Also I honestly haven’t seen any of those.
Grand Illusion
(it’s considered by some to be the greatest film of all time)
My favorite is Larry of Arabia but a lot of people here will say nothing beats War Horse.
All Quiet on the Western Front is a great anti-war film about WWI, I watched it in a history course. But it does not tell much about what you said “tsar, ottoman, Lenin”.
@OP
There are many, but with regards to your studies here are films that come close- (which focus on Russia/ Ottoman Empire)
GALLIPOLI
Dr. ZHIVAGO
The LIGHTHORSEMEN
also few notables-
J’Accuse!
The African Queen
Joyeux Noël
Johnny Got His Gun
Wings
A Farewell to Arms
Hell’s Angels
Wooden Crosses
The Lost Battalion (TV)
The Trench
J’Accuse (I prefer Gance’s sound version) and Johnny Got His Gun are two good ones.
I personally think All Quiet on the Western Front might be damn well the best film ever made, so regardless of how much textbook history is included you should still see it.
Also check out Pabst’s Westfront 1918, often overlooked but very good.
La grande guerra (Mario Monicelli)
Forest of the Hanged (Liviu Ciulei)
La grande illusion (Jean Renoir)
Paths of Glory (Stanley Kubrick)
Grand Illusion
The Big Parade
want to see both versions of Gance’s J’Accuse
____
Worst – Darling Lili
Are you looking for WWI movies that are great movies, or ones that are historically accurate?
if the latter, that disqualifies a lot of the best ones.
Attenborough’s Oh! What a Lovely War (1969) would be useful for you, though it’s far better on stage.
I remember BREAKER MORANT was really good (oops, Wikipedia check reveals this one was about the Boer War….nevermind. But it’s still a fantastic film. One of the films that put Australian film-makers on the map.)
And I’ll second WOODEN CROSSES by Raymond Bernard from the Eclipse set.
I think you´ll find a worthy experience in:
Volker Schlöndorff’s: Coup de grâce
A lot of fine films already mentioned. The Welsh film Hedd Wyn is worth seeing too, and King and Country.
I think the best overall may be Grand Illusion. The 3 original thread starter suggestions are all important of course.
A MONTH IN THE COUNTRY is an excellent film about the aftermath of World War I. The effects of that war were far-reaching and tragic in so many ways.
WW1 is a popular subject now, maybe because the centennial is coming up, and also there was only so much we could take of “the greatest generation” stuff cranked out by Tom Hanks et al.
It’s also the centerpiece of Downton Abbey season 2.
It takes place right before WWI but you should probably kill yourself if you haven’t see The White Ribbon.
It’s neat.
Paths of Glory …hands down. On SO MANY levels
and of course there is REDS.
I just saw War Horse, and that’s a pretty fucking stupid WWI movie.
Yes, Paths of Glory. Yes. Yes. Hands down.
Westfront 1918 (G.W. Pabst)
Capitaine Conan (Bertrand Tavernier)
Asher
We’re studying the first World War in my history class right now and I wanted to hear some opinions on what people think might be the best WWI movies to watch to correlate with what we’re studying (Lenin, Tsar Nicholas, Ottoman Empire, etc etc)
Some ideas I’ve had were to watch All Quiet On The Western Front, Lawrence of Arabia, or Paths of Glory.
Which of these (or others) sounds best?