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
The Cave (2019)
7.5/10
Amidst air strikes and bombings, a group of female doctors in Ghouta, Syria struggle with systemic sexism while trying to care for the injured using l... 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
For Sama (2019)
8.5/10
Director: Edward Watts, Waad Al-Kateab
FOR SAMA is both an intimate and epic journey into the female experience of war. A love letter from a young mother to her daughter, the film tells the... Read more
Anne Frank: Parallel Stories (2019)
Starring: Helen Mirren
It is based on five women who did survive the Holocaust but shared her same fate of "deportation, suffering and being denied their childhood and adole... Read more
They Shall Not Grow Old (Blu-ray) (2018)
8.5/10
Director: Peter Jackson
Using state-of-the-art technology and materials from the BBC and Imperial War Museum, filmmaker Peter Jackson allows the story of World War I to be to... Read more
They Shall Not Grow Old (2018)
8.5/10
Director: Peter Jackson
Using state-of-the-art technology and materials from the BBC and Imperial War Museum, filmmaker Peter Jackson allows the story of World War I to be to... Read more
Chain of Command: Season 1 (2018)
7.8/10
Starring: Chris Evans
Narrated by Chris Evans, this groundbreaking eight-part documentary series offers unprecedented access to the U.S. military’s mission to combat violen... Read more
Spitfire (2018)
7.1/10
Director: Ant Palmer, David Fairhead
Starring: Charles Dance
The story of the fighter plane and pilots that helped win the Battle of Britain in World War II. Read more
City of Ghosts (2017)
7.5/10
Director: Matthew Heineman
A documentary that follows the efforts of Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently, a handful of anonymous activists who banded together after their home... Read more
Hell on Earth: The Fall of Syria and the Rise of ISIS (2017)
7.5/10
Director: Sebastian Junger, Nick Quested
Sebastian Junger and Nick Quested explore the complexities of the war in Syria and Iraq as they gain access to clandestine organizations to offer a lo... Read more