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I enjoyed "Three Kings", but find it to be overhyped and overrated. While it is a movie that drives clear anti-Gulf War messages, it is not the greatest anti-war film nor anything like that... Sorry... Here are some better ones:
-"The Deer Hunter": I consider this film to be overrated as well. Sure, it deserved its Oscar, but only due to weak competition. Anyway, as an anti-war film it is pretty effective. It starts off by showing a community of russian immigrants in some town in the US, where we get to see a happy group of friends interact and lead their small, happy, peaceful lives. An hour later we get flung into Vietnam, where three of the friends are trapped in a torture POW prison, forced to play Russian roulette with their captors. They make a harrowing escape, but leave scathed. One of them winds up with his legs amputated. Another one (Robert DeNiro) winds up with demons inside, unable to join "welcome home" celebrations, and facing the tragedies of his friends. And the third one (Christopher Walken, in an Oscar-winning performance) stays around Vietnam, where he finds the places that he was fighting for to be a hell, and winds up obssessed with Russian roulette bets, while in plunging into a zombie-like state. Though overlong and rather simple, the film succeeds in showing how war shatters lives...
-"Dr. Strangelove": master Kubrick's epic black comedy that reduces war to a circus being ruled by buffoons, psychopaths foolishly obsessed with patriotism, and mistakes, all which wind up destroying the world. A classic.
-"Paths of Glory": Another good anti-war film by master Kubrick. Here he takes a look at the French army in WWI, where generals sadistically send their troops out to be massacred, all in the name of honor, taking no importance in the men's lives. When one group decides to retreat after 2/3 of them are massacred and they have no chances of completing the mission, the generals decide to court martial three representatives at random, and execute them. Kirk Douglass (in an excellent performance, and looking a bit too much like his son) is the officer in charge of these men, who tries to defend them, and only winds up impressing his superiors to get a promotion. Overrated yet still a good film, which despite being a black comedy shows the pointlessness and insanity of "death for honor", and portrays the arrogant rule of the French generals as sadistic and idiotic.
-"Das Boot": a film that shows the other side of WWII. German soldiers in a U-Boat, none of them believing in the Nazi cause, suffering the turmoils of the war. A good, suspenseful film with an ending that may be glorious in regular WWII films but winds up tragic here... You really care for this group of germans...
-"Full Metal Jacket": another good anti-war flick by grand master Stanley Kubrick. This one is set in Vietnam. First it shows in full brutality how a group of young men are transformed into killing machines in a Marines' boot camp, and where those who don't get tortured... Second part deals with how cold the soldiers have become, just killing anyone possible, just for the color of their skin, and dealing in sick attitudes, while most of the group we get to follow get slaughtered while trying to be brave... Powerful film with a memorable script...
Damn! Ran out of time. Others worth mentioning "Saving Private Ryan" (I'll repeat to the ignorant why this is anti-war, beyond the first 20 minutes), "The Thin Red Line", "Platoon", "Apocalypse Now", "Born on the Fourth of July", and others...
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