War Epic

A film about war, done on a grand (epic) scale, interspersing the human drama of the participants with lavishly staged re-creations of famous battles and landmark events of history. These films tend to have cameos or supporting parts for famous actors, sometimes with crowds of extras and a literal cast of thousands. Films like A Bridge Too Far, Midway, The Longest Day, and Is Paris Burning? focus on specific events and campaigns in World War II while also letting the audience glimpse at the lives, loves, and emotions of the people who made history. These films are made to fill the big screen of a theater and overwhelm the viewer with images of the grandeur and scope of war, although sometimes with an underlying method to its madness; Apocalypse Now and Saving Private Ryan, for example, both use the war epic to further an anti-war agenda.

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