War Docos
Innovative German film-maker Leni Riefenstahl's pioneering masterwork epic "Triumph of the Will" (1934) was explicitly propagandistic yet historical in its spectacular yet horrifying documentation of the Nazi Party Congress rally in Nuremberg in 1934. It was a revolutionary film combining superb cinematography and editing of Third Reich propaganda. She also documented the 1936 Berlin Olympics in the stunning film "Olympia" (1938) - with graceful and beautiful images of 'Aryan' athletes in competition. To respond to the Nazi propaganda, Frank Capra was commissioned by the US War Department to direct seven films in a "Why We Fight" (1943) series of narrated WWII newsreel-style films. The first in the series, "Prelude to War," a look at the events from 1931-1939, won the Academy Award for Best Documentary in 1942. These and many other truely great War Documentaries, including the BBC's brilliant "World At War" series, are available by scrolling below.
Right: William Wyler's Academy Award winning "The Memphis Belle"Â
NZSAS: First Among Equals (2007)
8.9/10
Made for TV3's Inside New Zealand documentary slot, this 3-part series is a unique in-depth look at New Zealand's most elite fighting force. Beginnin... Read more
Only the Dead (2015)
7.7/10
Director: Bill Guttentag, Michael Ware
When the invasion of Iraq ended no one knew what was to come. In the midst of the celebrations, Abu Musab al Zarqawi, the most vicious of Al Qaeda lea... Read more
Paragraph 175 (2000)
7.9/10
Director: Jeffrey Friedman, Rob Epstein
Starring: Narrated by, Rupert Everett
The title refers to a 19th-century German anti-homosexuality statute that was rarely enforced until Hitler came to power and used the law to wage a ca... Read more
Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World (2008)
Director: Paul Cowan
For six fateful months in 1919, Paris was the centre of the world. The last shots had been fired in the most devastating war in history - and world le... Read more
Partisans of Vilna (1985)
8.4/10
Director: Josh Waletzky
Starring: Narrated by, Roberta Wallach
An enormously riveting and inspirational tale of WWII and the Holocaust, "Partisans of Vilna" chronicles the amazing endeavors of the Jewish resistanc... Read more
Presidents At War (2019)
6.9/10
This landmark series tells the story of World War II through the experiences of eight remarkable men. Men who, like sixteen million other Americans, b... Read more
Rampage (2006)
7.4/10
Director: George Gittoes
Inspired by a comment from soldier Elliott Lovett in Gittoes' earlier 'A Soundtrack to War', the filmmaker follows him home to Miami where he lives wi... Read more
Reluctant Hero (2008)
7/10
Director: Steven O'Meagher
A profile of Willie Apiata that re-enacts the feat for which he received his Victoria Cross, looking at how this reserved Kiwi soldier has coped with... Read more
Restrepo (2010)
7.5/10
Director: Tim Hetherington
Riveting and intimate, this documentary shot in a U.S. outpost in Afghanistan follows-without comment or added perspectives-the activities of a 15-man... Read more
Return To Kirkuk (2006)
Director: Karzan Sherabayani
Twenty-five years after being tortured by Saddam Hussein's secret police force, Kurdish exile, activist, and actor Karzan Sherabayani returns to his h... Read more