Hacker Cinema
In the Valley of Elah
2007 · Film · 124 min
Directed by Paul Haggis
HistoryDramaThrillerCrimeMystery
A career officer and his wife work with a police detective to uncover the truth behind their son's disappearance following his return from a tour of duty in Iraq.
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3 comments on Hacker News
Not a movie, but "Generation Kill" comes pretty close?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0995832/
As for movies, there's "In The Valley of Elah" comes to mind:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0478134/
And more generally, about modern warfare, I suppose "Eye in the Sky" warrants a mention:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2057392/
My old coworker worked with movie studies (Valley of Elah was one) as a consultant providing military like training to the actors. (Enough to make them look like military personell) if the business he was in didn't fall apart they had a hind helicopter on the way.. shipping and certification was more expensive than the chopper... besides that, it was mostly WW2 era jeeps, tanks, etc..
Still that APC looks pretty fun :-D
Full Metal Jacket.
• Three Kings.
• In The Valley of Elah.
Good Morning Vietnam.
A Few Good Men.
Platoon.
• Jarhead.
Casualties Of War.
• The Men Who Stare At Goats.
The Deer Hunter.
The Thin Red Line.
• Syriana.
• The Green Zone.
• Stop Loss.
Also, • HBO's "Generation Kill".
(•'d relatively recent movies)
I don't think "The Hurt Locker" was particularly critical of the military and didn't count it. Also not counting documentaries like "Restrepo".
I hereby dispute the idea that the DOD has made it impossible for big-budget Hollywood movies to criticize the US military, and suggest instead that the bias Hollywood in favor of the military is responding to customer preferences and not leading it. Given what I presume to be America's default position of "supporting our troops", I'm struck by how many films Hollywood produce that challenge that default.
Remember also that Hollywood confronts at least two vectors of consumer preference in marketing films: first, Americans (in the large) have a (typical) diffuse nationalistic home-team support for our overseas adventures, and, more importantly, there's a less-political less-issue-oriented reverence expected for the sacrifices made by the young people we send into combat which is especially intense during times when large numbers of people are serving in combat zones. In other words, it's especially tricky to criticize the military during active conflicts.
Also, Three Kings is a fantastic movie.