Most of us have never been to war, but nearly all have seen it. We got it in theaters.
This is a view that has changed over the years. During World War II, Hollywood turned out movies that glorified the American fighting man-often manifested by John Wayne-like he held high ideals of democracy and fair play during the slaughtering of a variety of "Japs" and "Krauts" asking for it. They die easily, without blood. War is a difficult but necessary and, finally, clean. That is how we preserved our way of life. That is how we save the world.
Hollywood films during the war was part of a propaganda machine that collects public opinions to whom patriotism is a virtue unsullied. Our soldiers are heroes. A glance at their army torturers, rapists dangerous and cowardly. The war was difficult, but it is also noble.
War movies don't talk like that again. We know too much about life in the trenches and desert, the boredom of everyday, everyday tensions. People die messily, injured their blood pumping. The best War movies are about different mines, which even John Wayne would have trouble getting crossed.
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), which won the Oscar for best picture, based on the book written by Erich Maria Remarque, Murray was the first world war. He presented the point of view from the other side of the line, but it's not so different. The Film follows a group of school children soldiers when they are brought into the muddy trenches in front of and subject to relentless shelling. They forage and fight the battle dangerous to win and lose a few feet off the ground. One man had his leg amputated and one of his visitors with making boots. war is the chaos and confusion, and the poem the battle stated in the final scene unforgettable: a hero standing up to see the magic Butterfly flutters above the mud, and he was shot dead.