BrewMaster

I'm curious what everyone thinks about when we will start to see war movies (fiction or non-fiction action/dramas) about the current war in Iraq. I'm not sure how things work out usually. I wasn't alive during Vietnam so I don't know how long Hollywood gives before they start making movies about a war. What do you guys think, 10 years maybe? 5 years?

I can only think of one movie (Three Kings) about the first Gulf War and I never saw it so I don't really know what it is about. That came out in 1999, about 6-7 years after the first Gulf War.

Thoughts?

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johnnymk

I forget when "Mash" started on TV, but I think it was about the same time as the war.
There was also a movie called "Mash"

And the movie "Deerhunter" was around the same time, I think. It was awesome.

Also, "The Killing Fields" is another one that comes to mind.

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caribiner23

There's already been a couple movies about the Iraq war-- those made-for-TV movies about Jessica Lynch.

The first truly great war movie was The Big Parade, which came out in 1925. WWI, the setting of the movie, ended in 1918.

The movie M*A*S*H was released in 1970-- the Korean War ended (well, the battles stopped) in 1953. Some people believe the movie was actually a statement against the Vietnam War, which was in full force when it came out. (The TV show started in 1972.)

sizemic1

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BrewMaster

i wasn't thinking so much about made for TV movies. i was thinking of studio releases. the kinds of movies that become "classics." things like Platoon, Full Metal Jacket, and even Apocalypse Now in all it's weirdness.

And for the record, Killing Fields was about the Khmer Rough and their ethnic cleansing in Cambodia.

basically, I'm wondering how long until we "glorify" this war in movies. I love war movies and I think to a large extent WWII has been glorified in films I've seen. Not to make this too political, but since I like war films I don't know how I will respond to war films about this Iraq war given that I oppose the war. All the war films I've seen are for wars I've known only in history books which is easy to disconnect from.

caribiner23

I see your point. I don't know if this war will ever be "glorified" in that sense. In most of the movies I've seen, particularly about Vietnam, the war is secondary to the relationships between the main guys.

Plus, given the divisiveness surrounding Iraq (as opposed to the Let's Go Get 'Em" attitude surrounding WWII) I don't know if it could happen. The Vietnam movies you mentioned didn't really glorify the war or the war effort.

But I know what you mean.

Tangent..

The Big Parade carried a tremendous anti-war message, and was extremely realistic. Likewise with All Quiet On The Western Front, and we're barely out of silent film at this point. Neither of these movies glorified war in any sense.

Stalag 17 did not glorify WWII, although it did spawn a sitcom.

Butch

I seem to remember hearing that some H-Wood leading man has already signed on for a movie about the Iraq War . . . I think a Black Hawk Down type of movie about the urban fighting in Falluja or something. Maybe it was George Clooney?? There were recent articles about it . . . will search a little when I get home.

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nimj2323ck

http://uk.movies.yahoo.com/041216/242/f8p1x.html

Apparently it's Harrison Ford

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BrewMaster

maybe the silent films are the reason it was so quiet on the Western Front. ...ok, I admit that was bad...

yeah, I guess glorify is the wrong word. they made war intriguing and interesting even if they showed the horrors. You hit it on the head I think saying that it is more about the relationships of the main guys than the war effort. I loved Band Of Brothers and how it showed the relationships but it did give a good bit about the war effort. But no doubt the war effort was second to the relationships.

But even with the relationships being the focus, they are still set in war and I feel like the give some "appealing mystique" to war that isn't there in reality if that makes sense. this being the first real war that i've lived through I feel like I am gaining a new perspective that Vietnam era folks have had on Vietnam war movies.

damn that's quick. book in May and the movie probably a few years from now. I don't know if I'd be ready for that one...

johnnymk

Yes, you're right, the "Killing Fields" was about Cambodia, but I thought that there was a link to Vietnam.

And "Mash"..I never cared for Alan Alda, so I rarely watched it. I guess with the German characters, I should have realized it wasn't about Vietnam.

And I had my fill of war movies or anything related to wars. My father was in Normandy in WWII and came back with shell shock. He was in and out of Veteran's hospitals after that.

My mother's first husband died in a concentration camp in Germany after being captured as a soldier.

So to me, glorifying war is an oxymoron.

BrewMaster

that's kind of my point or at least what i am trying to wrap my mind around. i think my generation, for the most part, has been raised seeing war as somewhat overdone and fantasized because we really have not lived through a long drawn out war where soldiers are coming home torn apart or not coming home at all. the first gulf war was just not the same. now we are experiencing a real war with no definate end in sight. that is why i am worried about movies about this war. not just for the collective society, but for myself alone. i've loved war movies my whole life, but i wonder if the movies to be made about the current war in Iraq will change my mind. sure Saving Private Ryan, Band of Brothers, A Midnight Clear and tons of other movies are violent and very real looking. but I think since I wasn't alive and living through those times, it's easier to look at them as "just movies" and have very little emotional connection to them. We'll see I guess. Having Jack Ryan...I mean Harrison Ford in this movie isn't going to help things for me either...