Film
War of the Buttons
Other titles called War of the Buttons: the 1962 film.
A 1994 Irish film about rival gangs of schoolboys engaged in a peculiar territorial war: they strip buttons from each other's clothes as trophies and humiliation. It's funny, occasionally touching, rooted in genuine childhood mischief and the codes that govern boyhood honour. Charming without being cloying, it captures both the comedy and the real stakes of growing up poor in rural Ireland.
Should you watch it?
Watch it if you like boyhood adventures told with a rough, affectionate comic streak, where the rivalry feels real and the stakes are small but fiercely felt.
Skip it if you want slick pacing or a modern kid's-film polish, since this is a loose, episodic, rather shaggy piece that wanders through its scrapes and feels its age.
What it asks of you: It asks for an easy ninety-four minutes and patience with childish logic, since the mood drifts between broad farce and something wistful without much warning.
Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.
If you liked this
Stand by Me1986
Nostalgia-soaked story of boys on an adventure, mixing comedy, pathos, and genuine danger. Same warmth about childhood friendships and the moment when innocence fractures.
But The American small-town setting and darker tone might feel heavier than you want; it's more elegiac than this film.
My Brother Tom2001
Irish film about rural boyhood and masculine codes, with the same mix of humour and unexplained sadness. Grounded in real lives and real constraints, with sharp observation of how boys learn the rules.
But More melancholic overall; doesn't sustain the same playfulness throughout.
The 400 Blows1959
Truffaut's masterpiece about boys running wild, skipping school, stealing—the joy and tragedy of childhood unsupervised. Shares that sense of freedom and consequence happening at once.
But Black and white, subtitled, and the tone is more poignant than funny. A different register entirely.
Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from War of the Buttons
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
The Spirit of the Beehive1973
Both films know that children's games are never innocent—they rehearse the adult world's cruelties and power struggles. Both use apparent lightness as a vehicle for something much darker underneath.
Spanish masterpiece about childhood under dictatorship—two girls in a rural village, trauma bleeding into their games and imagination. Like War of the Buttons, it finds the real darkness living inside childhood play, and trusts the audience to read it.
But Austere, slow, poetic rather than narrative-driven. Requires patience and close attention; willfully obscure about what happened.
More like this (7)
Moonrise Kingdom2012
Wes Anderson's love letter to childhood adventure and the small wars between tribes of kids. Whimsy and genuine emotion, with impeccable craft and a cast of brilliant young performers.
But Highly stylised; the visual artifice might feel remote from the grounded naturalism you get here.
Kes1970
Ken Loach's film about a working-class Yorkshire boy finding salvation in a hawk. Raw, unsentimental portrait of childhood in poverty, with moments of beauty and humour within hardship.
But Bleaker and more austere. The lightness here gives way to something closer to social realism.
Gregory's Girl1980
Scottish coming-of-age comedy about teenage life, school, gangs, and first love. Warm, funny, smart about how young people actually talk and think. Similar regional flavour.
But More focused on romance and school life than on the specific ritual warfare that drives this film.
The Goonies1985
Kids on a quest, treasure, adventure, danger, and absolute joy in their friendship. Loose, energetic, celebrating the chaos of childhood independence and imagination.
But Much louder, more Hollywood, less rooted in real social texture. The adventure is fantasy rather than grounded.
Pee-wee's Big Adventure1985
Tim Burton's delirious road movie with a childlike sensibility—anarchic, visually inventive, funny without trying too hard. Same playful energy even if the setting couldn't be more different.
But Surreal and stylised to the point of abstraction; nothing here feels like the real world.
Tsotsi2005
Both films centre on gangs of boys with their own laws and rituals, showing how those codes can brutalize and protect at once. Both trust young actors completely and never condescend to their characters.
South African film about a gang of street boys in Johannesburg, their codes and hierarchies and sudden capacity for tenderness. Grips you immediately; devastating and real without preaching.
But Violence, poverty, and emotional brutality. Not a film that offers comfort or easy answers about redemption.
Moonlight2016
Both films understand that boyhood is a performance—roles you learn, masks you wear—and that behind those roles is something fragile and true. Both are interested in how boys love each other and what they cannot say.
Three chapters of a boy's life in Miami, each a small perfect film. Tender, formally adventurous, about masculinity and desire and survival. You will think about it for weeks.
But Deliberately paced, poetry not plot. Requires you to feel rather than follow. Concerns vulnerability and sexuality that upset some viewers.
People
Cast
Liam CunninghamThe Master
Colm MeaneyGeronimo's Dad
Ger RyanFergus' Mum
Gregg FitzgeraldFergus- Gerard KearneyBig Con
- Darragh NaughtonBoffin
- Kevin O'MalleyFishy
- John CleerePeter
- Anthony CunnighamLittle Con
- Thomas KavanaghRiley
- Eveanna RyanMarie
Directing
- John RobertsDirector
Writing
- Louis PergaudNovel
- Colin WellandWriter
Production
- David PuttnamProducer
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