Has there ever been a mainstream american made movie about WW2, Vietnam, Korea, etc, where it was filmed from the POV of the country america was fighting against?
There was that Clint Eastwood one a few years ago, one of a pair, in Japanese and of the Japanese perspective in WW2.
Found it – Letters from Iwo Jima.
thx
yeah, i thought of that one, but haven’t seen it
does it make the Americans look wicked and the Japanese look noble?
Soldier Blue. Not exactly what you asked for. …it’s about the Indian Wars.
not exactly but close, thanks
“Casualties of War” is a Vietnam film dealing with the rape and murder of a local girl by American G.I.s. It’s directed by Brian De Palma and stars Sean Penn and Michael J. Fox.
Oliver Stone’s “Platoon” also shows some American atrocities.
Dances with Wolves, too. Sort of, anyway.
I don’t mean anti-vietnam moives, i mean where, the other side are actually the hero’s and the ameicans are nameless faceless evil robot soldiers… which is kind of a step beyond platton and casualties of war, isn’t it?
yes, this is a close example but i meant like in a modern war
And what would be the point to it? Portraying your own side, in a relatively contemporary within-living-memory context so that many in your audience actually knew the people and their mores, as “faceless generic evil robots” does not really work. And having your own side turn into the “bad guy” is too useful as a means to portray issues of the banality of evil, or of how the road to Hell is paved with good intentions, of corruption of values, of conspiracy, or of the oppression inherent in the system, to just use it as a throwaway source of well-armed bad-guy mooks or as an unexplained supervillain.
In an allegorical sense I suppose you could count *Avatar *as sort of having a similar theme to DwW and the like.
Tora, Tora, Tora did a fair job of presenting the Japanese side of Pearl Harbor. (It was a joint US–Japan production.)
Peckinpah’s Cross of Iron with James Coburn showed Germans fighting on the Eastern Front.
The Blue Max was filmed from the Germans’ point of view just prior to American troops arriving in Europe in WWI.
The problem with such movies, of course, is that no studio on earth has the budget for full-scale military hardware… so they are happy to partner with the appropriate branch of the services to get carriers, Harriers, choppers, jets, big-ass guns and a few thousand troops in uniform. At the cost of review by the military and at most showing a rogue soldier or officer doing bad things, and never judging the military or US position badly.
Most films that fit the OP are small, character-driven and use only mockup or salvage equipment. The big-CGI era might change that, somewhat.
Battle Of Midway was from both sides (neither side completely nameless faceless enemies)
Battle of the Bulge had some from both sides. Both sides were presented pretty two dimensionally though with most of the Germans just emphasizing their evil. They had some named, faced, baddies with one “good” German who was just tired of the war.
…and after an early post I have Cross of Iron lines going through my head. I need to watch it again soon. Not a single American though.
Can you remind me who won those two battles?
All Quiet on the Western Front. World War I, but made in 1930, when people still had memories of fighting the Hun
The Young Lions with Marlon Brando and Montgomery Clift, tries to depict both sides. It is ultimately pro-Allies, but it does show some of America’s flaws, and it does try to explain why a German kid growing up in the Depression might vote for Hitler.
The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel, starring James Mason, shows the war from General Rommel’s point of view.
Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, in which Nicholas Cage plays an Italian army officer.
Both versions of All Quiet on the Western Front were American productions.
thanks everyone to all of your responses
Here’s a list of anti-war movies. Look through it and find the ones that are American-made. Some of them might fit your description:
Like The Desert Rats, in which Mason also played Rommel, his main opponent is the British. I think even the plane that strafes his staff car in Normandy is an RAF Typhoon.
The Rock has a Scottish protagonist go against a unit of American Navy Seals.
They were rogue, but their cause was fairly noble.