Top 40 Children/Youth in Times of War
by transitasis | created - 07 Dec 2013 | updated - 20 Jun 2016 | PublicWar effects on Youth
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1. Forbidden Games (1952)
Not Rated | 86 min | Comedy, Drama, War
A young French girl orphaned in a German air attack is befriended by the son of a poor farmer, and together they try to come to terms with the realities of death.
Director: René Clément | Stars: Georges Poujouly, Brigitte Fossey, Amédée, Laurence Badie
Votes: 13,109 | Gross: $0.01M
2. Germany Year Zero (1948)
Not Rated | 78 min | Drama
A young German boy faces the problems of the tough life in the immediate post-WWII Berlin.
Director: Roberto Rossellini | Stars: Edmund Moeschke, Ernst Pittschau, Ingetraud Hinze, Franz-Otto Krüger
Votes: 13,719
3. Shoeshine (1946)
Not Rated | 87 min | Drama
Two shoeshine boys in postwar Rome, Italy save up to buy a horse, but their involvement as dupes in a burglary lands them in juvenile prison; the experience take a devastating toll on their friendship.
Director: Vittorio De Sica | Stars: Rinaldo Smordoni, Franco Interlenghi, Annielo Mele, Bruno Ortensi
Votes: 8,117
4. Ivan's Childhood (1962)
Not Rated | 95 min | Drama, War
During WWII, Soviet orphan Ivan Bondarev strikes up a friendship with three sympathetic Soviet officers while working as a scout behind the German lines.
Directors: Andrei Tarkovsky, Eduard Abalov | Stars: Nikolay Burlyaev, Valentin Zubkov, Evgeniy Zharikov, Stepan Krylov
Votes: 39,947
5. Goodbye, Children (1987)
PG | 104 min | Drama, War
A French boarding school run by priests seems to be a haven from World War II until a new student arrives. Occupying the next bed in the dormitory to the top student in his class, the two young boys begin to form a bond.
Director: Louis Malle | Stars: Gaspard Manesse, Raphael Fejtö, Francine Racette, Stanislas Carré de Malberg
Votes: 36,131 | Gross: $4.54M
6. Come and See (1985)
Not Rated | 142 min | Drama, Thriller, War
After finding an old rifle, a young boy joins the Soviet resistance movement against ruthless German forces and experiences the horrors of World War II.
Director: Elem Klimov | Stars: Aleksey Kravchenko, Olga Mironova, Liubomiras Laucevicius, Vladas Bagdonas
Votes: 97,385
7. A Generation (1955)
Not Rated | 87 min | Drama, War
Story of youth during the German occupation of Poland in World War II who come to adulthood through love and adversity.
Director: Andrzej Wajda | Stars: Tadeusz Lomnicki, Urszula Modrzynska, Tadeusz Janczar, Janusz Paluszkiewicz
Votes: 2,929
8. Innocent Voices (2004)
R | 120 min | Drama, Thriller, War
A young boy, in an effort to have a normal childhood in 1980's El Salvador, is caught up in a dramatic fight for his life as he desperately tries to avoid the war which is raging all around him.
Director: Luis Mandoki | Stars: Carlos Padilla, Leonor Varela, Xuna Primus, Gustavo Muñoz
Votes: 8,195 | Gross: $0.84M
9. Lacombe, Lucien (1974)
R | 138 min | Drama, War
In 1944, an 18-year-old boy from small-town France collaborates with the Gestapo and subsequently falls in love with a Jewish girl.
Director: Louis Malle | Stars: Pierre Blaise, Aurore Clément, Holger Löwenadler, Therese Giehse
Votes: 7,715
10. Twenty-Four Eyes (1954)
Not Rated | 156 min | Drama
Schoolteacher Hisako Oishi forms an emotional bond with her pupils and teaches them various virtues, while at the same time worrying about their future.
Director: Keisuke Kinoshita | Stars: Hideko Takamine, Itsuo Watanabe, Makoto Miyagawa, Takeo Terashita
Votes: 2,833
11. Turtles Can Fly (2004)
PG-13 | 98 min | Drama, War
Near the Iraqi-Turkish border on the eve of an American invasion, refugee children like 13-year-old Kak (Ebrahim), gauge and await their fate.
Director: Bahman Ghobadi | Stars: Soran Ebrahim, Avaz Latif, Saddam Hossein Feysal, Hiresh Feysal Rahman
Votes: 20,763 | Gross: $0.26M
12. Record of a Tenement Gentleman (1947)
72 min | Drama
A young boy follows Tashiro home to his tenement housing complex on the outskirts of Tokyo, the boy who was separated from his carpenter father somehow and somewhere in Kudan. All Tashiro ... See full summary »
Director: Yasujirô Ozu | Stars: Chôko Iida, Hôhi Aoki, Eitarô Ozawa, Mitsuko Yoshikawa
Votes: 2,252
13. Life Is Beautiful (1997)
PG-13 | 116 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
When an open-minded Jewish waiter and his son become victims of the Holocaust, he uses a perfect mixture of will, humor and imagination to protect his son from the dangers around their camp.
Director: Roberto Benigni | Stars: Roberto Benigni, Nicoletta Braschi, Giorgio Cantarini, Giustino Durano
Votes: 743,581 | Gross: $57.60M
14. The Bridge (1959)
Not Rated | 103 min | Drama, History, War
In 1945, Germany is being overrun, and nobody is left to fight but teenagers.
Director: Bernhard Wicki | Stars: Volker Bohnet, Fritz Wepper, Michael Hinz, Frank Glaubrecht
Votes: 8,659
15. Ode to My Father (2014)
Not Rated | 126 min | Drama, War
Amid the time of Korean War, a young boy's vow to take care of his family marked the beginning of a lifelong promise spanning 60 years.
Director: JK Youn | Stars: Hwang Jung-min, Yunjin Kim, Oh Dal-su, Jung Jin-young
Votes: 6,117 | Gross: $2.30M
16. The Tin Drum (1979)
R | 142 min | Drama, War
In 1924, Oskar Matzerath is born in the Free City of Danzig. At age three, he falls down a flight of stairs and stops growing. In 1939, World War II breaks out.
Director: Volker Schlöndorff | Stars: David Bennent, Mario Adorf, Angela Winkler, Katharina Thalbach
Votes: 25,759
17. Theeb (2014)
Not Rated | 100 min | Adventure, Drama, Thriller
In the Ottoman province of Hijaz during World War I, a young Bedouin boy experiences a greatly hastened coming-of-age as he embarks on a perilous desert journey to guide a British officer to his secret destination.
Director: Naji Abu Nowar | Stars: Jacir Eid Al-Hwietat, Hussein Salameh Al-Sweilhiyeen, Hassan Mutlag Al-Maraiyeh, Jack Fox
Votes: 11,519 | Gross: $0.28M
18. Muddy River (1981)
105 min | Drama
In post-War Japan, a boy from a noodle store-owning family befriends a neighboring boy living in poverty.
Director: Kôhei Oguri | Stars: Takahiro Tamura, Mariko Kaga, Nobutaka Asahara, Makiko Shibata
Votes: 1,035
19. Children of Hiroshima (1952)
Not Rated | 97 min | Drama, War
Post war Hiroshima: It's been four years since the last time she visited her hometown. Takako faces the after effects of the A-bomb when she travels around the city to call on old friends.
Director: Kaneto Shindô | Stars: Nobuko Otowa, Osamu Takizawa, Masao Shimizu, Jûkichi Uno
Votes: 1,372
20. A Time for Drunken Horses (2000)
Not Rated | 80 min | Drama, War
Young Iranian Kurdish siblings try to save the youngest of them, who is seriously ill.
Director: Bahman Ghobadi | Stars: Ayoub Ahmadi, Rojin Younessi, Amaneh Ekhtiar-dini, Madi Ekhtiar-dini
Votes: 8,835 | Gross: $0.70M
21. My Way Home (1965)
108 min | Drama, War
In the final days of WWII, a seventeen-year-old boy wanders the countryside. He is captured by Soviet troops, then released, then captured once more - after he has donned a German uniform ... See full summary »
Director: Miklós Jancsó | Stars: András Kozák, Sergey Nikonenko, Béla Barsi, Jurij Bodovszkij
Votes: 790
22. The Perfect Circle (1997)
110 min | Drama, War
An alcoholic Bosnian poet sends his wife and daughter away from Sarajevo so they can avoid the troubles there. However, he is soon descended upon by a pair of orphaned brothers. The ... See full summary »
Director: Ademir Kenovic | Stars: Mustafa Nadarevic, Almedin Leleta, Almir Podgorica, Josip Pejakovic
Votes: 2,408
23. Fateless (2005)
R | 140 min | Drama, Romance, War
14-year-old György's life is torn apart in WWII Hungary, as he is deported first to Auschwitz and then to Buchenwald, where he is forced to become a man in the midst of hatred, and what it really means to be Jewish.
Director: Lajos Koltai | Stars: Marcell Nagy, Béla Dóra, Bálint Péntek, Áron Dimény
Votes: 7,159 | Gross: $0.20M
24. Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
Not Rated | 89 min | Animation, Drama, War
A young boy and his little sister struggle to survive in Japan during World War II.
Director: Isao Takahata | Stars: Tsutomu Tatsumi, Ayano Shiraishi, Akemi Yamaguchi, Yoshiko Shinohara
Votes: 310,701
25. Mother of Mine (2005)
Not Rated | 111 min | Drama, War
During World War II, more than 70,000 Finnish children were evacuated to neutral Sweden to avoid the conflict. From the award-winning Klaus Härö (Elina: As If I Wasn't There (2002)), "... See full summary »
Director: Klaus Härö | Stars: Topi Majaniemi, Marjaana Maijala, Maria Lundqvist, Michael Nyqvist
Votes: 4,608
26. War Witch (2012)
Not Rated | 90 min | Drama, War
Somewhere in Sub-Saharan Africa, Komona, a 14-year-old girl, tells her unborn child growing inside her the story of her life since she has been at war. Everything started when she was abducted by the rebel army at the age of 12.
Director: Kim Nguyen | Stars: Rachel Mwanza, Alain Lino Mic Eli Bastien, Serge Kanyinda, Ralph Prosper
Votes: 7,566 | Gross: $0.07M
27. A Secret (2007)
Not Rated | 105 min | Drama, War
A 15-year-old boy unearths a shocking family secret.
Director: Claude Miller | Stars: Cécile de France, Patrick Bruel, Ludivine Sagnier, Julie Depardieu
Votes: 3,280 | Gross: $0.62M
28. Enclave (2015)
92 min | Drama
Kosovo 2004, five years after the war. Nenad, ten year old Christian boy from a Serbian enclave, determined to create a proper community burial for his late grandfather, crosses enemy lines... See full summary »
Director: Goran Radovanovic | Stars: Milena Jaksic, Filip Subaric, Nenad Stanojkovic, Milan Sekulic
Votes: 2,511
29. Partisan (2015)
Not Rated | 94 min | Drama
Alexander, a boy who has been raised in a sequestered commune, finds that his increasing unwillingness to fall in line puts him on a collision course with Gregori, the society's charismatic and domineering leader.
Director: Ariel Kleiman | Stars: Vincent Cassel, Jeremy Chabriel, Florence Mezzara, Esther Blaser-Tokarev
Votes: 4,181
30. Winter in Wartime (2008)
R | 103 min | Drama, History, War
In German-occupied Netherlands, a teenage boy gets involved in the Dutch resistance after coming to the aid of a wounded RAF pilot.
Director: Martin Koolhoven | Stars: Martijn Lakemeier, Jamie Campbell Bower, Yorick van Wageningen, Raymond Thiry
Votes: 13,532 | Gross: $0.54M
31. Black Bread (2010)
Unrated | 108 min | Crime, Drama
In the harsh post-war years' Catalan countryside, Andreu, a child that belongs to the losing side, finds the corpses of a man and his son in the forest. The authorities want his father to ... See full summary »
Director: Agustí Villaronga | Stars: Francesc Colomer, Marina Comas, Nora Navas, Roger Casamajor
Votes: 5,069
32. Keby som mal pusku (1971)
90 min | Comedy, Drama
This is a tragicomic story about boys who even in times of war remember how to play soldiers, dream of heroic deeds, spy on girls, show off in front of friends, and make up fantastic adventures.
Director: Stefan Uher | Stars: Marián Bernát, Jozef Gráf, Emília Doseková, Ludovít Króner
Votes: 200
33. Beasts of No Nation (2015)
TV-MA | 137 min | Drama, War
A drama based on the experiences of Agu, a child soldier fighting in the civil war of an unnamed African country.
Director: Cary Joji Fukunaga | Stars: Abraham Attah, Emmanuel Affadzi, Ricky Adelayitor, Andrew Adote
Votes: 86,869 | Gross: $0.08M
34. 71: Into the Fire (2010)
Not Rated | 120 min | Action, Drama, War
The story of student-soldiers trying to protect a middle school during the early days of the Korean War.
Director: John H. Lee | Stars: Cha Seung-won, Kwon Sang-woo, Choi Seung-hyun, Kim Seung-woo
Votes: 5,814
35. In Darkness (2011)
R | 145 min | Drama, War
A dramatization of one man's rescue of Jewish refugees in the German-occupied Polish city of Lvov.
Director: Agnieszka Holland | Stars: Robert Wieckiewicz, Benno Fürmann, Agnieszka Grochowska, Maria Schrader
Votes: 11,161 | Gross: $1.04M
36. Father (2015)
104 min | Drama
Ten-year-old Nori (Val Maloku) and his father Gezim (Astrit Kabashi) roam the streets of Kosovo selling cigarettes and barely earning a living. Only a few years after the fall of the Berlin... See full summary »
Director: Visar Morina | Stars: Astrit Kabashi, Val Maloku, Enver Petrovci, Adriana Matoshi
Votes: 591
37. Europa Europa (1990)
R | 112 min | Drama, History, War
A boy in Nazi Germany, trying to conceal that he is Jewish, joins the Hitler Youth.
Director: Agnieszka Holland | Stars: Solomon Perel, Marco Hofschneider, René Hofschneider, André Wilms
Votes: 17,486 | Gross: $5.58M
38. The Runner (1984)
Not Rated | 94 min | Drama
After enrolling in a school, an impoverished boy finds conflict with his classmates and decides to compete to earn their respect.
Director: Amir Naderi | Stars: Madjid Niroumand, Abbas Nazeri, Musa Torkizadeh
Votes: 2,341
39. The Two of Us (1967)
Not Rated | 86 min | Comedy, Drama
In German-occupied France, a Jewish child is sent away from his family and conceals his religious affiliation from the anti-Semitic elderly man that takes care of him.
Director: Claude Berri | Stars: Michel Simon, Roger Carel, Paul Préboist, Luce Fabiole
Votes: 2,513 | Gross: $0.05M
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