Which two mediums are most effective in conveying the horrors of war?

I think that film is more emotionally involving than the use of something like non fiction, as we still get to experience the thoughts and feelings of a person facing the war, but the use of music, atmosphere and other cinematic techniques heightens the pathos and lets us connect more with a character on screen, as they are more tangible and real.

The potential of film means that several conventions can be employed at once, for example vivid pictures can be combined with music and descriptive dialogue to form one larger image which conveys the horror of war. A good example of this is the ending of the film All Quiet On The Western Front, where one of the characters, Paul is killed by a sniper as he reaches for a butterfly. The audience has a feeling of peace (which is symbolised by the butterfly) which is quickly destroyed by the sniper. The ending is effective in showing the brutality and volatile nature of war, but portraying it in a much more symbolic and artistic manner.

Film is a much more versatile and wide reaching medium, films appeal to a larger audience, and people are more likely to see a film than read a book about the war.

Poetry is another effective method that expresses the reality of war, many of the most famous poems about life as a soldier were written by soldiers themselves, so they reflect an accurate image of what it was really like. For example Wilfred Owen's poem 'Dulce et Decorum Est' was in response to the propaganda published by the media which sold a heroic image of war, that it was a great honour to die for your country. The poem depicts the realities of war in an extremely graphic way:

"If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood

Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,

Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud

Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues."

War was an event that brought to many people pain, sorrow and bitterness but also inspired people to document these extreme emotions in the form of poetry. In a way poetry can be like reading somebody's diary, they depict highly personal accounts of an event and explore the feelings and emotions of the poet. Poetry has the power to affect the emotions of its readers as well, especially on emotive subjects such as war. Photographs and paintings can detect a mood, an atmosphere but still portray a static image - poetry has the ability to explore a certain theme fully, such as the changing emotions of a soldier, the explosive nature of a battlefield or can provide an outlet for the poet to pour his feelings into. Poems are more expressive than prose but usually more concise, their message about war is more dramatic, more graphic and more powerful. The First World War inspired works in many different mediums, but poetry seemed to capture the essence of the war more than any other art form, making names such as Owen and Sassoon famous literary figures and their work synonymous with the conflict.

Poetry and film is linked by artistic endeavour - both try and succeed in capturing the horrors of war. Films such as Saving Private Ryan and Apocalypse Now effectively portray the brutality of conflict and show the audience disturbing, grim pictures of death and injury, whereas poems, the hundreds written during the world wars and more recent conflicts, offer a accurate but horrific insight into violent scenes or the shell-shocked minds of poets, often written without experience, without retrospect at the time the war was happening. In conclusion poetry and films are most effective in conveying the horrors of war.