Memorial Day Alternative by Butler Shaffer

I have grown weary of the war-lovers taking over every holiday and exploiting them for their own deadly ambitions. Turning July 4^th into a celebration of militaristic statism (see the old Bing Crosby musical Holiday Inn) was bad enough. But then seeing a Santa Claus in a flag-draped Uncle Sam suit on a Christmas card a couple years ago was simply too much.

Memorial Day is one holiday on which I often hold an “Anti-War Film Festival,” inviting a few friends – who, being friends of mine, have no need to be reminded of the evils of warfare – to watch what I consider the best of the films that bring war into disrepute. Instead of going out to a cemetery to join an “honor guard” gang to play taps and fire their rifles to celebrate the deaths of victims of warfare, I suggest such an anti-war film festival for your own consideration.

Some of the films I find most effective are the following (with the number of * [1–3] reflecting my opinion as to importance):

*** Joyeux Noel – a recent film depicting an actual pause in battle – on Christmas Eve – during World War I. French, German, and British soldiers met in a “no-man’s-land” to exchange candy and cigarettes, converse, and even play an abbreviated game of soccer.

*** The King of Hearts – an Alan Bates film, set in World War I, in which a soldier, Bates, is sent into a French town to check things out, not being aware that the inhabitants had left the town, and residents of the local mental asylum had taken their places. Very good comedy.

** Paths of Glory – A Kirk Douglas film. A general sends his men on a suicide mission. When the mission fails, a few soldiers are arbitrarily selected to be tried – and executed – for cowardice.

* M*A*S*H – anyone not familiar with this comedic dark look at war – the Korean being the one in question – has probably been out in the desert too long.

*** Oh! What a Lovely War – a British musical comedy (it originated as a stage show) set in World War I. The ending scene, in particular, will bring tears to the eyes of those who abhor the systematic killing of people. One of my all-time favorites!

** Johnny Got His Gun – a Dalton Trumbo film, set in World War I, from the perspective of an all-but-dead wounded soldier. The darkest of the films I’m recommending.

* The Mouse That Roared – the Peter Sellers classic about a European duchy that figures the best way out of its financial difficulties is to wage war on America, and then receive post-war foreign aid.

** All Quiet on the Western Front – won the Oscar (1930) for best film and best director. A very good anti-war film – from the perspective of some young Germans. I particularly like it because it stars one of the few real heroes from Hollywood, Lew Ayres, who refused to be conscripted into the army during World War II, a decision that virtually ruined his Hollywood career.

While on the topic of “heroes,” I would exclude any and all war films by John Wayne who, more than anyone else, helped Hollywood glorify wartime butchery, even as he managed to keep himself out of the war. Sound like any presidents?

* Apocalypse Now – an excellent Vietnam war era film with dark and dark-side overtones.

** The Deer Hunter – a powerful, not for the squeamish, look at the Vietnam war. It won an Oscar (1978) for best picture, and for best supporting actor (Christopher Walken).

** Gallipoli – a film by one of my favorite directors, Peter Weir. It takes place in World War I, and does a moving job of showing the disillusionment of young men caught up in the ersatz “glory” of war.

*** Shenandoah – the best anti-war film with a consistent libertarian message. Jimmy Stewart plays a Virginia farmer – with a large family – who has no use for the Civil War and its intrusions upon his property. When I first sat through this film over 40 years ago, I kept waiting for Stewart to cave in and see the errors of his ways. He never does. Some wonderful lines that you’ll not soon forget. One of the very few films that later became a stage play. If you haven’t seen this one, where have you been?

** Catch-22 – the film adaptation of Joseph Hiller’s treatment of the “normal” insanity of the war system, based on his own war-time experiences.

** Slaughterhouse-Five – Kurt Vonnegut’s offering of the same basic theme of the normalcy of institutionalized insanity, from the perspective of a soldier. I once saw a lengthy interview (on C-SPAN, as I recall) of Heller and Vonnegut together. Vonnegut related a conversation he had had with a friend on a troop-ship coming back from Europe. Vonnegut asked his friend: “what did you learn from all of this?,” to which the other man replied: “never to believe your own government.”

** Dr. Strangelove – another Peter Sellers offering that involves an Air Force general who decides to start a war with the Soviet Union. As with The Mouse That Roared, Sellers plays a number of roles. A film that ages well with time.

*** Wag the Dog – for those who reject, out of hand, the idea that political conspiracies exist – unless, of course, one is talking about conspiracies perpetrated by “bad guys” – this film may prove either troublesome or enlightening. In an age when the best way to satirize something is to make a factual report of same, this film of a contrived war engineered to enliven a presidential reelection campaign, has all the ring of a documentary. A “must” for any modern film festival.

** The Quiet American [2002 version] – the adaptation of Graham Greene’s novel deals with the behind-the-scenes manipulations that led to America’s involvement in the Vietnam war. Don’t waste your time with the 1958 version, which treats Greene’s novel as a murder mystery, not a political intrigue.

*** Aftermath: The Remnants of War – one of the most powerful of all anti-war films, particularly since it doesn’t show any battle scenes. It is a documentary, produced by the Canadian Film Board, of the various messes that the war system leaves to the rest of mankind to deal with decades after the wars have ended (e.g., unexploded munitions from World Wars I and II that continue to kill French farmers each year).

*** The Americanization of Emily – I have saved my favorite anti-war film for last. This James Garner/Julie Andrews picture is quite good. The most powerful portion of it is the garden scene, in which Garner and Andrews are talking with Andrews’ mother about war. Garner’s impassioned soliloquy on the nature of war – with emphasis on the wives and mothers who keep the bloodbaths going by honoring them – packs more wallop than just about any other film. Garner ends up declaring that it will be cowards – such as himself – who will save the world.

You may well have other films you would like to add to the list – and there are other excellent anti-war movies – but these represent my favorites. If you decide to undertake your own Anti-War Film Festival this Memorial Day, you should have adequate time to check with your local video-rental outlet or, as I have done, go to Amazon.com to purchase some of them (deliveries should get to you before Memorial Day).