10 War Films That Broke All The Rules

A lot lighter than Casualties of War but no less daring in its own right, 2001's Joaquin Phoenix vehicle Buffalo Soldiers offered an under-seen early starring role for the Walk the Line star before superstardom came calling.

Directed by The Informers adapt-er/ infamously unlucky director Gregor Jordan, this distinctly un-patriotic dark comedy had the misfortune of being released soon after 9/11, when American moviegoers were desperate to see some heroism and reliable jingoism at the pictures.

However, in depicting US soldiers as heroin-smuggling layabouts worthy of Animal House, Buffalo Soldiers wasn't the best film for those seeking some nationalistic pride.

The film was, however, an ingenious subversion of the "snobs versus slobs" comedy sub genre.

Casting a likeable group of young everyday soldiers, bored by their duty in East Berlin and unsure what they're meant to be achieving in the country, as the underdogs to their self-serious and patriotic superior's classic "mean dean" character, this anarchic comedy both humanises the forces themselves and questions the international adventurism they're sent to carry out.