Do movies take away some....

Do movies take away from the credibility and scale of a battle? Personally, I think that EATG takes away from the seriousness of the Battle of Stalingrad, one of the most epic battles of world history, and it doesn't show the scale to which people suffered in that landscape...

Any more films that do this???

 

I have to be careful as I wasn't there !

But I see your point & I think it depends on how hard the producers and directors try.

For instance, 'Battle of Britain' (again!), 'Bridge Too Far' and SPR (in parts) do seem to capture some of the 'flavour' of those battles, whereas, for instance, 'Battle Of The Bulge' I found ridiculous & totally missed the peculiar atmosphere of the Ardennes.

 

Yes, I do think that they can often take something very serious and terrible and turn it into a joke. I always wonder if I'd be offended by some of this stuff, as a vet. I know my pop is like that to a certain point. But then again, we both love the dirty dozen. I think some things are obviously made to be in the somewhat unbelievable espionage/cowboy western vein. But movies that try to pass themselves off as serious really can make a mockery of the sacrifices of many, again I refer to U-571 for this since it's fresh in my mind. I remember TONS of sh*tty vietnam flicks in the 80s that were like that too.

 

I can see your point there, Ryan! At Enemy at the gates the whole battle was won by Vasili Zaitsev. He kills major Königs and then, magically the battle ends... Paulus is portraited there just as a stupid character with no importance... And Chuikov? Where was Stalingrad's real hero? But yeah... Mr. Kruschev was more important...

 

Here's a short list with explanations:-

U-571 :- As soon as the Americans seize an Enigma machine, the war is won. No more losses...UMMM....SURE!!!

ENEMY AT THE GATES :- Top German sniper killed-Battle over, the Germans fall to their knees at the loss of one man......

WINDTALKERS :- Navaho Codetalkers, although well deserved with merits in the battles of the Pacific, did not automatically bring American victory because they got a battleship to bombard an enemy position.

It is good that people are making us aware of history, and the sacrifices that people have had to make, but there are many fine examples of movies that let us know that one victory was not the end:- WE WERE SOLDIERS, PLATOON, SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, THE LONGEST DAY -I mean, that was made in the 1960s, and they got it right...

Sorry for the ramble-just my 2 cents...

 

As well as the movies I thought the comic books ( i used to read as a teenager )were hilarious with their propaganda.The Germans were always idiots and shooting them was easy like duck hunting because you never missed...The Germans only knew words like
"Schweinehunde!" "Dummkopf!" "Achtung!"
"Arghhh!" and that´s it.

One in ten of those comic books had a reasonably good story, the other nine just made you vomit. I quitted rather fast with them and started reading the real books...

 

Enemy at the Gates and Pearl Harbour, 2 movies during which I walked out, mind you at the latter I was with a friend who is half Japanese and it made him sick to see the portrayal of his people and the way the whole Japanese airforce is destroyed by 2 pilots. Personally I found it rather sickening too because so much fuss was made about destroying the hospital but no one mentioned the stuff the dolittle bombers destroyed. Enemy at the gates I agree with everything you guys have said. The biggest problem with both films is that they trivialise the whole war to the level of a love story or a petty rivalry.