2009: Movies (analysis)

It's interesting to see my list of films for 2009. Not all of them are films released in 2009, of course; but my lists are never restricted to whatever is new in one year, or I would not make any lists at all. Not that much harm would come out of that, but it happens that I like doing them. Besides, what's new anyway? 2001: A Space Odyssey was an entirely new film for me, even if it was made in 1968 - as new as the best movie released in 2009. I'm talking about Eastwood's Gran Torino, of course; it will be a shame if the movie is not part of the Oscar's nominations (I'm guessing it won't).

But, as I was saying, it's interesting to see my own list, because there is an obvious pattern there: 2009 was definitely the year of the war movies. 2001 (the movie, not the year) was the only true exception. What about Gran Torino, you might ask? Well, Gran Torino is not about war itself, but its main character is a war veteran, so I assume there is still a connection - the traumas from Korea's war, the relationships with the neighbourhood. About the others: Full Metal Jacket and Apocalypse Now! are clearly war movies, probably the best ever filmed. Waltz With Bashir is about the war, its traumas, and the way men never really leave the war behind. Inglourious Basterds, with its alternative view on the Second World War, tells the story of the Basters, the Nazi-scalping band led by Lieutenant Aldo Raine (among the other intertwined stories, just as Tarantino likes). And Camerons's sci-fi odyssey, Avatar, focus on the war humans wage against the Na'vi, and in the end against nature itself.

Not that all these movies are fundamentally war movies, but the idea of war is present in each of them (except 2001). It's funny that it happened that way.