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....
The Conference (2022)
7.3/10
Director: Matti Geschonneck
On January 20, 1942, leading representatives of the German Nazi regime met in a villa in Berlin-Wannsee for a meeting that went down in history as the... Read more
The Woman King (2022)
6.7/10
Director: Gina Prince-Bythewood
Starring: Viola Davis, Lashana Lynch, John Boyega
The Woman King is the remarkable story of the Agojie, the all-female unit of warriors who protected the African Kingdom of Dahomey in the 1800s with s... Read more
Operation Mincemeat (2022)
Director: John Madden
Starring: Colin Firth, Matthew Macfadyen, Kelly Macdonald, Jason Isaacs, Penelope Wilton,...
During WWII, two intelligence officers use a corpse and false papers to outwit German troops. Read more
The Match (2020)
6/10
Starring: Franco Nero, Caspar Phillipson, Armand Assante
Inspired by true events from the spring of 1944 when the Nazis organized a football match between a team of camp inmates and an elite Nazi team on Ado... Read more
Six Minutes To Midnight (2020)
5.7/10
Director: Andy Goddard
Starring: Nigel Lindsay, Judi Dench, Eddie Izzard, Jim Broadbent
UK, Aug. 15, 1939: 17 days before WWII, an English teacher and his camera disappear on a coastal boarding school with 20 German teen girls. Miller get... Read more
Summerland (2020)
7/10
Director: Jessica Swale
Starring: Gemma Arterton, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Penelope Wilton, Tom Courtenay
During World War II, an Englishwoman opens her heart to an evacuee after initially resolving to be rid of him in this moving journey of womanhood, lov... Read more
The Eight Hundred (2020)
7/10
From the acclaimed filmmaker behind Mr. Six comes a riveting war epic. In 1937, eight hundred Chinese soldiers fight under siege from a warehouse in t... Read more
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
Man Down (2019)
6/10
Director: Dito Montiel
Starring: Shia LaBeouf, Jai Courtney, Gary Oldman, Kate Mara, Tory Kittles, Clifton Collin...
In a post-apocalyptic America, former U.S. Marine Gabriel Drummer searches desperately for the whereabouts of his son, accompanied by his best friend... Read more
While At War (2019)
Director: Alejandro Amenabar
July 18, 1936. Salamanca, Castilla and León (center to Spain). The Spanish army declares the state of war in the city, hoping to extend it to the rest... Read more