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Providing their audience with an unflinching snapshot of the life-or-death nature of armed conflict, war movies have formed an intrinsic part of popular culture since the earliest days of cinema, to the point that storied names in the vein of Saving Private Ryan, Schindler's List, and The Deer Hunter are widely regarded as some of the best movies of all time. Furthermore, many of the best war films of all time owe much of their success to a superb villain who carries the story with their wicked presence, serving as the perfect antagonistic foil.

In many cases, the villain is the movie's best character, with the actor tasked with bringing them to life producing a nuanced and compelling performance that has the potential to overshadow the efforts of the film's protagonists. From morally devoid war criminals and renegade soldiers to Machiavellian double agents, the best portrayals of war movie villains...

If World War 2: Behind Closed Doors proves anything, it’s that cable television has little left to say about our most televised war (which is quite an impressive feat, considering how many wars have happened since the advent of television). With the absolute glut of History Channel documentaries about D-day and the bizarre details of Hitler’s personal life out there, Behind Closed Doors doesn’t exactly have its work cut out for it. But even if the program doesn’t greatly alter our understanding of the greatest generation’s war, it does provide some insight into some of less overexposed aspects of the conflict, in particular some of the shady dealings that went on between the Soviet Union, Britain, the United States and even Germany. In short, everyone kind of screwed over Poland.

Opening its narrative at the outbreak of the second world war and taking it all...