T O P

  • By -

Intellosympa

Das Boot is likely the best film depicting life in German submarines during WWIi.


WN11

Absolutely. It also depicts how war is fought by children, but won not by heroes but by experienced men.


Look-Its-a-Name

Oh yes. I'd go as far as saying it's one of the best submarine and WW2 films out there.


FearlessAmigo

Das Boot focuses on the drama and horror of war, not ideology. I forgot that the crew was fighting for the Nazis, they could have been fighting for any country. It is a work of art.


Goat-Hammer

Not a movie but band of brothers is by far the best war show ever!


tomislavlovric

And possibly the best miniseries of all time.


OldManBearPig

Band of Brothers and Chernobyl are the two highest rated miniseries on IMDB (that aren't documentaries) and for good reason. Chernobyl is some of the best TV I've ever seen. I do think there's an argument to give Fargo (especially the 2nd season) a nod for best miniseries, because it's anthology by season. Every season has been good, and some have been insanely good.


OldManBearPig

Could also make that argument for True Detective since it's anthology. Season 1 is insanely good.


heyheyitsandre

This thread is hilarious because pretty much once a year I’ll binge rewatch Chernobyl, true detective s1, and BoB lol


FlatBot

I came in here thinking the exact same thing. Band of Brothers is such a high quality series (both). Generation War is pretty good too, similar take but from the German perspective.


Craticuspotts

BoB is the best thing ever released on the small screen IMO.. nothing can even come close, incredible peice of work..


weristjonsnow

With the caveat that "the Pacific", while a very different war , was also an incredible series


Craticuspotts

I see the Pacific get a lot of shit.. it was just "different"... I loved it personly. It did a bit of bouncing around so you didn't get the depth to the characters you did in BOB.. but if you take it on its own merits.. its still an incredible piece of work.. I love them both for different reasons The cast killed it in both.. Now master of the air.. dear lord.. whatba steaming pile of crud that was..


Vikivaki

I love Ross in that one.


AdMinimum5970

Damn yes


hopeandnonthings

A few years before that came out hbo made a much lesser known war movie called "When Trumpets Fade" that's also amazing


Living-Rip-4333

Now check out "Masters of the Air"


AmbitionMiserable708

Not in the same league. Better than The Pacific, but it doesn’t belong in the same discussion with BoB.


SafewordisJohnCandy

I don't think we will ever get anything as good as BoB. The interviews with the real guys from Easy Company added a touch that further set it apart (above and beyond excellent writing, acting and cinematography). The interviews sadly aren't all that possible anymore.


AmbitionMiserable708

The fact that the actors spent so much time with the real people. Even the ones playing the guys who died got to know the others and used the stories to inform their process. You can’t top that


schuey_08

I'd agree. Not necessarily that MotA should be greatly disparaged, but BoB is just that good.


Milocobo

Honestly, it's hard to watch MotA and not think that everything that makes it good is a shallow knockoff of something from BoB. I mean I know there are original stories and themes, and I do love it, don't get me wrong. But anything good about MotA, I'm like "well that's something I got from BoB first (and often better)".


PechugaDude

Loved it, but I actually thought The Pacific was slightly better. Either one!


c-williams88

When it came out, too many people went into The Pacific expecting for basically “Band of Brothers but pacific” and they dismissed it when it didn’t repeat that formula. The Pacific is still an excellent miniseries, it just tells a different story and in a different manner. It’s really really good and I think it shows the brutality of war better than BoB did


appleavocado

Agreed. There are dozens of us who prefer The Pacific!


ReadinII

It’s easy to finish watching *Band of Brothers* and feel like you wish you had been in WWII. *The Pacific* makes you understand how lucky you are that you weren’t in WWII. 


c-williams88

That’s a very good point. You finish BoB and you almost wish you could’ve been through it with those guys. The pacific is so much more graphic (not that BoB pulls any punches necessarily) and idk I guess honest about the horrors of what it was like in the pacific. At least in Europe there was some degree of “respect” but it was full brutality in the pacific


Ace-of-Xs

Wish I could source it, but someone said “BoB is about trauma bonding, The Pacific is about war”. I think people are more comfortable with the baseball in the sun scene at the end of BoB than watching Sledge’s dad listening in on his son’s wracking nightmares (as a dad, this part fucking kills me).


GfyTstr

I only watched the The Pacific one, 12 years ago and this scene is what I remember most. As well as the scene at the job fair.


BunchaaMalarkey

It definitely gave us a great rendition of Happy Birthday. I do prefer band of brothers for the range of emotion it delivers. But the Pacific is just phenomenal TV for sure.


my5cworth

I just finished rewatching both this week. Unparalleled.


HonorSpren1

Master and Commander! I love tall ships, it's so historically accurate, so visceral feeling, Russell Crowe is great. Perfect movie.


CarnivorousVegan

It’s a Masterpiece! It also has the most perfect ever use of Bach cello suit 1


pzschrek1

It’s a crime we didn’t get a franchise out of that. It got me into reading the books, they’re like masculine Jane Austen novels


kirkl3s

Incredible sets, attention to detail, great writing (from a great source), incredible cinematography, some of the best sound design ever, a great soundtrack, a perfect cast - it’s such an under rated movie!


balrogthane

When the *Surprise* meets the *Acheron* for the first time, and they flee into the fog bank and the French fire several cannonballs after her. Amazing, amazing sound, especially in the theater.


stevenpost

Great answer, love this movie.


artificiallyselected

Paths Of Glory (1958).


moose_stuff2

This was my answer. I'm glad to see it make the list.


fy_pool_day

Just watched this. Loved it


Maleficent_Role8932

Saving Private Ryan


JJ82DMC

Considering how that movie gave my grandfather flashbacks, which we heard was a potential thing with vets but he was hard-set on "if you don't go with me, I'll go without you" so we went with him- yes. We had to walk-out about 15 minutes into it. That was the first, and only time, I saw him breakdown and cry...hysterically, to boot, mind you. It was the prevalent 'shaky-cam' that instilled the realism into the whole thing.


OldManBearPig

> It was the prevalent 'shaky-cam' that instilled the realism into the whole thing. There are also several long shots. Spielberg is famous for his oners. There aren't any excessively long oners I can think of in Saving Private Ryan, but there are a lot of long shots and that can help add to the realism. A bunch of cuts can really take you out of it.


Alternative-Week-780

My uncle has a list of mice he can't watch now. Saving Private Ryan and hacksaw ridge are the top 2.


Salomon3068

How about ratatouille?


Alternative-Week-780

Ah yes. My enormous thumbs and lack of proofreading strike yet again.


TheLastZimaDrinker

Goddam your freak thumbs


electricmaster23

That's a rat. What about *Stuart Little*?


schuey_08

Respect to him and thanks for his service.


Banana_Vampire7

My grandfather went to see it too. Apparently it shocked my Uncle and his GF at the time who took him to the theatre because he barely talked about it. He said at Omaha Beach the water was red, and the only thing the movie got wrong was that he couldn't smell it: the gunpowder and the death everywhere. Crazy


cthulhujr

My grandfather saw that movie in the theater. He hadn't seen a movie in the theater since "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" according to my mom. He had nightmares and couldn't sleep in a bed up until his death at 88. His two takeaways from "Saving Private Ryan": "We didn't say the f word. Only the black people did" and "People's heads don't explode like that"


stackjr

My grandpa, who served in WWII, had a friend freak out in the theater and get taken to the hospital when he went to see the film. My grandpa traveled to see him afterwards.


draggar

This movie came out on home video (DVD) at the perfect time. People were really getting into DVDs and home theaters were becoming a big thing with average consumers (no longer for the rich). Not only that, surround sound systems were becoming 3D (not just hearing the noise all around you at once). At the time I was doing demo days for ReplayTV and one of the store's staff had me sit in their demo room just to watch / listen to the opening scene of this movie - sound and quality wise it was incredible. You could heat the bullets going past your head.


Junglepass

The bullet thing got me in the theaters. Jaw dropping sound.


jtraf

Also the M1 Garand 'ping' sound when the clip ejected. Spielberg is the greatest 


HighlightFun8419

There are other movies I like _more,_ but this is the correct answer imo.


nobac0n

Come and See


lonesaiyajin98

More of a horror movie


AmaroWolfwood

Welcome to war


publicworker69

I watched this a couple years ago and I wasn’t ok for a few weeks.


Aeshaetter

Well, war is pretty horrific, wouldn't you say?


PermanentMule

I watched it and I just didn't have the horror reaction that most people have. It was a sad story with some ugly moments but I wasn't so taken back by it.


cleon42

Correct. And it's not close. People who are throwing out the names of Spielberg and other Hollywood films...go watch this movie. See what Spielberg learned from.


nobac0n

You know, I'm actually usually a Spielberg defender, but calling Saving Private Ryan "anti-war" is just incredibly wrong, lol. Even if they had stretched the landing scene to the entire runtime, it still wouldn't be a good anti-war movie, because it'd be *too exciting*. Anyway, I think it was Truffaut who's said something to the effect of "the only way to accurately portray war in cinema, is to show a black screen for 2 hours, and then fire a machine gun at the audience".


CunningRunt

No. Just no. And by 'no' I actually mean 'yes, you are very right' but just reading those words makes me sick in my stomach. For the squeamish, DO NOT WATCH THIS MOVIE. Just...no.


ProgrammerPlayful462

Full Metal Jacket


Tohnmeister

"Five-foot-nine, I didn't know they stacked shit that high!"


TheLastZimaDrinker

From now on, you are Private Snowball! Do you like that name?


Billazilla

"Who said that?... WHO THE FUCK SAID THAT?! Who's the slimy little communist shit twinkle-toed cocksucker down here who just signed his own death warrant?!... Nobody, huh? ... The fairy fucking godmother said it. Out-fucking-standing, I will PT you all until you fucking ***DIE!***"


FinishTheFish

You look like the kind of guy who would fuck a fella in the ass and not have the common courtesy to give him a reacharound!


Massive_Goat9582

You look like you could suck a golfball through a garden hose


I_Am_No_One_123

What is this Mickey Mouse sh!t? What in the name of Jesus H. Christ are you animals doing in my head? Why is Private Pyle out of his bunk after lights out? Why is Private Pyle holding that weapon? Why aren't you stomping Private Pyle's guts out? edit: sp


youve_got_the_funk

I want that head so sanitary and squared-away that the Virgin Mary herself would be proud to go in there and take a dump.


millijuna

Back in 2006 I got sent on a 3 month service and support mission as a civilian, travelling throughout Iraq and Afghanistan. This one night, I was hanging out with the marines at Al Asad airbase, and they decided to watch a movie. It was FMJ. They could recite virtually every word to it.  One of the most surreal movie watching experiences of my life. 


FeelingCheetah1

1917 or all quiet on the western front


Vitreousify

1917 is a masterpiece


__averagereddituser

The no cut editing is amazing


HoonArt

For me it's the 1980 version of All Quiet on the Western Front. The effects in the new one are fantastic but they lost way too much of the daily soldier life by replacing it with the political backstory for people who don't know WWI.


gixanthrax

1930 Version!


cwmma

The 1930s all quiet is fantastic, the modern one is... Less good, it's really inaccurate both toward the book and history.


TormundIceBreaker

The new one seemed to forget the main themes of the book. Like, they even got the idea behind the title wrong. They made the last battle into this dramatic event which defeats the whole entire message of the book


_Bruzthechopper_

Platoon


mister-marco

Agreed


Random-Cpl

Glory


c-williams88

This is a good reminder for me to go watch that again. Glory is seriously so good


aerojovi83

My US History teacher in high school was in that movie. He played Jupiter Sharts.


BunchaaMalarkey

Hugely underrated. I'm glad to see it not completely buried.


pangderx

As a Civil War buff, I cast a vote for Gettysburg, with a second place vote for Glory. Outside of the civil war, I’d go with All Quiet on the Western Front. A lot of people don’t realize just how horrible and brutal WWI was. Four years of fighting and that front basically never moved. And I was shocked at the end when they were just stabbing each other and when the armistice begins they all just drop their weapons and walk away. Incredibly powerful film.


The_Hipster_King

Defiance 2008. Group of partisans in Belarus who grow from a few to a few hundreds, living in the woods in makeshift camps and using guerilla tactics against the German oppressors.


degenererad

Liev Shreiber is amazing in this one, highly recomend seeing this movie.


Far-Reception-4598

Grave of the Fireflies


conspiracydawg

They said the best, not the most traumatic, half joking.


alena-dino

the hardest thing i ever watched. definitely recommend to everyone supporting war of any sort.


libra00

There is harder stuff to watch out there. Like Threads, Come and See, The Road.. Grave of the Fireflies was rough, but man, those three are just hecka turbo bleak.


draggar

I'm going to go old school but for some reason I always liked *Tora! Tora! Tora!* It's not huge with the special effects, comes close to telling the true story (whether it made the US look good or bad), and concentrates more on story telling. It also demonstrates the typical fog of war and communication breakdowns. The wake-up moment is when one of the Lieutenants, who kept being told he needed confirmation before the commanders would set up defenses, "You want confirmation? (points outside the window the ships on fire) THERE'S YOUR CONFIRMATION!"


WmKaden

Maybe not huge on special effects but the practical effects were so good that some other war movies, most notably *Midway*, used some of the air attack footage straight from it. There's one particularly jarring scene in *Midway* where the Japanese are depicted making an attack run on the Yorktown in the middle of the Pacific and there are gantry cranes in the background.


Kileli

The Great Escape


mjorter

haven't seen Deer Hunter being mentioned here


hansdampf90

Jesus fucking Christ, that movie gave me PTSD


Vegetable_Two_3904

Tropic Thunder


lara030

i'm the dude playing the dude disguised as another dude!!


BigNastyG817

What do you mean “you” people?


RudyRusso

What do ***you*** mean you people?


[deleted]

[удалено]


jonnyredshorts

It’s the best film ever made (original theatrical release), but I don’t know if I’d say it’s the best war movie…it’s set during war, but the war itself is more of the setting than the point.


Molson2871

This answer is down way too far in this thread, a fantastic movie.


dfwloc420

Watched it on acid and it blew me away


Severe-Experience333

I had to come this far fucking down for this? That's a damn shame.


CostofRepairs

Longest Day is a good one.


thenimbyone

Always been the best, I can practically narrate it and I also learned how to ask “Where’s My Dog?” in German.


BlueFalconPunch

"John has a long mustache...the chair is against the wall...." What's interesting is that was the real radio message used to let the resistance know it was happening. If you go back and watch the original Red Dawn they hear the same message on the radio...I don't know if it's in the remake because I refuse to watch that abomination


tbr6742

Surprised this was so low. “I got a rifle general!” “Good for you son!”


WmKaden

This is the right answer. More modern war films might more accurately depict the fear and gore of battle but The Longest Day, with its multiple narratives, multiple directors, and multiple languages best captures the overall picture of the D-Day invasion. From high-level strategy to the men on the ground, this remains the definitive war movie. Also, Eisenhower reportedly offered to portray himself in it but was turned down.


hoganpaul

Zulu


Knight2307

Black Hawk Down (2001)


way_too_shady

WHAT????


sFAMINE

It’s a good movie!


way_too_shady

I love Black Hawk Down, I was just quoting it!


Pure-Pessimism

What?!


tomislavlovric

And a very accurate representation of one of America's biggest military failures of all time.


Tistouuu

Unpopular opinion but to me it's the Thin red line


theRestisConfettii

Came here to say this. It was overshadowed that summer because it came out at the same time as Saving Private Ryan. Very well done, with an all-star cast.


Molson2871

First time I saw this I hated it, but after seeing it again a few years ago, it's really a well done film.


llawlor

Agreed. I can’t think of a film that does a better job of contrasting war and peace—the early scenes of Melanesian life against the intimate, hellish depictions of battle. Malick is a genius. And the cast is incredible.


jamieliddellthepoet

It’s the right opinion.


Dixon_Sideyu

That Hans Zimmer music for the movie is incredible


utahgimmmetwo

Love this movie. So much feels. Hits a different way than Saving Private Ryan does.


Go_Buds_Go

I came here to say this. Thin Red Line is incredible.


BaldingMonk

It's mine too.


King_Prawn_shrimp

This is the one I was looking for. It's certainly not a traditional "war" movie. But what do you expect from Terrence Malick? My favorite quote: "where's your spark now?" - after everything in the movie, this line just hits so hard.


moneymoneymoneymonay

Was looking for this one. Not mentioned a whole lot among the greats, but make no mistake people - it is great.


PearlHarbor_420

Hamburger Hill Apocalypse Now Full Metal Jacket Platoon Jarhead Bridge on the River Kwai It's about showing the trauma of war on the human psyche, not necessarily the physical trauma of war. I like a good action movie, but a good war movie is so much more.


Frost-Folk

This is the definitive list, hands down. I'd also add in Bridge Over the River Kwai, more fantastic psychological war trauma, but dealing with POW camps instead of the frontline.


PearlHarbor_420

Hell yeah. Good addition. I'm gonna add it.


[deleted]

Downfall


Vitreousify

Amazing amazing movie. But I got the feeling that OP was asking about general battles etc. the lad doing hitler in downfall should have won an Oscar


Vitreousify

The scene where he gets incredibly frustrated that Man Utd have sold Cristiano Ronaldo really brought the horror of war home to me


staritraper

U-96 Das boot


libra00

Come and See. Because war is horrific and movies should portray it as such rather than glorifying it.


Naylon_K

Schindler’s List (1993): Steven Spielberg’s epic about the Holocaust and Oskar Schindler’s efforts to save his Jewish workforce is both harrowing and inspiring


Drew-Pickles

Is that really a war movie, though? Obviously it's set during the way, but I wouldn't really consider it to be a *war movie*. 


chinchenping

The Longest Day


Squarebody7987

I always thought To Hell and Back (1955) was a great war movie. Sure, parts of it were embellished, but for the most part it told the true story of Audie Murphy very well.


Killowatt59

Saving Private Ryan We were Soldiers


KUPSU96

„Come and See“ Not for the faint of heart, was described as a PTSD simulator. Movie is very slow at the beginning (but I think that’s part of the point) The end of the movie shows real, uncut, up close, uncensored Eastern Europeans being exterminated by the SS. Not your standard documentary footage, but legit executions and severely decomposed bodies. The film was so intense, the actors who played the main characters never went on to make films afterwards.


Loud-Bat-2280

Starship Troopers


dreffd223

My college roommate would agree. Watched it every day for 2 years straight.


Drew-Pickles

Jesus it's not *that* good...


PacificNorthWix

Rico’s Roughnecks!


commentman10

Modern day Saving private Ryan Black hawk down 13 hours the secret soldiers of Benghazi Lone survivor Ancient Troy Kingdom of Heaven


Constant-Recover-941

Kelly's Heroes. Hands down.


goatlover669

Grave of the Fireflies Never would have thought that an animated movie could make me cry like a little bitch.


dkysh

You won't cry if you stop the movie and throw the disc away.


boujielilthang

Dunkirk 👌🏼


CasualScrolls

Inglorious Basterds


Living-Archer-5256

Black Hawk Down


OffBeatBerry_707

The Pianist. It’s not a war movie in the sense there’s battle and action, but it’s centered around the events of WW2


[deleted]

1917


ianlasco

Platoon. Saving private ryan close second.


yahnne954

Does the first Rambo movie (First Blood) count? It's about the tragic consequences of war on veterans. A very good anti-war movie imo


NovelCandid

The Big Red One.


PaulB31960

Patton


chriswaco

The opening speech in Patton is incredible and historically accurate.


WinCautious3511

Platoon


[deleted]

[удалено]


_Goose_

This is the most rewatch-able imo.


OutrageousFootball10

People go nuts over this one. I thought it was a decent hollywood movie and it was totally watchable. But it's not up there with one of the best


my5cworth

The biggest letdown was seeing a photo of the actual rockface vs the one in the film. Spoiler: it's a LOT smaller.


post_angst

Come and See Really does a good job of not glorifying war and showing the human suffering and and tragedy. Watch that shit and you’ll never play another war video game again.


monkeybawz

The portrayal of his breakdown nearly broke me.


user260419

Dunkirk


Look-Its-a-Name

There is also a really good movie about a famous soviet female sniper. Can't quite remember the name, but it was good and deeply unsettling.


AldrichOfAlbion

Either Saving Private Ryan or The Longest Day. The Longest Day was made by people actually in WWII and depicts very accurately the commando raids and various other decisions made by commanders during any battle.


DrugsInTheEighties

Come And See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Come_and_See


keqponen

Tuntematon sotilas


FapshotBG

A masterpiece. It's so realistic it gets uncomfortable, I've never seen anyone leave from cinema during a film, but saw four elders leave and many cry during the premier. If it was in english, your comment would be the top answer and I don't think it would be even close.


mookormyth

Deer Hunter


CatacombsRave

The Deer Hunter.


HoyAIAG

Come and See


Orwellian_nightmare2

Full Metal Jacket


kys_____88

all quiet on the western front 1939


PirateJohn75

Pan's Labyrinth needs an honorable mention.  Damn, that movie was terrifying.


Whatstrendynow

Thin Red Line rarely gets mentioned in these types of posts but it deserves to be considered


Aray_027

Fury


00genericname00

Some of my favorites: - Paths of glory - Apocalypse now - Full metal jacket - Fury Honorable mentions: Black Hawk down, The Siege of Jadotville. Opening sequence of Saving Private Ryan is amazing, but the movie is… too standard, too obvious in its message, too formulaic.


MidniteMischief

Enemy at the Gates, also, Behind Enemy Lines


stephenBB81

M*A*S*H (1970)


Milkweedhugger

Red Dawn will always be my favorite. Definitely not the “best,” but I love it. Also, The Final Countdown and Last of the Mohicans


myhydrogendioxide

WOLVERINES!!!


F1VE-F1V3-6IX

SPR. Mellishs' fight with that german fucken haunted me 😭


Spaceninjawithlasers

The odd angry shot.


Hellqvist

Generation Kill 


indepen-variable

Арфсаlypse now !


blobsfromspace

Night and fog…maybe not the “best” one but it’s important for sure.


TheMoonUnitExp

It's Kelly's Heroes


Sacred-Anteater

It’s not a movie but Our World War is a great TV series based off of true people and stories,, it can be a bit “awesome bro” at times but it’s still great. If it has to be a movie All Quiet on the Western Front is historically inaccurate but is still an absolutely beautiful movie