‘MY TEN BEST ANTI-WAR FILMS’ BY FILM CRITIC TIM ROBEY (WINTER 2025)

 


Following on from mention of the films Touch and Vermiglio in the Autumn 2025 issue of The Conant Courier, and in keeping with the message of the forthcoming 2026 East Budleigh Peacemaker Festival, critic and author Tim Robey recommended a selection of anti-war films for us. 

‘I've limited myself to ten here,’ he wrote. ‘There are some obvious ones I've left off, such as Platoon, Apocalypse Now, Full Metal Jacket, but I thought you might want to direct people towards fresh discoveries. These are all pretty amazing films in my opinion.’ 

 Here they are in no particular order: The Burmese Harp (1956), with poster above; La grande illusion (1937); The Thin Red Line (1998); Paths of Glory (1957); Gallipoli (1981); City of Life and Death (2009); The Deer Hunter (1978); The Killing Fields (1984); Cross of Iron (1977); Grave of the Fireflies (1988). 

 Perhaps one or more of these will be or have been screened in Beverly, Salem or Budleigh. Tim Robey has been one of the Daily Telegraph’s film critics since 2000. His book Box Office Poison: Hollywood’s Story in a Century of Flops was published in 2024. 

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