The best war movie not about war

Rating: 10/10 (6 June 2001)

I will admit my war movie experience is somewhat limited, but I have seen the more recent films like Apocalypse Now, Platoon, and Saving Private Ryan. I think for people out to compare this to Saving Private Ryan will be severely dissapointed: this is not an action movie. I would hesitate to even call it a war movie. The mere fact that a war takes place during this movie doesn't make it a war movie. The movie just uses war, more specifically, soldier's thoughts about war, to launch into an analysis of those things that make up the fibre of every human being. It's a very slow paced, philosophical movie, and like all movies of its type, if you're not in the mindset to watch it, you'll miss a lot of the intricate meanings behind it. If you do concentrate, you'll find an astonishing reward at the end.
And for the record, I think this is better than Saving Private Ryan, although not as good as Apocalypse Now (which is also another war movie that doesn't concern itself much with realism or battle tactics yet succeeds).