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Movies: Best War Movies

War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about naval, air, or land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle scenes means that war films often end with them. Themes explored include combat, survival and escape, camaraderie between soldiers, sacrifice, the futility and inhumanity of battle, the effects of war on society, and the moral and human issues raised by war. War films are often categorized by their milieu, such as the Korean War; the most popular subjects are the Second World War and the American Civil War. The stories told may be fiction, historical drama, or biographical. Critics have noted similarities between the Western and the war film. Nations such as China, Indonesia, Japan, and Russia have their own traditions of war film, centred on their own revolutionary wars but taking varied forms, from action and historical drama to wartime romance. Subgenres, not necessarily distinct, include anti-war, comedy, propaganda, and documentary. There are similarly subgenres of the war film in specific theatres such as the Western Desert of North Africa and the Pacific in the Second World War, Vietnam, or the Soviet–Afghan War; and films set in specific domains of war... ()

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Inglourious Basterds(2009)

FSK: 16+ years
| 2h 33min | Drama, Thriller, War
4.1/5 (with 9,987 votes)

In Nazi-occupied France during World War II, a group of Jewish-American soldiers known as "The Basterds" are chosen specifically to spread fear throughout the Third Reich by scalping and brutally killing Nazis. The Basterds, lead by Lt. Aldo Raine soon cross paths with a French-Jewish teenage girl who runs a movie theater in Paris which is targeted by the soldiers.

The Imitation Game(2014)

FSK: 12+ years
| 1h 53min | History, Drama, Thriller, War
4.0/5 (with 7,736 votes)

Based on the real life story of legendary cryptanalyst Alan Turing, the film portrays the nail-biting race against time by Turing and his brilliant team of code-breakers at Britain's top-secret Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park, during the darkest days of World War II.

Dunkirk(2017)

FSK: 12+ years
| 1h 47min | War, Action, Drama
3.8/5 (with 7,599 votes)

The story of the miraculous evacuation of Allied soldiers from Belgium, Britain, Canada and France, who were cut off and surrounded by the German army from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk between May 26th and June 4th 1940 during World War II.

Saving Private Ryan(1998)

FSK: 16+ years
| 2h 49min | Drama, History, War
4.1/5 (with 7,024 votes)

As U.S. troops storm the beaches of Normandy, three brothers lie dead on the battlefield, with a fourth trapped behind enemy lines. Ranger captain John Miller and seven men are tasked with penetrating German-held territory and bringing the boy home.

Schindler's List(1993)

FSK: 12+ years
| 3h 15min | Drama, History, War
4.3/5 (with 6,950 votes)

The true story of how businessman Oskar Schindler saved over a thousand Jewish lives from the Nazis while they worked as slaves in his factory during World War II.

300(2007)

FSK: 16+ years
| 1h 57min | Action, Adventure, War
3.6/5 (with 6,466 votes)

Based on Frank Miller's graphic novel, "300" is very loosely based the 480 B.C. Battle of Thermopylae, where the King of Sparta led his army against the advancing Persians; the battle is said to have inspired all of Greece to band together against the Persians, and helped usher in the world's first democracy.

Hacksaw Ridge(2016)

FSK: 16+ years
| 2h 19min | Drama, History, War
4.1/5 (with 5,982 votes)

WWII American Army Medic Desmond T. Doss, who served during the Battle of Okinawa, refuses to kill people and becomes the first Conscientious Objector in American history to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor.

American Sniper(2014)

FSK: 16+ years
| 2h 13min | War, Action
3.7/5 (with 5,978 votes)

U.S. Navy SEAL Chris Kyle takes his sole mission—protect his comrades—to heart and becomes one of the most lethal snipers in American history. His pinpoint accuracy not only saves countless lives but also makes him a prime target of insurgents. Despite grave danger and his struggle to be a good husband and father to his family back in the States, Kyle serves four tours of duty in Iraq. However, when he finally returns home, he finds that he cannot leave the war behind.

1917(2019)

FSK: 12+ years
| 1h 59min | War, Drama, History
4.0/5 (with 5,429 votes)

At the height of the First World War, two young British soldiers must cross enemy territory and deliver a message that will stop a deadly attack on hundreds of soldiers.

Fury(2014)

FSK: 16+ years
| 2h 15min | War, Drama, Action
3.8/5 (with 5,368 votes)

In the last months of World War II, as the Allies make their final push in the European theatre, a battle-hardened U.S. Army sergeant named 'Wardaddy' commands a Sherman tank called 'Fury' and its five-man crew on a deadly mission behind enemy lines. Outnumbered and outgunned, Wardaddy and his men face overwhelming odds in their heroic attempts to strike at the heart of Nazi Germany.

Full Metal Jacket(1987)

FSK: 16+ years
| 1h 57min | Drama, War
4.1/5 (with 4,893 votes)

A pragmatic U.S. Marine observes the dehumanizing effects the U.S.-Vietnam War has on his fellow recruits from their brutal boot camp training to the bloody street fighting in Hue.

Pan's Labyrinth(2006)

FSK: 16+ years
| 1h 58min | Fantasy, Drama, War
3.9/5 (with 4,773 votes)

Living with her tyrannical stepfather in a new home with her pregnant mother, 10-year-old Ofelia feels alone until she explores a decaying labyrinth guarded by a mysterious faun who claims to know her destiny. If she wishes to return to her real father, Ofelia must complete three terrifying tasks.

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Troy(2004)

FSK: 16+ years
| 2h 43min | Adventure, History, War, Action
3.6/5 (with 4,528 votes)

In year 1250 B.C. during the late Bronze age, two emerging nations begin to clash. Paris, the Trojan prince, convinces Helen, Queen of Sparta, to leave her husband Menelaus, and sail with him back to Troy. After Menelaus finds out that his wife was taken by the Trojans, he asks his brother Agamemnom to help him get her back. Agamemnon sees this as an opportunity for power. So they set off with 1,000 ships holding 50,000 Greeks to Troy. With the help of Achilles, the Greeks are able to fight the never before defeated Trojans.

Braveheart(1995)

FSK: 16+ years
| 2h 58min | Action, Drama, History, War
4.0/5 (with 4,499 votes)

Enraged at the slaughter of Murron, his new bride and childhood love, Scottish warrior William Wallace slays a platoon of the local English lord's soldiers. This leads the village to revolt and, eventually, the entire country to rise up against English rule.

The Pianist(2002)

FSK: 12+ years
| 2h 30min | Drama, War
4.2/5 (with 4,313 votes)

The true story of pianist Władysław Szpilman's experiences in Warsaw during the Nazi occupation. When the Jews of the city find themselves forced into a ghetto, Szpilman finds work playing in a café; and when his family is deported in 1942, he stays behind, works for a while as a laborer, and eventually goes into hiding in the ruins of the war-torn city.

Jojo Rabbit(2019)

FSK: 12+ years
| 1h 48min | Comedy, War, Drama
4.0/5 (with 4,116 votes)

A World War II satire that follows a lonely German boy whose world view is turned upside down when he discovers his single mother is hiding a young Jewish girl in their attic. Aided only by his idiotic imaginary friend, Adolf Hitler, Jojo must confront his blind nationalism.

War for the Planet of the Apes(2017)

FSK: 12+ years
| 2h 20min | Drama, Science Fiction, War
3.6/5 (with 4,063 votes)

Caesar and his apes are forced into a deadly conflict with an army of humans led by a ruthless Colonel. After the apes suffer unimaginable losses, Caesar wrestles with his darker instincts and begins his own mythic quest to avenge his kind. As the journey finally brings them face to face, Caesar and the Colonel are pitted against each other in an epic battle that will determine the fate of both their species and the future of the planet.

Apocalypse Now(1979)

FSK: 16+ years
| 2h 27min | Drama, War
4.1/5 (with 3,606 votes)

At the height of the Vietnam war, Captain Benjamin Willard is sent on a dangerous mission that, officially, "does not exist, nor will it ever exist." His goal is to locate - and eliminate - a mysterious Green Beret Colonel named Walter Kurtz, who has been leading his personal army on illegal guerrilla missions into enemy territory.

The Last Samurai(2003)

FSK: 16+ years
| 2h 34min | Drama, Action, War
3.8/5 (with 3,186 votes)

Nathan Algren is an American hired to instruct the Japanese army in the ways of modern warfare, which finds him learning to respect the samurai and the honorable principles that rule them. Pressed to destroy the samurai's way of life in the name of modernization and open trade, Algren decides to become an ultimate warrior himself and to fight for their right to exist.

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas(2008)

FSK: 12+ years
| 1h 34min | War, Drama, History
3.9/5 (with 3,135 votes)

When his family moves from their home in Berlin to a strange new house in Poland, young Bruno befriends Shmuel, a boy who lives on the other side of the fence where everyone seems to be wearing striped pajamas. Unaware of Shmuel's fate as a Jewish prisoner or the role his own Nazi father plays in his imprisonment, Bruno embarks on a dangerous journey inside the camp's walls.

300: Rise of an Empire(2014)

FSK: 18+ years
| 1h 42min | Action, Drama, War
3.0/5 (with 3,054 votes)

Greek general Themistocles attempts to unite all of Greece by leading the charge that will change the course of the war. Themistocles faces the massive invading Persian forces led by mortal-turned-god, Xerxes and Artemesia, the vengeful commander of the Persian navy.

Pearl Harbor(2001)

FSK: 12+ years
| 3h 3min | Action, War, History, Romance / Love, Drama
3.5/5 (with 2,920 votes)

The lifelong friendship between Rafe McCawley and Danny Walker is put to the ultimate test when the two ace fighter pilots become entangled in a love triangle with beautiful Naval nurse Evelyn Johnson. But the rivalry between the friends-turned-foes is immediately put on hold when they find themselves at the center of Japan's devastating attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.

First Blood(1982)

FSK: 16+ years
| 1h 33min | Action, Adventure, Thriller, War
3.7/5 (with 2,872 votes)

When former Green Beret John Rambo is harassed by local law enforcement and arrested for vagrancy, he is forced to flee into the mountains and wage an escalating one-man war against his pursuers.

Dracula Untold(2014)

FSK: 12+ years
| 1h 32min | Horror, Action, Drama, Fantasy, War
3.2/5 (with 2,783 votes)

Vlad Tepes is a great hero, but when he learns the Sultan is preparing for battle and needs to form an army of 1,000 boys, he vows to find a way to protect his family. Vlad turns to dark forces in order to get the power to destroy his enemies and agrees to go from hero to monster as he's turned into the mythological vampire, Dracula.

Tropic Thunder(2008)

FSK: 16+ years
| 1h 47min | Action, Comedy, Adventure, War
3.3/5 (with 2,706 votes)

Ben Stiller, Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr. lead an ensemble cast in 'Tropic Thunder,' an action comedy about a group of self-absorbed actors who set out to make the most expensive war film. After ballooning costs force the studio to cancel the movie, the frustrated director refuses to stop shooting, leading his cast into the jungles of Southeast Asia, where they encounter real bad guys.

The Hurt Locker(2008)

FSK: 16+ years
| 2h 11min | Drama, Thriller, War
3.6/5 (with 2,623 votes)

During 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.

Black Hawk Down(2001)

FSK: 16+ years
| 2h 25min | Action, History, War
3.7/5 (with 2,485 votes)

When U.S. Rangers and an elite Delta Force team attempt to kidnap two underlings of a Somali warlord, their Black Hawk helicopters are shot down, and the Americans suffer heavy casualties, facing intense fighting from the militia on the ground.

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb(1964)

FSK: 16+ years
| 1h 35min | Drama, Comedy, War
4.1/5 (with 2,445 votes)

After the insane General Jack D. Ripper initiates a nuclear strike on the Soviet Union, a war room full of politicians, generals and a Russian diplomat all frantically try to stop the nuclear strike.

Grave of the Fireflies(1988)

1h 29min | Animation, Drama, War
4.2/5 (with 2,281 votes)

In the final months of World War II, 14-year-old Seita and his sister Setsuko are orphaned when their mother is killed during an air raid in Kobe, Japan. After a falling out with their aunt, they move into an abandoned bomb shelter. With no surviving relatives and their emergency rations depleted, Seita and Setsuko struggle to survive.

Directed by Isao Takahata

Allied(2016)

FSK: 12+ years
| 2h 4min | Action, Drama, War, Romance / Love, Thriller
3.4/5 (with 2,059 votes)

In 1942, an intelligence officer in North Africa encounters a female French Resistance fighter on a deadly mission behind enemy lines. When they reunite in London, their relationship is tested by the pressures of war.

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