World War II movies that are suitable for classroom use

If you (or someone you know) attended the typical American public school at any grade level, you doubtlessly remember that unless you were lucky to get a creative and enthusiastic instructor who had great motivational skills, most of the core curriculum classes were, well, boring.

In most cases, one of the most boring courses students have to suffer is American History, which is often broken up into two units during a school year (U.S. History to 1877 and U.S. History From 1877 to the Present).

Now, history as a subject in and of itself shouldn’t be boring; it has a huge scale and a great deal of human drama, what with the rise and fall of civilizations and empires, the emergence of great (and not so great) leaders, technological, scientific and philosophical advances, the foundation of great cities and – inevitably – conflicts of all sorts and sizes.

However, with teachers often teaching history according to the Great Men school of thought and cramming hundreds of dry facts and dates into their young students’ minds, the topic is presented in a mind-numbing fashion that eventually turns off many people from wanting to know about world-changing events along the lines of the rise of Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor or the D-Day invasion of Normandy.

Luckily, there are teachers out there who realize that most kids still love the movies, and because many film and TV producers have made all kinds of World War II-related works – ranging from action-packed “entertainment-only fare to more serious documentaries – there is at least one medium educators can turn to in order to teach their students about history’s greatest clash of arms.

Part One: World War II-Themed Feature Films

1. Saving Private Ryan (Grades 11-12):  Though Steven Spielberg’s 1998 film is  a work of fiction, screenwriter Robert Rodat based his script for this very realistic depiction of World War II combat on the true story of Fritz Niland, a paratrooper in the 101^st Airborne Division who was whisked off from the Normandy battle after his three brothers – all of whom were in the Army – were reported killed or missing in action on the same day.  Spielberg’s movie – rated R for its very graphic depiction of the Normandy landings at Omaha Beach and for language – is very accurate in its portrayal of the horrors of war and many of the details of the GIs’ daily lives, even though it does take some artistic license to tell its story of how Capt. John Miller (Tom Hanks) and seven soldiers attempt to save Private James Ryan (Matt Damon) from suffering the same fate as his three brothers
2. .Tora! Tora! Tora! (Grades 5-12)  This 1970 U.S.-Japanese co-production is one of those expensive big cast semi-documentaries which recreate famous battles of World War II.  Here the subject is the story of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor from its inception in January of 1941 all the way to the late afternoon of the Day of Infamy. Despite its subject matter and explosive climax, Tora! Tora! Tora! was rated G because the violence was muted so general audiences could see it.  It’s a bit heavy on the diplomatic and military preparations on both sides of the Pacific, so its first half may be slow and a bit dry for really young students.  However, once the attack begins the movie literally takes off like a Japanese Zero fighter.
3. A Bridge Too Far (Grades 6-12): Like 1962’s The Longest Day, Sir Richard Attenborough’s 1977 movie is an adaptation of a non-fiction work by the late Cornelius Ryan.  Also like The Longest Day, it is an all-star recreation of a pivotal World War II battle, though this time the focus is on Operation Market-Garden, the Allies’ ill-fated attempt to capture a bridgehead over the Rhine River and end the war in 1944.  It’s fairly accurate, even though William Goldman’s screenplay uses composite characters and other Hollywood techniques to keep the story manageable for the typical movie-goer.  Rated PG for violence and one mild profanity.
4. The Longest Day (Grades 5-12): Darryl F. Zanuck's ambitious and expensive recreation of the D-Day landings on the beaches of Normandy, is one of the best -- if somewhat flawed -- war films ever made. Boasting an all-star cast of 41 "A-List" (for 1962, that is) actors from four countries and filmed in various locations around France (Corsica doubling for most of the five invasion beaches on northern France) and made with the assistance of NATO's armed forces, The Longest Day was, for over 30 years, the most expensive movie ever shot in black and white. It's the only major movie to attempt to convey the scope and drama of the D-Day landings from a multinational viewpoint.
5. Summer of ’42 (Grades 7-12): Some English teachers already use Herman Raucher’s novelization of this coming-of-age movie in high school lit courses, so it’s not out of the question to recommend director Robert Mulligan’s 1971 comedy drama about 15-year-old Hermie (Gary Grimes) and his bittersweet relationship with Dorothy (Jennifer O’Neill), an older – and married – woman whose husband has gone off to fight in the war.  Though it has a lot of talk about sex and a very tastefully-filmed love scene, Summer of ’42 is a nostalgia-laden look at life at Home Front, U.S.A.

Part Two: Notable World War II Documentaries

1.      The War (Grades 10-12): Ken Burns’ 2007 nine-part examination of World War II as experienced by the citizens of four geographically representative American towns has a few flaws, but its “ordinary people” approach and great mix of combat footage, still photos, dramatic readings of letters, diaries and contemporary articles and present-day interviews with civilians and veterans humanizes the war better than classroom lectures or textbooks can.

2.      The World at War (Grades 8-12)  Though its origins as a British TV series shows the war from a perspective far different from that seen in U.S.-only documentaries made for TV after the war, this 26-part series is still viscerally powerful and a good – if somewhat dated – general introduction to World War II.  It covers 15 major campaigns and looks at the home fronts in all the major combatants, as well as life in occupied Europe and the Nazi regime during its last six years.

3.      Victory at Sea (Grades 5-12): Made for NBC (with the cooperation of the U.S. Navy), this 26-part documentary series is remarkable not because it is a definitive history of the Allied navies’ struggle for control of the world’s seas against both the Axis powers and nature itself, but because (a) it’s a revealing look at how the media tended to portray the war less than a decade after its conclusion and (b) for its then-innovative use of terse narration, slickly edited combat footage and an original score by composer Richard Rodgers.  Though most teachers today would be wise to explain how perspectives of World War II have changed since the 1950s, Victory at Sea is still worth using as a lesson in how video has been used to shape public opinion about history and/or the military over the past 50 years.

4.       D-Day: The Total Story (Grades 7-12) Directed by Robert Lihani and produced by prolific documentary-makers Craig Haffner and Donna Lusitana, this six-hour long presentation covers every possible aspect of the Normandy landings, from the Germans’ attempts to build an impregnable Atlantic Wall that was to stretch from Norway to the Franco-Spanish border, the Allies’ meticulous planning and buildup, the various personalities (Eisenhower, Rommel, Montgomery) involved, and the complicated series of events that took place starting with the night-time airborne assault and climaxing with the battle for the beaches. Hosted by Gerald McRaney, D-Day: The Total Story follows the typical documentary format, combining wartime footage with contemporary interviews with historians and veterans of all sides.