Movies

One of my best friends was in Vietnam in 68-69, and he still can't watch Platoon. In his words, it's too realistic of what really happened over there. That's all he would say about it.

demono69

From a person that has gone through it, I can tell you "Saving Private Ryan" is the one movie that brought back a lot of bad times for me. The sound is so realistic, it made me want to duck and dive for cover. I had nightmares after watching it the first time.

Not all war movies effect me that way. It takes a comment, scene or something to trigger the memory of the past. It is just something we have to live with and try to forget. The only problem is, we can't forget.

QUOTE: Originally posted by ronj Two great movies of the psychological effects of men in combat; WW2--- A Walk in the Sun Korea--Pork Chop Hill ronj

The US Navy uses (at least it use to) "12 O'Clock High" in its enlisted leadership school as prime examples of the different types of leadership and its effects (both physical and psychological).

And it's a darn good movie too. I also loved "Saving Private Ryan".

QUOTE: Originally posted by leemitcheltree What about the effects on the movie viewers? Saving Private Ryan was probably the most realistic portrayal of actual combat that has yet been filmed. I saw some actual Normandy Landing veterans crying after they saw the film - some were completely stunned to silence and simply could not speak. Others were quite frank in their remarks about how much of the true horror they forgot or just "chose to forget". I've never seen a film do that to people before. Makes me respect the sacrifices that the members of the armed forces make on our behalf even more. Cheers, LeeTree

My dad was a Marine during Viet Nam, he was at Que Sahn and some other places during that time. It took him about 4 tries to be able to sit though Saving Private Ryan. The first time he had to get up and leave the room, I've never seen him like that. For that and that alone, this movie gets my vote.

He did mention that in Band of Brothers, they did an excellent job of replicating the sounds a bullet makes when it zips right by your head. Even though it's not a movie, it gets my second place vote. Good thread!

madda

"84 Charlie Mopic", "The Lost Battalion", "Blackhawk Down", but the hardest thing for me to watch is the knifing scene in "Saving Private Ryan". The terrible intimacy of the moment really troubles me at a base level. It's like he is comforting a child who has awoke from a bad dream. Gives me a shiver!

Those were some good choices. How about "All quiet on the Western Front". Great book, ditto to the movie, Made WW I look pretty dreary, not that any war is glamorous.

"It is well that war is so terrible, lest we grow too fond of it."-R.E.Lee

I've seen two good movies about fighting on the eastern front. First "Winter War" is about the fighting between Finland and the Soviet Union prior to the outbreak of WW2 and the second movie is "Stalingrad", not the Jude Law disaster.

What about the effects on the movie viewers?
Saving Private Ryan was probably the most realistic portrayal of actual combat that has yet been filmed.
I saw some actual Normandy Landing veterans crying after they saw the film - some were completely stunned to silence and simply could not speak. Others were quite frank in their remarks about how much of the true horror they forgot or just "chose to forget". I've never seen a film do that to people before.
Makes me respect the sacrifices that the members of the armed forces make on our behalf even more.
Cheers,
LeeTree

You forgot the greatest of them all, Platoon, and runner up, Apocalypse Now. For my money, they are the best in psych for combatants. Very moving.

demono69