20 Intense Military Themed Movies You Need To Watch To Get Inspired

Blood, sweat and tears – that’s the stuff war stories are made up of.

And the filmmakers have to dig deep to find inspiration so that they can do justice to the story, and also have to find ways to inspire the same courage and gumption into the actors so that the emotions are effectively portrayed.

And when this is done well, we get a movie that moves us – the way it is supposed to.

1. The Bridge On The River Kwai

Would you help your enemy build a bridge if you were captured as a prisoner of war? The movie’s hero Colonel Nicholson does – to the extent that he makes a better bridge for his enemies.

The climax of the movie deals perfectly with the conduct of a military officer – to be a model gentleman or to play a dirty game at the cost of losing your honor.

 

2. Inglorious Basterds

If an honorable man in the military would be the perfect gentleman, a dishonorable man can be truly evil after receiving the powers. That’s what we saw in Col Hans Landa and his menace and how he sold his soul after the tables turned.

The movie is a satisfying treat for everyone who were horrified after reading Hitler’s unspeakable crimes.

 

3. Lakshya

Few movies touch upon the personal struggle of a soldier in the military. Lakshya perfectly showed the coming of age of a young officer in a way we could identify with, and in the end feel proud about.

 

4. Flag Of Our Fathers And Letters From Iwo Jima

We all know the outcome of the battles the Americans fought with the Japanese. We have seen all the movies that show Americans as the heroes and the Japanese as the villains.

Then these movies showed us both the perspectives of the war and we actually felt something for the Japanese. We suddenly realized that they were not as inhuman as history depicts them.

 

5. The Great Escape

If The Bridge On The River Kwai was all about officers being noble, The Great Escape is all about officers being hella creative for escaping from a maximum-security prison camp.

The movie is a brilliant example of how officers and soldiers should behave in an enemy prisoner camp.

 

6. A Few Good Men

Battles are not just fount on the battlefield, and not all men in uniform are honorable. A few good men is a story of war between a junior officer crusading against a Colonel who indirectly caused the death of a soldier citing military codes.

The movie was the inspiration for the desi hit Shaurya – which also had steallar acting performances.

 

7. Rescue Dawn

Some prisons of war are not at all humane. Vietnamese prisons were hell, and Rescue Dawn shows how bad the torture can get in inhumane camps.

But in the end it is a story of human survival that goes beyond just military training.

 

8. Kingdom Of Heaven

The Crusades is a difficult war to be portrayed on cinema. The director cannot just show the Christian perspective or the Muslim perspective.

And Kingdom Of Heaven achieved the perfect balance just like Letters from Iwo Jima did. This movie was also appreciated by Muslim clerics for showing Muslims in a good light.

 

9. The Hurt Locker

War does bad things to a soldier, and this movie showed how deeply war can affect a soldier and how the scars of battlefield never really heal, even in the comfort and safety of our homes.

 

10. Apocalypse Now

Is it a pro-war or an anti-war movie? There have been endless debates on it. In its core, Apocalypse Now is a very war movie. It isnt anti or pro. It just is – naked and bare.

And that is why it is the best war movie out there.

 

11. Platoon

Have you ever imagined how you would behave when you were plunged in the horrific nature of a war? The bloodshed, the death, the squalor, the evil and the triumph without any joy?

This movie handled all these questions and more.

 

12. Prahaar: The Final Attack

No one pulls off a strict army officer like Nana Patekar. He embodied the character so perfectly, you wonder that a person like that could really exist, because it was played so perfectly by Nana.

 

13. Saving Private Ryan

The movie was a perfect example of sacrifice. A whole platoon was sacrificed to save a single man – without any regrets. Because it was their duty and the sentiment was portrayed perfectly.

 

14. Black Hawk Down

What happens when a whole military operation goes to shit and your superiors are helpless? You have nothing but your brothers to rely on in a city full of hostiles.

The movie showed how crucial your comrades are in the heat of battle and at that moment nothing else matters.

 

15. Gladiator

Not even the highest officers in the military are immune to politics of a state – and that is what Gladiator effectively portrays.

 

16. Border

This movie united more people in India than a Indo-Pak cricket match.

 

17. 300

How does an efficient commander work in overwhelming odds. How does a commander handle his troops when every soldier in army knows that they are going to die?

How do you still battle with the same fervor?

 

18. Lone Survivor

Another story of a major screw-up that leaves a soldier running against time and tide – that too deep inside enemy territory.

 

19. Three Kings

An army Major goes rogue when he finds that he can loot gold and flee the country rich – abandoning his service with the help of three of his comrades.

An intriguing premise that was well-executed.

 

20. Jarhead

What if you were sent to a battlefield but were never allowed to fight. You basically spent time doing useless tasks. How bored would you be? Jarhead answers all these questions perfectly.

Time to go and watch them to get a deep look into how the human psyche works in war.

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