War

  • Ken Annakin – Hotel Sahara (1951)

    1951-1960ComedyKen AnnakinUnited KingdomWar

    In World War II, desert hotel proprietors Emad (Sir Peter Ustinov) and Yasmin (Yvonne De Carlo) are caught between the warring armies and have to constantly shift their political allegiance to whichever army happens to control the area.Read More »

  • Mladomir ‘Purisa’ Djordjevic – Jutro AKA The Morning (1967)

    1961-1970DramaMladomir 'Purisa' DjordjevicWarYugoslavia

    The war has ended leaving a deep trace in people. Going trough a different conflicts in the first days of peace – dealing with a former enemy’s collaborators and executing traitors – a former soldier continues with killing even in peace. So, the war goes on, a struggle within himself and with the people around him.Read More »

  • Roberto Rossellini – Viva l’Italia! (1961)

    Arthouse1961-1970ItalyRoberto RosselliniWar

    1860. Italy is divided in 8 states. But after 60 years of heroic wars, frontiers’ll soon fall, thanks to Giuseppe Garibaldi & the legendary volunteers who fought with him, known as the thousand.

    cinepassion wrote:
    The unification of Italy from Messina to Volturno, the past made flesh by Roberto Rossellini in a commemorative mood. Il Tricolore sways splendidly under the credits and then over a map of fragmented states circa 1860, a orchestral preamble concluding with a skirmish against an electric cobalt sky. Garibaldi (Renzo Ricci) is middle-aged, ginger-bearded, rheumatic, and utterly, serenely determined; before battle, he squats by the meadow to savor some local bread: “Anyone have any salt?” As the Redshirts charge uphill, the camera takes a paradoxically distant and urgent view of the clashing brigades and puffs of gunsmoke dotting the landscape — a study in long shots, a cosmic vantage.Read More »

  • Nicholas Ray – Bitter Victory (1957)

    USA1951-1960ClassicsNicholas RayWar

    Synopsis:
    In North Africa during World War II, Major David Brand is assigned to lead a British commando raid into German-held Benghazi to retrieve whatever documents they can lay their hands on at the German headquarters. His number two will be Capt. Jimmy Leith who speaks Arabic fluently and knows Benghazi well. Brand also learns that his beautiful wife Jane and Leith were lovers before the war, creating tension between the two. Brand is untested in battle and freezes at a critical moment, losing the respect of his men. After the raid, the trek back is arduous and takes its toll on the men. It also results in only one of the two senior officers surviving.Read More »

  • Wen Jiang – Guizi lai le AKA Devils on the Doorstep (2000)

    1991-2000ChinaComedyFifth Generation Chinese CinemaWarWen Jiang

    Stephen Holden in the New York Times wrote:
    [The film] belongs to that rarefied breed of antiwar movie that adopts a lofty satirical distance from its characters’ plight. By turns farcical and horrifying, it scrupulously avoids plucking heartstrings to portray the soldiers and peasants alike as paranoid fools buffeted by the shifting winds of war…While acknowledging that war is hell, it goes further to suggest it is ludicrous.Read More »

  • Tadashi Imai – Himeyuri no Tô AKA Tower of the Lilies (1953)

    1951-1960DramaJapanTadashi ImaiWar

    Quote:
    Tower of the Lilies is the true story of a group of high school girls on the island of Okinawa, who were mobilized into military service as nurses in the closing months of World War II.

    The girls, around 200 in all, were thrust into the Battle of Okinawa, one of the fiercest and bloodiest battles in the Pacific. Known as the Himeyuri Corps, they were ordered to join the medical units in large bunker caves where injured soldiers received treatment.Read More »

  • Ognjen Glavonic – Dubina dva AKA Depth Two (2016)

    2011-2020DocumentaryOgnjen GlavonicSerbiaWar

    In 2001, a mass grave was discovered in a suburb of Belgrade. Soon, more were to be found. DEPTH TWO investigates the hidden story behind these horrid discoveries, and takes us back to 1999 and the atrocities committed in Kosovo.

    Using the verbal testimonies of perpetrators and victims, DEPTH TWO unfolds like a hypnotic thriller that follows the trail of this untold massacre, in an attempt to uncover and give a voice to stories that are still intentionally buried in silence.Read More »

  • Eva Husson – Les filles du soleil (2018)

    2011-2020DramaEva HussonFranceWar

    A Kurdish female battalion prepares to take back their town from extremists.Read More »

  • Andrzej Wajda – Krajobraz po bitwie AKA Landscape After Battle (1970)

    1961-1970Andrzej WajdaArthousePolandWar

    Quote:
    Andrzej Wajda’s Krajobraz po bitwie / Landscape After the Battle was a ground-breaking film discussing the personal stories of the inmates of a WW-II camp. The film also draws inspiration from one of Poland’s most iconic paintings.

    The screenplay was mainly based on Tadeusz Borowski’s story, Bitwa pod Grunwaldem / The Battle for Grunwald, as well as, to a lesser extent, on a few other stories by the author. The authors of the script were – Andrzej Brzozowski, the co-writer of, among others, Pasażerka by Andrzej Munk and a known film documentarian, as well as Andrzej Wajda.Read More »

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