The 10 most powerful films about The First World War

The First World War was the first conflict to be captured on film. Everyday. French filmmakers like Marcel L’Herbier were required to sort through reels of footage sent from the front, all containing scenes of utter horror, images of men who had been brutalised while fighting for their country.

In France, directors were keen to highlight the absolute debacle unfolding on the Western front. German and British filmmakers, meanwhile, were doing anything to sustain morale. Showing images of brutalised soldiers would simply not do.

It wasn’t until the war came to an end that the full extent of the horrors came into focus. In 1929, the American director Lewis Milestone began work on an adaptation of the german anti-war novel All Quiet On The Western Front, an evisceration of the nationalism that had fuelled the conflict. The idea that stories about the war, let alone stories with anti-war sentiments, could be adapted for the screen had been unimaginable just a few years previously.

The advent of sound changed all that. Suddenly, it was possible to conjure up the sensory horrors of the Great War with ease, placing audiences in the position of those who had fired the guns and sought shelter in mortar craters. It marked the beginning of a filmic reinvestigation into the First World War, which continues to this day.

All Quiet On The Western Front – Lewis Milestone (1930)

This 1930 Best Picture winner remains one of the most respected WW1 films of all time. Based on the German novel of the same name by author Erich Maria Remarque, this anti-war epic follows a group of German boys as they are transformed from enthusiastic patriots desperate for a taste adventure into muddy survivors lost in a world of machine gun fire, food shortages and aerial bombardment.

People often assume All Quiet On The Western Front to be a wholly trench-bound affair, with characters engaging in long conversations about the nihilism of war. They are wrong. Thanks to Universal’s huge budget, the film boasts some of the most chaotic and brutal battle sequences of the early sound era. Like the original book, All Quiet On The Western Front ends on a deeply prescient note, with the same teacher who goaded Paul into joining the ranks now doing the same to a new generation of war-hungry youths. Ten years before the Nazis began their assault on Europe, All Quiet On The Western Front warned viewers that Europe risked learning nothing from the Great War.

They Shall Not Grow Old – Peter Jackson (2014)

Released 100 years after the start of the First World War, They Shall Not Grow Old is one of the most insightful explorations of trench warfare during the First World War. Using colourised archival footage and salvaged audio recordings of real troops, Jackson gives life and nuance to a frequently over-simplified story.

Take, for example, his exploration of what happened to the troops when the war finally ended in 1918, many of whom had grown so used to life in the trenches that the thought of returning home filled them with a sense of loss. Indeed, it is Jackson’s emphasis on the emotional impact of the war that makes We Shall Not Grow Old so moving.

1917 – Sam Mendes (2020)

This 2020 feature saw Sam Mendes and cinematographer Roger Deakins evoke the serpentine malice of the trenches in one long, apparently unbroken shot. 1917 follows two young British soldiers, Tom Blake and William Schofield, as they cross no man’s land to bring an important message to the commander of a fellow British regiment, who’s about to send his troops into a trap. It is essential that they reach the regiment, especially because it contains Blake’s brother.

Together, Mendes and Deakins crafted one of the most immersive war films of recent years. Like Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk – released a few years earlier – 1917 places a huge emphasis on time. As a result, there isn’t a moment in the entire film that isn’t fraught with tension. Though often spoken about as a feat of technical precision, 1917 is also a masterclass in how to craft a perpetually riveting narrative.

A Farewell to Arms – Frank Borzage (1932)

Based on Ernest Hemingway’s novel of the same name, this romantic masterpiece tells the story of an expatriate called Henry and an English nurse who fall in love on the Italian front during the First World War. Like all the best WW1 movies, there is a strong strain of introspective nihilism throughout this bittersweet tale. “We blame everything on the war, but that’s rot,” Catherine declares at one point. “It’s something within ourselves.”

Most of the films on this list focus on the suffering of men, but A Farewell to Arms doesn’t shy away from foregrounding the unwanted pregnancies, fetishes and grievances of women. Boasting one of the most heartbreaking endings in all cinema, A Farewell To Arms reminds us that war doesn’t put an end to love; it just makes it far more complicated.

Gallipoli – Peter Weir (1981)

Films about Australia’s involvement in the First World War are rare, which is quite surprising considering the nation was involved in one of the bloodiest battles of the entire conflict. Peter Weir’s Gallipoli tells the story of that battle through the eyes of two gifted runners who meet on the racetrack. When war breaks out, the two friends find themselves staring into the jaws of death on the Gallipoli peninsula.

Starring Mark Lee and Mel Gibson, Gallipoli explores how war interrupts and alters people’s lives. There’s a sense throughout the film that, without the war, Archy and Frank would be winning medals for the national team. Instead, they’re dodging bullets in some far-flung part of the world, doing their best to stay alive long enough to return home.

Testament of Youth – James Kent (2014)

Based on Vera Brittain’s memoir of the same name, Testament of Youth follows the author – played by Alicia Vikander – as she leaves her studies at Oxford to serve as a nurse, feeling unable to carry on with life at Oxford while her brothers and her love are off fighting. In this moving drama, war marks the death of creativity, youth and friendship. As Vera works to heal brutalised soldiers, the war consumes her closest friends one by one.

Testament of Youth is one of the most melancholic films on this list. Brittain’s original book was, perhaps, an attempt to preserve friendships, romances and hopes she experienced before the war, though she must have known they would never return. That sense of longing underpins everything in this infinitely moving 2015 adaptation.

Lawrence of Arabia – David Lean (1962)

Frequently cited as one of the greatest films ever made, Lawrence of Arabia tells the story of real-life British Lieutenant T.E. Lawrence. Due to his extensive knowledge of the Bedouin people, Lawrence is sent to Arabia to track down Prince Faisal and form an alliance between the Arabs and the British to ward off the encroaching Ottomans. With a native guide by his side, Lawrence decides to go against his orders and journey across the cast desert to attack an important Turkish port.

There are so many reasons to watch Lawrence of Arabia. As well as boasting an impeccable Peter O’Toole as Lawrence and a brilliant script, the 1962 epic also offers a nuanced exploration of British imperialism in the Middle East. An absolute masterpiece.

La Grande Illusion – Jean Renoir (1937)

This stunning 1937 film by director Jean Renoir focuses on a group of French soldiers who have been captured and are being held in a German prison camp. Grappling with their class differences, the men are transferred to a high-security fortress, where they are forced to hatch an escape plan under the eye of a German aristocratic officer, van Rauddenstein, who has formed an unlikely friendship with the leader of the captives, Captain de Boeldieu.

You’ll not find much in the way of battle scenes in La Grande Illusion. The film isn’t so much about the horror of war as it is an examination of how war pitches people who would have otherwise been friends against each other. The grand illusion of the title is the imagined sense of duty conjured up by the French and German soldiers, which, as the film goes on, becomes less and less potent, forcing them to find a new motivation for their actions. If you’re still not convinced, bear in mind that Akira Kurosawa once named La Grande Illusion one of his favourite films.

My Boy Jack – Brian Kirk (2007)

Based on the 1997 play by English actor David Haig, this BBC film tells the true story of Rudyard Kipling’s relationship with his visually-impaired son Jack. When war breaks out, Jack is anxious to fulfil his duty but is stopped from joining up because of his poor eyesight. Sensing his son’s disappointment, Kipling uses his connections to pull some strings and get him a commission in the Irish guards. On his first full day of action, Jack goes missing in action.

My Boy Jack explores the dangers of male pride and the blood lust of the Edwardian establishment, all while honouring the sacrifices of those unfortunate enough to be carried along by the wave of nationalism that swept through Britain in 1914.

Joyeux Noël – Christian Carion (2005)

This under-appreciated gem depicts the real-life events of Christmas 1914, when German, Scottish and French troops decided to call a “Christmas Truce”. When a celebrated opera singer and her equally talented fiancee decide to perform a selection of Christmas carols for the German troops, a wave of camaraderie sweeps through the obliterated landscape, convincing soldiers on either side to put aside their weapons and play a game of football in no-man’s land.

It might sound a little saccharine, but Joyeux Noel manages to be genuinely heartwarming while investigating deeper questions surrounding nationalism and identity. Indeed, after the troops have socialised with their enemies, they find it much harder to return to the business of killing one another. A human face, the film suggests, has the power to turn a supposed enemy into an innocent victim of circumstance.

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