Watch a Great Movie or Series and Help SWJ to Boot (Updated)
08.14.2010 at 02:25pm
Our favorites via SWJ‘s Amazon Associates Program. Buy a great DVD here and we get some pocket change to help keep the lights on. Your favorite not here? Give us the title in the comments section below and we’ll get the code and add ’em on. Help us build the SWJ “two thumbs up” movie and series list. *With a hat tip to “The Warlord Loop”. They are building a similar listing and we, of course, stole the idea.
Of course, there is no greater series of movies on insurgency/counter-insurgency than the original Star Wars trilogy 🙂
http://www.cnas.org/blogs/abumuqawama/2009/08/han-solo-was-no-vo-nguyen-giap.html
Gotta recommend “The Dancer Upstairs”:
http://is.gd/bE8Xl
Great flick showing a south American urban insurgency looking, in all but name, like Sendero Luminoso. Think “Battle of Algiers” in latin America from the cops’ point of view.
All in all, though, a pretty good lineup…
Adding both now….
Is “Zulu” the same as “Zulu Dawn”? We watched Zulu Dawn for an OPD session and it had some great lessons in leadership.
Ride with the Devil even if it has Jewel in it
The Intimate Enemy (L’enimie Intimite) a French version of Platoon set in Algeria
Cross of Iron with James Coburn
Fist Full of Dynamite
Seven Samurai
Magnificent Seven
A few favorites of mine…
Added, plus some. Could not find The Intimate Enemy at Amazon except in Region 2 format.
The Man Who Would Be King (http://www.amazon.com/Man-Who-Would-Be-King/dp/630469864X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1272001628&sr=8-1)
Hello everybody. I am new here. I am from Switzerland and would like some of my favourite movies to the list:
-Warriors (great BBC Production about Blue Helmets in Bosniain the nineties)
-The Hurt Locker
-The Last Samuarai
Regards
The Man Who Would Be King is listed.
Samurai Trilogy: Follows the life of Miyamoto Musashi, author of the Book of Five Rings. Based on the epic novel by Eiji Yoshikawa, which is considered the “Gone With the Wind” of Japan. Young and brilliant Toshiro Mifune stars.
http://www.amazon.com/Samurai-Trilogy-Box-Set-Collection/dp/B0001UZZT0
Samurai Trilogy, The Last Samuarai, The Hurt Locker and 30 Seconds Over Tokyo all added. Could not find the BBC series Warriors at Amazon.
Here are some of my favorite COIN movies:
-Duck, You Sucker! (Mexican Rev, st. James Cogburn)
-Utu (19th C. Brit COIN ops in New Zealand)
-Lost Command (France in Vietnam and Algeria)
-Go Tell The Spartans (Vietnam)
How could I forget one of the greatest COIN movies ever: “Burn!” with Marlon Brando. Kind of a riff on the Haitian revolt of Toussaint L’Ouverture and Vietnam.
March or Die, is that even available?
A propos Warriors: the film was called Peacekeepers in the US.
Sorry that I keep adding to this list piecemeal, but I just thought of two more movies:
-The Boys in Company C (an underrated COIN movie)
and
-The Four Feathers (both the 1939 and 2002 versions)
P.Lee: I think “March or Die” is available on Netflix.
For our State Dept brethren: A Good Man in Africa. Also Hotel Rwanda.
My favorite: Farewell to the King. Young Nick Nolte brings the Borneo highlanders into the waning days of WW II as his “Commanches.”
Guns at Batasi – “post-colonial” Africa Brit flick.
Added the great recommendations above. Thanks.
That was not my recommended movie but looks also ok.
My tip was “Peacekeepers” aka Warriors, with Damian Lewis. Unfortunately, it seems to be available only in a non-US Format Reg. 2).
I have some more: Green Zone, Brothers and Jarhead.
Many of these are good films.
I would add the following
Come and see
http://www.amazon.com/Come-See-Aleksey-Kravchenko/dp/B0000BWVCR/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1272193722&sr=8-1
Beaufort
http://www.amazon.com/Beaufort-Alon-Aboutboul/dp/B001A8HTYG/ref=cm_cr-mr-title
Although I’ve not seen it, “the Quiet American” is COIN related.
Inglorious Basterds?
John le Carre’s best work “The Little Drummer Girl,” a film about the Mossad penetrating a Palestinian IED cell.
“Cuba” (1979) starring Sean Connery as a “privatised” COIN adviser to Batista. (You’ll have to fast forward through about 15 minutes of the love-interest stuff, though.)
also:
“The Ugly American” starring Marlon Brando. Probably the best COIN movie ever.
“The Proposition” (2005)Directed by John Hillcoat.
From the plot blurb:
“A lawman apprehends a notorious outlaw and gives him 9 days to kill his older brother, or else they’ll execute his younger brother.”
http://www.amazon.com/Proposition-Richard-Wilson-VII/dp/B000GIW9I2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1272282540&sr=8-1
The Cruel Sea, Tora Tora Tora, The Enemy Below, Damn the Defiant, Khartoum, 55 Days at Peking, The Last Valley, Samurai Rebellion, The Bedford Incident, Seven Days in May, Lord Jim, Charlie Wilson’s War, We Were Soldiers, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (Widescreen Edition), and Star Wars The Clone Wars: The Complete Season One
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon. One of the better Indian Wars movies, and an interesting examination of the problems faced by the Army on the Frontier. All of John Ford’s “cavalry westerns” are good, but this is the best of the lot.
Great idea–here’s one
Guns of Navaronne
May I recommend Salvatore Giuliano, directed by Francesco Rosi. Some stills and links:
http://airforceamazons.blogspot.com/2009/10/counterinsurgency-on-screen.html
As far as I have seen nobody has proposed “Avatar” so far…
Two movies
Michael Collins: One of the founders of the modern Irish State. His use of intelligence sources and methods was highlighted in this movie
State of Siege (French title: Ãâ°tat de Siège):A fictionalized , somewhat anti-American story which closely follows the abduction and murder of a U.S.A.I.D. official in 1970’s Uruguay by the Tupamaros Guerilla
“Born Losers” Counter Terrorism
“Billy Jack” COIN/protecting the population
“Dark of The Sun” with Rod Taylor and Jim Brown loosely based on Colonel Mad Mike Hoare and the Belgian Congo.
Cromwell
recommend adding “The Siege of Firebase Gloria” if available and “The Lost Battalion”.
What about “Hunger”? The 2008 Steve McQueen movie about Bobby Sands’ hunger strike in N. Ireland.
SEVERAL REALLY GREAT FILMS TO BE ADDED SHOULD INCLUDE:
1. To Hell and Back/Audie Leon Murphy (One of the most visited grave sites at Arlington. Not yet 21, Audie was the most decorated soldier of WWII)
2. 84 Charlie MOPIC (Perhaps one the best small unit films of Vietnam. Recon unit in RVN
3. Go Tell the Spartans/Burt Lancaster Anti-Vietnam war movie in a military context.
4. Defiance.. True story about several brothers fighting the Nazi’s in Prussia..Great film
5. Rescue Dawn True story of US Skyraider pilot downed in Laos.
6.Hamburger Hill May of 1969/RVN
7. The Bridge Too Far..(Maybe this one is on the list..)
8 Paths of Glory/Kurt Douglas..great performance
9. Heros of Telemark/Kurt Douglas Based on true events in Norway.
10. Bridges at Toko-Ri/William Holden Korea
I believe most of these films are available through Amazon or other sources.
Please consider adding “The Gallant Hours,” a docu-drama about Admiral Halsey & the Guadalcanal campaign?
The 7th Dawn, sysnposis below. It was TV a couple of weeks ago.
http://www.tcm.com/thismonth/article.jsp?cid=161067&mainArticleId=161065
So many amazing films on your list. What about Three Kings with George Clooney and Marky Mark about Operation Desert Storm?
Some more proposals:
-The Bridge (German “Die Brücke” from 1949)
-Gandhi
-In the Valley of Elah
-Rendition
I was a little disappointed by not seeing Disney’s Operation Dumbo Drop on this list. A textbook example of COIN principles packaged with the comedic antics of Ray Liotta, Danny Glover and Dennis Leary. As a 7 year old I easily followed the guiding truths, that COIN is Elephasmaximuscentric, requires a mischievous child as a Public Affairs Officer and can be done in Hawaiian shirts.
If you all fail to see my logic on this, then can we at least agree on The Year of Living Dangerously and the documentaries, Taxi Cab to the Dark Side and Why We Fight?
Maybe I missed them among all those titles, but what about Platoon and Dogs of War? Or Attack Force Z?
Well, what about ,,300″ by Jack Snyder?
It is about the glorious defence of the Hellenic World by an elite unit from Sparta, against overwhelming Persian force, through their use of knowledge about complex terrain (Thermopylae!).
Also, I would recommend ,,Days of Wrath” (danish: Flammen and Citronen), a relatively recent (2008) Danish production about two Danish resistance fighters, who fight Nazis with methods that other freedom fighters have also employed (and that are employed by terrorists, although for vicious ends…). Based on a true story. The movie leads one to question the assumption that to fight (absolute) evil all means are justified.
Excuse me, the international title is like the danish: Flame and Citron (danish:
Flammen & Citronen).
I would add The Beast, based on the play Nanawatai by William Mastrosimone. The play has a more direct and powerful story than the movie. It is the story of a Soviet tank crew separated from their parent unit and the quest of the local mujaheddin to track them down and destroy the tank.
The Four Feathers: It is the original 1939 film that is a must-see masterpiece, as it captures the spirit of a Britain that was still an empire, Sudan a part of it, and the memory of the Mahdi still vivid. Moreover, the movie contains some very authentic location shots, including the ethnic Hedendowa Beja warriors from eastern Sudan who were greatly feared by the British troops who dubbed them “the Fuzzy-Wuzzys.” The romantic story of an officer accused of cowardice but who redeems himself in the eyes of his colleagues and his beloved through acts of extraordinary heroism is well worth seeing.
By contrast, the 2002 film and an American version made in the 1970s are dreadful. Their attempts to recreate the ethos of that distant era are oddly anachronistic, reproducing unquestioningly the colonial worldview, yet interjecting contemporary concerns such as southern Sudan. The fake location and fake Sudanese are just horrible. They arent good enough to be on this list.
Recommendation: There should be a direct link to this valuable list of films on the home page as there is for the book recommendations. As it is, you have to get to the book page to discover the page.
The following is an annotated list of suggested films on war from various countries. All can be found for sale on Amazon or for rent at Netflix
[no rental for the Turkish film Nefes yet]
Gallipoli, The Front Line Experience: This 2006 documentary is by Turkish journalist and filmmaker Tolga Ornek and narrated by Jeremy Irons and Sam Neill and has been universally praised. Its director was given an honorary medal from the Order of Australia. The film makes use of letters, diaries and film footage from all available sources, Turkish included, and shows the horrors of that battle, including not just the carnage of battle, but the terrible ravages of disease. [English and Turkish versions on the DVD]
Letters form Iwo Jima: This 2007 Clint Eastwood film was made to accompany his better know Flags of our Fathers. It is based on what is known about the Japanese soldiers from the letters they wrote home but were never sent. The commander in charge, played by Ken Wantanabe, knows that the situation is hopeless for the relatively small contingent and that his men will either be killed or kill themselves. [Japanese with English subtitles]
Days of Glory [Indigenes]: This award-winning 2006 French film follows four North African soldiers in the French army fighting to liberate France from the Germans in WWII. The prize-winning film is considered part of a broader and long overdue tribute to the forgotten troops from the French colonies that fought and died in its wars. [French with English subtitles]
Prisoner of the Mountains: This 1996 film by distinguished Russian director Sergei Bodrov tells the story of the captivity of Russian soldiers who are held hostage in a Chechen village as part of a hoped for prisoner exchange and the relationships they develop with the villagers. It also explores the frustrations of ordinary Russians that believe that their government is not working hard enough to save their sons. Note: This takes place during the first Chechen insurgency. i.e., before the jihadis stepped in. [Russian with English subtitles]
Omar Mukhtar, Lion of the Desert: In this 1981 epic by Syrian-American filmmaker Mustafa Aqqad, Anthony Quinn plays the legendary Sufi leader of a tribal resistance force that fought off the army of Fascist Italy for twenty years before he was captured and hanged. Oliver Reed plays Gen. Grazziani, the infamous “Butcher of Benghazi” and Rod Steiger is Mussolini Todays Libyan rebels carry pictures of the white-haired old man and quote him in their chants. His octogenarian son gave his blessings to the revolt against the Qadhafi regime. Omar Mukhtar was from Darna, the Western Libyan hometown of a large number of young jihadi recruits who fought in Iraq. [English]
The Message: This 1976 film by Mustafa Aqqad, the director of Omar Mukhtar also stars Anthony Quinn in the role of the Prophet Mohammeds uncle Hamza. The film epic reenacts the early days of Islam, including the battles fought by the threatened Muslims against their Meccan enemies. It is an important film for the way in which it portrays Islam from the point of view of its adherents. Many jihadi websites carried bootlegged copies of these films for download. In a cruel coincidence, director Aqqad and his daughter were killed in the bombing of an Amman, Jordan hotel by supporters of Al-Zarqawi. [English]
Mustafa: This 2008 documentary about the life of the father of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, by Can Dundar, follows the nations founder from his birth and early years in Salonica through the various battles he fought in, from the Balkans and Libya to the Dardanelles and Anatolia and then the politics of the early Republic. Ataturk is treated as having human qualities, good and bad, a fact which made this film highly controversial among the successor generation of loyalists to his secular, authoritarian ideology that are now in the political minority. [Turkish with English subtitles]
The 9th Company: This 2005 Russian film by Fyodor Bondarchuk follows a group of recently enlisted soldiers through their harsh boot camp in Uzbekistan and from there into Afghanistan, where they must endure hellish conditions and fearsome Mujahiddin during the Soviet occupation of that country. It is based on a true story from the 1980s. [Russian or English versions]
Nefes [Breath]: This 2009 film by Levent Semerci about the Turkish military centers on the countrys long-running war against the Kurdish rebel PKK. A 40-man contingent faces certain death to defend a relay station in the region of southeast Turkey bordering Iraq. While the film has been praised for its convincing realness, it is controversial due to its timing. The film deals with a considerably earlier period in the conflict and the attitudes held in those times. Unfortunately, it came out at a time when a significant number of Turks have a better understanding of the nature of the conflict and support the current Turkish governments efforts to bring a peaceful end to the war. [Turkish with English subtitles]
I will second “84 Charlie MOPIC” if it can even be found anymore, along with “Attack Force Z.”
I’m surprised “The Pacific” did not make it on the list. I would also add:
– “Master and Commander” with Russell Crowe
– “The Kingdom” with Jamie Fox
– “Bat-21” with Gene Hackman
– “Flight of the Intruder” with Danny Glover
– “Gladiator” with Russell Crowe
– “Navy SEALs” with Charlie Sheen
– “Behind Enemy Lines” with Gene Hackman