this is, i think, the best war movie ever made. i had to struggle with the idea that paths of glory was better when i said that, but they both come from kubrick, so make your own decision. the point is, the direction is all that a combat correspondant could ever, ever hope for. it may not be war, but it is what war should be in the cinema. i read the book it was based on, and while there are differences, i think the movie flows as well as the novel; that is, the division bewteen the boot camp sequences, and the battlefield sequences is essential to illustrate the horror of war, and the degrading, terrible things a man must put himself through to get there. they are essentially a couple. if you look at the sniper in the final run as a metaphor for the enemy , the movie becomes more profound. ultimately, i've watched many a war movie, and i can't think of a better one to recommend, sans politics and propaganda, than this one. 