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War films have always fascinated movie-goers. Relating events that shaped our history and making it personal for the viewer, the best war films have portrayed the suffering, the injustice, and the madness of war. Titles like Apocalypse Now, Platoon, and Paths of Glory evoke in us equal parts fascination and revulsion at the scenes of carnage and human degradation. Other films, like Lawrence of Arabia and Patton, take war as the rallying point for men of courage, for true heroes, to come into their own. There aren't many of these on this list, because I feel there is nothing heroic about war, and because good movies of this genre are few and far between (flag-waving war films, I believe, are the worst kind).

At their best, these films make the struggle of the people caught up in the conflict (both the soldiers and the citizens) personal to the audience. At worst, they still provide a glaring indictment on the insanity of war.

• All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
• Apocalypse Now (1979)
• Attack! (1956)
• Battleship Potemkin (Russia - 1925)
• Boot, Das (Germany - 1981)
• Bridge on the River Kwai, The (1957)
• Deer Hunter, The (1978)
• From Here to Eternity (1953)
• Glory (1989)
• Grand Illusion, The (Grande Illusion, La) (France - 1937)

• Guns of Navarone, The (1961)
• Killing Fields, The (1984)
• Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
• Longest Day, The (1962)
• Paths of Glory (1957)
• Patton (1970)
• Platoon (1986)
• Rome, Open City (Roma, Citta Apperta) (Italy - 1945)
• Saving Private Ryan (1998)
• Thin Red Line, The (1998)

• 84 Charlie Mopic (1989)
• Beast, The (1988)
• Full Metal Jacket (1987)
• Great Escape, The (1963)

• Midnight Clear, A (1991)
• Stalag 17 (1953)
• Train, The (1964)
• Zulu (1964)

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