A quite interesting article here,

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-26030435


I have to say I'm now curious to check out the film "The Patrol". Maybe Netflix will have it eventually.

Platoon is mentioned, which I personally regard as the best war drama ever made.

If you watch the deleted scenes (available on Youtube), you get more background into Elias and Barnes. I personally don't feel the scenes added anything to the film and were better cut, but there is one strange sequence at the end depicting what looks like Elias after his death- seemingly Stone has made a Christlike figure, it sort of looks like the tale of Jesus' resurrection and not being recognized by the disciples, that might also coincide with Elias' death scene with his arms spread out like the crucifix position. In the end, even Stone didn't go with it.

While probably a bit pretentious, I'm always interested in the hidden concepts and symbolism that filmmakers use, I'm always looking for even subtle expressions and juxtapositions of objects and people inserted in scenes and find something new I hadn't seen before.

Kontakt5, Oliver Stone and Stanley Kubrick are well renowned for the symbolism used in filming.

Yes, absolutely.

Kubrick was the king of that- 2001 is basically symbolism reinforcing one giant concept buried into the story.

Even Full Metal Jacket uses odd quirks to show it- I've missed some of them until I've read other viewers pointing them out as 'mistakes', and then realizing they aren't mistakes.

I find it interesting how certain wars have barely been depicted on film. I'm sure it's mostly due to marketing reasons. For example, I can't think of a single war movie that depicted the battles of the War of 1812. Even the American Revolutionary War hasn't had much. The only films I can think of are "Revolution" and "The Patriot".

I hated Platoon, I thought it was an overly dramatic joke realism wise. That being said I loved Apocalypse Now so what the hell do I know

As for wars being depicted I'm sure it's just Hollywood popularity reasons.

Lots of great Vietnam movies though for sure. Platoon, Full Metal Jacket, Hamburger Hill, Apocalypse Now, The Deer Hunter, etc.

Well, as we all know, Apocalypse Now is an artistic expression of Heart of Darkness, which is different subject matter entirely.

Drums along the Mohawk, The Crossing, Sweet Liberty...

Radio series included Revolting People.

Slightly off topic, but I have fairly high regard for Tropic Thunder (kind of slows down and gets lame toward the end) and its skewering of the studio produced war films, Robert Downey, Jr. of course was great.

Fantastic film. IMHO, Tom Cruise stole the show.

They didn't mention any of the "War Films" (and other TV adaptations) for Vietnam that I like ~ 84C-Mopic, Vietnam, We Were Soldiers Once and Young, (or if we include the related abandonment of Kampuchea "The Killing Fields"), nor the plethora of documentaries (one of the more interesting ones being about the Battle Of Long Tan, but there are others of note too).

Nor Operation Desert Storm- probably doesn't make for a good screenplay, the results were extremely lopsided, fast developing, and doesn't have the 'drama' of other wars that demoralize people (at least from the American side).

Some war films kind of fit into different categories- The Killing Fields is one, I'd say that's not really a war film but a historical drama, even though the subject matter is couched in Vietnam era Southeast Asia and the Khmer Rouge.

The same could be said about other films- WW1 is not really the subject of Johnny Got His Gun, really, it could be about any war, the action on the screen isn't so much to depict combat. I also think that Apocalypse Now isn't strictly war film, combat is rarely depicted and serves a secondary purpose.

The War of 1812 would make a good backdrop for a Master and Commander sequel!

Just sayin'..Peter Weir And Russell Crowe, are you listening?!

Russell Crowe is busy playing Noah right now.


Seriously though, that would be a great idea! I would love to see a M&C film set during the War of 1812.

Jarhead and Three Kings.

Haven't seen either, although I take it Three Kings covers a rather obscure event, no?

The events of M&C Far Side Of The World are most closely fitted to the hunting down of the USS Norfolk from the books although the original action that O'Brian took as his source was possibly the attack on the East Indiaman Stanhope.

You could have had your US/RN battle there ~ except it was changed presumably to protect American sensibilities.

I've not read any of the books but I recall reading somewhere that the M&C film pitted the RN vs. the French specifically for the reason you mentioned.

Personally, I care about a film that is as historically objective/accurate as possible and that it have compelling performances regardless of which side won the battle or war being depicted.