Best War film ever

As I mentioned before, there are pro-war movies and anti-war movies.
I only see anti-war films, the others are nothing but propaganda.

Definitely, personally I agree with NWOWATCHER. Apocalypse Now should get the prize.

War Film
I'd have to say "Breaker Morant" was the best one I've ever seen...

I thought the setting in this film looked cheap, it reminded me of when I used to watch Dr. Who when I was a teenager, if there was ever an explosion it was always be in a disused quarry so that nothing got damaged.

I had the same feel about the set of Platoon.

As an anti-war movie I like "Paths of Glory".

It shows clearly the inhumanity and absurdity of war.

A war film that is worthwhile to watch would be the Finnish flick Lupaus (IMDB listing). It is a war film with a difference. There are plenty of films about front line soldiers and their heroism and there are even some films about the homefront, but very few indeed detail the role of auxiliary services in war. This film depicts the trials and tribulations of some female Lotta Svärd volunteers during the wars between Finland and the Soviet Union (The Winter War, 1939-1940, and the Continuation War 1941-1944). The girls serve in different roles and face different hardships and dangers to which the Lottas were exposed. Women are allowed more emotions than men and thus this film is more moving than most other war stories. It really reminded me of the high price Finland had to pay for its freedom.

FYI (with some thanks to Wikipedia)

The Lotta Svärd organisation was a paramilitary movement that originated in Finland at the end of WWI and spread to Sweden, Denmark and Estonia. The organisation was made up of female volunteers that wanted to serve their country by suporting the armed forces in a non-combatant role. By 1944 the Finnish Lotta Svärd counted 242 000 volunteers, the largest voluntary auxiliary organisation in the world, while the total population of Finland was under four million. During World War II some 100 000 men whose jobs were taken over by Lottas, were freed for military service. The Lottas worked in hospitals, air-raid warning posts, mail delivery, morgues, transport and other auxiliary tasks in the armed forces. The Lotta Svärd organisation was considered so important for the Finnish war effort that the Soviets made the dissolution of the organisation a special point in the armistice agreement.

"Platoon"

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This anti-war movie is one of my favourite films.
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One of the undisputed masterpieces of cinema history, La Grande illusion is a film of enduring popularity and one of the most powerful anti-war films of the Twentieth century. It stands beside Jean Renoir's other triumph, La Regle du jeu, as one of the all-time great French films.
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http://frenchfilms.topcities.com/nf_La_grande_illusion_rev.html

Red Badge of Courage...starring Audie Murphy
All quiet on the Western Front
To Hell and Back,also starring Audie Murphy.

All 3 of those movies were well written,well directed,and told a good story.

Having served in combat,I dont think any movie can actually show with any degree of accuracy the noise,smoke,smell,fear,and confusion that actually exists in combat.

^
From a,thankfully,non-combatens POV,the first 30mins of Saving Private Ryan scared the hell out of me.

Paaskynen -- thanx for that information on the Lotta Svërd movement. I must admit, shamefacedly, I knew nothing whatever about it. Learned something new today and that's always to the good.

My grandfather survived Omaha Beach,and he said that the first 30 minutes of Private Ryan were so close to real it scared him.

But even he said that those scenes werent very close to the horror he saw.
He did say that if they cold have replicated the smell of the dead and dying,and the smell of the explosions and the powder,it would have been much closer.

Not having seen 'Saving Private Ryan', was it a war film or an anti-war film?

I might have answered this thread already with some italian films about war - sorry for repeats.

Gillo Pontecorvo's Burn!
Pontecorvo's Battle of Algiers
Rossellini's Open City
Rossellini's General della Rovere
Taviani Brothers, Night of the Shooting Stars

There are many other films about war that have affected me, but they're not all right at the tip of my tongue.

How about "Ran?"

Best war film ever? My complaint about "best lists" is that it depends on what you want to see about war or any other topic. Also, I think that most responses will be anti-war choices (which is fine by me).

My best: Gallipolli

Das Boot

i also liked gallipoli and merry christmas mr. lawrence

Often I thought "Das Boot" is the best war movie of all time and it has an anti-war bent to it. As far as documentaries, it's not a theatrical release but the PBS special on the battles and sinking of the Bismark is outstanding. The English movie "Sink the Bismark" is also excellent.

If Hollywood remade it, don't you think they would find some way of making the US instrumental in sinking the Bismark? It would be fun to think of ways they could get away with it. Like the torpedoes were manufactured in America.

I just saw The Lost Batallion (IMDB listing) and, while it is no contender for the title, it was an entertaining enough reenactment of historical bravery (And I understand it to be a remake too).

That is a TV movie but I guess since I mentioned the Bismark documentary, it's not out-of-the-ordinary that a TV film can be every bit as good if not better than the contemporary Hollywood theatrical output. Look at HBO films -- really top notch actors, scripts and production values. I could make an easy list of ten from the past several years that will stand up against theatrical releases with fireworks. "Angels in America" was the best film of the year even over "The Return of the King," as much as I liked the LOTR trilogy.