‘Haunting masterpiece’ film named ‘best ever war movie’ by military historian | UK | News

A “haunting” war epic was named the greatest war film ever by a renowned military expert – but few people have heard of it. The 317th Platoon (1965) is set in the final days of the First Indochina War (1946-1954), fought between France and Việt Minh (Democratic Republic of Vietnam), with support from their respective allies.

France’s 317th platoon, composed of French and Laotian soldiers, are ordered to pull out amid the ongoing battle of Diên Biên Phu, and face a perilous journey through the Cambodian jungle on their way back to safety of French-held territory. The French-language film was written and directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker and Indochina War veteran Pierre Schoendoerffer and based on his novel of the same name, which was released two years before the film.

Despite the high regard in which its held, the movie is rarely mentioned in the canon of all-time-great war films, but some put it above the better-known blockbusters of the genre.

In a piece for The Guardian 2018, British military historian Sir Anthony Beavor named said he believes it to be “the greatest war movie ever made”.

“This was the original ‘platoon movie’, whose format later directors followed but failed to match in its portrayal of characters and their interaction, to say nothing of the moral choices and the corruption of combat,” he added.

One fan wrote on IMDb called it a “most memorable movie”, with “haunting beauty and melancholy”.

”I saw this movie some 35 years ago on TV and its memory has been with me ever since,” they wrote.

“My father and I happened upon it late one night and were stricken by its integrity, clarity of message, and visual beauty”, they continued, adding that the “melancholy of men in a desperate cause has haunted me ever since”.

Another said: “Black&white cinematography, minimal but beautiful soundtrack for effect, excellent script, low on gunfire high on realism, as a war movie should be.”

A third added: “This is truly an amazing film, one of the best war films ever made. And it has no rival for authenticity.”

They went on to hail the film as “so compelling that we almost feel the mosquito bites ourselves, and hear the bullets whistling past our ears”.

“The film is what today is trendily called ‘an immersive experience’. The film is so well made, with such absolute intensity, that it well deserved the awards and nominations it received at the time.

“It is a classic, and its characters are not cardboard but are well-rounded, with deeper dimensions to the film that just mere action. A real experience!”

French filmmaker Bertrand Tavernier dubbed it a “masterpiece” that is “raw, real, gripping, laconic”.

_{Images are for reference only.Images and contents gathered automatic from google or 3rd party sources.All rights on the images and contents are with their legal original owners.}