War and Anti-War Films
"War and Anti-War Films" often acknowledge the horror and heartbreak of war, letting the actual combat fighting or conflict (against nations or humankind) provide the primary plot or background for the action of the film. Typical elements in the action-oriented war plots include POW camp experiences and escapes, submarine warfare, espionage, personal heroism, "war is hell" brutalities, air dogfights, tough trench/infantry experiences, or male-bonding buddy adventures during wartime. Themes explored in war films include combat, survivor and escape stories, tales of gallant sacrifice and struggle, studies of the futility and inhumanity of battle, the effects of war on society, and intelligent and profound explorations of the moral and human issues.
Listed below are all the very best of this genre. Scroll yer heart out....
Deadline Gallipoli (2015)
7.2/10
Director: Michael Rymer
Starring: Sam Worthington, Hugh Dancy, Bryan Brown, Charles Dance, Rachel Griffiths
Three journalists, Charles Bean, Ellis Ashmead Bartlett and Phillip Schuler, arrive at Gallipoli with the invading British and Allied troops in 1915.... Read more
Defiance (2008)
7.2/10
Director: Edward Zwick
Starring: Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber, Jamie Bell, Alexa Davalos, George MacKay, Allan Co...
Inspired by true events, this epic WWII drama tells the story of three Jewish brothers (Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber and Jamie Bell) who vow to avenge... Read more
Destiny of a Man ( Fate of a Man ) (1959)
8.1/10
Director: Sergei Bondarchuk
Starring: Sergei Bondarchuk, Pavel Boriskin, Zinaida Kirienko, Pavel Volkov
The story of a man (Andrey Sokolov) whose life was ruthlessly crippled by World War II. Sergei Bondarchuk directs and acts in this screen adaptation o... Read more
Diamonds Of The Night (Blu-ray) (1964)
7.5/10
Director: Jan Nemec
Two Jewish boys escape from a train transporting them from one concentration camp to another. The film goes beyond the themes of war and anti-Nazism a... Read more
Dive Bomber (1941)
6.6/10
Director: Michael Curtiz
Starring: Errol Flynn, Fred MacMurray, Ralph Bellamy
A fascinating World War II era film about the experiments of military flight surgeons to correct pilot "blackout" during strategic flight missions. Br... Read more
Downfall (2005)
8.2/10
Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel
Starring: Bruno Ganz, Thomas Kretschmann, Ulrich Matthers, Heino Ferch, Ulrich Noethen, Ju...
Bruno Ganz is rivetting as the mad dictator during his final days in the Berlin Bunker. But director Hirschbiegel understands that evil does not exis... Read more
Downfall (Blu-ray) (2005)
8.2/10
Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel
Starring: Bruno Ganz, Thomas Kretschmann, Ulrich Matthers, Heino Ferch, Ulrich Noethen, Ju...
Bruno Ganz is rivetting as the mad dictator during his final days in the Berlin Bunker. But director Hirschbiegel understands that evil does not exis... Read more
Dunkirk (2017)
8/10
Director: Christopher Nolan
Starring: Kenneth Branagh, Mark Rylance, Michael Caine, Tom Hardy
In May 1940, Germany advanced into France, trapping Allied troops on the beaches of Dunkirk. Under air and ground cover from British and French forces... Read more
Dunkirk (1958)
7/10
Director: Leslie Norman
Starring: Richard Attenborough, Bernard Lee, John Mills, Robert Urquhart, Meredith Edwards
This realistic account of the evacuation of more than 350, 000 trapped British and Allied troops from Dunkirk is a well-staged recreation of the actua... Read more
Dunkirk (Blu-Ray) (2017)
8/10
Director: Christopher Nolan
Starring: Kenneth Branagh, Mark Rylance, Michael Caine, Tom Hardy
In May 1940, Germany advanced into France, trapping Allied troops on the beaches of Dunkirk. Under air and ground cover from British and French forces... Read more