When the United States entered Afghanistan in 2001, no one expected it to be its longest war, spanning over two decades. With the war and occupation lasting for such an extended period, it is no surprise that so many films have come out featuring stories of soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan. Although some films are fiction, a majority of them are based on true stories.
Update July 12, 2023: This article has been updated with even more films that tackle the United States’ occupation in Afghanistan.
While films focused on the war in Afghanistan never quite lit up the box office, as audiences did not want to be reminded of what was going on and wanted to escape from it, the subject has yielded some interesting films. These are the most well-made films intended to humanize American soldiers that tackle and explore the United State occupation in Afghanistan.
14 Green Zone (2010)
Bourne series director Paul Greengrass and Matt Damon team up again for the 2010 action thriller Green Zone. Damon stars as US Army Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller, who is searching for weapons of mass destruction in Baghdad’s Green Zone. The film is based on the 2006 non-fiction book Imperial Life in the Emerald City by Rajiv Chandrasekaran, which documented life in the Green Zone during the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
13 Sand Castle (2017)
Sand Castle has one of Nicholas Hoult’s best performances as U.S. Army soldier Matt Ocre, who is tasked with restoring water to a village in Iraq after it was destroyed by a bomb. It is an interesting take on someone who doesn’t want to be a soldier and how the experience of war can change you. Sand Castle is directed by Fernando Coimbra and written by Chris Roessner, who was inspired by his own experiences as a soldier in Iraq.
12 Lions for Lambs (2007)
Sporting a star-studded cast that included A-listers like Tom Cruise and Meryl Streep, the 2007 war drama called Lions for Lambs was the feature debut of Andrew Garfield. The movie tells the story of two university students who enlist in the army after being influenced by their idealistic professor. The tragic ending of the movie touches the heart of the audience and alludes to how war propaganda are made by those in power. Streep also gives us a powerful performance as a journalist who stands up against the propagandism.
11 War Machine (2017)
Brad Pitt is hysterical in the satirical comedy War Machine. The film was written and directed by David Michôd and features a cast of characters, including Topher Grace, Will Poulter, and John Magaro. War Machine is about four-star General Glen McMahon (Pitt) and his team as they prepare an assessment on how to pull the U.S. troops out of Afghanistan.
The film is a fictionalized adaptation of the nonfiction book The Operators: The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America’s War in Afghanistan by Michael Hastings, which is about General Stanley McChrystal.
10 The Outpost (2020)
The Outpost tells the little-known story of the U.S. Army Outpost PRT Kamdesh (later renamed Combat Outpost Keating) and the Battle of Kamdesh. Director Rod Lurie does a fantastic job at capturing this gut-wrenching account of the Afghanistan war and the camaraderie among soldiers. The large cast, including Scott Eastwood and Orlando Bloom, is incredible in this action-packed tale.
9 Brothers (2009)
Starring popular Hollywood stars like Tobey Maguire, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Natalie Portman, the 2009 American war drama Brothers is a remake of the 2004 Danish movie of the same name. In this movie, Maguire plays the role of a war prisoner in Afghanistan who struggles to adapt to society as a free man after his release. The movie delves deep into PTSD and family relations, with Portman playing Maguire’s wife and Gyllenhaal playing his brother. Both the Danish and the American movie are inspired by Homer’s Odyssey and shows post-war trauma in a really haunting and realistic manner.
8 12 Strong (2018)
12 Strong tells the story of the first Special Forces team deployed to Afghanistan right after September 11th. The film is based on the true story of the 12 soldiers who fought on horseback against the Taliban. Chris Hemsworth and Michael Shannon are both fantastic,c as is the rest of the cast in the 2018 film.
7 The Kill Team (2019)
Dan Krauss’ 2019 movie The Kill Team is actually loosely based on the Maywand District Murders. The director also has a documntary on the same. It tells us the story of a young American soldier who becomes morally conflicted over the war when their superior forces them to kill Afghan civilians. The heartbreaking story shows us the trauma of war and how it can damage a person beyond help.
6 Lone Survivor (2013)
Lone Survivor is a biographical film about U.S. Navy Seal Marcus Luttrell. The film is based on Luttrell’s book of the same name and stars Mark Wahlberg as the only survivor of his four-man reconnaissance team. The 2013 film, which was nominated for two Oscars, was revived by director Peter Berg after he was originally set to direct the film back in 2007 and truly shows a harrowing tale of survival.
5 The Hurt Locker (2008)
The Hurt Locker is an incredible film about an EOD (explosive ordnance disposal) unit targeted by insurgents as they try to disable bombs. The 2008 film stars Anthony Mackie and Jeremy Renner, who are both honest and raw in their performances as they deal with the stresses of combat. The Hurt Locker went on to win six Academy Awards, including Best Original Screenplay, Best Picture, and Best Director for Kathryn Bigelow, who was the first female director to win the Oscar for Best Picture.
4 Dear John (2010)
The 2010 romantic war drama Dear John is based on the popular book of the same name by Nicholas Sparks. Starring Amanda Seyfried and Channing Tatum, the movie talks about a young couple and their tragic love story. A lot of the movie is told through letters that the two main characters send each other when they are apart. Even though the movie received a lot of mixed reviews, it shows the sad reality of war and how it affects the people who are left behind after the death of a soldier.
3 War Dogs (2016)
War Dogs is a dark comedy based on the 2011 Rolling Stone article by Guy Lawson. The film, directed by Joker‘s Todd Philips, tells the story of two arms dealers, Efraim Diveroli (Johan Hill) and David Packouz (Miles Teller), as they receive a U.S. Army contract to supply weapons to the Afghan National Army. Hill and Teller are both fantastic as high school friends turned arms dealers in this wild ride that is based on a true story.
2 American Sniper (2014)
American Sniper is probably the most known and arguably one of the best films about the Afghanistan and Iraq war. Steven Spielberg was originally set to direct the film, but Clint Eastwood replaced Spielberg before casting was finished. The 2014 film received six Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Bradley Cooper’s performance as Chris Kyle. Loosely based on Kyle’s 2012 autobiography, the film follows Chris Kyle, the deadliest marksman in the United States military history, as he performs his four tours in Iraq. American Sniper is an emotional look at war from the eyes of a marksman.
1 Zero Dark Thirty (2012)
Kathryn Bigelows’ second film on this list, Zero Dark Thirty, details the CIA’s hunt for Osama bin Laden. While focused more on the men and women in the CIA and less on the soldier’s on the ground, the film was a captivating look at the decade-long manhunt and the tricky tactics that were used. The movie was released one year after Osama bin Laden’s death, and the dramatic recreation of the Navy Seal Team 6 on the bunker is one of the most thrilling sequences in a movie that year.
Now that the last American troops have pulled out of Afghanistan, it will be interesting to see what material will follow. As more information and stories from veterans are coming out about the war, we cannot doubt that Hollywood will be right behind with star-studded, dramatized versions.
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
