The darkness that comes from war can be viewed in many ways, seeping into our consciousness through different opinion and experience. That it remains a difficult genre not only for its content, but psychological effect, is telling as we live in a world that continues to fight itself. Across cinema’s history, films have tested what it means to be patriotic and the long-term ramifications of battle. In these print interviews, some of Hollywood’s finest directors express their personal view on war and its relation to their filmmaking.
1. Cover Story: Kathryn Bigelow’s Art of Darkness, by Jessica Winter
Winter’s story for TIME touches on Bigelow’s thoughts on war at the time of Zero Dark Thirty‘s release, the follow to Oscar-winning The Hurt Locker.
“(With The Hurt Locker) I was fascinated by the opportunity to speak about war. I think all wars are a tragedy, and to critique it, you have to look at it. And the best way to look at it is to experience it on the ground with the people fighting it.”
2. Fury Director David Ayer: ‘War Is Hell, Yeah’, by Tara Brady. Brady’s chat with Ayer for The Irish Times reveals the director’s past in the US Navy and how it got him into filmmaking ahead of the release of WWII flick Fury.
“That experience shaped my ability to tell a military story. The experience of living inside of a weapons system. The details. The responsibilities. It definitely gave me personal insight into what being part of a tank crew might have been like.”
3. Clint Eastwood: ‘I Was Against Going Into the War in Iraq’, by Scott Feinberg. Eastwood’s own personal experience with war and how he uses violence in films was the focus of this piece, crafted from a Q&A session after an American Sniper screening.
“I grew up during World War II. I was 11 years old when Pearl Harbor was bombed. I was, at that age, very fascinated by everything, and everything was very patriotic — but that was going to be the war to end all wars!”
4. Francis Ford Coppola On Robin Williams And Apocalypse Now, by Peter Howell. Howell spoke with Coppola on Apocalypse Now’s 35th anniversary, who reflected on how the film has becoming a sobering statement on war.
“Once you’re in warfare, there is no morality, even if you are a nation that considers yourself civilized and moral. There’s hardly any behaviour that you won’t resort to when pressed to the ultimate test and it’s become part of civilization.”
5. Steven Spielberg Faces The Holocaust, by Bernard Weinraub. This New York Times feature was written ahead of the release of Schindler’s List, and delves into the preparation for making the film and Spielberg’s experience of growing up as a Jew.
“In a strange way my life has always come back to images surrounding the Holocaust. The Holocaust had been part of my life, just based on what my parents would say at the dinner table. We lost cousins, aunts, uncles.”
