War in the Movies Articles

Operation Petticoat: A Story of Leadership Mission Creep and More Beneath the Surface

Operation Petticoat uses humor to tell a very real story about mission creep, leadership, and growth inside the chaos of war.

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Is It’s a Wonderful Life Really a Christmas Movie? Why I, Heather, Feel That It’s Not—A Deeper Look at Capra’s Postwar Masterpiece

This personal take by me, Heather, challenges It’s a Wonderful Life as a Christmas classic. Instead, it offers a thoughtful, postwar perspective. Agree or not, you’ll never see the film in the same surface-level way again.

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War in the Movies: Men in War, Featuring Robert Ryan and Aldo Ray

War strips men to their core—duty versus survival. Men in War pits Robert Ryan’s weary officer against Aldo Ray’s hardened sergeant in a stark clash of ideals.

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The Hurt Locker: War’s Quietest Explosion

This personal review explores The Hurt Locker through my lens (Heather)—not as a war film, but as a psychological portrait of identity, trauma, and disconnection. It’s not about accuracy in tactics, but the mental toll war takes on those who live it.

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Five CameBack: How War Transformed the Storytellers Who Chose to Witness It

Five Came Back is a Netflix documentary about five legendary Hollywood directors who served in WWII by documenting the war. This piece shares my personal reflections on how their choice to serve—and what they saw—changed their art and their lives.

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Leadership Under Fire: My Thoughts on Ike: Countdown to D-Day

This is my review (Heather) of Ike: Countdown to D-Day—an untypical D-Day film that skips the battles and focuses on leadership, pressure, and the weight of command behind the invasion.

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War in the Movies: A Walk in the Sun

A Walk in the Sun presents the war experience as a slow, tense, and exhausting ordeal, filled with long stretches of waiting, moments of casual conversation, and sudden bursts of violence that disrupt the routine.