War > I War > World Cinema Feature Film

"Its hard to be a good soldier in a rotten war"

Advantages: excellent photography, intelligent writing, good action, thought-provoking
Disadvantages: None

Made in 1988, The Beast is a war film set in 1981 during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, following the crew of a Soviet T-62 tank that gets seperated from its unit and ends up in a barren desert valley, pursued by a group of mujahadeen warriors who are out for revenge after the tank unit mercilessly slaughtered the inhabitants of their tiny village. Indeed, the film opens with the attack on the settlement, in which one prominent village leader ...
...the behest of its unhinged commander, Daskal. The film is part anti-war film, part psychological thriller, the focus being split between Taj- the new Khan after his father and brother were brutally murdered- and his men on the one hand as they pursue the tank in the hopes of destroying it with a lone RPG, David and Goliath style, and Commander Daskal and his crew, who obey his increasingly maniacal commands out of fear. Daskal's crew consists of ...

Burning_Darkness 12.10.2009 · Read full review
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Review of The Beast (DVD)

War has 2 sides

Advantages: Great film showing the other side of war
Disadvantages: Never addresses what happened to the baker

...movie is taken from real letters written by the Japanese soldiers and shows their war. Many who know nothing about the Japanese culture of Bushido and their ideas about honour will struggle to understand many of the things the Japanese soldiers do in this film. Why they choose to fight to the death, why they choose to commit suicide rather than die, why they disobey their most senior officers orders to retreat. Westerners and most certainly Americans ...
...their culture does not promote giving your life, it promotes the idea that you live to fight another day. The Japanese soldiers of that time would also struggle to understand this concept, it would be as equally alien to them as the ideas behind Bushido were to the West. This film is well shot and looks amazing, many of its sequences are re-used in "Flags Of Our Fathers". This film is better than "Flags" as it is easy to follow and flashbacks of ...

atytyut2434 09.03.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Letters From Iwo Jima (DVD)

Life aboard a German U-Boat

Advantages: A good war film with a different perspective, a well made film, well directed
Disadvantages: At 3 hours and 20 minutes the film is quite long

...Academy Awards and an Oscar. Das Boot is a German made film and is about the German crew of a U-Boat who patrolled the Atlantic during World War 2. In most American or British World War 2 films the Germans tend to be dehumanised and looked upon as cold and evil, because Das Boot is German you get to see how normal most of the Germans really were. The characters on board the U-Boat are presented as people who are doing their military service, trying ...
...including Hitler and Churchill. Das Boot has been extremely well directed and put together by film director Wolfgang Petersen he uses certain shots in the film with great effect in helping to involve the audience. The extras in the DVD include being able to watch the film with directors commentary so you can see what Petersen was trying to achieve with certain techniques used in the film. A great effort has been made to make the film as realistic ...

gorvifal3 04.02.2003 · Read full review
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Review of Das Boot (DVD)

HITLER SENT OUT 40,000, LESS THAN 10,000 CAME BACK

Advantages: A TRUE MASTERPIECE
Disadvantages: SUBTITLES

...30,000 never returned. DAS BOOT (THE BOAT) This Film was first broadcast back in 1981 on German television as a mini series which became so popular that it has now been viewed all over the world. This mini series was cut down by almost half, to be made into a feature film (plently long at 200mins). Das Boot, The Director's cut takes you onboard a claustrophobic submarine during the mayhem of 1941 when british destroyers (ships) were getting much ...
...hear the opening music to Das Boot it always gives me goose pimples (very stimulating). .To me the music from Das Boot is as absorbing, if not more, than the famous music in Jaws the film. LANGUAGES Das Boot was filmed in German and for me that's the best format (watching with subtitles) although if you're feeling lazy you can opt for dubbed English which is done very well. DAS BOOT (SUPERBIT) I had the pleasure to watch this film at my relatives,who ...

donovan74 20.09.2006 · Read full review
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Review of Das Boot (Director's Cut) (Superbit) (DVD)

The Other Fighters

Advantages: Great script, historically accurate, outstanding acting by cast members
Disadvantages: Some scenes seem quite repetitive

Studying the reasons for Algerian independence for my history coursework, and hoping to study French and Arabic and University, this film really was great. Having read a few books on the subject, I was pleasantly surprised at how factually accurate this movie was, probably was it is held in such high esteem. It's original title is 'Indigenes' - which is what the French used to call the native population in Algeria. It starts by going into a village ...
...and fight (alongside them and the French) so that they can receive a better future. Charles de Gaulle had offered these men 'Liberte, Fraternite et egalite' - Liberty, Fraternity and Equality - if they fought alongside them. However, one can see the true reality of the situation when you see that even when they are travelling, more (and better) food is offered to the French soldiers, rather than the Indigenes. Not only that, but later on, mail to ...

sirajdatoo 03.02.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Days Of Glory (DVD)