War Films and War Criticism
Movies can turn social experiences into critiques of power, and critiques of power into social experiences.
This post is originally from Van’s newsletter, Un-Diplomatic, but since it’s entirely about war films, war critiques, and the Bang-Bang show, it seemed appropriate to share here. ✌️
A few months ago, I wrote about my weekend with Vanessa and Ted Hope, who were in New Zealand to screen their documentary about Taiwan’s first female president.
What I failed to mention was that, at that time, I hadn’t quite realized that Ted Hope is a big deal in the world of film—especially indie film. I could’ve looked him up I guess, but as the weekend proceeded, it became clear both from how he held court and how people at the film festival seemed drawn to him that he was some kind of guru on getting movies made and distributed. Immediately after, I picked up his memoir about life as a film producer, Hope for Film, which I really wish I’d read (or even known about) before hanging out with him.
I mention all this because Ted is not just some guy. He’s someone that people with access to a lot of capital have thought of as a trendspotter; someone with proven foresight. And one of the recurring themes in his newsletter is that the future of film resides in sociality—the conversations that happen because of a movie:
We’ve allowed the specialness of cinema to wither. We built it out so it feels like a transaction – where we, the audience, are valued only for our ability to spend money…we have never harvested the prime attribute that the best cinema provides -- its ability to compel you to speak about it afterwards. Surrounded by others of your intellect and charm, hearing them wax poetically about all the screen offered them…
Ted’s value proposition for film is one way of understanding what my co-host Lyle Jeremy Rubin and I are trying to do with Bang-Bang—our show about war movies, with an anti-imperialist twist.
We wanted to make a rallying point for appreciating—and lambasting—the war-film genre. At the risk of over-intellectualizing a…podcast…we want it to be a gateway into history, culture, politics, and personal experience all at once. A way to refine our diagnosis of a sick society, and to demand more of anyone with power.
If Anti-War Films Don’t Exist…
Above all, we’re responding to a problem we detected. François Truffaut, an old French filmmaker, famously commented that “There’s no such thing as an anti-war film.” Check out this short explaining what he meant.
Basically, even when a war film depicts the illogic, corruption, predation, and horror of war, the nature of the content sticks with us because it activates the lizard brain. We can formally abhor extreme, gratuitous violence and narrate it in condemnatory ways, but the visuals of the horror will always stimulate a baser part of us at a chemical level.
In this view, even films that claim to be antiwar end up being pro-war because of how they act on us. This is where Bang-Bang comes in, and where Ted’s vision for the future of cinema has salience for us.
If Trouffaut is right, then the war movie by itself will never have a social role beyond militarist propaganda. Put differently, the war-movie genre can only be redeemed to the extent that the films comprising it become objects of analysis, debate, and counter-propaganda. The criticism that follows watching a war movie is the social value of film. Enter Bang-Bang.
Podcasting as the Sinatra Test
Bang-Bang is not going to save cinema—we’re just two dudes.
And although it sucks when a New Yorker cartoon has your number, we’re leaning into the cliche.
What makes us slightly more than the dude archetype getting roasted in the cartoon above (though we’re most definitely that) is that we occupy a unique space as military veterans and anti-imperial critics of war. It takes a certain amount of critical knowledge to engage with war movies without losing yourself in the viscerality of battle. And so it matters that we’re qualified, critical stewards of the “war” part of war films. As experts on war and anti-war subject matter from several angles, we bring a street cred that infuses our film appreciation.
Ted’s beliefs about the future of cinema stress physical space-sharing more than virtual communal consumption, and except for the odd live event, podcasting is typically the latter. Yet, we might be a case study testing Ted’s implied theory for the future of film all the same.
If our audience grows and we end up having staying power in the media-and-culture landscape, that could be a vindication of Ted’s vision. We are, after all, literally using individual film screenings to facilitate group conversations about war and politics.
And if the media landscape proliferates rallying points like ours—that is, subject matter experts facilitating social critique or policy debate by way of film criticism—that would be the ultimate vindication that we were on the right track regardless of whether our specific show holds up.
Personally (can’t speak for Lyle), I’m obsessed with movie podcasts. They’re my main audio companion on commutes, while traveling, and while working around the house. Here’s hoping they can be that for you too!
Have you checked out the Bang-Bang podcast?