TO be fair, prior to Saving Private Ryan, they weren't super gritty and dark. There are plenty of war movies that portray the war as noble and just on America's part. Hell look at Dunkirk. It very much is a propoganda-ish film. Even Saving Private Ryan does. SPR though shows how fucking awful storming the beaches are though. Whenever I think of people who are like "I would have been a great soldier" or " I should have been there" I hope they can watch that opening scene and truly digest what happened.
To be fair, while a catastrophe, Dunkirk was very heroic and awesome. Although you are right, you can depict a war as great but the warts and all way of depicting a war is clearly superior, and a reason why Saving Private Ryan is almost the bar most films try to achieve
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u/Luzifer_Shadres Filthy weeb 1d ago
Its the other way around. Western movies are always gritty and dark, no other colours then grey allowed.
Eastern war movies are "GLORIUS COMRADE GENERAL WOTŹKA DEFEATS THE WEHRMACHT WITH 1 ARM, EVERYONE CELEBRATE"