A few weeks ago I posted a list of my top 5 war films and in honor of Veterans Day I’m expanding that list to make a list of the Top 10 War Films. Some are pro-war, many anti, some look at the details of being in war, a few deal with the aftermath or those on the periphery of the fight - but all of them capture a different aspect of what being at war means.

Let me know if I missed your favorite and be sure to takepart with Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America this Veterans day.

10.  La France - Strange and beautiful, full of music and life and quiet and death.  There is no other war film quite like it.

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9. So Proudly We Hail! - The story of a group of nurses and their experiences during WWII.  This film is about women stepping up and learning what they are capable of.  Plus I adore Claudette Colbert.

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8.  Last of the Mohicans - Not a traditional war film, the focus here is on how war affects those not directly involved in the fighting.

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7. Men in War - Anthony Mann is wonderful and so is this film about men in the Korean War.

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6. The Marriage of Maria Braun - A film that deals with a country and a woman’s postwar experiences. It looks at how a country pulls itself together after being on the losing end of WWII and more than that is a cynical guide to survival. (somehow there are no videos of this on youtube?? - so here is a clip from another Schygulla/Fassbinder wartime drama, Lili Marleen)

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5. All Quiet on the Western Front - There’s not much more I can say about this than that is is amazing and an anti-war film everyone should see at least once in their life.

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4. The Charge of the Light Brigade - I love the 1968 version while my father’s favorite film is the 1936 Errol Flynn version. The films give two very different perspectives to “the charge” and prove that in war nothing is black or white.  Clips from both are below

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3. Apocalypse Now - So amazing. The scope, the performances, the confusion. This is a war film.

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2.Sergeant York - Howard Hawks explores war and pacifism and heroism in this classic.

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1. The Thin Red Line - It doesn’t get much better than Terrence Malick’s meditation on war.  This is a film that quietly grows on you and questions the very nature of war.