this post was submitted on 27 Oct 2025
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The people who make movies about depressed soldiers are usually trying to make an anti-war statement. American is not homogenous. There are people who bomb without remorse and people who try to point that we shouldn't do that. Bombing without remorse is not something that can only be tied to one country. It can be tied to psychopaths of which quite a few have weaseled their way into power.
Yes. And the point of the joke this meme is aping is that not even the anti-war, anti-imperialist Americans will concern themselves with the feelings of non-Americans.
Also exemplified by the American comments in this thread.
I suspect survivability bias plays into it, as I imagine an empathetic and self-reflective anti-war film in the is more likely than a straight "US are the villains" film to be funded and see financial, and therefore popular, success in the US. It makes sense why domestic industries will tend to tell domestic-facing stories. I'd say the size of the US film industry means you actually get more diversity in war films compared to ones you see in places like Japan or Germany.
Are there any good movies that show the other perspective?
Sci-fi all the way.
Battlestar Galactica (2003-2009) shows the fall of an empire (loosely, America) at the hands of their AI creations. I guess Rome or Britain could also sit in for America. This show aired while Bush the lesser was taking Afghanistan and Iraq apart piece by piece.
The Expanse (2015-2022) is the worthy heir to the throne of casting harsh light on the oligarchs and hegemons. Belters could be any people put upon by this corrupt system: migrant workers, Indigenous people, refugees, the unhoused, the descendants of the enslaved — anyone who was expected to bootstrap success.
Both are good shows. The Expanse is proving to be somewhat more resilient to the passage of time.
At least in western cinema, only sci-fi can get away with anti-imperialism. Star wars (the rebellion = vietnamese communists), lots of Star trek episodes especially in DS9, Dune (the book first, then the film), and pry a lot more I can't think of right now.
DS9 does so much right. It is certainly on point in its treatment of moral gray.
The anti-war statement is directed at the psychopaths doing the bombing. Showing them how people are suffering after being bombed doesn't affect them. Its an attempt to show them how they might regret their own decisions. At the very least it might chip away at the people who support them.
I'm not sure how well received it would be if Americans tried to make movies on behalf of the others saying how they must've felt. Safer to stick to their own perspective
It can be done tastefully if there is a desire to humanize the non Americans. The problem is that desire is often what's lacking.
I'd rather just see movies made by those who were on the other side, I think that'd be more authentic