Talk:Anti-war film

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Contents 1 Qualifications 2 Vandalism 3 Flags of Our Fathers, Anti war? 4 Saving Private Ryan is anti-war

[edit] Qualifications

How do we classify whether a film is "anti-war" in order to avoid personal bias? Shawnc 15:39, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

Any realistic war film is an "anti-war film". The entire category strikes me as unnecessary.Michael Dorosh 21:26, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

If this list was based on accuracy, South Park wouldn't be on here. User:65.185.170.172

Yes this list seems rather useless and raises the obvious question of are there "pro-war" films? Example, based on the "any realistic war film is an 'anti-war film' comment above, would that mean such movies as "Lord of the Rings" be considered pro-war? I'd say remove the list except for some very obvious "anti-war" films such as Dr. Strangelove or some other film were the writer/director has come out and said straight up this is an anti-war film as an example for a type of anti-war film. But generally this article just seems to be apart of the WikiProject Anti-War movement and lacks the unbiassed POV wikipedia claims to strive for. YesJesusLovesYou 04:51, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

This whole article is fishy... It seems that opinion constitutes which films are "anti-war" in most cases. A lot of films are not generally "anti-war" but "anti-this particular war." Flags of our Fathers is not an Anti-War film. The film clearly shows the horrors of war, but is not about criticizing America's involvement in World War II or the Pacific War. A film cannot be labeled "anti-war" simply because is shows war being bad. One could argue that The Green Berets is antiwar, for it shows the horrors of war just like any other film.Mdriver1981 03:00, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

Agreed. Some should definitely be culled but in the meantime I have added some films that are more unambiguously anti-war, such as those featuring conscientious objectors as hero characters and films with more directly polemical anti-war statements, such as Sophie Scholl: The Final Days, Boy Soldiers, Things to Come, Birdy, Diary of Anne Frank, Day the Earth Stood Still, Age of Innocence (1977), Grand Treason, etc, etc. 211.26.1.17 00:41, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

User SatoriSon, please do not roll back my changes. I was removing some less relevant films and I added a number of new oens. Can you please restate these? 210.50.60.91 02:16, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

I've added them again but I have not culled any, so that I do not risk the wrath of the editors. Seriously, though, films like Mrs Miniver, which was used in the war as propaganda, have no place on this list. 210.50.60.91 02:34, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

Fair enough, but an edit such as this one was pretty severe. I'm sorry I assumed it was vandalism, but that's how it looked on first review. I have re-removed your removal of The Bridge on the River Kwai, Children of Men, Flags of Our Fathers, Kingdom of Heaven (film), M*A*S*H (film), Mrs. Miniver (film), and Platoon (film). Perhaps further discussion of the others would be helpful. -- Satori Son 03:51, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

Thanks Satori. I won't cull anything else. I think quality rather than quantity should be the key with lists like this though but I'll let others decide as I am not even a registered Wikipedia user. My feelings are along the lines of films that are fairly blatantly anti-war, with characters who are pacifists, anti-war activists and so on are probably the best for the purposes of the list. Films that depict the full impact of war in an attempt to shock can also inadvertantly titillate an audience, thus having the opposite effect. Having said that, it is of course, it is clear to most viewers that Paths of Glory and All Quiet on the Western Front are generally polemically anti-war. By the way, I have also just added a link to an ABC Australia article about a number of new anti-war films in production. 202.138.16.55 04:40, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

I dont think this list is useless considering alot of people would probably expect it. I dont think there's such thing as a "Pro war movie", but certainly some war movies are meant to be entertainment instead of a statement on the horrors of war. Thats why Dirty dozen isn't on this list it's entertainment (I think). Yojimbo501 (talk) 22:06, 2 April 2008 (UTC)

Top Gun, Rambo: First Blood Part II, Behind Enemy Lines, 300, Black Hawk Down, Iron Eagle, Heartbreak ridge and The Hunt for Red October could all be considered "pro war" movies. Some of them are even recruiting tools for the military. Equinox137 (talk) 23:51, 10 April 2008 (UTC)

I get your point (sort of), but does wikipedia have a "pro war movie" list? And couldn't something used to get recruits be considered propaganda? Yojimbo501 (talk) 20:29, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

Possibly....yeah. Equinox137 (talk) 01:16, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Vandalism

Someone had attempted to delete the extensive list of anti-war films we had compiled. This list has now been restored but please keep an eye on the page to prevent further vandalism. 210.50.56.115 (talk) 05:19, 9 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Flags of Our Fathers, Anti war?

I want a few opinions. Is it anti war? Tell me why it is or isn't. 70.108.199.3 (talk) 15:37, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

It is not because it depicted the raising of the flag on Mount Suribachi and the Iwo Jima battle, not political criticism of World War II or war in general. It depicted war realistically, but didn't push a point of view as typical anti-war movies do. There was no political message to the movie at all like there was with Lions for Lambs, Stop-loss, and similar movies. In movies such as those, you don't have to look for any sort of message, it's there and it's plain and obvious. With a movie such as Flags of our Fathers, there's only an anti-war message if you're actively looking for one as you watch it. Equinox137 (talk) 01:30, 10 April 2008 (UTC)

I second that. The film didn’t push the anti-war type message as they typically do. --DavidD4scnrt (talk) 07:01, 10 April 2008 (UTC)

I have removed a good amount of movies on this article's list. Don't get me wrong, there have been a lot of anti-war movies and some of them have been quite good, but a lot of what was on that list didn't even remotely qualify as anti-war movie. Equinox137 (talk) 05:12, 19 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Saving Private Ryan is anti-war

To me Saving Private Ryan is a very powerful anti-war movie, because the story is about one man losing all three of his brothers in World War Two. Doesn't that sound like anti-war?

NO. There was no political message in SPR. There was no criticism, even subtly, of America's involvement in World War II or of war at all. Just because a movie that takes place during a war, shows realistic combat, and delves in the personal loss that families and soldiers endure....doesn't make the movie automatically anti-war. Same thing with Black Hawk Down. That movie (i.e. BHD) specifically goes out of its way to avoid the politics of the situation....i.e. "when the first round buzzes by your head, politics and all that shit go out the window." Hell, they even made a FPS game based on the movie. This is a distinct difference between movies such as Saving Private Ryan or Black Hawk Down and something like Casualties of War, Sir, No Sir, or Born on the Fourth of July. Equinox137 (talk) 03:20, 23 April 2008 (UTC)