Variation 15 (Dunkirk) While Hans Zimmer served as the principal composer for Dunkirk, the score’s soft, ambient, and melodic textures were crafted by Benjamin Wallfisch and inspired by Sir Edward Elgar (1857–1934). The film’s most poignant theme is a reimagining of Elgar’s “Nimrod” from his […]

Sam Mendes’ 2019 war epic, 1917, is a cinematic feat that immerses the audience in the horror of World War I. The film’s haunting and expansive score is from composer, Thomas Newman. The music conveys the emotional weight of the Lance Corporal Schofield (George MacKay) […]

The Star Spangled Banner The Star Spangled Banner is the national anthem of the United States of America. The lyrics come from a poem written on September 14, 1814, by a then 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet, Francis Scott Key. He wrote the piece after […]

American Sniper Ennio Morricone’s “The Funeral” was used as the closing theme in Clint Eastwood’s 2014 film American Sniper. The song was originally composed for the 1965 spaghetti western, The Return of Ringo. It’s a melancholic piece of music that perfectly captured the final scenes […]

Band of Brothers Band of Brothers is a 2001 American war drama miniseries based on the 1992 book (of the same name) by WW2 historian, Stephen E. Ambrose. The series was created by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, who had collaborated on the 1998 World […]

Saving Private Ryan Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan (1998) was the first war film that put the viewer into the battle. You felt the measure of their sacrifice. I was in my early 20’s when I saw it, and I went back to theater to […]

All Quiet on the Western Front This film has instantly become one of my all-time favorites. While based on a literary classic, All Quiet on the Western Front is not your “classic” war film. It has more in common with HBO’s Chernobyl, than 1917. There […]

Waking Up Waking Up is a piece of music from the film, Lone Survivor. This is an awesome movie about the lone survival of Navy SEAL, Marcus Luttrell — after his 4 man reconnaissance team was chased up and down a mountain side by scores […]

Hacksaw Ridge Hacksaw Ridge is a 2016 biographical war film directed by Mel Gibson, based on the 2004 documentary: The Conscientious Objector. The film tells the extraordinary true story of Desmond Doss, a Seventh-day Adventist Christian who served as a combat medic in World War […]

Fury Fury is a 2014 American war film directed by David Ayer. It stars Brad Pitt as Wardaddy, a tank commander who leads a five-man crew on a deadly mission behind enemy lines in Nazi Germany during World War II. The film’s score was composed […]