Of war and movies

Are war films only action films ?

The action film is a type of film with a succession of spectacular scenes often as stereotyped as chases, shootings and explosions. Often in this type of movie, there is a lot of violence and the enemies die. For us, all the war films aren't action films because the war isn't just about soldiers and fighting. For example, the war also concerns families, people who must also make the war effort. Some movies show the background of the war like La vie est belle. This film is about a Jewish family who will be taken to a concentration camp during WW II. This movie is very sad but also funny. And we recommend it.

Léna Trelc, Ambre Renaudet, Anais Haller, Sarra Ghazi, Saira Tazeen and Léa Laime

No, war films aren’t only actions films.They can show life in the trenches or in the front and there is action. But war films can also show life away from the front with children and women too.

 

Indeed, we can show the war in different ways : either with action (trenches, fights, weapons or confrontations like in Saving Private Ryan, or in a more passive way, with the life in cities and in the back without the war in itself like Schindler’s List).

In reality, if there wasn’t action, the film would be boring. It depends on what we want to show. We can suggest action but not show it. In animation film for example like Funan. action can be softened.

Pétronille Ployart, Alexandra Colinet, Clémence Mathieu, Laurette Sommé and Manon Aragon - 1^ère B

 

Should cinema use war as entertainment ?

 

A movie is first and foremost an entertainment. There are different types of films, more or less serious, more or less invested in something and also there are different feelings that we can experience when we watch these movies. Many ideas can be displayed, like denouncing an issue like war, a true story, or showing the difficulties of war and therefore the reality of it – even though it can frighten the audience.

Also some festivals can be put in place to denounce issues, make the audience aware of them and move them like War on screen. Therefore, a movie can have a soul, which can make the public react, and which allows to pass a violent, strong image while entertaining and alerting.

Laurine Pigeon, Célia Avola, Faustine Foulian and Paul Fortin

Which is the best form to describe war : fiction or documentary?

 

After thinking about this question, we can share our opinion. We think the documentary is the best form to describe war for several reasons. The first one is that in a documentary, we have all the information about the war like the places, the dates… A fiction is less realistic. Another reason is that the documentary talks only about one special subject whereas in the fiction, there is a story on top of the war. But, it’s true that a fiction has also some positive aspects and can be more exciting thanks to its actors for example, and it may be less violent.

Mathilde Merlier and Lisa Moreaux

 

Fictions films are good because we can be into the story, we can feel it. This is also more entertaining for the spectator that wants to experience something strong. Simple movies with rewritten story in war can be more attractive for people and so it aims at a larger public.

Documentaries are different, they give more details and they tell the exact story that happened with a timeline. They also give real picture or real image from the war like during WW II. Documentaries focus on History to learn it and to tell it.

We can say that there not really a better form ; it just depends on what you’re looking for, like for Baptiste and me documentaries are better because we look for knowledge whereas Medhi would prefer fiction because he prefers something more entertaining.

Medhi Khiary, Ewen Mecheri, Baptiste Rougetet and Brandon Tibource