If you opened up a movie trade publication or read a movie-focused blog between October 2007 and February 2008 the odds are good you saw at least one story about how the massive influx of Iraq War-themed films that were being released (The Kingdom, In the Valley of Elah, Rendition, etc) were not only all failing but were causing havoc in the independent film world.

Their less than fantastic box-office success was not always attributable to the quality of the movie. Nor was it always to do the audience’s perceived lack of interest in movies about our current military situation. But these were easy journalistic hooks on which to hang a story and so became part of our entrenched conventional wisdom.

Indeed there were some high-quality films released about this subject matter in the last year or so that are deserving of a broader audience. But release patterns don’t always line up with audiences. That’s why the appearance of films such as Heavy Metal in Baghdad on distribution sites like SnagFilms (a Spout partner) is so important: by flattening the distribution field to allow for anywhere, anytime viewing, the audience (at least that portion of it that’s tuned into online viewing, a percentage that’s growing steadily) can find movies that will interest them regardless of whether or not it’s playing at their local multiplex.

One such film that got lots of headlines upon its release earlier this year was Standard Operating Procedure, a documentary by acclaimed filmmaker Errol Morris about the behind the scenes stories of those pictures showing prisoner humiliation at the Abu Ghraib detention facility. Karina, in her review of the film that also comes with insights from a session with Morris himself, says the film frustrates as often as it enlightens and comes with no easy answers, no clear moralistic conclusions.

Now Spout is giving you the opportunity to win one of two DVD copies of Standard Operating Procedure.

We want to hear from you what your top five favorite war (or war-related) movies are. Either leave the list as a comment on this post or, if you’re a member of the Spout community (and you really should be), you can build your own list in this discussion thread specific to the contest. We’ll pick one winner tomorrow and one winner Friday and send you not only the movie but a whole package of Spout goodies as well.

It’s that simple, so good luck and let’s hear what your favorites are.