Best pre-WWI battle scene in a movie

[Iormlund]

Are there movies with pre-gunpowder armies fighting that do have good unit cohesion?

Gaugamela is pretty good, I think.

It's also shot following the historical accounts.

[Duque de Bragança]

It's been a long time since I've seen The Four Feathers, but I remember really liking the Battle of Omdurman from the film.  Like everything else in the film it is beautifully shot in glorious extra-color.  (I mean the 1939 version, of course, I've read the British are defeated in the 2002 version  .)

There is such a 2002 version?!   

[Sophie Scholl]

There is such a 2002 version?!   

Heath Ledger is the lead:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0240510/

[Threviel]

No love for Excalibur?

[celedhring]

Are there movies with pre-gunpowder armies fighting that do have good unit cohesion?

Gaugamela is pretty good, I think.

It's also shot following the historical accounts.

Yeah, the battle is very historically rendered (at least according to traditional accounts which are obviously exaggerated), but I don't think it's particularly well directed - very confusing and disjointed, and not in a "war is chaos" intentional way. Oliver Stone has made some really great scenes over his career, but none of them are in Alexander.

I do appreciate the restrained use of CGI, though. And we have so few epic movies set in the pre-Roman era (and one of them is 300).

[Threviel]

Thinking about it there's only one obvious choice. One of the best movies ever: Master and commander

Every other movie must necessarily come second.

[Tamas]

Thinking about it there's only one obvious choice. One of the best movies ever: Master and commander

Every other movie must necessarily come second.

Actually, yes.

[celedhring]

I thought about including the taking of the Acheron, indeed. But dediced to exclude naval battles. That will be another poll 

[FunkMonk]

That's actually the greatest scene of all time (GOAT)

[Barrister]

Master and Commander is totally one of my top 10 movies that I would re-watch again and again.

I think I've mentioned that while Caliga would do Roman re-enactment, for several years I would attend these Jane Austen balls dressed as a Royal Navy captain?

[Threviel]

I watched Master and Commander on the cannon deck of the Götheborg sailing on the North Sea. I don't think that movie experience will ever be surpassed.

Especially as we had a lot of French aboard.

[FunkMonk]

I've enjoyed some of the more recent takes about the Master and Commander movie, examining it as a work of positive (as opposed to toxic) masculinity.  Probably contributes to how beloved the movie has become among basically everyone on the planet.

[Tamas]

I've enjoyed some of the more recent takes about the Master and Commander movie, examining it as a work of positive (as opposed to toxic) masculinity.  Probably contributes to how beloved the movie has become among basically everyone on the planet.

I don't understand this categorisation, nor the need for it in case of a movie like M&C.

[celedhring]

I've seen that movie used in leadership classes, as an example of leading without being an asshole. It's not that weird a take.

[Jacob]

I don't understand this categorisation, nor the need for it in case of a movie like M&C.

"This guy is super manly because he takes responsibility, looks after those in his care, does what is necessary even though it is difficult, fights hard for what is right, rises to the challenge in the face of privation, uses his intelligence to plan ahead" etc = positive masculinity.

"This guy is super manly because he is enjoys violence, is vindictive, if focused on being seen as strong, doesn't care about consequences to others, prioritizes shitty dominance games and is good at them, uses his intelligence to put others down and maintain his supremacy, effectively uses others as disposable tools" etc = toxic masculinity.

There'd normally also be something about attitudes towards women and sex and so on, but less relevant for Mater & Commander I expect.