War movie - Definition

A war film is any film dealing with war, usually focusing on naval, air, or land battle, but sometimes focusing instead on prisoners of war, covert operations, training, or other related subjects.

Many of the dramatic war films in the early 1940s in the United States were designed to create consensus at the expense of "the enemy". In fact, one of the conventions of the genre that developed during the period was that of a cross-section of the United States which comes together as a crack unit for the good of the country.

War films produced during the Vietnam War era tended to reflect the disillusionment of the American public towards the war. Every film made after the Vietnam War had to mention the horrors of war, and the unrealistic movies that could be seen after the Second World War would not be tolerated anymore. The last film of what can be called the pre-Vietnam style is "The Green Berets". Examples of this deep evolution include Catch-22 and M*A*S*H.

War films (like films in any genre) tend to have a number of cliches associated with them: for instance, in many 1940s and 1950s war film, a small group of men will tend to be fairly diverse ethnically, but most of the characters will not be developed much beyond their ethnicity; the officer immediately ranking the main character will tend to be both unreasonable and unyielding; almost anyone sharing personal information--especially plans for after returning home--will die shortly thereafter; and anyone acting in a cowardly or unpatriotic manner will either convert to heroism or die (or both, in quick succession).

However, other films are quasi-documentary in nature, and reflect what the screenwriters feel were the thoughts, words, and actions of the participants in a battle. The American Civil War film Gettysburg was based on actual events during the battle, including the defense of Little Round Top by Colonel Joshua Chamberlain.

Many war films have been produced with the cooperation of a nation's military forces. The United States Navy has been very cooperative since World War II in providing ships and technical guidance. However, this strategy can backfire. The German Ministry of Propaganda, in making the epic war film Kolberg in January 1945, used several divisions of soldiers as extras. Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels believed the impact of the film would offset the tactical disadvantages of the missing soldiers.

If they do not cooperate, then another country's military may assist. Many 1950s and 1960s war movies, and the Oscar-winning film Patton were shot in Spain, which had large supplies of both Allied and Axis equipment. The Napoleonic epic Waterloo was shot in Ukraine, using Soviet soldiers (and incidentally, helped scholars learn why Napoleon preferred the tactics of attacking in column). Saving Private Ryan was shot with the cooperation of the Irish army.