Most directors and screenwriters have never set foot on a battlefield, so they tend to have a slightly exaggerated or diminished idea of what war is like. Consequently, some of them make movies that anger military experts and veterans. But it’s not always deliberate. While trying to give audiences the best entertainment value, they sometimes craft films that misrepresent military experiences either mildly or extensively.
War movies often face more scrutiny because of geopolitical ties, and because war is no picnic for those involved. Understandably, when you risk your life for something, you wouldn’t want anyone to play fast and loose with the facts regarding what happened. Military experts are thus justified in pointing out everything they deem incorrect, while directors also have the right to get creative with their stories. So, which war movies had the war experts and participants fuming?
10 The Hurt Locker (2009)
The Hurt Locker parachutes audiences right into the battlefields of Iraq, where Sergeant JT Sanborn (Anthony Mackie) and Specialist Owen Eldridge (Jeremy Renner) of the Explosive Ordnance Disposal are finding it hard to deal with their new team leader, Staff Sergeant William Jame. He is overbearing and keeps taking unnecessary risks, keeping the two protagonists on edge. Their previous leader happens to have just died and as they struggle to adjust to the new circumstances, they find themselves overwhelmed emotionally.
Soldiers Need to Communicate
Katheryn Bigalow is known for making unflinching movies that force us to confront the cruelties of war. Winner of Best Picture (the first such accolade for a film directed by a woman), the delicate, sensitive flick was made with unwavering meticulousness, evidenced by the detailed camerawork and unrivaled performances from the two leads.
Surprisingly, former military personnel had nothing good to say about the film. Writing for Bouhammer, combat veteran Troy Steward was surprised that “a movie so bad” would get so many awards. Iraq vet Kate Hoit also wrote a piece in The Huffington Post, explaining that the movie got many things wrong, including the uniforms and lack of radio communication. A similar view appeared on Vet Voice:
“In real life, EOD techs don’t conduct dangerous missions as autonomous three-man teams without communications gear. Another thing you’ll rarely hear in combat is an EOD E-7 suggesting to two or three of his guys that they leave the scene of an explosion in an Iraqi city by saying: ‘C’mon, let’s split up. We can cover more ground that way.”
Well, Bigalow will be glad the Academy panel had no vets.
Stream it on AMC+ or rent it on Apple TV+
9 Jarhead (2006)
Jarhead has one of the typical overenthusiastic characters who have the wrong idea about war. Anthony “Swoff” Swofford (Jake Gyllenhaal) enlists in a sniper training program, believing that once he is done, he will be splitting enemy heads open every few minutes from miles away. But when he gets deployed to the Gulf War as part of “Operation Desert Shield,” he finds the situation more boring than he expected. In fact, he never gets to fire a shot throughout the entire conflict.
“Jarhead” Isn’t a Common Term
This quirky, thoughtful, film made a huge splash among American audiences when it premiered, scoring various Satellite award nominations and catapulting Jake Gyllenhaal to international stardom. Director Sam Mendes’ thorough, fulgurant, color-drenched visuals and Thomas Newman’s amusement park soundtrack perfectly complemented the events. Today, the picture is still recommendable to anyone looking for great movies about the Gulf War. Interestingly, despite being based on the real Swofford’s memoir, it was criticized by a marine captain.
Expressing his views on Slate, Captain Nathaniel Fick, pointed out that the movie never explains why soldiers engage in wild recreational activities between official assignments. He also insisted that the straining process isn’t venomous as depicted in the Sam Mendes flick. Most importantly, he clarified that the term “Jarhead” isn’t as commonly used by Marines as audiences might be made to believe.
8 Green Zone (2010)
Based on the 2006 non-fiction book Imperial Life in the Emerald City by investigative journalist Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Green Zone follows US Army Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller (Matt Damon), a Mobile Exploitation Team (MET) head who is sent to Iraq to search for weapons of mass destruction (WMD). He realizes most of the intel given to him is inaccurate, and his efforts to find the facts are blocked by a US Department of Defense official.
A General Lack of Caution
Green Zone has stunning visuals and a general noir feel to it. It also found Matt Damon at the height of his Jason Bourne fame but still flopped at the box office, despite being directed by the great Paul Greengrass. A few parties enjoyed how it pointed out the lies of the American government, but military personnel generally hated it. Analyzing the movie for Insider, Iraq War veteran Jay Dorleus was irked by how careless the soldiers were.
“I’m going to give this a four out of 10. Mainly because of how they handled the sniper. Everyone was out in the open with a sniper on the loose. He could’ve easily just picked everyone off before they even made it to the building.”
It sure is one of the few missteps for Damon and Greengrass in their careers, but one they can live with.
Stream it on Prime Video
7 Platoon (1986)
In Platoon, we follow the journey of Chris Taylor (Charlie Sheen) from a young man beaming with idealism to a disillusioned one. Soon after landing in Vietnam, he is exposed to the harsh realities of war. Worse, there emerges a civil war in his unit, stemming from a feud between Staff Sergeant Barnes (Tom Berenger), who believes nearby villagers ought to be brutalized, and Sergeant Elias (Willem Dafoe), who is more sympathetic to the locals.
Racism Rears Its Ugly Head Once Again
Based on Oliver Stone’s own experiences as a U.S. infantryman in Vietnam, and lovingly photographed on the lush, coastal Ludon Island in the Philippines, this poetically fashioned harrowing tale of infighting is a testament to the sensitive vision of the filmmaker, who keeps fastening dark emotional elements into every detail. The film won Best Picture and its legacy was boosted further by the iconic image of Willem Dafoe’s character on his knees with his arms up. Stone wanted to portray Vietnam more realistically, having hated John Wayne’s The Green Berets, but ended up messing some things up.
Black war correspondent Wallace Terry, who reported in Vietnam for two years, told People that the portrayal of black troops was “a slap in the face.” He highlighted the fact that there were no officers, and the three black soldiers in the movie were all depicted as cowards. Black veteran Bennie J. Swans also aired the same concern to The Chicago Tribune a year after the movie was released.
6 Pearl Harbor (2001)
Pearl Harbor centers around American childhood friends, Rafe McCawley (Ben Affleck) and Danny Walker (Josh Hartnett), after they enlist as pilots at the onset WWII. Eager to get in on the action, Rafe leaves America to fight in Europe alongside England’s Royal Air Force. Back at home, his girlfriend, Evelyn (Kate Beckinsale), falls for Danny. A love triangle ensues, and before they can figure it out, the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor.
Bay Gets the Explosions Right, But Not the Facts.
One of the highest-grossing war movies, Pearl Habor perfectly places love and friendship onto the canvas of war. It’s one of the best efforts by“Master of Explosions” Michael Bay, but it still doesn’t capture the attack accurately. Pilot Kenneth M. Taylor, who flew the P-40 Warhawk during the raid, and served as inspiration for the two fictional protagonists, described the movie as a sensationalized piece of trash, according to The Washington Post.
Stream it on Hulu and Tubi
5 The Wall (2017)
Among the many threats American soldiers faced during the War in Iraq was Juba, a mysterious sniper from the Islamic Army in Iraq, who became a folk hero to locals after filming most of his kills. The Wall, shows Juba in action, with much of the events revolving around two American soldiers (played by Aaron Taylor Johnson and John Cena) as they figure out what to do while taking cover behind a shattered wall.
The Soldiers Are Dumb
Doug Liman’s pungent, harrowing tale has its share of shut-your-eyes violence and sun-soaked environments, but the real joy lies in watching the dilemma of the two protagonists. Their fruitless attempts to call headquarters for assistance adds a touching, hopeful spice to the tale. Every effort hits the wall, literally, and the bullets keep coming, resulting in what is one of the most intriguing sniper movies ever made.
Iraq War veteran Jay Dorleus hates just how dumb the soldiers are. Analyzing the film for Insider, he singles out the poor decision-making after one of them gets hit:
“As soldiers, they teach us self-aid, meaning if I get hit in the leg it’s my job to take care of this wound. So that’s what he should have been doing. Instead of flailing on the ground all dramatic, he should have went to work and dress his wound. There’s a Humvee right there, so he could have crawled to that Humvee. Out of sight out of mind of that sniper. There’s absolutely no reason why his buddy had to make the mad dash.”
Indeed, studios need to dedicate more budgets to research and consulting experts.
Stream it on Prime Video
4 Red Tails (2012)
World War II is raging on in Red Tails and Black cadets are dutifully training but secretly dying for something exciting to happen. That something takes the intriguing form of an order by the Civil Aeronautics Authority selecting a group of black men to fly fighter jets. The opportunity looks nice, but all that glitters isn’t gold. While trying to make the most out of their careers, the pilots constantly face discrimination and get subjected to bureaucratic challenges.
Facts in the Movie Were Disputed by Actual Participants
Boasting a sharp screenplay by John Ridley (best known for 12 Years a Slave), the subtle, redolent film benefits mightily from David Oyelewo, Ne-Yo, and Michael B. Jordan’s incredible performances. Their characters are vibrant young men hungry to explore war, and to hell with the consequences. Brilliant set designs also immerse us in the idiosyncratic vibe of the 1940s. Unfortunately, some details aren’t correct.
In a series of webinars titled Tuskegee Airman Webinars – ‘Was the Movie Accurate’?, former members of the Tuskegee Airmen, Colonel Charles McGee and Colonel Harold Brown, exposed the inaccuracies of Red Tails, which mostly relate to the number of casualties and the war records. A pilot in the movie also claims that not a single team member was killed due to enemy fire, but this is proven inaccurate.
Stream it on Disney+
In Full Metal Jacket, self-assured J.T. David Davis (Matthew Modine), arrives at a boot camp in South Carolina for a course officiated by the hard-nosed drill instructor Gunnery Sergeant Hartman (Lee Ermey), who the lazy Gomer Pyle (Vincent Donforio) for some harsh tutelage. Few soldiers make it and those that do end up facing the real horrors of war in the Vietnamese cities of Da Nang and HuếWe Were Soldiers.
Some Combat Decisions Don’t Make Sense
Half boot camp movie, half battlefield movie, Full Metal Jacket thrills from start to finish, thanks to the keen micromanaging eye of Stanley Kubrick. Audiences will particularly enjoy the scene where a Vietnamese teenage girl eliminates the soldiers one by one using a sniper rifle. But as entertaining as the movie is, it isn’t entirely accurate in its depiction of combat.
In a YouTube video, military history professor Bill Allison. He notes that there is one scene where Marines immediately go into an area that they just pre-sighted (a misguided approach). Additionally, he notes that Huế City looks nothing like it did in real life, and that’s mostly because the scenes were filmed in London.
Stream it on Paramount+ or Fubo
2 We Were Soldiers (2002)
Based on the book We Were Soldiers Once… and Young by Lieutenant General (Ret.) Hal Moore and war reporter Joseph L. Galloway, We Were Soldiers dramatizes the Battle of Ia Drang in November 1965. This was the first major battle between the US Army and the People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN). Among other things, it is remembered for being the first large-scale air assault involving helicopters and Boeing B-52 Stratofortress strategic bombers.
The Film Mixes Up Two Groups of the Vietnamese Military
Unlike most Hollywood movies about the Vietnam War, We Were Soldiers isn’t biased towards Americans. The good and the ugly sides of both parties are clearly accentuated. Moreover, the brutal nature of battlefield warfare isn’t glossed over. However, military history professor Bill Allison has pointed out several factual issues via a YouTube video. He specifically notes that the People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN) uses extensive networks of tunnels during its battlefield operations, yet this was more of a Viet Cong tactic.
Stream it on MGM+ or Fubo
1 Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan is credited with having renewed interest in World War II, inspiring other movies and TV shows set during the conflict. Events in it occur in 1944 in Normandy, France, during the war, and follows a group of dedicated soldiers, led by Captain John Miller (Tom Hanks), as they try to locate Private James Francis Ryan (Matt Damon) and get him home safely after it’s revealed that his three brothers have all died in combat.
The Brits Were Ignored
Saving Private Ryan was the second highest-grossing picture of 1998 and its Best Picture loss to Shakespeare in Love is considered as one of the biggest upsets in awards history. Fascinating for its hallucinatory and bloody opening and closing battles alone, the film deserves all the praise it gets. When it comes to violence, everything is so realistic that the United States Department of Veterans Affairs created a dedicated phone line for former military personnel whose PTSD had been triggered by the Spielberg flick. But the movie wasn’t stainless.
According to the BBC, British war veterans were largely unhappy, feeling the movie glorified America’s contribution to the D-Day events at the expense of other Allied teams. Former Royal Navy member, Ron Massingham, stated:
“I was disappointed to see British craft weren’t portrayed when in fact British craft took the very first of the assault crews in. It was all US crew that was portrayed.”
Still, Spielberg has stood his ground. In several interviews, the director has insisted that there were no British forces on the ground at that particular time.
Stream it on Prime Video or Paramount+
