Timeline : World War Two (2 II) Movies
This is a compilation of my WW2 movies in a general order of when they take place. From earliest to latest. You can watch them in this order as a general "chronicles of World War 2". It is far from complete...... Movies that jump between war time and present day generally show up at the end of the list. Also comedies and other overly fictional movies have been removed, or placed at the end.
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- StarsPeter StormareFriedrich von ThunPeter O'TooleA profile of the life of Adolf Hitler with a unique slant, as a child and his rise through the ranks of the National Socialist German Workers Party prior to World War II.German POV. A good place to start, as it follows Hitler from a child to just before the war. Not entirely historically accurate, but very entertaining.
- DirectorVicente AmorimStarsViggo MortensenJason IsaacsJodie WhittakerJohn Halder, a German literature professor in the 1930s, is initially reluctant to accept the ideas of the Nazi Party. He is pulled in different emotional directions by his wife, his mother, his mistress, and a Jewish friend.German POV. A decent movie about a professor in Germany in 1937 who joins the Nazi party to further his career as a writer, while struggling with a sick mother, a failing marriage, and an affair. Failing to see what is happening to his home, and even to his close friend. It suffers slightly from being a little slow.
- DirectorKoldo SerraStarsJames D'ArcyMaría ValverdeJack DavenportThe fates of Henry - a cynical American correspondent who has lost his soul - and Teresa, one of the Republic's censors and in charge of overseeing the news that journalists can send abroad, cross in Gernika.The German bombers appeared in the skies over Guernica in the late afternoon of April 26, 1937 and immediately transformed the sleepy Spanish market town into an everlasting symbol of the atrocity of war. Unbeknownst to the residents of Guernica, they had been slated by their attackers to become guinea pigs in an experiment designed to determine just what it would take to bomb a city into oblivion.
- DirectorOliver HirschbiegelStarsChristian FriedelKatharina SchüttlerBurghart KlaußnerIn November 1939, Georg Elser's attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler fails, and he is arrested. During his confinement, he recalls the events leading up to his plot and his reasons for deciding to take such drastic action.German POV. Primarily takes place in 1939. We are shown the casual evil plaguing German society, and a man who refuses to go along with it. He decides something drastic must be done.
- DirectorJoe WrightStarsGary OldmanLily JamesKristin Scott ThomasIn May 1940, the fate of World War II hangs on Winston Churchill, who must decide whether to negotiate with Adolf Hitler, or fight on knowing that it could mean the end of the British Empire.
- DirectorRoman PolanskiStarsAdrien BrodyThomas KretschmannFrank FinlayDuring WWII, acclaimed Polish musician Wladyslaw faces various struggles as he loses contact with his family. As the situation worsens, he hides in the ruins of Warsaw in order to survive.Polish POV. Follows a Jewish family in Warsaw, Poland from late 1939 during the German occupation, through the entire war. The Pianist witnesses some of the Warsaw ghetto uprising. England and France declare war on Nazi Germany within the first 5 minutes.
- DirectorChuan LuStarsYe LiuWei FanHideo NakaizumiIn 1937, Japan occupied Nanjing, the Chinese capital. There was a battle and subsequent atrocities against the inhabitants, especially those who took refuge in the International Security Zone.Chinese and Japanese POV. Meanwhile in China... 1937 Japanese invasion of Nanjing, China. John Rabe is featured briefly. Gritty and terrifying (features a lot of rape and murder). It focuses on many (perhaps too many) characters on both sides.
- DirectorFlorian GallenbergerStarsUlrich TukurDaniel BrühlSteve BuscemiA true-story account of a German businessman who saved more than 200,000 Chinese during the Nanjing massacre in 1937-38.1937 Japanese invasion of Nanjing, China. Focusing on John Rabe.
- DirectorRoger SpottiswoodeStarsJonathan Rhys MeyersRadha MitchellChow Yun-FatAbout young British journalist, George Hogg, who with the assistance of a courageous Australian nurse, saves a group of orphaned children during the Japanese occupation of China in 1937.1937 China. The film centers on the story of George Hogg and the sixty orphans that he led from Nanjing, across China in an effort to save them from Chinese conscription, and Japanese invasion.
- DirectorYimou ZhangStarsChristian BaleNi NiXinyi ZhangAn American finds refuge during the 1937 Japanese invasion of Nanking in a church with a group of women. Posing as a priest, he attempts to lead the women to safety.Chinese POV. Set during Japan's invasion of Nanjing in 1937. Posing as a priest, Christian Bale's character attempts to lead a group of convent children, and a group of comfort women to safety during the war. Good movie, with a couple glaringly stupid character decisions, but not enough to bring it down.
- DirectorPekka ParikkaStarsTaneli MäkeläVesa VierikkoTimo TorikkaIn 1939, two Finnish brothers are conscripted in the army to fight in the war between Finland and the Soviet Union.Finnish POV. October 1939, Finland. Russia invades in what is known as The Winter War. Story follows a Finnish company as they march to, and fight on the front lines against Russia.
Overall it is a good movie, but it is bogged down by some slow scenes, several awkward drama/acting scenes, and a strange scene where 50 Finnish can't seem to hit two Russian machine gunners out in the open (but then later can't hit one guy running for his life and the characters actually comment on it). However it also has an awesome scene where a Finnish soldier is on fire, but lights his cigarette and takes a haul before dousing the flames. - DirectorMichael PowellEmeric PressburgerStarsJohn GregsonAnthony QuaylePeter FinchIn the first major naval battle of World War II, the British Navy must find and destroy a powerful German warship.British POV. The film portrays the Battle of the River Plate, a naval battle of 1939, between a Royal Navy force of three cruisers and the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee.
The movie is slow, but entertaining. The pacing and structure is awkward, as the main battle occurs around the half-way point, and the final 45 min to 1 hour of the movie are relatively unimportant, and could have been reduced to a 10 minute conclusion. Some of the acting is awkward as well, but typical to the time period it was made. It also does not focus on any one character, which prevented me from becoming engaged with any of the characters at all really. Overall it is good, but not great. - DirectorJoachim RønningEspen SandbergStarsAksel HennieAgnes KittelsenNicolai Cleve BrochThe true story about one of the most brilliant saboteurs during World War II and his battle to overcome his inner demons.Behins with the Russian invasion of Finnland 1939, then moves ahead to 1940. The story follows Manus (played by Aksel Hennie) from the Winter War against the Soviet Union, through the outbreak of World War II and the German occupation of Norway until peacetime in 1945.
- DirectorJan SverákStarsOndrej VetchýKrystof HádekTara FitzgeraldThe friendship of two men becomes tested when they both fall for the same woman.After the occupation of Czechoslovakia, the military is disbanded and the airforce commandeered. However, Franta and the younger Karel, among others, refuse to submit to their occupiers, and flee to the United Kingdom to join the RAF in 1940.
- DirectorGuy HamiltonStarsMichael CaineTrevor HowardHarry AndrewsIn 1940, the British Royal Air Force fights a desperate battle to prevent the Luftwaffe from gaining air superiority over the English Channel as a prelude to a possible Axis invasion of the U.K.In 1940, the British Royal Air Force fights a desperate battle vs. the Nazi Germany Air Force for control of British air space to prevent a Nazi invasion of Britain.
- DirectorPetter NæssStarsFlorian LukasDavid KrossLachlan NieboerWorld War II: After an aerial battle over Norway, British and German airmen find themselves stranded in the wilderness. Finding shelter in the same cabin, they realize the only way to survive the winter is to set aside the rules of war.Action-drama based on true story. Un-rescued German bomber crew and English pilots attempting to survive harsh Norwegian winter in wilderness, 1940.
- DirectorAdrian VitoriaStarsSean BeanDanny DyerAksel HennieThe true story of the formation of Ian Fleming's 30 Commando unit, a precursor for the elite forces in the U.K.In 1940, Major Jones is assigned to assemble an 8-men commando team to travel to Norway with specialist Roger Rollright to meet the agent Beowulf and destroy the German Freyo Station and steal German state-of-the-art technology of Radio Direction Finding (RDF) in Operation Grendel.
- DirectorChristopher NolanStarsFionn WhiteheadBarry KeoghanMark RylanceAllied soldiers from Belgium, the British Commonwealth and Empire, and France are surrounded by the German Army and evacuated during a fierce battle in World War II.
- DirectorLeslie NormanStarsJohn MillsRichard AttenboroughBernard LeeA dramatization of the British Expeditionary Force's 1940 retreat to the beaches of France and the extraordinary seaborne evacuation that saved it from utter destruction by Nazi Germany.The Dunkirk evacuation, commonly known as the Miracle of Dunkirk, code-named Operation Dynamo by the British, was the evacuation of Allied soldiers from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk, France, between 26 May and the early hours of 3 June 1940.
- DirectorAndrzej WajdaStarsAndrzej ChyraMaja OstaszewskaArtur ZmijewskiAn examination of the Soviet slaughter of thousands of Polish officers and citizens in the Katyn forest in 1940.1940, The story of Russia and their decision to execute thousands of Polish.
- DirectorJohn MaddenStarsNicolas CagePenélope CruzJohn HurtWhen a fisherman leaves to fight with the Greek army during World War II, his fiancée falls in love with the local Italian commander.1940 - 1953 Greece. An Italian soldier falls for a Greek woman during the occupation.
- DirectorGiuseppe TornatoreStarsMonica BellucciGiuseppe SulfaroLuciano FedericoAmidst the war climate, a teenage boy discovering himself becomes love-stricken by Malèna, a sensual woman living in a small, narrow-minded Italian town.
- DirectorBaz LuhrmannStarsNicole KidmanHugh JackmanShea AdamsIn 1939, an Englishwoman inherits a sprawling ranch in northern Australia and reluctantly makes a pact with a stockman to drive 2000 head of cattle over unforgiving landscape.1939 - 1942 Australia. Romance set before and during The bombing of Darwin on 19 February 1942.
- DirectorJan HrebejkStarsBolek PolívkaCsongor KassaiJaroslav DusekIn German-occupied Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (Czechoslovakia), a childless couple agree to hide a Jewish friend at great personal risk of discovery and execution.1941 Czechoslovakia. German occupation of Czechoslovakia, through until the end of the occupation.
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsLiam NeesonRalph FiennesBen KingsleyIn German-occupied Poland during World War II, industrialist Oskar Schindler gradually becomes concerned for his Jewish workforce after witnessing their persecution by the Nazis.Begins in 1939, just after Poland's defeat. The story of Oskar Schindler and his quest to save almost 1200 Jews during the Holocaust by employing them in his enamelware and ammunition factories in 1941.