The best war movies these days have tended to come from the other side of the Atlantic. Here’s another great example. Its subtitle could be, “How Civilized People Can Behave Like The Animals They Really Are Once Somebody Declares War.” A British soldier accidentally breaks off from his main unit under attack in conflict-ridden Belfast, and he becomes a fugitive in a war zone. Although the movie is based on real events that occurred in 1974, this conflict is more in line with the war experience of the 21st century in which soldiers are simply on patrols and then everything goes wrong. The interesting thing in this movie is that it’s not an Afghan or an Iraqi village, it’s a modern city in Western Europe. “’71” is an excellent movie showing that people are people (bad) and war is war (also bad) regardless of whether it’s Belfast or Baghdad.

Not For Kids

Extra:

• This is another British film that if you’re an American like me (“Can’t those Brits speak English right?”), you really need to put on the sub-titles or they might as well be speaking in Mandarin. That’s especially true in British war movies like this one.