Great movies about wartime reality
'You'll pretend you were men instead of babies, and you'll be played in the movies by Frank Sinatra and John Wayne or some of those other glamorous, war-loving, dirty old men. And war will look just wonderful, so we'll have a lot more of them. And they'll be fought by babies like the babies upstairs.'
[...]
"I give you my word of honor: there won't be a part for Frank Sinatra or John Wayne. 'I tell you what,' I said, 'I'll call it The Children's Crusade."
Kurt Vonnegut: Slaughterhouse Five
[...]
"I give you my word of honor: there won't be a part for Frank Sinatra or John Wayne. 'I tell you what,' I said, 'I'll call it The Children's Crusade."
Kurt Vonnegut: Slaughterhouse Five
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- DirectorSrdjan DragojevicStarsDragan BjelogrlicNikola KojoDragan MaksimovicDuring the war in Bosnia, two childhood friends eventually become enemies, as the tragic and devastating circumstances of the war put them on the opposite sides and expose the most gruesome and cruel aspects of the human nature.The most haunting war movie of my life.
Shot in 1995, DURING the Bosnian war.
8% of the population of Serbia watched this movie in cinemas...
(Serbian cinema) - DirectorElem KlimovStarsAleksey KravchenkoOlga MironovaLiubomiras LauceviciusAfter finding an old rifle, a young boy joins the Soviet resistance movement against ruthless German forces and experiences the horrors of World War II.Unforgettable images and life stories from Belarus during WW 2.
(Soviet cinema) - DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsTom HanksMatt DamonTom SizemoreFollowing the Normandy Landings, a group of U.S. soldiers go behind enemy lines to retrieve a paratrooper whose brothers have been killed in action.An absolute classic of war movies.
(US cinema) - DirectorGrigoriy ChukhrayStarsVladimir IvashovZhanna ProkhorenkoAntonina MaksimovaYoung Russian soldier Alyosha earns a medal, but asks to visit his mother instead. His journey recounts various kinds of love during wartime.Soviet soldier asks to visit his mother instead of a medal for bravery.
(Soviet cinema) - DirectorRajko GrlicStarsToni GojanovicSergej TrifunovicEmir HadzihafizbegovicA small border post on the Yugoslav-Albanian border in the spring of 1987. Frustrated and always drunk, lieutenant Pasic feels a strange pain in his groins. He seeks help from the only doctor among the soldiers, Sinisa, who diagnoses a sexually transmitted disease. Not wishing his wife to know about it and trying to find excuses not to go home, he declares a state of emergency, claiming that the Albanian army is preparing an attack against Yugoslavia. A joke transforms into war hysteria: soldiers dig trenches, Pasic grows wilder as the days go by, Sinisa embarks on a dangerous liaison, and his best friend Ljuba decides to leave the army. The situation slowly runs out of control...Life in a small border post between Yugoslavia and Albania in 1987.
(Croatian cinema) - DirectorFrancis Ford CoppolaStarsMartin SheenMarlon BrandoRobert DuvallA U.S. Army officer serving in Vietnam is tasked with assassinating a renegade Special Forces Colonel who sees himself as a god.Something else...
A most possible pacifist statement in itself
(US cinema) - DirectorAleksandr RogozhkinStarsAnni-Kristiina JuusoVille HaapasaloViktor BychkovIn World War II, a Finnish sniper is left chained to a rock by German soldiers, while a captain of the Red Army, en route to his court martial, is almost blown up by Russian planes. A Lapp woman gives shelter to both of them at her farm.A quite unknown movie set in Lappland. Wartime drama with unheard-of language barriers.
(Russian cinema) - DirectorLouis MalleStarsPierre BlaiseAurore ClémentHolger LöwenadlerIn 1944, an 18-year-old boy from small-town France collaborates with the Gestapo and subsequently falls in love with a Jewish girl.A flawless movie about everyday life in Vichy France in 1944 seen through many different characters let them be collaborators, Jews, resistance fighters - or a restless adolescent from a village.
A masterpiece of film-making and a story about reality - and the banality of evil... - DirectorAgnieszka HollandStarsSolomon PerelMarco HofschneiderRené HofschneiderA boy in Nazi Germany, trying to conceal that he is Jewish, joins the Hitler Youth.A young Jewish boy tries to survive WW2 by joining Hitlerjugend
(German-Polish-French cinema) - DirectorAri FolmanStarsAri FolmanRon Ben-YishaiRonny DayagAn Israeli film director interviews fellow veterans of the 1982 invasion of Lebanon to reconstruct his own memories of his term of service in that conflict.If you are to watch one Israeli movie in your life let this be it.
Incredible ways of depicting haunting stories.
(Israeli cinema) - DirectorAdrian LyneStarsTim RobbinsElizabeth PeñaDanny AielloMourning his dead child, a haunted Vietnam War veteran attempts to uncover his past while suffering from a severe case of dissociation. To do so, he must decipher reality and life from his own dreams, delusions, and perceptions of death.A darkest take on what's going on in the head of a Vietnam veteran soldier
(US cinema) - DirectorEmir KusturicaStarsPredrag 'Miki' ManojlovicLazar RistovskiMirjana JokovicTwo underground black marketeers, Marko and Blacky, sell weapons to the Communist resistance in wartime Belgrade, living the good life along the way.War in Yugoslavia in WW II and in the 1990s.
(Serbian cinema) - DirectorDanis TanovicStarsBranko DjuricRene BitorajacFilip SovagovicBosnia and Herzegovina during 1993 at the time of the heaviest fighting between the two warring sides. Two soldiers from opposing sides in the conflict, Nino and Ciki, become trapped in no man's land, whilst a third soldier becomes a living booby trap.Bosnian War, UN peacekeepers and a powerful message about the futility of war.
(Bosnian cinema) - DirectorIsao TakahataStarsTsutomu TatsumiAyano ShiraishiAkemi YamaguchiA young boy and his little sister struggle to survive in Japan during World War II.On of the most moving story of children during war.
(Japanese cinema) - 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.War is no fun.
Neither in Europe nor in the Far-East.
Occupation is no fun either.
Haunting human stories. - 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.The story of Norvegian resistance fighter Max Manus.
(Norvegian cinema) - DirectorOle Christian MadsenStarsThure LindhardtMads MikkelsenStine StengadeA drama centered on two fighters in the Holger Danske World War II resistance group.It's incredible how great movies are made in Europe about resistance during WW2 and how little-known they remain.
(Danish cinema) - DirectorPaul VerhoevenStarsCarice van HoutenSebastian KochThom HoffmanIn the Nazi-occupied Netherlands during World War II, a Jewish singer infiltrates the regional Gestapo headquarters for the Dutch resistance.The Dutch did it too: another European nation to tell another forgotten story of WW 2 resistance.
(Dutch cinema) - DirectorPaul VerhoevenStarsRutger HauerJeroen KrabbéSusan PenhaligonDuring World War II, Dutch students join the resistance movement against the German occupation of the Netherlands.Occupied Netherlands in WW2.
Choices whether to fight or no and if yes, on whose side are not easy and black-and-white as we'd think.
Stories of young friends finding themselves in a world with wartime choices to make.
(Dutch cinema) - DirectorJean-Pierre MelvilleStarsLino VenturaPaul MeurisseJean-Pierre CasselAn account of underground resistance fighters in Nazi-occupied France.Resistance fighters in occupied France under Nazi rule during WW2.
(French cinema) - DirectorRoberto RosselliniStarsAnna MagnaniAldo FabriziMarcello PaglieroDuring the Nazi occupation of Rome in 1944, the Resistance leader, Giorgio Manfredi, is chased by the Nazis as he seeks refuge and a way to escape.What better time to make a war movie than 1945?
(Italian cinema) - DirectorLewis MilestoneStarsLew AyresLouis WolheimJohn WrayA German youth eagerly enters World War I, but his enthusiasm wanes as he gets a firsthand view of the horror.An American epic film that's considered a realistic and harrowing account of warfare in World War I
(US cinema) - DirectorJean RenoirStarsJean GabinDita ParloPierre FresnayDuring WWI, two French soldiers are captured and imprisoned in a German P.O.W. camp. Several escape attempts follow until they are eventually sent to a seemingly inescapable fortress.One of the most powerful war movies made before 1945.
(French cinema) - DirectorStanley KubrickStarsKirk DouglasRalph MeekerAdolphe MenjouAfter a failed attack on a German position, a general orders three soldiers, chosen at random, court-martialed for cowardice and their commanding officer must defend them.One of the few great movies made about WWI and trench warfare.
In 1969, Kirk Douglas recalled about the film "There's a picture that will always be good, years from now. I don't have to wait 50 years to know that; I know it now".
He was right...
(US cinema) - 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.Finland, Winter war 1939-1940.
The film focuses on Finnish farmers going to war.
(Finnish cinema) - 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.An all-time classic of historical events that couldn't happen in peace...
(US cinema) - 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.Warsaw, Poland, WW 2
Roman Polanski, Polish Jewish director lived in a Polish ghetto in WW2 and escaped from there.
(US cinema) - DirectorTerry GeorgeStarsDon CheadleSophie OkonedoJoaquin PhoenixPaul Rusesabagina, a hotel manager, houses over a thousand Tutsi refugees during their struggle against the Hutu militia in Rwanda, Africa.Civil War in Rwanda with unforgettable images and scenes
(UK / South African / Italian cinema) - DirectorMichael CiminoStarsRobert De NiroChristopher WalkenJohn CazaleAn in-depth examination of the ways in which the Vietnam War impacts and disrupts the lives of several friends in a small steel mill town in Pennsylvania.You return from war with an intact body.
But what's with your mind?
A classic movie.
(US cinema) - DirectorDavid LeanStarsPeter O'TooleAlec GuinnessAnthony QuinnThe story of T.E. Lawrence, the English officer who successfully united and led the diverse, often warring, Arab tribes during World War I in order to fight the Turks.Do you know the story of Thomas Edward Lawrence?
If yes, do watch this movie.
If no, do watch this movie!
(British / US cinema) - DirectorJosé PadilhaStarsWagner MouraAndré RamiroCaio JunqueiraIn 1997 Rio de Janeiro, Captain Nascimento has to find a substitute for his position while trying to take down drug dealers and criminals before the Pope visits.Rather than traditional warfare this movie (and it's second part) tells us of the story of drug war in Brazil.
(Brazilian cinema) - DirectorJosé PadilhaStarsWagner MouraIrandhir SantosAndré RamiroAfter a prison riot, former-Captain Nascimento, now a high ranking security officer in Rio de Janeiro, is swept into a bloody political dispute that involves government officials and paramilitary groups.One of the very few cases when a second part of a movie is even better than the first one - which already was close to perfection...
(Brazilian cinema) - DirectorGillo PontecorvoStarsBrahim HadjadjJean MartinYacef SaadiIn the 1950s, fear and violence escalate as the people of Algiers fight for independence from the French government.Algerian War of Independence that was shot before the war finished.
(Italian cinema) - DirectorJoseph VilsmaierStarsDominique HorwitzThomas KretschmannJochen NickelThe story follows a group of German soldiers, from their Italian R&R in the summer of 1942 to the frozen steppes of Soviet Russia and ending with the battle for Stalingrad.War, through the eyes of German soldiers during the battle of Stalingrad, WW 2.
(German cinema) - DirectorZoltán FábriStarsLajos ÖzeLászló MárkusFerenc BenczeIn Budapest in 1944, a watchmaker, a book seller and a carpenter are drinking in a bar with the owner, when they are joined by a stranger. The watchmaker asks a hypothetical question that will change their lives.Wartime choices to make in occupied Hungary during the winter of 1944/1945
(Hungarian cinema) - DirectorStefan RuzowitzkyStarsKarl MarkovicsAugust DiehlDevid StriesowThe story of the Operation Bernhard, the largest counterfeiting operation in history, carried out by Germany during World War II.Life of Jewish prisoners during wartime counterfeiting efforts of Germany. Based on a true story
(Austrian-German cinema) - DirectorEdward ZwickStarsMatthew BroderickDenzel WashingtonCary ElwesRobert Gould Shaw leads the U.S. Civil War's first all-black volunteer company, fighting prejudices from both his own Union Army, and the Confederates.US Civil War and the first all-black volunteer unit's fight
- StarsScott GrimesDamian LewisRon LivingstonThe story of Easy Company of the U.S. Army 101st Airborne Division and their mission in World War II Europe, from Operation Overlord to V-J Day.A mini-series following US Army 101st Airborn Division in Europe during WW 2.
- DirectorDavid AyerStarsBrad PittShia LaBeoufLogan LermanA grizzled tank commander makes tough decisions as he and his crew fight their way across Germany in April, 1945.Although many parts of the story are very unrealistic, the movie shows "Saving Private Ryan"-like footage and presents some situations extremely well.
- DirectorRidley ScottStarsJosh HartnettEwan McGregorTom SizemoreThe story of 160 elite U.S. soldiers who dropped into Mogadishu in October 1993 to capture two top lieutenants of a renegade warlord, but found themselves in a desperate battle with a large force of heavily armed Somalis.Elite US soldiers dropped into Mogadishu, Somalia and things go wrong.
(US cinema) - DirectorKathryn BigelowStarsJeremy RennerAnthony MackieBrian GeraghtyDuring the Iraq War, a Sergeant recently assigned to an army bomb squad is put at odds with his squad mates due to his maverick way of handling his work.War and armed fighting always comes with chaos.
And it's very easy to get lost in it and still, willingly return.
(US cinema) - DirectorDenis VilleneuveStarsEmily BluntJosh BrolinBenicio Del ToroAn idealistic FBI agent is enlisted by a government task force to aid in the escalating war against drugs at the border area between the U.S. and Mexico.Drug war, Mexico, these years.
US agents and soldiers interfere with Mexican drug war.
Even as a trained agent one can find himself completely lost in the chaos of war.
(US cinema) - DirectorFernando León de AranoaStarsBenicio Del ToroTim RobbinsOlga KurylenkoA group of aid workers work to resolve a crisis in an armed conflict zone.The last days of the Bosnian conflict in the 1990s through the eyes of international aid workers and locals in a remote village area.
- DirectorSrdan GolubovicStarsAleksandar BercekDejan CukicLeon LucevThe impact of a selfless deed of benevolence and heroism right in the middle of the raging Bosnian war inextricably intertwines the lives of five people who are still affected by its consequences, over a decade later.Aftermath of a heroic act in 1993 in the Bosnian War.
Based on true events. - StarsAlexander SkarsgårdJames RansoneLee TergesenA Rolling Stone reporter, embedded with The 1st Recon Marines chronicles his experiences during the first wave of the American-led assault on Baghdad in 2003.2003, Iraqi war through the eyes of marines who are looking for fighting and killing.
One of the most realistic war movies (series) based on opinions of actual veterans let it be about dialogues, waiting or action.
(US cinema) - DirectorMilcho ManchevskiStarsKatrin CartlidgeRade SerbedzijaGrégoire ColinThree interconnected stories of love under the threat of civil war in Macedonia and London.Macedonia, 1990s. By history books, nothing happened.
While in a small town reality of a Macedonian-Albanian, mixed-ethnicity village vigilantes and war are on the doorsteps.
It's very sad and very moving to see how people and their actions become forgotten
(British-Macedonian cinema) - DirectorMartin ZandvlietStarsRoland MøllerLouis HofmannJoel BasmanIn post-World War II Denmark, a group of young German POWs are forced to clear a beach of thousands of land mines under the watch of a Danish Sergeant who slowly learns to appreciate their plight.End of WWII, teen German POWs are forced to pick mines in rural Denmark.
A difficult and moving picture about another forgotten event of history...
(Danish cinema)