'Battling Inspiration': Top WWII films and the books behind them (IANS Column: Bookends)

The 'egg or chicken' conundrum is not required to establish whether books or films came first, but it is indisputable that a whole host of blockbuster movies from the James Bond to the Harry Potter series, from "Dracula" to "Gone With the Wind", and from "Ben-Hur" to "Jurassic Park" owe their origin to books. War movies are no different.

A constant occurrence in human affairs from the earliest time, wars, given their effect on a society's present and the future, the sacrifices they demand, and the moral issues they raise, figure in all forms of literary works. With the advent of cinema, their cultural depiction got a new and much wider display.

Since the First World War, war films of all shades, from jingoistic to pacifist, have been a staple of global cinema, being made right even as the conflict they depict rages on, down till the present day. Cinema traditions across the Americas, Europe and Asia have their masterpieces, but it is Hollywood, whose sheer scope and influence makes it predominant, that is most known for its repertoire.

While it has filmed a wide swathe of wars down the ages and around the world, from the Trojan War to the War against Terror, as well as some lesser-known conflicts

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