Movie Forums Top 100 War Movies - Group Watch

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Kanal (1957)

What a great way to kick off this war group watch. Since joining MoFo I've come to learn that people appreciate different aspects of cinema. When it comes to war films, I usually levitate towards films that offer a unique historical perspective on past events. Kanal was something special as I've never seen a Polish WWII film about Polish partisans made and directed by people who were actually there and lived through it. To me it matters when a war film is made and the country that made it...as each era imparts its own viewpoint to the story at hand. Think about the opening title sequence, that's real destruction left over from the bombing of Polish cities. Those buildings are mere shells and when I thought of that fact the movie became all the more chilling.

Just like in Das Boot the men and women in Kanal are interchangeable with any soul who might find themselves with a gun in their hand while fighting to keep the invading forces out of their city. The individual's stories aren't important what matters is the bleakness that occurred right before the collapse of Warsaw. The director chose not to make these defenders heroic instead they're tired, scared and resolved to die in just a matter of days.




Kanal (1957)

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I now have about 45 films on my war watchlist and this was one I was most looking forward to. Along with the new All Quiet on the Western Front, Kanal was on my regular watchlist before the war countdown was ever talked about. I don't remember how it got there, but I now understand why it was. It is properly bleak and hopeless, and that's expressed matter of factly in the documentary style beginning. There were a couple of early moments that were hard hitting, and that's a big reason why I watch movies. Because of those moments, I think I slightly prefer the film before it goes into the sewer, but it's the sewer that makes it notable and memorable. This movie was written by a former soldier who survived the sewers. It's also the 2nd part of a trilogy; anyone see the other two? A very good war film.



Current candidates to host the next round...

Allaby
ScarletLion
Citizen Rules
cricket

You guys have about 24 more hours to watch the film.
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As an aside, since I sometimes work in the morning and afternoon, I think it would be easier for me to state who the next host will be around nighttime, so I'll likely do that for now on (though I may announce the next host an hour or two earlier tomorrow).



Question for everyone who'll be participating in this: Are you considering War movies that don't have battle scenes for your countdown ballot?

I ask because when it's my turn to pick the next war movie, I wouldn't choose a non-combat war film if you guys aren't including those on your ballots.



The trick is not minding
Question for everyone who'll be participating in this: Are you considering War movies that don't have battle scenes for your countdown ballot?

I ask because when it's my turn to pick the next war movie, I wouldn't choose a non-combat war film if you guys aren't including those on your ballots.
Good question, actually.



The trick is not minding
Kanal

When we’re first introduced to the Company of soldiers, we’re told right away that they won’t survive the night. Wajda is telling us what to expect right away. The characters aren’t what’s important here. It’s the experience. One unlike many movies have truly been been able to capture.

Sent to defend a city before the Germans capture it, they full expect to die that night. When they’re told to retreat via the sewers, there’s a mix of disbelief and relief. Anger and disappointment. Yet, to the sewers they go.

This is where the film really picks up, as the sewers are like a whole other world. It could be interpreted as a descent into hell. Indeed, the water seems to have smoke rising from it as if a lake of fire. We even get a quote from Dante’s Inferno, as we see men crawling through muddy sewage.

Wajda keeps the camera tight of their faces. We see their fear, anxiety, anger, and hopelessness etched in their brows, their eyes. Faces covered in beads of sweat as they face an impossible situation, slowly discovering the way to salvation is filled with many pitfalls, Germans standing above laying in wait, while the gas below slowly seeps into them. They are trapped, they come to realize. Despair overtakes members of the company, Madness overtakes those that remain.

The film is a harrowing experience, as we feel the claustrophobic confines of the sewer as much as the soldiers. It is a personal hell as much for us as is it for them. As such, the ending comes as a relief of sorts. The suffering is over. Again, as much for us as for them.



Question for everyone who'll be participating in this: Are you considering War movies that don't have battle scenes for your countdown ballot?
Absolutely, War is so much more than just 'battle scenes.' imho.



Thursday Next's Avatar
I never could get the hang of Thursdays.
I had not heard of it before but decided to watch Kanal as the reviews sounded intriguing. What an incredible film! The way the camera sweeps across the faces of the fighters in stark black and white reminded me of Paths of Glory (released in the same year, I think). The descent into the madness and horror of the sewers was riveting. As someone said above, it's also interesting to see different experiences and perspectives on war. A strong contender for my ballot, I should think.



Question for everyone who'll be participating in this: Are you considering War movies that don't have battle scenes for your countdown ballot?

I ask because when it's my turn to pick the next war movie, I wouldn't choose a non-combat war film if you guys aren't including those on your ballots.
It just depends on the film but I'm on the stingier side. Does the movie merely take place during wartime? Does wartime just act as a setting? Can I tell someone who's about to watch it that it's a war film without being misleading, or do I have to say well it's a drama set during a war? To me a war movie is a movie in which it's primary narrative is about a war.



Question for everyone who'll be participating in this: Are you considering War movies that don't have battle scenes for your countdown ballot?

I ask because when it's my turn to pick the next war movie, I wouldn't choose a non-combat war film if you guys aren't including those on your ballots.
Absolutely. Documentaries are included aren't they?



Question for everyone who'll be participating in this: Are you considering War movies that don't have battle scenes for your countdown ballot?

I ask because when it's my turn to pick the next war movie, I wouldn't choose a non-combat war film if you guys aren't including those on your ballots.
Yes. I'm considering anything tagged as war on imdb or Letterboxd.



There can be many different kinds of war films. There are films which feature combat, films which take place away from the battlefields but are still colored by war, and war documentaries. Saving Private Ryan, Casablanca, and Shoah are all war films, as far as I'm concerned, and I can't see anyone arguing otherwise.



There can be many different kinds of war films. There are films which feature combat, films which take place away from the battlefields but are still colored by war, and war documentaries. Saving Private Ryan, Casablanca, and Shoah are all war films, as far as I'm concerned, and I can't see anyone arguing otherwise.
To me Casablanca isn't a war film any more than Raiders of the Lost Ark. I get the argument, but I'd also understand if someone argued that Maverick was a war film.



Yeah, there's some legit questions here. There's a few films I love that are entirely talking about war, talking about strategy, that might make my list.



I'm picky every single genre countdown and it just makes it more difficult for myself. If I viewed Casablanca as a war film it'd be my #1 easy. I would also vote for Stripes, Failsafe, and Pan's Labyrinth if I considered them war films. I don't like Strangelove so I wouldn't vote for that either way. A lot of it is just point of view.



When it's my turn to choose a movie for this I'll try to check everyone's Letterboxd account so that I don't pick a movie everyone has seen. I know not everyone has a Letterboxd account, I don't have one.