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
John Ford Goes To War (2002)
6.2/10
Starring: Oliver Stone, Peter Bogdanovich, Leonard Maltin, Narrated by, Kris Kristofferson
The World War II films of legendary director John Ford are the focus of this insightful documentary narrated by Kris Kristofferson. Highlighting excer... Read more
The Long Way Home (Simon Wiesenthal Collection) (1997)
7.1/10
Director: Mark Jonathan Harris
Starring: David Paymer, Helen Slater, Martin Landau, Michael York, Morgan Freeman, (narrat...
Using interviews with Holocaust survivors, newsreel footage, and readings of letters, journals, and news reports, to tell the story of the hardships f... Read more
The Time of Our Lives (2006)
8.1/10
Director: Gaylene Preston
In this touching documentary director Gaylene Preston and musician Dave Dobbyn join 32 war veterans on the road as they travel to London for the dedic... Read more
Unlikely Heroes (Simon Wiesenthal Collection) (2006)
7.7/10
Director: Richard Trank
Starring: Ben Kingsley
Narrated by Sir Ben Kingsley, 'Unlikely Heroes' tells the untold stories of Jewish resistance that took place throughout the Nazi Holocaust. In illust... Read more
The Pacific War: Day of Infamy (2005)
On December 7 1942, the US Naval base on Oahu was bombed by the Japanese, drawing the US into World War 2. Sixty years on, experts and eye witnesses... Read more
Iwo Jima - The Boys of H Company (2006)
On 19 February 1945, along with 60,000 other US Marines, the boys of H Company - many of them barely more than teenagers - stormed the beaches of the... Read more
The Holocaust: Majdanek (2006)
7.5/10
Discovered by Russian troops in July 1944 the Majdanek Nazi concentration and extermination camp near Lubin was the scene of some of Hitler's most dis... Read more
The Warfighters (2016)
7.7/10
The Warfighters features first-person accounts of recent US Special Forces missions in the war on terror. Driven by first-person accounts, the unnarra... Read more
Korengal (2014)
6.8/10
Director: Sebastian Junger
"Korengal" picks up where "Restrepo" left off; the same men, the same valley, the same commanders, but a very different look at the experience of war.... 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