Alex Garland's latest feature film, Civil War, has captivated audiences nationwide on its way to setting numerous box office records for A24. Civil War became A24's highest-grossing Thursday night preview release and the company's highest-grossing opening weekend release. The movie also became A24's first film to finish a weekend at the top spot of the domestic box office list.

A civil war is any armed conflict between organized groups within the same state or country. Many in the United States are familiar with films about the American Civil War, such as Gone with the Wind, Glory, and Gettysburg. However, other civil wars such as the Irish Civil War and the Sengoku period in Japanese history have been brilliantly depicted in cinema through movies such as The Wind That Shakes the Barley and Ugetsu. Civil war films account for some of the greatest war movies ever made.

10 The Banshees Of Inisherin Is A Black Comedy Set During The Irish Civil War (2022)

• IMDb Rating: 7.7

Less than a year after the end of the Irish War of Independence, Ireland erupted into a civil war between the Provisional Government of Ireland and the Irish Republican Army over the Anglo-Irish Treaty. The Irish Civil War lasted nearly 11 months and left Ireland divided, paving the way for The Troubles, a low-intensity conflict that lasted over 30 years. Martin McDonagh's The Banshees of Inisherin is a black comedy set during the end of the Irish Civil War that depicts the breakdown of a friendship between two lifelong best friends.

The violence, existential angst, rage, and dissolution of camaraderie between the protagonists in The Banshees of Inisherin serve as a powerful allegory for the overall trauma experienced by the Irish during the Civil War. Premiering at the Venice Film Festival, The Banshees of Inisherin won the Volpi Cup for Best Actor and the Golden Osella for Best Screenplay. One of the most acclaimed films of 2022, The Banshees of Inisherin won 146 awards out of 507 nominations. Variety's Guy Lodge praised The Banshees of Inisherin, writing "What begins as a doleful, anecdotal narrative becomes something closer to mythic in its rage and resonance: McDonagh has long fixated on the most visceral, vengeful extremes of human behavior, but never has he formed something this sorely heartbroken from that fascination."

9 Denzel Washington Wins His First Academy Award For Glory (1989)

• IMDb Rating: 7.8

During the American Civil War, the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment became the Union Army's second African-American military unit. Glory, directed by Edward Zwick, tells the story of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment as they contend with prejudices from the Union Army and the Confederates. The unit eventually partakes in the Second Battle of Fort Wagner.

Glory earned adulation for its cinematography and the ensemble acting performances of Matthew Broderick, Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman, and Cary Elwes. At the 62nd Academy Awards, Glory received five nominations, winning Best Cinematography, Best Sound, and Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Washington. James Berardinelli of ReelViews called Glory, "without question, one of the best movies ever made about the American Civil War." Critic Leonard Maltin wrote that Glory was "grand, moving, breathtakingly filmed (by veteran cinematographer Freddie Francis) and faultlessly performed", declaring the movie "one of the finest historical dramas ever made." In 2006, the American Film Institute voted Glory the 31st most inspirational American film on their list of 100 Years... 100 Cheers: America's Most Inspiring Movies.

8 Gettysburg Is The Definitive Civil War Epic For History Buffs (1993)

• IMDb Rating: 7.6

Originally intended as a television miniseries, Gettysburg eventually morphed into one of the longest theatrically released American films in history. At a whopping four hours and fourteen minutes, Gettysburg covers the entirety of the Battle of Gettysburg, a three-day conflict that many historians argue was the turning point of the American Civil War. Directed by Ronald F. Maxwell, Gettysburg features a large ensemble cast that includes Tom Berenger, Martin Sheen, Stephen Lang, Jeff Daniels, Sam Elliott, and C. Thomas Howell.

Despite grossing just under $13 million at the box office, Gettysburg grew immensely in popularity due to a successful home video release and a highly watched television broadcast on the TNT network. Due to the film's insistence on historical accuracy, Gettysburg became the definitive American Civil War movie for history buffs. In a positive review, Roger Ebert wrote of Gettysburg, "This is a film that Civil War buffs will find indispensable, even if others might find it interminable. I began watching with comparative indifference, and slowly got caught up in the majestic advance of the enterprise; by the end, I had a completely new idea of the reality of war in the 19th century, when battles still consisted largely of men engaging each other in hand-to-hand combat. And I understood the Civil War in a more immediate way than ever before."

7 Daniel Day-Lewis Becomes Abraham Lincoln In Steven Spielberg's Lincoln (2012)

• IMDb Rating: 7.3

Over the years, many iconic actors have portrayed United States President Abraham Lincoln on the silver screen. Notable examples include Walter Huston, Henry Fonda, and Raymond Massey. However, none have been more mesmerizing than Daniel Day-Lewis in Steven Spielberg's Lincoln. Set toward the end of the American Civil War, Lincoln follows the final months of President Lincoln's life as he tries desperately to pass the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

A financial success, Lincoln grossed just over $275 million at the worldwide box office. Critics lauded Lincoln's direction, ensemble acting, screenplay, cinematography, and production design. Colin Covert of the Star Tribune echoed these sentiments in his review, stating "Lincoln is one of those rare projects where a great director, a great actor, and a great writer amplify one another's gifts. The team of Steven Spielberg, Daniel Day-Lewis, and Tony Kushner has brought forth a triumphant piece of historical journalism, a profound work of popular art, and a rich examination of one of our darkest epochs." In total, Lincoln won 107 awards out of 358 nominations. Both The New York Times and The Guardian placed Lincoln on their lists of the top films of the twenty-first century.

6 The Wind That Shakes The Barley Is A Tragic Look At The Irish Civil War (2006)

• IMDb Rating: 7.5

Directed by world-renowned British auteur Ken Loach, The Wind That Shakes the Barley is a war drama about two brothers who fight against British forces during the Irish War of Independence. However, the subsequent Irish Civil War that breaks out following the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty leads to the brothers fighting for opposite factions, culminating in a tragedy of Shakespearean proportions.

Upon its debut at the Cannes Film Festival, The Wind That Shakes the Barley won the prestigious Palme d'Or, the festival's highest honor. Once released theatrically, The Wind That Shakes the Barely set box office records, becoming the highest-grossing film of Loach's illustrious career and the highest-grossing Irish-made independent movie. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer's Sean Axmaker celebrated Loach's direction, writing "It's unmistakably the work of aging cinema activist Loach, who wears his social-justice heart on his sleeve and pauses the story for lively debates among the characters, especially as Sinn Fein signs a treaty that many think betrays the cause."

5 Onibaba Is A Classic Japanese Horror Film Set During A Japanese Civil War (1964)

• IMDb Rating: 7.9

A seminal work from the Japanese New Wave, Kaneto Shindō's Onibaba is a classic horror film set during the Nanboku-chō period as civil war rages throughout the country. While her son is away fighting in the war, a woman and her daughter-in-law survive by killing stray samurai and selling whatever valuables they find. Jealousy and competition erupt between the two women once the daughter-in-law begins having an affair with their neighbor. This leads the woman to use a mysterious mask from a dead samurai to try and scare off her daughter-in-law.

Onibaba brilliantly uses its civil war setting and horror genre elements as a metaphor for the trauma experienced by Japanese society in the aftermath of World War II. The disfigurement caused by the mysterious mask represents the effects of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. At the Blue Ribbon Awards, Onibaba won Best Supporting Actress and Best Cinematography. In a retrospective review, Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian commended Shindō's direction, writing "Shindo's transformation of the tale into an erotic noir tale of psychological horror is brilliantly subversive, and yet in its way intuitive and faithful. His secularised version preserves the fear while removing Buddha; there is no God up there in the vast endless sky above this wasteland, but Buddha's ferocious vengefulness, the cause-and-effect pattern of crime and punishment are transferred to the arena of paranoid human wrongdoing: and in fact Shindo does appear to strike a supernatural chord in the movie's final movement."

4 The Good, The Bad And The Ugly Is A Spaghetti Western Civil War Action Epic (1966)

• IMDb Rating: 8.8

Starring Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, and Eli Wallach, Sergio Leone's The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is cinema's most famous spaghetti Western. Set during the American Civil War, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly focuses on three gunslingers who compete to find a buried fortune of Confederate gold. During one of the film's most beloved sequences, the characters blow up a bridge as Union and Confederate soldiers engage in a vicious battle.

A film universally considered one of the greatest of all time, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly continues to receive praise for its cinematography, editing juxtaposition of long shots with extreme close-ups, score, and highly stylized gunfights. Countless publications such as Time, Empire, The New York Times, Sight & Sound, Film4, Time Out, and Premiere have all named The Good, the Bad and the Ugly one of the best films ever made. Filmmakers like Akira Kurosawa, John Woo, Johnnie To, and Quentin Tarantino each cited The Good, the Bad and the Ugly as a major source of inspiration for their filmographies.

3 Gone With The Wind Is A Quintessential Hollywood Golden Era Epic (1939)

• IMDb Rating: 8.2

Due to the year's incredible output of films, 1939 was a great year for cinema. Of the dozens of memorable films from that year, many argue that Gone With the Wind is the best of the bunch. Gone With the Wind is a Civil War romantic drama epic about a southern belle and a roguish profiteer who develop a turbulent romance during the American Civil War and Reconstruction Era.

An unprecedented success, Gone With the Wind captivated audiences on its way to becoming the highest-grossing film of all time. To this day, Gone With the Wind remains the highest-grossing film ever made when adjusting for inflation. At the 12th Academy Awards, Gone With the Wind won ten Oscars, eight competitive and two honorary, out of 13 nominations. Hattie McDaniel became the first African-American to win an Academy Award with her win for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. In 2007, the American Film Institute voted Gone With the Wind the sixth-greatest American film of all time. Gone With the Wind was among the first twenty-five films selected for preservation by the Library of Congress for the National Film Registry.