From intimate character studies to epic spectacle, every battle tells a story in the at SBS On Demand.
Francois Truffaut once famously stated, “There’s no such thing as an anti-war film” - the legendary French new wave director arguing that the very practice of committing such acts of violence to celluloid was itself glorifying the idea of war.
Whether that’s a fair assessment is something that’s been debated by film scholars and critics for decades, but it hasn’t stopped filmmakers tackling the topic of war and its effects.
For any director who shares Truffaut’s sentiments, there's an alternate take from the likes of Stephen Spielberg, who once said that “Every war movie, good or bad, is an anti-war movie”. And whilst it's true that no one could view the nightmarish opening sequence of Saving Private Ryan as anything other than a blatant indignation of the horrors of war, the ultimate message of the film’s final act does carry with it an inherent message of pride and nobility, which are common staples of these types of entertainment.
It's possible that Truffaut and Spielberg's opposing viewpoints hint at the underlying appeal of this genre: there may be no winners and losers in war, but perhaps there are some battles worth fighting, just as there are some stories worth commemorating.
Operation Mincemeat
It's fair to say The Imitation Game has garnered its fair share of attention when it comes to “too crazy to be true” stories of British ingenuity and espionage during World War II, but this 2021 film deserves to be in the same conversation.
With a tinge of humour to offset its high stakes drama, Operation Mincemeat details the daring plot mounted by British Intelligence that helped turn the tide of war - when a body containing fake enemy targets for an impending Allied assault was purposefully planted off the coast of Spain to hoodwink the Germans. With an impressive cast that includes the likes of Colin Firth, Kelly Macdonald and Succession’s Matthew Macfadyen, it’s the kind of Sunday afternoon fare we don’t get served much of anymore - except that sometimes we do.
Operation Mincemeat is streaming now at SBS On Demand.
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Operation Mincemeat
Historical drama • war • 2021
Historical drama • war • 2021
The Promise
A sweeping, old school epic in the tradition of The English Patient or Doctor Zhivago, The Promise tackles a difficult subject rarely seen adapted for the screen - the Armenian genocide of 1915 and 1916. At its centre is a love triangle between medical student Mikael (Oscar Isaac), Armenian born Ana (Charlotte Le Bon) and her American boyfriend and photojournalist Chris (Christian Bale).
In a sprawling tale that spans the fall of an Empire and the systematic destruction of the Armenian people at the hands of Ottoman authorities, we see the true cost of war on the faces of the forgotten civilians who paid the ultimate price. Made for $US90 million and largely ignored upon its initial release, The Promise is worth seeking out not only for its vast scale and impressively mounted set pieces, but for the ways in which it shines a light on a shocking chapter of history.
The Promise is streaming now at SBS On Demand.
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The Promise
Historical drama • romance • 2016
Historical drama • romance • 2016
Paradise Road
Notable for its association with director Bruce Beresford, who made the Australian war classic Breaker Morant some 17 years prior, Paradise Road is a searingly powerful film about a group of women captured by the Japanese and forced into a Sumatran prisoner of war camp during World War II. With Australian, English, Dutch and American women among the camp's detainees, the film attracted an international cast of Oscars heavyweights including Glenn Close, Frances McDormand and Cate Blanchett. It also exposes a shockingly underrepresented aspect of the War in the Pacific, in which nurses, children and soldiers' wives were caught in the crossfire after Singapore was invaded by the Japanese.
Paradise Road will be streaming at SBS On Demand from 18 April.
Breaker Morant is streaming now at SBS On Demand.
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Paradise Road
drama • 1997
drama • 1997
The Unknown Soldier
An adaptation of the 1954 novel of the same name from author Vaino Linna, who served during the Continuation War that took place between Russia and Finland in the early forties. The action follows a fictional machine gunner who is said to be based on one of Linna’s real life comrades from the conflict, lending the film not only an added layer of authenticity, but a poignancy we experience through the main character's point of view. It’s a gritty retelling of a bloody chapter of Soviet-Finnish history which at the time of its release in 2017 was the most expensive film ever made in Finland.
The Unknown Soldier is streaming now at SBS On Demand.
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The Unknown Soldier
drama • war • 2017
drama • war • 2017
Max Manus: Man of War
Based on the remarkable true story of Max Manus, whose role as a freedom fighter played out against a bloody backdrop over many years, first during his exploits against the Soviet Union during the Winter War, and then later in the effort to liberate Norway from Nazi occupation.
The film takes some liberties with Marnus’ real-life story, but what's represented here is an undeniably tense account of one of the war’s most famed saboteurs, full of gripping sequences that will leave you wanting to know more about this complicated historical figure.
Max Manus: Man of War is streaming now at SBS On Demand.
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Max Manus: Man of War
action • biography • 2008
action • biography • 2008
The Conference
Originally aired as a TV-movie in Germany, The Conference portrays the infamous Wannsee Conference of 1942, in which German officials would meet to decide the fate of the Jewish population - more widely known as “the final solution”.
Through bone chilling re-enactments, we gain a window into a bureaucratic world of baseless decision making and senseless evil, which feels of a piece with director Jonathon Glazer’s recent Oscar winning film, The Zone of Interest. We as the viewer are never asked to sympathise with nor judge these men and their actions, but rather simply observe their callous actions in the cold, matter-of-fact way in which they were carried out.
The Conference is streaming now at SBS On Demand. It will also air on SBS World Movies at 9.30pm on Tuesday 23 April.
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The Conference
drama • Historical drama • 2022
drama • Historical drama • 2022
Onoda
This 2021 film from French director Arthur Harari is an outlier on this list, in that it’s not so much about a period of war, but rather the aftermath of one. It’s based on the fascinating real-life story of Hiroo Onoda – a Japanese Intelligence Officer who, after the events of World War II, fled to a remote Island in the Philippines where he would spend 29 years in hiding despite his country’s surrender in 1945.
Although loosely inspired by Onoda’s story rather than functioning as a straight up biography, the film does an effective job of framing how one man’s pride and ideologies can not only lead them to war, but ultimately strip them of rational thought.
Onoda airs on SBS World Movies at 9.40pm on Monday 22 April. It is also streaming now at SBS On Demand.
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Onoda
