The 1990s was a golden generation for the blockbuster war flick. Spielberg brought us the terror-filled Saving Private Ryan and the poignant Schindler’s List, Mel Gibson starred in the English-hating Braveheart, while Roberto Benigni and Terrence Malick delivered Life is Beautiful and The Thin Red Line respectively.
While the tide seemed to settle for the genre somewhat in the 2000s, it was arguably the era of the underrated military action movie, and with that came some truly undervalued features that have never really received the credit they deserve. Here are the most underrated war films of the 2000s…
10 Downfall
Downfall is an Oscar-nominated German film that portrays the fall of Hitler and all the preceding chaos that led to it. Directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel, the film highlights the last days of Hitler’s light while showcasing the betrayals of his military commanders, his relationship with his mistress and his followers, and the inevitable defeat of the Nazis to the Soviet Red Army in the battle of Berlin.
The motion picture aims to show Hitler as a multidimensional human who goes from unwavering faith and optimism in winning the battle to absolute misery to the point of self-destruction. What makes this movie powerful is its success in making you relate to him as a human being which makes his acts even more terrifying and disturbing. A film with great scope, historical accuracy, and depth, Downfall manages to depict the nuances of evil with absolute perfection. On top of that, Bruno Ganz gives a stunning performance as Adolf Hitler.
9 Hotel Rwanda
Hotel Rwanda is a powerful film by Terry George that highlights the conflict between the Hutus and the Tutsis. Set in 1994, the motion picture narrates the point in history where the Hutu militia were against Tutsis, initiating ethnic cleansing against the Tutsi minority. In the face of extreme atrocities, an ordinary Hutu hotel manager goes over and beyond to aid the refugees. He tries his best to shelter them in his hotel but when violence escalates into a genocide, matters become heartbreaking and difficult.
The thrice Oscar nominated film was inspired by the true story of Paul Rusesabagina, who helped provide shelter for refugees in Hôtel des Mille Collines. Much like Schindler’s List, this film highlights the incredible influence one can have on people if they simply choose to care enough, and Don Cheadle gives an outstanding performance as Paul. Beautifully executed through its beautiful mix of poeticism and realism, Hotel Rwanda, while acclaimed at the time, is now a less-discussed underrated gem with historic worth.
8 Lebanon
The 1982 Lebanon War between the Lebanese and the Israelis claimed the lives of around 3,000 people and was the subject of Samuel Maoz’s 2009 war picture, Lebanon. The film follows a group of Israeli tank-operating soldiers who are confined to their armored vehicle in grueling heat. Under increasingly testing circumstances, their frustrations begin to surface. Lebanon won the prestigious Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival, the highest award any Israeli film had received up to that point, though the Israeli government itself protested the film.
7 Letters from Iwo Jima
Director Clint Eastwood’s love affair with depicting the valiant underdog continued with Letters from Iwo Jima, his counter-argument sequel to Flags of Our Fathers, which offered the American perspective of the bloody battle that took place on the Japanese island of Iwo Jima, during February and March 1945. Letters from Iwo Jima depicts this World War II battle from the Axis perspective of Japan.
The film is a moving illustration of war from the eyes of men who valued their honor, valor, and patriotism above all else, yet were cruelly led like lambs to the slaughter by the Japanese high command. With casualties surpassing 30,000, the battle became one of the most gruesome of WWII.
6 Atonement
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James McAvoy stars alongside Keira Knightley in Joe Wright’s Atonement, based on the Ian McEwan novel of the same name. Initially set pre-WWII in 1935, the British romantic drama concerns the love story of Cecilia Tallis (Knightley) and Robbie Turner (MacAvoy), and the misinterpretation of Cecilia’s meddling younger sister, Briony (Saoirse Ronan), which subsequently leads to Robbie being arrested and falsely convicted of rape.
The film fast-forwards several years to Robbie’s eventual release, and time-serving as a soldier in WWII. Atonement is beautifully captured through the lens of cinematographer, Seamus McGarvey, and it is certainly a romantic war movie for the ages.
5 The Boy in The Striped Pajamas
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas tells the delicate story of a budding friendship between two boys who are joined by their shared innocence in a cruel world. Young Bruno has to move with his family from Berlin to Poland where his father is commander over a concentration camp for the Jews. Isolated and lonely, Bruno develops a friendship with Shmuel, a Jewish boy, but the only thing that separates them is a wire fence that threatens their closeness.
The film was directed and co-written by Mark Herman and was based on the novel by the same name by John Boyne. The on-screen adaptation mirrors humanity vs brutality which truly shines a light on the contrasting nature of the world. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is a moving piece that’s going to test your emotional mettle.
4 Defiance
Mentos and Coke, alcohol and antibiotics, gas and a naked flame — all combinations that seem to mix better than Daniel Craig and accents. In Edward Zwick’s 2008 film Defiance, Craig plays Tuvia Bielski a Jewish Belorussian militant. Based on a remarkable true story, the film follows the Bielski brothers who form a militia in order to fend off the Nazi bombardment of Eastern Europe. Seeking refuge in a forest, the Jewish partisans begin to shelter a growing number of those fleeing persecution.
As the brothers and their recruits seek to keep themselves and the increasingly populated camp safe from Nazi insurgents, they also have to contend with internal conflict between their own and the freezing elements of the winter. While Craig’s Eastern European accent certainly does contain remnants of harsh Slavic dialect, it still really leaves something to be desired. Aside from that, Defiance is a movie that articulately encapsulates the desolation the Nazi invasion of Europe caused, and the immense suffering inflicted on those that were simply trying to stay alive.
3 Rescue Dawn
Director Werner Herzog has always been renowned for delivering critically acclaimed films to the art-house circuit, and like many of his works, 2006’s Rescue Dawn is another that seemed to pass people by. Based on his 1997 documentary Little Dieter Needs to Fly, the film dramatizes the true story of Dieter Dengler, a pilot during the Vietnam War.
With Christian Bale in the titular role as Dengler who is shot down by Laotian villagers and taken into captivity, he attempts to lead his fellow prisoners of war to safety, but his plans are quickly derailed. In typical Bale fashion, he brings a real big-screen presence to the (slightly) smaller screen of the art house, his rendition of Dengler is flawless and emphatic in equal measure.
2 A Very Long Engagement
Un Long Dimanche De Fiancailles (A Very Long Engagement), directed by Amelie’s Jean-Pierre Jeunet, is a 2004 French-language romantic drama. Audrey Tautou stars in the titular role once again, this time as Mathilde, a 20-something young woman with a limp, who undertakes a personal mission to locate her missing fiancé deployed at the Battle of the Somme during World War I. For admirers of Amelie, A Very Long Engagement incorporates the same, unmistakable style, with its yellow-tinted incandescence, and whimsically-powered story with “blink, and you’ll miss it” quick-cuts, zappy editing, and a clear celebration of the fanciful.
This is by no means a conventional war flick; the ever-pressing threat of death is an absent feature, partly due to the way in which Mathilde, with her doe-eyed expression, seems to float through life almost unperturbed by the issues at hand. It’s a refreshingly poetic, fairytale-like take on something usually so mortifyingly bestial.
1 Enemy at The Gates
Starring Jude Law, Ed Harris and Joseph Fiennes, Enemy at the Gates chronicles the great Battle of Stalingrad during World War II. Directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud, Enemy at the Gates is a work of imagination rather than historical accuracy. Death is around every corner in this film about a young Russian soldier, who is an extremely skilled sniper and is taking German soldiers out one by one.
On the other hand, the German officers don’t consider themselves defeated and end up getting their sniper expert to face this Russian man. Not only that, but they both end up falling for the same woman. The movie oozes thrills, as it’s all about a game of strategy between the two great fighters. Who will outtake the other? The neverending tension throughout the film slowly answers that question.