{"id":1376,"date":"2015-01-19T09:10:24","date_gmt":"2015-01-19T09:10:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/?p=6249"},"modified":"2023-09-06T16:46:54","modified_gmt":"2023-09-06T23:46:54","slug":"morality-in-war-films","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/morality-in-war-films\/","title":{"rendered":"Moral Dilemmas in 10 War Films"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The central dilemma in Dan Krauss&#8217;s\u00a0<em>Independent Lens\u00a0<\/em>documentary<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/documentaries\/kill-team\/\"><b><i> The Kill Team<\/i><\/b><\/a>\u00a0is grappled with by\u00a0an American soldier in Afghanistan who found members of his platoon were committing immoral war crimes, and wanted to blow the whistle on them, even if it endangered his life. Writing on RogerEbert.com, Godfrey Cheshire notes that the film &#8220;offers a deep, troubling probe into a military culture that both incubates horrifically criminal acts against innocents and throws innumerable obstacles in the paths of soldiers who would thwart or report those outrages.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Such wrenching\u00a0battles over morality have been at the heart of war films since the silent and classic eras (<i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0020629\/\">All Quiet on the Western Front,\u00a0<\/a><\/i>1930<i>; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0028950\/reference\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">La Grande Illusion,\u00a0<\/a><\/i>1937,<i>\u00a0<\/i>possibly the greatest film ever made about the futility of war) up through current cinema (Clint Eastwood&#8217;s <i>American Sniper<\/i>\u00a0included, though critics are arguing about the amount of\u00a0moral complexity and context in the film).<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s a look at some other films, both fictional and documentary, that have characters who made a moral choice in the middle of war.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><b>WWI<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><i>Gallipoli\u00a0<\/i>(1981)<\/b>: Based on a true story about a horrific battle in World War I, the film is directed by the marvelous Australian director Peter Weir (<em>Master and Commander, Dead Poet\u2019s Society, The Last Wave<\/em>). Set in the Gallipoli peninsula in the Ottoman Empire (in modern-day Turkey), <em>Gallipoli<\/em>&#8216;s young protagonists (Mel Gibson and Mark Lee) enter into military service feeling duty-bound and eager to be heroes (one character says, \u201cI&#8217;d be ashamed if I didn&#8217;t fight\u201d),\u00a0until it becomes obvious they are in the midst of a bloodbath. One of the film&#8217;s\u00a0central moral questions for these men is, would you follow orders into a futile\u00a0battle knowing you are going to die \u2014 if it\u2019s for friend and country? They are reluctant to resist what has been termed &#8220;the Anzac spirit,&#8221; one of defiance but stoicism and courage.<\/p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Gallipoli - Trailer\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/CT1JHKpSHXA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p><b><i>Paths of Glory\u00a0<\/i>(1957)<\/b>: One of the all time great war (and anti-war) films, Stanley Kubrick\u2019s masterpiece is about soldiers in World War I who refuse to carry out orders for a reckless and impossible attack, and are then made an example of by their superior officers. The film features an impassioned performance by Kirk Douglas as an officer who does all he can to try to prevent the needless execution of the soldiers.<\/p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Paths of Glory (1957) Trailer - The Criterion Collection\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/nmDA60X-f_A?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Conscientious Objectors<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><b><i>Soldiers of Conscience\u00a0<\/i>(2007)<\/b><\/strong>, which aired on PBS\u2019s <em>POV<\/em>, follows the stories of both conscientious objectors and those who criticize them. The film gets to the heart of dilemmas faced by many U.S. soldiers in Iraq in the 2000s, who asked themselves &#8220;is this a just war,&#8221; and to kill or not to kill. One soldier in the film says, &#8220;I looked at [the detainees] and I saw my own unit, but with brown skin.\u00a0I was not able to make the jump to turn those people into sub-humans, but it is the nature of war to turn them into sub-humans.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Sergeant York<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0<strong>(1941)<\/strong> is\u00a0one of the first films (at least that I can find) to portray a conscientious objector, based on a real life person named Alvin York, who ended up being forced to serve despite his objections. Starring Gary Cooper, the film is certainly full of classic Hollywood schmaltzy moments (a Bible page blows open while York is debating whether or not to serve; see below), though many more affecting ones. York, at least in one key moment, ends up putting aside his beliefs that killing is morally wrong when it comes to saving his men, and forces a German surrender, eventually becoming a war hero. But at the end he turns down offers to commercialize his fame and retreats to quietude.<\/p>\n<p>Sgt. York wrestles with the decision:<\/p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Sergeant York &quot;Render unto Caesar&quot;\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/W87k64HU9gE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p><strong><b><i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/trials-of-muhammad-ali\/\">Trials of Muhammad Ali<\/a>\u00a0<\/i>(2013)<\/b><b>: <\/b><\/strong>One of the most\u00a0famous conscientious objectors is the complex and outspoken boxer and activist known to the world as Muhammad Ali. This documentary by Bill Siegel (which aired on <em>Independent Lens<\/em>) explores Ali&#8217;s lifelong journey of spiritual transformation, including his staunch belief that the Vietnam War was wrong\u00a0\u2014 enough to go to jail for it, and face vehement opposition from many Americans at home. Here&#8217;s Ali\u00a0being dressed down on national television about his views, in patronizing fashion:<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Vietnam<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><i>Full Metal Jacket\u00a0<\/i>(1987)<\/b>: Much has been written about Stanley Kubrick\u2019s Vietnam War film (based on Gustav Hasford&#8217;s 1979 novel<i> The Short-Timers<\/i>) and it\u2019s far too complex in its presentation of morality to easily sum up, but in the main character of Joker (played by Matthew Modine) the film clearly explores the duality of man. Joker is both soldier and journalist, a pacifist who has to kill; in a key sequence near the end he has to decide whether or not to kill a wounded Vietnamese sniper. \u00a0The complexity of the film\u2019s presentation of violence was misunderstood by some, including the Italian Director of Culture, as you can see in Kubrick\u2019s letter of response, in which he comments:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;My intention was not to relish violence for it&#8217;s own sake but to emphasise the reality of both the training process undergone by the recruits and the war situation in which they found themselves.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Ks_MbPPkhmA<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><b>Modern Warfare, and the Torture Question<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p>2014\u2019s <b><i>Lone Survivor<\/i><\/b>, a not entirely successful film dramatically in my opinion, is at least interesting as a portrayal of a moral dilemma. The film\u00a0is based on the true story of Navy SEALs on a mission in Afghanistan who have to decide whether to execute captives who may or may not be Taliban, in order to continue their assignment, or to release them at great risk to themselves. It\u2019s a compelling story told in clich\u00e9d fashion, lacking in ambiguity (and full of too many \u201cfalling scenes\u201d), but still worthy of a mention here.<\/p>\n<p><b><i>Zero Dark Thirty\u00a0<\/i>(2012)<\/b>: \u00a0Some critics felt this film took a clear, pro-torture stance (the main character, Maya, a young C.I.A. intelligence analyst, and her colleagues, use torture to interrogate prisoners, which leads to some useful information), while others argued it is actually quite morally ambiguous. \u00a0Here\u2019s an excerpt of\u00a0a thoughtful piece from the Carnegie Foundation, which also criticizes what it deems are historical inaccuracies in the film:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>As framers of public opinion and debate, do directors and screenwriters have an obligation not to misinform their audiences about historical events? Upon reading director Kathryn Bigelow&#8217;s own reflections on Zero Dark Thirty, one could easily be led to believe that the film constitutes an accurate historical reenactment of the CIA&#8217;s decade-long hunt for Osama bin Laden. In fact, when she appeared on the Colbert Report, she referred to the film as a &#8220;first draft of history.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I felt we had a responsibility to be faithful to the material,&#8221; she stated in an interview with <em>The New Yorker<\/em>&#8216;s Dexter Filkins, published two days prior to the film&#8217;s U.S. release. However, several government officials have emphatically disputed the film&#8217;s version of events and what the film implies.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;[The] film creates the strong impression that the enhanced interrogation techniques that were part of our former detention and interrogation program were the key to finding Bin Ladin. That impression is false.&#8221; Senator John McCain (R-AZ), along with members of the Senate Armed Services Committee wrote an open letter to Sony Pictures CEO Michael Lynton outlining factual inaccuracies contained within the film, and requesting that he &#8220;[correct] the impression that the CIA&#8217;s use of coercive interrogation techniques led to the operation against Usama bin Laden.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Even the actual bin Laden shooter pointed out some of the more Hollywood-ized aspects of the story.<\/p>\n<p>And yet a piece in <em>Wired<\/em> magazine argues that the film is \u201cworking on a far more complex level, and one that manages to damn both torture and the cynically pragmatic argument against it in one fell blow.\u201d<\/p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"ZERO DARK THIRTY - Final Trailer (HD)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/k7R2uVZYebE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p>Two documentaries also explore the topic of the American use of torture after 9\/11: <b><i>The Ghosts of Abu Ghraib<\/i><\/b><i>\u00a0<\/i>(2007)<i> \u2014<\/i><b><i> <\/i><\/b>by Rory Kennedy, just nominated for an Oscar for <em>Last Days in Vietnam<\/em> (and daughter of Bobby) \u2014 examines the events of the 2004 Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse scandal. That abuse coming to light had a major impact in how the international community viewed the US war in Iraq. \u00a0And to even further explore the Abu Ghraib prison torture and abuse story, Errol Morris\u2019s harrowing <b><i>Standard Operating Procedure<\/i><\/b>\u00a0(2008) focuses on the convicted officers and lets the photographs tell a large part of the story. Morris, in DVD commentary for the film, said that his intent was<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cnot to say that these &#8216;bad apples&#8217; were blameless\u2026 but\u2026 to say that they were scapegoats. It was easy to blame them because, after all, they were in the photographs\u2026 Photographs don&#8217;t tell us who the real culprits might be\u2026 They can also serve as a coverup, they can misdirect us\u2026 Photographs reveal and conceal, serve as [both] expos\u00e9 and cover-up.&#8221; [via Wikipedia]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>What are some other good films centered around moral dilemmas in times of war? Post your thoughts in the comments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><span><span>The central dilemma in&#160;<\/span><a href=\"\/independentlens\/blog\/dan-krauss-investigates-kill-team\" target=\"_parent\" rel=\"noopener\"><\/a><a href=\"\/independentlens\/kill-team\/\" target=\"_parent\" rel=\"noopener\"><b><i>The Kill Team<\/i><\/b><\/a><span>&#160;i<\/span><span>s grappled with by&#160;an American soldier in Afghanistan who found members of his platoon were committing immoral war crimes.<\/span>&#160;<span>Here&#8217;s a look at some other films, both fictional and documentary, that have characters who made a moral choice in the middle of war.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":10247,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[939,1],"tags":[],"topic":[1239,1225,1258],"class_list":["post-1376","blog","type-blog","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lists","category-uncategorized","topic-identity","topic-politics-and-government","topic-war-military"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Moral Dilemmas in 10 War Films - Independent Lens<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"For The Kill Team&#039;s TV premiere, we survey how moral dilemmas were presented in 10 films, documentaries and features, from Sgt. 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