Similar Movies (World War II)

World War II is the conjuncture in Atonement Part 2, that has a profound impact on all of the characters lives, as it did on the lives of those living at the time.  It was the most widespread war in history, with more than 100 million military personnel mobilised, 50-70 million casualties and countless affected.  World War II is one of the most represented events in media, with many movies made after, and also during the war.  It has made a popular backdrop for many highly honored and critically acclaimed movies.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_War_II_films



The Notebook



I feel like Atonement and The Notebook have the most similarities of any film I will discuss, although one major difference is that Atonement is classified as a "war movie" as it dedicates more screen-time and has a higher impact on the characters lives than the characters within Atonement.

Upper class woman and lower class man
Female initially uninterested in male
Short-lived romance occurring in summer
Family disapproves of and interferes with relationship
Separated for many years
Female becomes a nurse in WWII and male enlists
Scene(s) in the present day with elderly versions of the character(s)

La Vita e Bella (Life is Beautiful)




Like The Notebook and Atonement, the female lead is upper class and the male lead is working class. The male lead has to win over the female, and the family disapproves of their relationship. In Life is Beautiful the characters get married and have a child and unfortunately they too are separated by war, specifically, in a concentration camp. The father hides the child and tells him that it is a game where he must hide from the guards and if he gets enough points, he will get a tank. The ending of this movie is bittersweet as the mother and child are reunited but the father is killed.

Saving Private Ryan

Like Part 2 of Atonement, this movie is focused more on the battles of World War II.  I noticed a high degree of detail in the set and costume design and special effects, so I felt that there was more authenticity than Atonement had.  I felt that Atonement adjusted their visuals to have a stylistic approach to garner the most impact for the material they had to work with (although they skipped a good deal of the action on Robbie's journey to Dunkirk).  In Saving Private Ryan, there is solely a focus on the battles, struggles and chaos experienced by a group of soldiers sent on a mission to recover a missing paratrooper whose brothers had all perished, and was to be sent home.  I didn't think I would enjoy this movie, as I am somewhat squeamish when it comes to gore and I had been warned about the realistic portrayal of combat. Although the shaky cam and some of the injuries turned my stomach a bit, I intensely enjoyed this movie and would recommend it highly.