ONTD ORIGINAL: War films that aren't thought of as war films!

Inspired by the flop list from the other day, here's an ONTD Original with a list of movies that either feature a war (or the aftermath of one) and would absolutely never get classed as a war movie! While this list could feature A LOT of other films, I tried to pick an underrated film from overlooked wars.

Honorable mentions: A Matter of Life and Death, The Others, Wings of Desire, Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Mr Klein, Cluny Brown, The Manchurian Candidate, The Spy that Came In from the Cold, The Great Dictator, and Atonement.

The New World (2005)

I was going to add The Thin Red Line, but there was enough WW2 movies on yesterday's list. 2005's The New World features The First Anglo–Powhatan War and the English colonization of "Virginia". While it does feature a massacre or two, most of the film just features Malick's signature brand of poetry and nature shots.

**fair warning: It's far from being a perfect depiction of the Pocahontas story, but it's infinitely better than the Disney version that came out a decade earlier.

The Leopard (1963)



The film recreates, with nostalgia, drama, and opulence, the tumultuous years of Italy's Risorgimento (The Unification of Italy)—when the aristocracy lost its grip and the middle classes rose and formed a unified, democratic Italy. An aging prince is forced to watch his culture and fortune wane in the face of a new generation, represented by his upstart nephew.

**Fun fact: Netflix just made a series based on the same novel this film was adapted from!

The Last Emperor (1987)



The life of Emperor Puyi, who took the throne in 1908, at age three, is depicted in this quiet epic that spans both different decades and different cultures. He experienced decades of cultural and political upheaval both within and without the walls of the Forbidden City.

**Fun fact: It was the first Western feature film authorised by the People's Republic of China to film in the Forbidden City in Beijing.

Le Petit Soldat (1963)



This underrated Jean Luc Godard film features a French deserter who refuses to fight in the French-Algerian War. The closest thing he's made to a political thriller, it features the typical existentialism, political argument, and stylistic camera work often found in Godard's other films.

**Fun Fact: While it was filmed in 1960, the depiction of the French using torture pissed off the French Government so badly they banned it for 3 years.

Hiroshima Mon Amour (1953)



A French actress and a Japanese architect engage in a brief affair in postwar Hiroshima. Their mutual fascination for each other delicately weaves past and present with personal pain and collective anguish. You'd also be pretty hard pressed to find another Western financed film that features a Japanese romantic lead (in the early 50s no less!).

**Fun fact: French New Wave directors absolutely loved this film with Eric Rohmer stating: “I think that in a few years, in ten, in twenty, or thirty years, we shall know whether Hiroshima mon amour was the most important film since the war, the first modern film of sound cinema.”

SOURCE: MY PERSONAL TASTE (AND A CRITERION CHANNEL SUBSCRIPTION)