Future of War Movies...

[Owain Taggart]

When it comes to being historical films, on the other hand - there's plenty of scope for telling both sides. "Tora Tora Tora" comes to mind right away, as does the two Clint Eastwood films that looked at Iwo Jima from both the Japanese and American point of view (Flags of Our Fathers/Letters from Iwo Jima). The existence of those two films alone rather contradicts the idea that all modern war films are "all one-sided". You could also include the recent House of Saddam mini-series which was all from Saddam Hussein's perspective. And I'm willing to bet someone will do an OBL biographical film - possibly even a sympathetic one, and wait for the sparks to fly on that - before long.

Well, I suppose there are those, and you'd be right, although I wasn't thinking in that direction. They're still movies from a single viewpoint, each movie showing the other side. I'm thinking more in terms of a single sweeping epic featuring both sides with their own languages intact. Joyeux Noel which Kegg posted certainly is a good one along those lines, and I guess I'd have to include Gettysburg as well.

I fully admit I was wrong about there not being any modern movies showing both sides and they're more likely just few and far between, but I don't prescribe to the idea of movies having to be one-sided in order to root for heroes. The point of these movies is that they're unbiased accounts, showing faults from both sides and I don't think anybody is going to come out any more sympathetic for the enemy. And learning from an enemies' mistakes is the only way we can learn from history. More movies should be showing the big picture.

Though, I guess these days, Hollywood wouldn't go for movies with large amounts of sub-titles. These days, kids have low attention spans. I do feel however, that they give more of a sense of immersion rather than seeing someone speak english on the other side. And they're certainly better than the dubbing of voices, as I've seen lots of terrible dubbing done to Hollywood movies in French.

 

[Caliburn24]

Generation Kill is about Marines in the initial 2003 invasion of Iraq. I was Army and served in from Iraq in 2007-2009.

With that said, Generation Kill is the most accurate portrayal I have ever seen of what life is actually like for groundpounders in the modern US military.

Generation Kill was aided by having some of the actual soldiers they were portraying as technical advisers, and in one case one of the Marines was playing himself.

So yeah, it was pretty accurate.

 

[timothy]

I suppose the Naepolonic era could be used as setting for the a film, but whilst there were many battles the top two most commonly known would be the Battle of Trafalager or Warterloo

as big as those battles were they have never been made into movies though a&e did hornblower series for a while set in that time period and I believe they all so did benford cronwells sharpe's rifles series which delt with the ground pounders of that war.

 

[Starkers]

I'm still amazed they didn't somehow fund a bit budget Sharpe film when the tv show was at its height!

 

[Skywalker]

I'm still amazed they didn't somehow fund a bit budget Sharpe film when the tv show was at its height!

I wouldn't mind them doing that now, but they'd need a new Sharpe. Bean's too old for the role now. They did a couple films about his time in India, but instead of setting them in their proper time they set them after Sharpe's Waterloo with an older Sharpe and Harper being sent on a mission to India by Wellington. They were...not so good. Definitely not as good as the original telemovies.

 

[Yevetha]

Gee i would love a TV series following Blackwater mercs.

 

[John Clark]

as big as those battles were they have never been made into movies though a&e did hornblower series for a while set in that time period and I believe they all so did benford cronwells sharpe's rifles series which delt with the ground pounders of that war.

You might want to check out Waterloohttp://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066549/. It's not that recent but if you're interested in the period, I thought it was a good film
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066549/

 

[Distorted Humor]

Barry Lyndon is in the same general era of Waterloo and has some nice war bits. Actually always thought Berry Lyndon would of been a better miniseries then a movie though...

 

[MacLeod]

I suppose the Naepolonic era could be used as setting for the a film, but whilst there were many battles the top two most commonly known would be the Battle of Trafalager or Warterloo

as big as those battles were they have never been made into movies though a&e did hornblower series for a while set in that time period and I believe they all so did benford cronwells sharpe's rifles series which delt with the ground pounders of that war.

Waterloo has been made into a film

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterloo_(1970_film)

 

[MacLeod]

I suppose the Naepolonic era could be used as setting for the a film, but whilst there were many battles the top two most commonly known would be the Battle of Trafalager or Warterloo

Wait, really?

I mean I'm criminally out of touch with humanity at large, but people don't think Austerlitz and the Pyramids? Hell, Napoleon in Egypt alone is a ready-made movie, I think.

However, the fame of Napoleon himself can trump the fame of any given battle as far as production is concerned. I'm thinking of Abel Gance's silent film Napoleon here, which doesn't go past 1797 - it's all young Napoleon fear.

Well I did say the 'two' most commonly known battles from that war would be those two, of course there were many other battles but studios tend to play it safe and go with what the majority of poeple are familiar with.

If you are doing a war movie if you are basing it on a battle you tend to go for the big stakes battle. Whilst if you are merely using the events as a backdrop you can be a little freer with the story.

 

[Kegg]

^
Yes, but if you wanted to make a 'Napoleon' movie, your big battle could well be Austerlitz. Napoleon in Egypt likewise comes ready made with a campaign well tailored for filmgoing sensibilities. Waterloo can be its own film, it has been its own film, but a Napoleon film about Waterloo is a Napoleon film about the hundred days, the tail end, which is one area to cover (Downfall: Napoleon edition) but not necessarily the only one that'd interest viewers, I think.

Gee i would love a TV series following Blackwater mercs.

Erik Prince is certainly the kind of, uh, colorful personality that could really draw someone into a film.

 

[Yevetha]

Especially now that he works for foreign governments too.

Too bad for the namechange. Blackwater sounds badass.

 

[MacLeod]

^^I never said other battles wouldn't interest viewers, my point is about what the average person on the street knows about the Napoleonic Wars. Ask them to name two battles and you would most likely get Trafalager and Waterloo, then you start to move onto battles /events like The Nile, Austerlitz, Cadíz, Copenhagen etc..

 

[Distorted Humor]

^^I never said other battles wouldn't interest viewers, my point is about what the average person on the street knows about the Napoleonic Wars. Ask them to name two battles and you would most likely get Trafalager and Waterloo, then you start to move onto battles /events like The Nile, Austerlitz, Cadíz, Copenhagen etc..

I think you assume too much on how much they know, at least in the US where I hate to say it, many could not tell you when the war of 1812 started...

To make a movie or series work, you would need to get something to catch peoples attention. The three things that come to mind are Trafalger for the naval stuff, and Nile and the 100 days for land battles. Though Austerlitz or the peninsular campaign would be fun, as would a miniseries on the Duke of Wellington. I mean, "She has grown ugly, by Jove!" I want to see at some point on the small or big screen.

 

[timothy]

the best current war movie is battle la which comes out on blu ray on the 14th of this month can't wait.

 

[Kegg]

I think you assume too much on how much they know, at least in the US where I hate to say it, many could not tell you when the war of 1812 started...

True, but presumably a Napoleonic War film would be a European production or co-production.

To make a movie or series work, you would need to get something to catch peoples attention. The three things that come to mind are Trafalger for the naval stuff, and Nile and the 100 days for land battles.

Quite so, but I think Napoleon himself is also a draw. Hence Abel Gance's film, an epic which covers the less-than-iconic early years of Napoleon and gets away with it because he's Napoleon.

A movie where Napoleon shows the strategic capacity that's part of his fame - like Austerlitz - could play up that 'he's Napoleon' deal.

I guess one regrets Kubrick never made a Napoleon film, as he wanted to (the original idea for what became Barry Lyndon), but I disgress.

 

[Caliburn24]

I think one of the roadblocks to making Napoleonic era movies, at least in the USA, is that no one really knows who the heroes or villains are. Is Napoleon a good guy or a bad guy? Are the French or the British and other allies our heroes?

Napoleon lost, so naturally most of the history books paint him as a bad guy. But the reality is that if some of us were dumped back in that time period and had to pick a side to fight for, we would be hard pressed to decide which one.