Donald Clarke: If Warfare’s not an anti-war film, what is? Apocalypse Now? Don’t make me laugh

Some years ago, a friend, off to a debate on free speech, noted merely that he was set to discuss “yelling ‘fire’ in a crowded theatre”. The point being that, in such discussions, someone inevitably argues that this is one of the things free speech should not allow.

Similarly, any consideration of the pros, cons or mere existence of the anti-war film will quickly get around to an indestructible quote from François Truffaut: “There’s no such thing as an anti-war film.”

The French film-maker’s argument was that the persuasive tools of cinema – editing, acting, cinematography – cannot fail to generate a surge of interest. All that talk about the gruesome opening of Saving Private Ryan put viewers in a state of heady, wary excitement before we had even cut back to 1944. They were then urging the troops on as the ordnance churned blood into the surf. Maybe Truffaut was on to something.

The quote gets dra...
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