# War — Genre

> Films depicting armed conflict. Drama, action, history. Often anti-war beneath surface.

## Defining elements

- Armed conflict setting
- Moral weight / consequences
- Historical context (often)
- Camaraderie + tragedy
- Heroism + dehumanization

## Sub-genres

| Sub-genre | Example |
|-----------|---------|
| Combat film | Saving Private Ryan |
| Anti-war | Full Metal Jacket, Apocalypse Now |
| War drama | The Hurt Locker |
| War epic | Lawrence of Arabia |
| War romance | The English Patient |
| Holocaust | Schindler's List |
| Modern war | The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty |
| Civil war | Glory, Free State of Jones |
| Vietnam | Platoon, Apocalypse Now |
| Iraq / Afghanistan | American Sniper, Hurt Locker |
| Resistance | Schindler's List |
| War POV (single) | 1917 |
| Home front | The Best Years of Our Lives |

## Structural conventions

### Brotherhood / unit
- Squad as family
- Loss within unit
- Leader / mentor figures
- Internal dynamics

### Mission / objective
- Clear goal
- Obstacles mount
- Cost reveals
- Often pyrrhic

### Loss of innocence
- Soldier arc: green → hardened
- Naïveté stripped
- Costs paid

### Camaraderie + horror
- Bonds forged
- Atrocities witnessed
- Both real
- Tension

## Voice / Style

### Visual
- Realistic / immersive
- Often handheld combat
- Period accurate
- Landscapes vast (battlefields)

### Sound
- Critical
- Bullets, explosions
- Silence weaponized
- Score restrained or epic

### Dialogue
- Sparse during combat
- Specific military
- Authentic to era
- Vulnerability moments

## War mechanics

### POV control
- Soldier's eye view (immersion)
- Or commander's
- Or civilian's
- Different stories same war

### Anti-war beneath surface
Most great war films are anti-war:
- Show cost
- Don't glorify
- Question why

### Specific not generic
- Specific war
- Specific unit
- Specific moments
- Universal truth through specifics

### Moral complexity
- "Just war" complicated
- Atrocities by all sides
- Heroes do dark things
- No clean victories

## Sample war scene

```
EXT. TRENCH - DAY (Eastern Front)

ELDAR (22), conscript, hasn't shaved in weeks. Mud everywhere.
The other men in his unit smoke quietly during the lull.

ASIF (35), corporal, sits beside him. Older. Calmer.

ASIF
First letter from home?

ELDAR
Third.

ASIF
You haven't written back yet.

ELDAR
What do I write?

Asif considers. Lights a cigarette. Hands it to Eldar.

ASIF
You write that you're alive. That's all they need to know.

ELDAR
What about everything else?

ASIF
There is no everything else.

Eldar smokes. The other men begin to stir as the signal comes.

UNIT LEADER (O.S.)
Two minutes.

The men begin checking their gear. Ritual. Methodical.

Eldar's hands shake slightly. Asif notices. Doesn't comment.

ASIF
Eldar.

ELDAR
Yeah.

ASIF
When we go over, you stay close to me.

ELDAR
Yeah.

ASIF
Whatever you see — whatever happens — you stay close.

ELDAR
Why?

ASIF
Because I'm the one who's going to walk you back to your mother.

He looks at Eldar. Eldar nods.

UNIT LEADER (O.S.)
Thirty seconds.

The men move into position. Asif claps Eldar on the shoulder.

ASIF
Stay close.

The whistle blows.

They go over the top.

CUT TO BLACK.

OVER BLACK: Sounds of combat. Not glamorous. Just terrible.
```

This works through:
- Specific moment (not battle scene)
- Camaraderie before horror
- Restraint
- Promise that may not be kept
- Audience anxiety
- Cuts away (anti-spectacle)

## Common mistakes

- Glorifying combat without cost
- Generic enemy
- Hero too heroic (no flaws)
- Forgetting civilian impact
- Stock characters
- Sentimentality
- Missing political context

## Best war films reference

### Combat-focused
- Saving Private Ryan (D-Day realism)
- Black Hawk Down (modern combat)
- 1917 (single take feel)
- Hacksaw Ridge

### Anti-war
- All Quiet on the Western Front (1930, 2022)
- Full Metal Jacket
- Apocalypse Now
- Paths of Glory
- Come and See

### Drama-leaning
- The Hurt Locker
- The Pianist
- Schindler's List
- Letters from Iwo Jima
- Sophie's Choice

### Epic
- Lawrence of Arabia
- The Bridge on the River Kwai
- The Deer Hunter

## When to write war

- Historical interest
- Anti-war message
- Festival prestige
- Streaming epic
- Limited series potential
- Adaptation (book, true story)

## Production realities

Massive scale typically:
- Period costumes
- Props (weapons, vehicles, sets)
- Locations
- Pyrotechnics
- Stunts

Smaller war stories possible (1917 felt epic with focused approach).

## Combination with other genres

- War + Drama (Schindler's List)
- War + Action (Saving Private Ryan)
- War + Romance (The English Patient)
- War + Comedy (M*A*S*H, Catch-22)
- War + Horror (1917 has horror beats)
