Why Anti-War Movies Bomb at Box Office

Knight Ridder/Tribune

To paraphrase the old 1960s protest poster, "What if they made an anti-war movie and nobody came ..."

The recent rush of anti-war movies based on Iraq and Afghanistan are bombing at the box office. It isn't hard for anyone outside of Hollywood's bubble of self-importance to figure out why.

Americans have no qualms about watching movies critical of America at war. Many of the movies about the nation's experience in Vietnam espoused harsh views of individual soldiers and policymakers alike. Some of these like "The Deer Hunter" (1978) and Francis Ford Coppola's "Apocalypse Now" (1979) rank among the best American films of all time.

But these films, however critical they may have been, were made after our soldiers came home from Vietnam.

Americans recognize that there's something tasteless about directors living their cushy, sheltered lives in sunny California and making films that savage the behavior of soldiers in a war while those very soldiers are still fighting and dying for their country.

There is plenty of criticism to be made of the Iraq war and those who led us into it. And the behavior of a small number of individuals involved in the fighting has been reprehensible.

War is always horrible and those at war sometimes do horrible things. But there are also stories of heroism and loyalty and courage from Iraq and Afghanistan that Hollywood, so far, has declined to tell.

Americans have little interest in being told by the likes of director Brian DePalma how terrible their sons and daughters are while they are still dying in foreign lands. So people are staying away from these movies in droves.

How bad is the bloodshed at the box office?

DePalma's "Redacted," a film about American soldiers who rape an Iraqi girl and murder her family, opened Nov. 16. Through Nov. 25 it had pulled in just $44,651 in domestic ticket sales, according to the Web site boxofficemojo.com.

"In the Valley of Elah," about an Army cover-up of a soldier's death, has made $6.7 million in domestic ticket sales since opening Sept. 14. Robert Redford's "Lions for Lambs," about political machinations over the military campaign in Afghanistan, has made $14 million domestically since opening Nov. 9.

In contrast, the year's blockbuster, "Spiderman 3," pulled in $151 million in its opening weekend alone. More-adult fare such as the teacher drama "Freedom Writers" made $36.6 million, while the romantic comedy "No Reservations" made $43.1 million.

No one is arguing that Hollywood must make pro-war propaganda films. But a few stories of heroism and courage to balance the dark message hammered relentlessly in the movies made to date would be nice.

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Copyright 2009 by Knight Ridder/Tribune