War is better in the movies than in real life because it kills a hell of a lot less (yeah, take that in the face, you kind of capitalist and murderous society). However, war movies give us a slightly erroneous view of real war. And since I personally spent my military service (the JAPD is like military service, isn’t it?) I am totally in a position to talk about the mythos of real war.
1. Proudly wearing your dog tag on your chest isn’t cool.
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It has even become a fashion accessory! Hollywood has totally mythonized us on this concept. Indeed, in times of war, no one bothers to wear his dog tag on his sweaty chest in the hope of being a little more Instagrammable. While it is true that soldiers must always wear their plate, they keep it first and foremost under their clothing. Moreover, if they are in civilian clothes, it is not at all well seen to wear this accessory as a cool thing.
2. Certify a product as “military” to bait the barge
A term that you can come across as much for a knife as for antivirus software and which does not mean much except to justify a higher price. In fact, there is no “military quality level”.
3. Automatic weapons are not inexhaustible
First, we see a lot of automatic weapons in movies in war scenes, much more than there are in real life. But above all, we never see the guys struggle to reload their weapon. MYTH. If we could shoot that much, we would have to walk around with 100 kilos of cartridges, which is to say that it’s not very practical for stealthy travel. Technically an AK-47 has 30 rounds, so shooting like a pig with it should reload it every 3 seconds. Well and if not, what do you think is the coolest fictional weapon?
4. You can’t shoot with your rifle placed on your hip
This is an error that can be seen in particular in Save Private Ryan but also of course in Rambo and in many other war movies. Not to mention that guns are very heavy weapons and it is not at all easy to walk with them as if they were jump ropes.
5. No, you don’t throw knives around in the hope of killing your enemy.
Here is something else again. The famous throw of the knife to who better better. You can see it in a movie like The Italian Job (not a war movie strictly speaking but there are typical fight scenes) with a killer knife thrower Jason Statam. Well, of course, no doubt about it in real life if you throw a butter knife at an enemy people in the hope of achieving victory, you risk ending up in a fan-forced toaster.
6. No, no you don’t just shoot anyone
Admittedly, there can be many excesses in wartime, technically each war has its rules of engagement. That is to say that we are not supposed to find ourselves in a situation of chaos and anarchy (well, even if once again in reality, we cannot say that war gives rise to behaviors of a irreproachable moral rigour). Still, Hollywood cinema tends to make us believe that any sniper can shoot at random, which is a slightly erroneous view. Because as we know, war is only love and tolerance.
7. Mufflers are not silent
In the movies, we see the use of mufflers that make less noise than a fly’s fart. In real life, silencers barely reach 10 to 20% less decibels than for a conventional gunshot. And I can tell you that it’s not at all but then not at all silent.
8. Cavalry charges have never been as impressive as we would like to believe
Obviously the cavalry charges did exist and very sincerely I would not have liked to find myself in the middle of this equine ratatouille. But in the movies, we tend to see ultra well-coordinated attacks with horses very happy to plant their ass on spears. In reality, cavalry charges were mainly used to pin down scattered and defenseless enemies, all for one simple reason: the horses may be very helpful, but they are not stupid and will not run at a gallop towards another wall of horses. armed to the core. There are no stupid horses.
9. Shooters behave more like mathematicians than gamers
Cinema (and video games) make us forget a basic thing: the trajectory of bullets does not follow a straight line. Okay so if you shoot at point-blank range (and I don’t advise you to do that because it’s not good to kill people, damn it, don’t you learn anything at school?) a priori, there are few luck that it deviates a lot but in the case of a sniper shot where the distance will be greater, you have to do a whole lot of calculations (which I spare you here insofar as I stopped at the additions until to 10 in my learning of mathematics) integrating parameters such as wind, atmospheric pressure, gravitation to be more or less sure of his shot. Ah well yes, there it is immediately less funny than clicking on your mouse huh.
10. No, the hero never says before dying “You will tell my wife that…”
What what? That you forgot to turn off the gas? But of course not. “Tell my wife that I love her” is what we hear. Pfft. What bullshit. While deep down he certainly doesn’t like his wife this guy and married him just to be able to join the cast of the film. But that is one of the clichés found in all war films.
