This is a very powerful film (Link 1) about the realities of war. It is a drama, with its various dialogues about war, a comedy, with many downright outrageous scenes, and also romantic, with Charlie and Emily's relationship.
Set in the months before and including D-Day, Charlie is a "Dog Robber" for an American admiral of the Navy--someone who must see to it that the admiral is very well fed and taken care of during the war. The setting is in London, far removed from any battlefront. Emily is one of Charlie's drivers and initially finds him very distasteful since he both is chauvinistic as well as not remorseful in getting to enjoy many of the items that the average British citizen has not been allowed to eat or possess during the war. However, she eventually warms up to him after attending one of the parties that he set up for the admiral. From then on, the two fall madly in love with each other.
The two are seemingly quite different. Emily is quite proud of being a war widow and having a father, brother, and cousins that have also died in war. On the other hand, Charlie believes that there is nothing to be proud of in regards to a soldier's death; that it is truly living that one should admire and respect. This conflict comes to a head when Charlie is sent to film a live movie of the invasion of Normandy and believes that he will be able to avoid actually taking part. Emily believes that it is cruel and very dishonorable to wish to avoid the invasion while thousands of other soldiers will not be so fortunate. It is then that Emily breaks off their relationship.
After it is believed that Charlie dies on Omaha Beach, Emily comes around to Charlie's feelings about war. She lets it be known that she no longer is proud of death during war.
Throughout the film, there are several scenes that contain bitter criticism of war and how it is perpetuated. The most important of these is when Charlie meets Emily's mother (Link 2). During the exchange between Charlie and the mother, Charlie states that it is the public that are most to blame for continual war--not the generals and politicians at whom the finger is often pointed. He explains that it is the people and their glorification of war that makes it palatable to the public at large. For a current example of this, one only needs to look at how members of the U.S. military are treated--and often worshiped--by the average American. This is the main message of the film. To put it another way, war will never truly end so long as it is seen as honorable to fight and die for one's country.
It can clearly be seen that the world today--especially in America--is not even close to this philosophy. However, if more and more people begin to see war for what is truly is (Links 3-5), then we may one day achieve this noblest of ideals.
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