November DVD Spotlight: War Films

Americans will honor those who have served in the United States Armed Forces on Veterans Day, November 11.  With this in mind, Reeves Memorial Library is featuring war movies from our DVD collection all month long.  While many of these films, like Jarhead (2005) and the Oscar-winning The Hurt Locker (2008), focus on American soldiers both on and off the battlefield, our spotlight collection will also include films from other countries, such as the classic French anti-war film Wooden Crosses (1932), and the claustrophobic German U-Boat epic Das Boot (1981).

Other featured titles include:

Apocalypse Now (1979)
Francis Ford Coppola's Vietnam War opus, about an Army officer sent deep into the jungle to terminate a rogue colonel, remains the ultimate cinematic statement about the madness of war.

Battleground (1949)
One of the best World War II films to come out of classic Hollywood, Battleground follows a group of American soldiers through the Battle of the Bulge.

Grand Illusion (1937)
This somber classic, directed by the great French filmmaker Jean Renoir, explores the conflict between duty and honor in a World War I prisoner-of war-camp.

Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Steven Spielberg's influential, grittily realistic World War II film, about a small group of American soldiers on a rescue mission behind enemy lines, is both a grisly reminder of the horrors of war and a moving testament to the honor and courage of those who have given their lives fighting for freedom.

The Steel Helmet (1951)
Written and directed by Army veteran Samuel Fuller, this underseen Korean War film is perhaps the most startlingly unromantic and realistic American war movie of its era.

Three Kings (1999)
This darkly humorous Gulf War caper, about three American soldiers hunting for a cache of stolen gold, is formally daring, unabashedly political, and highly entertaining.

Stop by the library and check one out today.