One Of If Not The Best War Movies
I know people will bitch at me, but I can't help it, this is my fave war movie, everything about it was great. The acting, the screenplay, everything.
shareIt's about as much "war movie" as Renaissance Man or Major Payne.
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I prefer Shakespearean endings.
It's as much a war movie as any other. A "war movie" is not a "war movie" just because it's authentic, or takes place on a physical battlefield. The Battlefield in nearly every single great war movie comes secondary to the core values of the script. At Tigerland's core is a bunch of everyday people thrown into a situation that divided a nation, they were at war with what authority tells them, and at war with themselves.
It deals with the relationships and bonds that a war situation forces them into. War movies are not made for some shallow interpretation of a literal battlefield, they're made to give viewers an opportunity to understand the individual's core and their bonds/relationships that war situations create.
Also, Saving Private Ryan, though at times sickeningly pro American, brought so much subtext through the relationships on display, and some beautiful cinematography, is still a good movie in its own right. I don't think the intention was historical accuracy, just to adapt the great story from a great novel.
Going straight and choosing life.
Glad to see someone mention The Killing Fields, which is almost a forgotten classic and is my personal favorite war film. The acclaim for the movie was and still is unanimously positive, but it rarely sees any inclusion on lists of the greatest war movies, possibly because of the lack of combat or traditional focus on military forces.
I'm hoping the recent Taegukgi: The Brotherhood of War (probably my favorite war film since Saving Private Ryan) will catch on to a large audience now that it's on DVD; it could certainly become a classic combat film in the years to come.