WARNING: This Article May Contain Spoilers
Over the last couple of years, following the global pandemic, War has been a massive talking point from all news outlets – first between Russia and Ukraine but currently it’s the war in Gaza that’s the topic of conversation. Well, as you will see from the films below – war is nothing new…
12 Strong
This is the only film in this article that’s set during my lifetime – however I won’t say that I actually remember where I was when it happened. The events taking place are that of the first retaliation following the 9/11 bombing of the World Trade Centre. The interesting thing is, it’s hard to find any information regarding Operation Task Force Dagger so I assume this was a covert operation until President Bush announced the bombings taking place on 7th October 2001. I think this is why the film feels more like it is focused on the characters than the actual conflict. Truthfully, the Americans don’t truly get into any action until more than an hour in to the film.
Pork Chop Hill
I remember studying the Korean War at A-Level but don’t remember specifically focusing on the Battle of Pork Chop Hill. Based on a book written by S.L.A Marshall, a Brigadier General but not actually part of this battle, depicted as the head of Love Company (or I Company as you’ll see written on many sites) – this film covers the first battle of Pork Chop Hill that took between 16th and 18th April. No surprise that it was the Battle that they won that they decided to commit to film. I’m actually glad that they didn’t automatically make Marshall a lead character just because the film is based on his book but he was not part of the actual combat, instead they remembered to keep the focus on Clemons. I like the fact that they also remembered to represent the desegregation of certain parts of the US Armed Forces – especially as 9.3% of soldiers killed during the Korean War were African American.
Black Hawk Down
Based on Operation Gothic Serpent, the film takes place 6 weeks after the Americans entered Somalia and centres around the Battle of Mogadishu and the two Black Hawk helicopters that were shot down. When reading up on the incident, I could only pinpoint a few names so it was unclear how accurate who and how many were on board Super Six-Four other than the Pilot Michael Durant. However, the characters we follow are those sent to create the perimeter around Six-One, so in a weird way even though the film is called Black Hawk Down, the crashes are only a small part of the film.
I was worried with the Six-One crash that they would kill everyone on board even though this isn’t what actually happened but thankfully they kept to reality with the only deaths being those of the pilots. Obviously not knowing how Six-Four actually went down – it seemed really casual the way they represented it. As far as I had understood, it was shot in a similar way to Six-One instead of just being clipped by an RPG. They even included Shughart and Gordon’s repeated requests to protect the crash site of Six-Four. Now, this might not seem important but it was a matter of two men putting their lives on the line to protect their comrades.
First They Killed My Father
Now, I covered the Vietnam War whilst doing my A-levels – however I don’t remember covering much of the Cambodian angle during this. I guess this isn’t your typical war film as it is more about the effect it had on the Cambodians and the Angkar occupation of Cambodia following the withdrawal of the Americans. This film, Angelina Jolie’s debut directorial, tells the story of Loung Ung between the ages of 5 and 7 years old under Angkar rule. You can only imagine how terrifying this all was for someone as young as Loung but you can see she tries to remain trusting, believing that Angkar would let them go home as promised. I have to admit, I have a little bit of an issue with the title because technically, they kill her sister first due to the level of work and lack of food. However, I wonder if what she meant they killed him metaphorically as he had to pretend to be someone he wasn’t to keep himself and his family alive.
Gallipoli
This film tells the story of the battle between the Turks and the Australians during World War I, a part of the war that is rarely covered when being studied in schools. The focus is on the Australian side of this battle, following the enlistment of Archy Hamilton and Frank Dunne. The battle is already on-going by the start of this film as you see other characters reading about it in the newspapers. Truthfully, actual combat doesn’t feature in this film until 30 minutes from the end. The main focus is on Archy and Frank themselves and the relationship that develops between them on their way to enlist for the Light Horse Cavalry. It also seems the majority of this is actually about the conditions the soldiers had to live and fight in rather than the conflict itself. I was unable to find how true the ending is, by that I mean if the Light Horse were sent over the top without clear understanding if they were ally markers or not – but it doesn’t change quite how emotional the ending is.
The Long, The Short and The Tall
Based on a play of the same name written by Willis Hall, this film takes place during the 1942 Malayan campaign of the Second World War. It’s hard to find if the soldiers portrayed in this play actually existed and the events of the film even took place. By that I mean whether they had come across a Japanese soldier while on training and not the fact that Malayan campaign genuinely took place. Now it takes a while before the main event happens but I love the balance of personalities that we’re introduced to until then. For example, Bamforth seems set on winding everybody up. Even more so, the arrival of the Japanese soldier changes the whole feel of the film – the jovial side fades away. What actually surprised me in the end, was that it was Bamforth who wanted to keep the Japanese soldier alive! Strangely, I like the fact that it ends up not being a happy ending for anyone.
