THE FATAL ALLIANCE

A leading film critic examines the long, uneasy relationship between war and cinema.

Robert E. Lee famously said, “It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it.” This is the sentiment that pervades this book, a study of movies about war since the beginning of cinema. Thomson has written numerous books about film, TV, acting, and directing, and his encyclopedic knowledge of the archives is clearly on display again. He notes that many directors and actors are drawn to the subject of war due to the spectacle, historical connections, and inherent drama. War movies practically write themselves, and they usually make money. Thomson admits that there are war movies among his favorites, although he feels conflicted about “loathing war while feasting on it.” Many war movies are direct or indirect propaganda, but some delve into human frailty and the often shadowy motivations of the governments that arrange the conflicts. For Hollywood, war movies in the period after 1945 were usually triumphalist, although after Vietnam there were attempts to capture the ambiguity and pointlessness of the exercise. Thomson worries that recent war movies, especially when enhanced by CGI, are taking the terror out of war, turning audiences into numb spectators. Some are even turned into games. The problem with Thomson’s latest erudite exploration is that it is often difficult to work out what he is actually saying. His tone is portentous and convoluted, with many of his sentences veering around several corners before ending up in a ditch with the wheels spinning. He also likes to throw hypothetical questions at readers—more than 600 of them, in fact. Whether it is worth the effort of wading through all this for nuggets of insight is something that any potential reader should consider before parting with $35.

Thomson is one of the foremost authorities on film, but his tone makes this book a challenge to read.