Book Review: 100 Great War Movies: The Real History Behind the Films

Abstract

The one hundred films covered by Robert Niemi’s 100 Great War Movies: The Real History Behind the Films were selected using an eclectic array of criteria (the preferences of the author based on his experience as a film teacher, the preferences of his friends and colleagues, and a survey of numerous best-of lists), and the result is of course a rather eclectic collection of entries. Coverage includes famous well-regarded films that most readers will expect to find in a collection such as this: The Bridge on the River Kwai, From Here to Eternity, and Saving Private Ryan. But readers will also encounter films with which they may not be as familiar, such as Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence starring David Bowie, and the film adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five. The films included also cover a wide range of ideological viewpoints: from patriotic World War II–era films to more recent films that take a more skeptical view of warfare.