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Hello there, and welcome to Thursday Movie Picks, a weekly series hosted by Wandering Through the Shelves where you share three movies to fit the theme of the week each Thursday.
This week's theme is World War I. I do realize it sounds creepy but WWII has always been my favourite. Lucky me though there are some pretty good movies about WWI that are worth watching, and today I'm sharing with you three of my favourites - and I kind of went theme within theme since they all are about friendship. Here you go
Gallipoli (1981)
Two Australian sprinters face the brutality of war when they join the Australian army and are sent to fight in the Gallipoli campaign in Turkey. This film doesn't have much of a story but it still manages to be engaging, but most important it manages to be a powerful and moving film about friendship and the unfairness of war. And the two leads, Mel Gibson and Archy Hamilton, are amazing and have such a chemistry!
La grande guerra (1959)
After both trying in every way to avoid serving the army, two Italian slackers are called to serve in World War I. This is a brilliant commedia all'italiana (or Italian-style comedy) and just like the previous film, it is about friendship and war. It is also an ironic and poignant portrait of life in the trenches, it does make you reflect on the horrors of the Great War, and makes you laugh because of the spectacular leading duo, Vittorio Gassman and Alberto Sordi.
War Horse (2011)
Young Albert Narracott enlists to serve in World War I after his alcoholic father sold his beloved horse to the cavalry. Oh, this film is just fantastic, and watching a man and an animal bonding in such a beautiful way is beyond moving (yes, I love animals). I do realize it may not appeal to everyone because it's rather slow, but let me tell you something, it is necessary to establish the relationships and to make you care about the characters.
I find WWII fascinating too, it's okay. I haven't seen any of these. I had trouble this week. lol
ReplyDeleteI guess filmmakers think that too, because there's plenty of WWII films but not so many about WWI.
DeleteI would love to see La Grande Guerra and hope to one day. I really enjoyed war Horse and love animals as well so this really was up my alley even though I knew it would be a bit predictable...it didn't matter. Gallipoli is hard hitting and shows how the Australians were also a big part of the war. Very sad.
ReplyDeleteI know, and a lot of people don't even know Australians were a part of it.
DeleteNot a fan of War Horse, at all. Way too sentimental and flat out ridiculous, for me. Haven't seen the others.
ReplyDeleteA lot of people share your opinion about War Horse. It's definitely not everyone's cup of tea.
DeleteI liked War Horse - beautifully done but so sad too. I haven't seen Gallipoli and I've never heard of La grande guerra but it sounds liek a much needed lighter tone.
ReplyDeleteThat's exactly what La grande guerra is. And that's the reason I love it.
DeleteI haven't yet but definitely will see War Horse. Spielberg gets seen around here. And Gallipoi is on my list right now. I am trying to see every Peter Weir film, which is hard, considering some of them are out of print. Your other pick sounds solid as well. I need to see more Italian films.
ReplyDeleteYou're not alone, I also need to see more Italian films. There are so many classics I've never watched and it's not okay since I'm Italian. Also, I want to watch every Peter Weir film, but like you said it's not going to be easy.
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