In the Errol Morris documentary American Dharma, Morris sits down with Donald Trump strategist Steve Bannon to discuss politics and films in an airstrip hut designed to replicate the set of the 1949 war film Twelve O’Clock High.

Twelve O’Clock High, Bannon’s favourite film, becomes a natural point of conversation. Morris, the liberal-leftie of the two, sees the film as a portrayal of futility, the meaninglessness of the death and destruction that erupts during the poisonous act of war, a masterful depiction of mankind’s acceleration towards its demise.

As you can imagine, Bannon interprets the film rather differently. He revels in how the film conveys the glory of man, the merit of valour, and the price of honour that comes from defending one’s own statehood. He seems hung up on what war means to the individual and the elevation of that individual, contrasting quite sharply with Morris’s perspective on the wider societal ramifications.

Whether you agree with them or not, both interpretations are equally valid when it comes to Twelve O’Clock High. So why is A24’s upcoming Iraq War film Warfare, written and directed by Navy SEAL veteran Ray Mendoza, struggling to find such grace?

The difference: Twelve O’Clock High revolves around the events of World War II, a war where pacifism was plainly off the table. It would be hard to find even........

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