Movie Forums Top 100 War Movies - Group Watch

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Just finished Red Angel. In regards to it being relatively quiet in here so far, I have to say that you all are missing out as, aside from my nomination, it's my favorite film I've seen in this thread. Coming from the point of view of the country at risk of losing the war and tinged with a sense of fatalism, this is the kind of story which could've been wall to wall misery porn if the wrong director were put in charge of it. Fortunately, its emotional register turned out to be far more oblique than I expected it would. The portrayals of the characters finding solace from their desperate situations by getting as much out of their relationships with each other as possible resonated really well with me. Though you might not be able to control your fate, the least you can do is attempt to alleviate your fears of meeting it. This aspect isn't glossed over, nor does it overshadow the depressing parts of the film. The film instead does a good job at balancing hope and despair. Even the Stockholm syndrome bits don't feel problematic since the desperation of the characters are made as clear as day. Overall, this film has a good chance of making my ballot and I'm glad it was nominated.

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Women will be your undoing, Pépé
Great review Speling!

I've been rewatching the first three John Wick films, one a night since Thursday night before seeing the new one Sunday afternoon. I am VERY curious about it, though, and may try to check it out Sunday evening.
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The trick is not minding
My laptop battery died so I couldn’t watch Red Angel, I still need to watch The Bridge, but that’s on Criterion and is easier. Work made things difficult.
I do plan on participating more




Red Angel (1966)

Just got done watching this. It reminded me of another war film I seen recently, Humphrey Bogart's Battle Circus which is about a front line medical MASH unit in Korea. In a small way this also reminded me of TV's MASH, in how the doctors are overwhelmed by incoming wounded and have to triage them, literally playing god by deciding who lives and who dies. This then takes a mental toll on the staff. Red Angel presents a depressing situation with buckets of amputated limbs and soldiers who rape nurses and little to no hope for the soldiers who if they are returned to the front line will most likely be killed.

To me the most interesting aspects of the movie was seeing a Japanese film about the Japanese occupation of China during WWII and watching how they perceived their own actions during that war...which is much different compared to German films about their actions in WWII.

The nurse was pretty! And the scenes of the solider with no arms was tragic in that his predicament was so horrible and her compassionate help in the hotel room ended up being the worst thing she could've done for him...Or did he die happy?

I'm not sure if there's more going on in the film at a metaphor or symbolic level? Seems the message is war is an utter horror.



I found this interesting...
King Rat was adapted from James Clavell's novel King Rat (1962), which in turn is partly based on Clavell's experiences as a POW at Changi Prison in Singapore in the latter part of the Second World War.
So I gather that kind of stuff that happened in this movie happened to Clavell while a POW in Singapore.



Just finished King Rat. While I somewhat admired certain elements about it like King and Grey vying for power and King's and Marlowe's friendship, I didn't feel like either of these elements added up to much I found interesting and I found myself deeply unengaged throughout much of the runtime. Showing so little of the Japanese guards was an interesting touch though. I'm curious to read what the rest of you have to say about this film.



King Rat




I thought this was a very interesting movie. Maybe due to the poster, I expected something a little lighter and standard but in reality it was pretty dismal. First impressions were that it looked older than it was (a positive), and that there's a hell of a lot of sweat. I ended up thinking that it was more like a foreign film than an American film. The setting as a POW camp seemed pretty realistic to me, but the film really doesn't have much to do with the enemy. It's more about survival and relationships. The way the relationship played out between King and Marlowe was very unexpected. When people go through a tough situation like that, no matter the different backgrounds, there's usually a strong bond that forms. Yet here it only happens with Marlowe. It pretty much reaffirmed my general feeling towards King, which is that he was selfish and unlikable. There's some hard hitting scenes, and unlike most war films, none had to do with battle. The scene involving the dog and the hen was particularly tough for this viewer. Segal was good in the lead as he had the necessary charm and charisma, but I thought he was outdone by the rest of the cast. I got a kick out of Richard Dawson showing up. I give a lot of credit for not giving a happy ending even though it easily could have been with the war ending. I didn't quite love it but it was surprisingly good.