Discussion
Our 9 year old is learning about World War 2 at the moment and we were just trying to think of films that might be suitable to watch to help get him interested.
I can't imagine cheesy old stuff like The Dirty Dozen would appeal and he's too young for the sheer brutality of something like Saving Private Ryan, so what's out there that sits somewhere in the middle of that scale?
Current list:
Enemy at the Gates - it's a 15 but I can't remember why
Dunkirk - probably too slow
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
I can't imagine cheesy old stuff like The Dirty Dozen would appeal and he's too young for the sheer brutality of something like Saving Private Ryan, so what's out there that sits somewhere in the middle of that scale?
Current list:
Enemy at the Gates - it's a 15 but I can't remember why
Dunkirk - probably too slow
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
I think for PG films you'd be looking at black and white films from the 50's/60's. So:
Tora! Tora! Tora!
Ice Cold in Alex
My favourite would be Das Boot. Because what point is there in learning about a subject if you don't get both view points?
Edited to add:
The Keeper (about Bert Trautman, his book is brilliant by the way)
Goodnight Mr.Tom
Tora! Tora! Tora!
Ice Cold in Alex
My favourite would be Das Boot. Because what point is there in learning about a subject if you don't get both view points?
Edited to add:
The Keeper (about Bert Trautman, his book is brilliant by the way)
Goodnight Mr.Tom
I think good films for 9 year olds are going to be thin on the ground. Anything that will be a good film about the war, like Das Boot, will likely bore him to tears. Films that will be fun to watch eg Where Eagles Dare won’t teach him much.
I watched a lot of war films growing up in the 70s/80s but they gave me an unrealistic and false picture of the war because they focused on the U.K. and US from their own perspective. As you would expect. But overlooked the fighting and suffering in Russia, as one example, ignored the holocaust and there was very little about Japan and the war in the East.
I watched a lot of war films growing up in the 70s/80s but they gave me an unrealistic and false picture of the war because they focused on the U.K. and US from their own perspective. As you would expect. But overlooked the fighting and suffering in Russia, as one example, ignored the holocaust and there was very little about Japan and the war in the East.
Darkest hour followed by Dunkirk would provide a good few hours of insight into a certain mission in WW2 without being too horrific or gory.
Rescue Dawn is a good watch about a pilot captured in Laos, rated at PG 13 but it was a few years ago that i watched it so you might want to watch it first. Off the top of my head i cant recall anything too gruesome but it is a film about prisoners of war and survival
Rescue Dawn is a good watch about a pilot captured in Laos, rated at PG 13 but it was a few years ago that i watched it so you might want to watch it first. Off the top of my head i cant recall anything too gruesome but it is a film about prisoners of war and survival
Esceptico said:
I think good films for 9 year olds are going to be thin on the ground. Anything that will be a good film about the war, like Das Boot, will likely bore him to tears. Films that will be fun to watch eg Where Eagles Dare won’t teach him much.
At that age, its not about teaching.....its about capturing the interest at a young age enough that when he's older, he'll be able to watch and understand documentaries which is what will teach, not Hollywood.I was only 10 years old when I sat with my father and watched every episode of World at War series back when it was first shown on the TV......largely as a result of watching the old B&W 50's WW2 films like Cruel Sea, Dunkirk, Angels One Five, etc.etc as well as Battle of Britain.
As suggested, Battle of Britain, Bridge Too Far and Tora, Tora, Tora are probably worth showing him, because for hollywood, they are a reasonably historically correct encapsulation of the real events.
But watching all of the episodes of World at War series shown be compulsory viewing for all school children.
durbster said:
Our 9 year old is learning about World War 2 at the moment and we were just trying to think of films that might be suitable to watch to help get him interested.
I can't imagine cheesy old stuff like The Dirty Dozen would appeal
https://www.bbfc.co.uk/releases/dirty-dozen-1967I can't imagine cheesy old stuff like The Dirty Dozen would appeal
irocfan said:
there's still The World At War on NetFlix (I think) and various colourised docu's which may appeal?
TWaW is one of the, if not the, best series on the war. The first episode, or at least the intro, might not be good for a kid, nor the one on the death camps. There are other bits that could upset a child so maybe view each episode first. If he's an imaginative little guy then there will be a lot that might set him off.
I saw The Cruel Sea when I was a kid despite it being an A. No real gung ho!, lots of pain, and the premise that the only thing going for winning a war is that it is marginally better than losing one. One of the formative films of my life, maybe because I had a lot of uncles in the RN and merchant in the war, with a few killed.
Derek Smith said:
irocfan said:
there's still The World At War on NetFlix (I think) and various colourised docu's which may appeal?
TWaW is one of the, if not the, best series on the war. The first episode, or at least the intro, might not be good for a kid, nor the one on the death camps. There are other bits that could upset a child so maybe view each episode first. If he's an imaginative little guy then there will be a lot that might set him off.
I saw The Cruel Sea when I was a kid despite it being an A. No real gung ho!, lots of pain, and the premise that the only thing going for winning a war is that it is marginally better than losing one. One of the formative films of my life, maybe because I had a lot of uncles in the RN and merchant in the war, with a few killed.
At 13-15 then yes, but 9 is too young IMO
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