's ideological struggles,
09:07while the epic scale emphasizes the human cost of war.
09:11Number 22.
09:12Jarhead.
09:13By focusing on the unbearable waiting between missions instead of combat,
09:17the 2005 Gulf War film Jarhead redefined the war movie.
09:21Shortly after meeting drill instructor Fitch,
09:23that I realized that joining the Marine Corps might have been a bad decision.
09:28Based on Anthony Swafford's memoir,
09:30Jarhead centers the monotony, frustration,
09:33and disconnection of soldiers deployed to Operation Desert Shield.
09:36With eerie accuracy, it captures the psychological toll of modern warfare.
09:41Endless drills, sandstorms, and a fight that seemingly never comes.
09:45Unlike traditional war films, there's no glorified battle.
09:49Instead, we see an airstrike that renders all their sniper training irrelevant.
09:54Are we ever going to get to kill anyone?
09:57This raw depiction is the point.
09:59War isn't always chaos.
10:01Sometimes it's the emptiness that breaks you.
10:03Number 21.
10:04The Longest Day.
10:06This movie sometimes feels like the cinematic equivalent of a history book brought to life.
10:10Chronicling the D-Day invasion of June 6th, 1944,
10:14the film captures the monumental Allied effort to breach Nazi-occupied France.
10:19We're on the threshold of the most crucial day of our time.
10:22What sets it apart is its commitment to authenticity.
10:25It captures every side of the battle in multiple languages.
10:28Its cast even included actual veterans.
10:31The film faithfully recreates key events,
10:34from the paratroopers' disorganized landings to the storming of Omaha Beach.
10:38While some dramatic liberties are taken, the overarching depiction rings true.
10:42The Longest Day is a story of coordination, sacrifice, and sheer logistical complexity.
10:47One thing I'm sure of, we're gonna hold this town till the link-up does come.
10:52Whenever it is.
10:53Today, tomorrow, till hell freezes over.
10:56The film shows D-Day as it felt at the time.
10:59A massive collaborative gamble rather than an inevitable victory.
11:03Number 20.
11:04All Quiet on the Western Front.
11:06All three film adaptations of the famous 1929 anti-war novel
11:10All Quiet on the Western Front were award-winning critical successes.
11:13The original, released in 1930, was the first Best Picture winner based on a novel.
11:18Like its predecessors, the hit Netflix adaptation tells the story of Paul Boimer,
11:23a German teenager swept up in patriotic fervor.
11:33Paul enlists in the German Imperial Army in 1917 and fights in World War I.
11:38Over the course of the film, his patriotism is tested
11:41as his innocence is deflated by the horrors of war.
11:44While the film was criticized for excluding some of the book's geopolitical critiques,
11:49it was praised for its highly realistic battle sequences.
11:55Number 19.
11:56The Thin Red Line.
11:57The Thin Red Line is the second film adaptation of a novel
12:01about the Battle of Guadalcanal in World War II.
12:04It was also director Terence Malick's first film in 20 years.
12:08While not as much of a commercial success as other similar movies,
12:11it was praised for its cinematography.
12:14Like many of Malick's films, The Thin Red Line takes a philosophical tone.
12:24Malick viewed Guadalcanal as an Eden corrupted by the poison of war.
12:29The film is more poetic than most war movies.
12:32Malick chose to portray the violence indirectly,
12:34with damage inflicted on nature rather than human bodies.
12:38As one critic put it,
12:42This one expresses emotional truth,
12:44the heart's search for saving wisdom.
12:58Hacksaw Ridge is a biopic about Desmond Doss,
13:01the first conscientious objector to earn the Congressional Medal of Honor.
13:04Doss was a devout Seventh-Day Adventist,
13:07believing deeply in a life of non-violence.
13:17He became a combat medic,
13:18and devoted his service to saving the lives of soldiers
13:21who had previously tormented him for his beliefs.
13:24The film takes a number of liberties with Doss's life story and combat career.
13:28He actually earned two bronze stars before ever reaching Okinawa.
13:32It also compresses the timeline of the battle.
13:35Doss actually spent weeks saving lives, not days.
13:39Still, the movie is praised for the accuracy of its battle scenes,
13:43portraying the hell Doss crawled through to serve his country and his faith.
13:55The British Navy has been the focus of Napoleonic war fiction for decades,
13:59and with good reason.
14:01Napoleon was a military genius,
14:02whose strategic prowess helped him conquer much of Europe.
14:14In many ways,
14:16the British Navy was the one thing between Napoleon and total victory.
14:19Master and Commander, The Far Side of the World
14:22is an on-screen adaptation of the Aubrey Maturin novels,
14:25following the careers of a naval captain and his best friend and doctor.
14:28The movie is well-loved by war historians.
14:31The representation of life aboard a naval vessel is immaculate.
14:35Master and Commander displays the cramped living conditions
14:38and smoky chaos of a battle at sea better than most films that came before it.
14:52Rescue Don is a Vietnam War biopic directed by German director Werner Herzog.
14:57Based on a true story,
14:58Rescue Don follows Dieter Dengler, a German-American pilot.
15:08After getting shot down over Laos,
15:10Dengler was held captive and tortured for months.
15:12He and his fellow prisoners learn that the guards plan to execute them,
15:16so they effect an escape.
15:18Most of the other prisoners were either killed or never recovered.
15:21The families of other survivors excoriated Herzog
15:24for changing details about the other prisoners,
15:26and the planning and execution of the escape.
15:29Still, there was overall agreement on the portrayal of the conditions the prisoners faced.
15:34By the time Dengler was rescued,
15:35he had lost almost 100 pounds and was severely injured.
15:39Please, please come back.
15:44Please come back.
15:54We don't see much warfare until the second act of Full Metal Jacket,
15:57but the opening scenes are arguably even harder to watch,
16:00as a cruel drill instructor pushes one vulnerable private over the edge of sanity.
16:05R. Lee Ermey, who plays gunnery sergeant Hartman,
16:07was actually a drill instructor in Vietnam,
16:10and thus improvised many of his character's callous insults.
16:17Ermey's performance isn't the only aspect of this film that's shockingly accurate.
16:21Director Stanley Kubrick started researching the Vietnam War in 1983,
16:25drawing influence from documentaries,
16:27Vietnamese newspapers,
16:28and a plethora of photos.
16:30Kubrick also worked on the screenplay with Michael Hare,
16:33who was a war correspondent in Vietnam,
16:35and Gustav Hasford,
16:37a Vietnam veteran who wrote the semi-autobiographical book that inspired this film.
16:49Marcus Luttrell was a Navy SEAL who fought in Afghanistan.
16:52Luttrell was the only surviving member of a four-man recon team.
17:01During their mission, they encountered a local Afghan herdsman.
17:05As he was a non-combatant,
17:06the SEALs let him go,
17:08knowing he would inform the Taliban of their whereabouts.
17:10The entire team was killed except Luttrell,
17:13who was saved by local Pashtun villagers.
17:20Luttrell wrote a book about the ordeal,
17:21which was adapted into the 2013 film Lone Survivor starring Mark Wahlberg.
17:26There are some controversies over the number of Taliban fighters and casualties,
17:30and some of Luttrell's account is disputed.
17:33Still, the film is generally accepted to be an accurate depiction
17:37of the harrowing mountain and forest combat American soldiers faced in Afghanistan.
17:49Most American war movies in the 1940s and 1950s
17:52tended to be jingoistic endorsements of the nobility of the military.
17:56In the middle of this era,
17:57Stanley Kubrick released Paths of Glory,
17:59a black-and-white World War I epic.
18:04Judging from the casualties,
18:05the efforts of your regiment must have been considerable.
18:08How can you understand that and allow these men to be shot tomorrow?
18:11Kirk Douglas stars as Colonel Dax,
18:13a French commander who loses a futile battle.
18:16Dax was forced into combat
18:17by the machinations of a politically ambitious general.
18:20The general decides to execute 100 men for cowardice
18:23to cover up his poor decision.
18:25Paths of Glory is a cruel indictment
18:28of the indifference of governments and commanders
18:30to the lives and health of the soldiers on the ground.
18:33While governments and militaries hated the film,
18:35it was banned in all U.S. military bases around the world.
18:39It would be a pity to lose your promotion before you get it.
18:41A promotion you have so very carefully planned for.
18:47Sir, would you like me to suggest what you can do with that promotion?
18:51In 1993,
18:53director Josef Filzmaier released his anti-war saga Stalingrad.
18:57The film centers around a platoon of Wehrmacht soldiers
19:00as they're transferred from leave in Italy to the Russian front.
19:11They find themselves knee-deep
19:12in one of the bloodiest battles in human history at Stalingrad.
19:16Filzmaier puts forward an anti-war masterpiece,
19:19boldly choosing to eschew spectacle for grounded grim reality.
19:23Over and over,
19:24the camera hovers over weeping soldiers and mangled bodies.
19:28Over the course of the film,
19:29men die from combat,
19:30disease,
19:31cold and despair in equal measure.
19:34There is no glory in Stalingrad,
19:36only the harsh realities of the cost of war.
19:50Downfall is a 2004 German film about Nazi Germany's final days
19:54before the Soviets took Berlin.
20:00The writers and director built the look and feel of the film
20:03around a number of historical sources,
20:05like eyewitness accounts and memoirs.
20:07In fact,
20:08the accuracy of the film is the source of its largest criticisms.
20:12Many critics were furious at the humanization of Adolf Hitler.
20:16But, as the writer put it,
20:17realism was the whole point of Downfall.
20:20A vulnerable, crying Hitler may not be palatable,
20:23but his self-pity was part of how he attracted followers.
20:26The terrifying thing about Hitler,
20:29and men like Hitler,
20:30is not that they are monsters from Mars,
20:32but that they are people like the rest of us.
20:43The evacuation of Dunkirk was one of the most harrowing events
20:46in British military history.
20:52The Nazi blitzkrieg into France
20:53famously circumvented France's defensive Maginot Line.
20:57The German army swept through, encircling Allied troops.
21:00If the Brits hadn't evacuated at Dunkirk,
21:03the entire British army would have been crippled and utterly decimated.
21:07Chris Nolan's epic 2017 film Dunkirk chronicles the 10-day ordeal.
21:12Universally lauded by critics as one of the best war movies ever made,
21:16Dunkirk veterans praised the film's accuracy.
21:19While some details were changed for dramatic effect,
21:22the broad strokes were correct.
21:24Brief aerial dogfights and a fleet of civilian ships
21:27helped turn the tide and saved over 300,000 men.
21:47Wolfgang Peterson's World War II masterpiece
21:50revolves around the real German submarine U-96.
21:53Sparing no expense, two full-scale replicas of the U-96 were built
21:57to capture the size and scope of Lothar Gunther Buchheim's novel.
22:01Of course, Das Boot is also an incredibly claustrophobic film
22:04that floods the crowded submarine with tension.
22:07While this adaptation isn't without a few creative liberties,
22:10it touches upon a notion that isn't always explored in World War II movies.
22:14Not all Germans were Nazi sympathizers.
22:17The German crew we center on is generally critical of Hitler
22:20and the war their government has landed them in.
22:23This puts our heroes in a difficult position
22:25as they're forced into the Battle of the Atlantic,
22:27demonstrating that war is never clear-cut.
22:461917.
22:48Co-writer and director Sam Mendes based his World War I film
22:51on stories that his grandpa Alfred used to tell him as a boy.
22:54He teamed up with acclaimed cinematographer Roger Deakins
22:58to give the film the feel of having been shot in two very long takes.
23:02While Mendes took dramatic license with the events portrayed in the film,
23:05its depiction of combat resonated with audiences and critics.
23:17As one Military Times critic put it,
23:27The one-shot style firmly ensconced the audience
23:30in the perspectives of private Schofield and Blake.
23:33You see the trenches as a young, scared kid would,
23:36ramping up the fear, terror, and loss.
23:47You don't bugger it up?
23:56This American war film was based on the memoir of Lieutenant General Hal Moore
24:00and reporter Joseph L. Galloway.
24:02Discussing his wartime experiences,
24:04Moore argued that, quote,
24:09Director Randall Wallace was thus committed to, quote,
24:11getting it right when he brought the story to the silver screen.
24:15In addition to Moore,
24:16Wallace spoke with numerous veterans of the Battle of Ia Drang,
24:19the first major clash between the U.S. Army and the North Vietnamese Army.
24:23The battle lasted three days,
24:25and Wallace's attention to realism puts us in the center of the chaos.
24:29Although there are a few notable differences between the book and film,
24:32particularly the ending,
24:34Moore ultimately felt that this drama succeeded where others had failed.
24:45Number six, Glory.
24:52Compared to World War I and World War II,
24:55Hollywood has not paid much attention to the American Civil War
24:58or the soldiers who fought in it.
25:00Glory transports its audience back to the 1860s,
25:02while also shedding a spotlight on a lesser-known chapter in this particular war.
25:06The film focuses on Colonel Robert Gould Shaw,
25:09a white Union soldier who led the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment,
25:14an African-American unit.
25:15You're a good shot, Private.
25:17Thank you, sir.
25:18Drawing inspiration from Shaw's personal letters,
25:21Glory has been praised for its honest portrayal of race relations at the time
25:24and the brutality of war.
25:26The climactic battle at Fort Wagner,
25:28despite getting some minor details wrong,
25:31is a mostly accurate account that doesn't romanticize
25:34or sugarcoat the aftermath.
25:36You should have seen us in action two days ago.
25:40We were a sight to see.
25:42Number 5.
25:43Come and See.
25:44No!
25:46No!
25:47Don't take him away!
25:48We've seen numerous movies about Nazi evil,
25:51although few have been as chillingly realistic as this Soviet drama.
25:55Taking place during the occupation of Belarus,
25:57the film follows a young boy as he's exposed to Nazi Germany's crimes against humanity.
26:02Director L.M. Klimov co-wrote the screenplay with Alish Adamovich,
26:06who also contributed to the source material,
26:08I Am From the Fiery Village.
26:10This book is comprised of first-hand accounts
26:12from survivors of the Belarusian genocide.
26:15No, they're not here!
26:18They're dead!
26:19Klimov's film is largely inspired by the Khatyn Massacre,
26:22in which 149 people,
26:25including 75 children,
26:26were burned to death.
26:28To be as faithful as possible,
26:30actual bullets were often used instead of blanks,
26:32real Nazi uniforms were worn,
26:34and the film was shot in Belarus with villagers as extras.
26:38Are you crazy?
26:40All of you crazy!
26:42You want to just kill him?
26:44Let him die just like that?
26:48Well, here I am, anonymous all right,
26:51with guys nobody really cares about.
26:53It's no secret that director Oliver Stone is a veteran,
26:55and Platoon is debatably the most personal entry in a so-called Vietnam War trilogy.
27:06Stone started writing a semi-autobiographical screenplay
27:09that would inspire Platoon not long after his tour concluded in 1968.
27:13Stone was meticulous when it came to recreating Vietnam as he remembered it,
27:17even having red dirt imported to the Philippines where filming took place.
27:26To get into the mindset of soldiers,
27:28much of the main cast underwent intense training for 30 days
27:31under the watchful eye of Dale Dye, another Vietnam veteran.
27:35After the film hit theaters,
27:37Dye recalls people telling him,
27:44It's a depiction of Vietnam that's perhaps only rivaled by Apocalypse Now.
28:01In Black Hawk Down,
28:02director Ridley Scott plunges the audience into explosive anarchy
28:06and never gives us a second to catch our breath.
28:09This exceptionally edited film chronicles the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu
28:13from the perspective of American soldiers.
28:19That being said,
28:20it doesn't draw much attention to the Malaysian or Pakistani soldiers who aided U.S. troops.
28:25Nevertheless, this adaptation of Mark Bowden's non-fiction book
28:28takes gritty realism to new levels.
28:30Scott and cinematographer Slavomir Ijak
28:33approach the U.S.-Somalia conflict with the finesse of a documentary.
28:37Perhaps the most authentic aspect of the film
28:39is the camaraderie between our central characters.
28:41Some of the cast members trained with real soldiers,
28:44creating a sense of brotherhood that shined through in the final product.
28:55In 2006, Clint Eastwood released two films about World War II.
28:59Flags of Our Fathers,
29:01which was told from the viewpoint of U.S. soldiers,
29:03and Letters from Iwo Jima,
29:05which shifted the focus to Japanese soldiers.
29:07Between the two,
29:08the latter film is the more ambitious and insightful piece.
29:16Ken Watanabe stars as General Tadamichi Kuribayashi,
29:19whose non-fiction book provided the basis for this war drama.
29:22The film remains truthful to Kuribayashi's account of the Battle of Iwo Jima
29:26and even borrows some of his exact quotes.
29:29Being an American production,
29:30you'd expect the filmmakers to take major liberties
29:33or even have the Japanese inexplicably speak English.
29:45Eastwood never takes the easy way out though,
29:47keeping his film grounded in history.
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30:18Nothing can prepare you for the horrors of war,
30:21but Saving Private Ryan might be the closest you can get without enlisting.
30:25As a matter of fact,
30:26the film's opening D-Day sequence proved so believable
30:29that some veterans experienced PTSD while watching it.
30:37Everything about the film's depiction of the Omaha beach landings rings true,
30:40from the seasickness many soldiers felt upon arriving
30:43to the relentless mayhem that ensued.
30:45Rather than storyboarding the sequence,
30:47Steven Spielberg allowed the action to naturally play out
30:50with 1,500 extras and actual amputees participating in the shoot.
30:54While that first 27 minutes is what most people discuss,
30:58the entirety of Saving Private Ryan is a lovingly crafted salute
31:02to the men who gave their lives during World War II.
31:05That's quite a view.
31:08Yes, it is.
31:10Movies that both glorify and excoriate war
31:12have been around since the beginning of film.
31:15Let us know what you consider to be the most accurate war movies
31:18in the comments below.
31:19Now look here, this isn't a victory parade, you know.
31:21Oh come to enjoy the moment.
31:24I will enjoy the moment when we reach the bridge
31:26and when we find the bridge intact.
31:28Did you enjoy this video?
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