Kirk Douglas in Paths of Glory and Christoph Waltz in Inglourious Basterds are among the best war movie performances ever.

War is brutal, exhausting, and, more often than not, meaningless. That's one key message that Wolfgang Petersen’s 1981 World War II picture Das Boot puts across more powerfully than most war movies.

Perhaps marginally trailing love, war has remained a top fascination for filmmakers almost since the birth of cinema itself. Directors love depicting war because it can be many things all at the ...