The 25 Greatest War Films
variety.comunderstanding of war in all its fear, horror, blood and compulsion, its violent pointlessness and also its need, at times, to exist.
A greatly influential silent film in the war genre, “The Big Parade,” from director King Vidor, follows an American solider named James Apperson as he is sent to France to fight in World War I.
While overseas, he falls in love with a French girl and faces head-on the horrors of trench warfare. The film, written by WWI veteran Laurence Stallings, was a commercial and critical success, setting a standard for war movies with its realistic portrayal of combat and immersive trench sequences. “The Big Parade” is not only a seminal work within its genre but an important touchstone for cinema itself. — Ethan Shanfeld Adapted from Erich Maria Remarque’s 1928 novel (the same source material that inspired Edward Berger’s 2022 Oscar winner), Lewis Milestone’s “All Quiet on the Western Front” follows young German soldiers faced with the horrors of World War I.
The film abandons any sort of romanticism in its depiction of war, instead showcasing the pointlessness, dehumanization and the brutal effect on the soldiers’ bodies and minds.
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