Top 5 Overlooked War Films

With The Hurt Locker being the first war film to be awarded the Best Picture Oscar in nearly 25 years (the last war film to earn the academy’s top honour was Platoon in 1986) we count down the top 5 war films to have been overlooked and forgotten about in recent years.

5. Behind Enemy Lines (2001)

Mopey, mumbling, surfer dude Owen Wilson gets a short back and sides and comes over all “John McClane” as we are treated to a surprisingly entertaining chase movie. Set during the Bosnian War, Owen Wilson stars as Lt Chris Burnett who is shot down in enemy territory during a routine reconnaissance mission. When Wilson witnesses his copilot being shot dead in cold blood he finds himself in a race to reach the safety of the extraction zone before the slightly inept Serbian army can catch up to him. Owen isn’t completely on his own as he has the help of gravel-voiced Gene Hackman, who plays his superior officer barking instructions and encouragement over the walkie-talkie before dusting down his flight suit so he can personally “go get our boy back!”  Also watch out for Nico Bellic’s debut performance as the taciturn bad guy before going on to star in GTA IV.

Memorable scene: A brisk jog through a mine field.

As Owen Wilson continues to evade his pursuers he stumbles across an inauspicious, dilapidated train yard. When he notices a young girl ahead of him taking big, unusual steps we realise that he has walked into the middle of a trip-wire laden minefield. As a jeep of AK-47 wielding grunts screech up behind him poor Wilson has only one option:  to make a suicidal dash through the minefield.

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4. The Quiet American (2002)

The Quiet American was the second film adaptation of Graham Greene‘s bestselling novel of the same name that attempts to deal with the geo-politics of Indochina. Set in 1952 Saigon during the end of the First Indochina War, on the surface The Quiet American is a love story about the triangle that develops between a British journalist in his fifties, a young American idealist and a Vietnamese girl, but it is also deals with the political turmoil and growing American involvement that led to the Vietnam War. Michael Caine is characteristically captivating in his role as the conscientious, English journalist in this slow paced and thought provoking look at the struggles of the Vietnamese people.

Memorable Scene: The haunting final voiceover.

“They say you come to Vietnam and understand a lot in a few minutes. The rest has got to be lived. They say whatever it was you were looking for, you will find here. They say there is a ghost in every house, and if you can make peace with him, he will stay quiet.”

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3. Enemy at the Gates (2001)

Set in Stalingrad in 1942, we find Jude Law making of the most of his talent for shooting Germans between the eyes as he leads a rag tag bunch of Russian snipers against the invading German forces. Fed up with pretty boy Law popping off Nazi after Nazi, the Germans bring in their own specialist counter-sniper (Ed Harris) to pit his wits against the Communist hero within the rubble of a bombed-out city. Dismissing Russian accents as irrelevant and unimportant this tale of cat and mouse plays out with a surprisingly star studded cast including Rachel Weisz, Joseph Fiennes, Bob Hoskins and Ron Pearlman. Based very loosely on real people and events, this film is a whole lot more enjoyable than it deserves to be.

Memorable scene: Welcome to Stalingrad!

The opening scene does well to depict the horror and the hopelessness of being a Russian conscript. After being herded like cattle onto a packed train, the Russian soldiers are literally dropped off on the doorstep of the Battle for Stalingrad. With their only provisions being one rifle and one piece of ammunition to be shared between two, these soldiers are thrust onto the front line by Commissars bellowing through megaphones. Oh, and don’t think about retreating if it gets a bit much, the Russians were more than happy to cut down ‘cowards’ with their own machine gun fire.

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2. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)

The film takes place in 1805, during the Napoleonic Wars. Captain Aubrey of the British Frigate HMS Surprise, played here by Russell Crowe sporting an impressive sun bleached pony tail, is ordered to pursue the French privateer Acheron with the simple instructions to “burn, sink or take her a prize.” In between the stunning battle scenes that will leave your ears ringing we have an interesting ‘bromance’ that develops between Crowe and the ship’s doctor (a wonderfully understated Paul Bettany) that include hissy fits, domestic arguments and sullen looks. It’s nice to see that people weren’t above a bit of sulking 200 years ago. This film is beautiful in every sense of the word, from the immaculate period costumes to the fully recreated ships and the shattering and intense sounds design.

Memorable Scene: All hands down!

Out of all the movies epic battle scenes the first one is the highlight. When the crew’s young officer thinks he caught glimpse of the French ship in thick fog, Crowe snatches the telescope from his hands and peers into the mist. When staring across what appears to be empty sea we see muzzle flashes reflecting in the cloudy smog and our plucky captain realises the ‘S’ is about to hit the proverbial ‘F’. Russell drops to the deck as the wooshing sound of flying cannon balls turn into the horrific crashing of wood being splintered and smashed. And for a minute you find yourself ducking for cover and forgetting you are in the comfort of your own living room. Masterful film making.

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1. Three Kings (1999)

Hollywood’s first real attempt at the Gulf War, Three Kings wonderfully portrays the monotony, boredom and confusion of modern warfare where death happens in a split second.  George Clooney leads three U.S. soldiers with nothing better to do than to attempt to steal seized Kuwaiti gold bullion from hidden Iraqi bunkers. During their misadventures they become involved with a badly outgunned and desperate group of Iraqi Shia rebels who have risen against Saddam’s regime but were abandoned by the Coalition. Mark Wahlberg’s acting is truly stretched when asked to play a wooden, thoughtless grunt and Spike Jonze thoroughly entertains in his debut performance as the red neck hick who is paid to shoot guns for a living. The bleached-out colours and handheld cameras create a distinctive look for this story that shows the stupid things men will do when they don’t have wives and girlfriends around them to keep them in check.

Memorable Scene: Tortured by Michael Jackson.

There are too many stand out moments to mentions here; from flinchingly accurate imagery of what it’s like to be shot involving slow motion and x ray vision to hilarious flashbacks revealing how Conrad Vig spent his days before enlisting with the army. But when Wahlberg is captured and interrogated, the Iraqi torturer uses Michael Jackson as a metaphor for everything that is wrong with America. And if clip boards to the face, electricity shocks administered through the ears and being forced to drink oil wasn’t enough, you have to put up with creepy “woohoo” and “yeehee” Jacko impersonations performed in a Middle Eastern accent.

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