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....
A Thousand Times Good Night (2013)
Director: Erik Poppe
Starring: Juliette Binoche, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Larry Mullen Jr, Maria Doyle Kennedy
A Thousand Times Good Night is an Irish-Norwegian produced English language 2013 drama film directed by Erik Poppe, and starring Juliette Binoche, Nik... Read more
The Wipers Times (2013)
7.1/10
Director: Andy De Emmony
Starring: Ben Chaplin, Michael Palin, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Steve Oram, Patrick Fitzsymons
In dark times, they chose to make light. Based on the remarkable true story of a satirical newspaper published on the front lines of World War One,... Read more
Belle and Sebastian ( Belle et Sebastien ) (2013)
7.6/10
Director: Nicolas Vanier
Starring: Tcheky Karyo, Felix Bossuet
Belle and Sebastian is set high in the snowy Alps during the Second World War. The resourceful Sebastian (an adorable Félix Bossuet) is a lonely boy w... Read more
Stalingrad (2013)
5.6/10
Director: Fedor Bondarchuk
Starring: Thomas Kretschmann, Mariya Smolnikova, Yanina Studilina, Pyotr Fyodorov, Sergey...
A band of Russian soldiers fight to hold a strategic building in their devastated city against a ruthless German army, and in the process become deepl... Read more
Lone Survivor (2013)
7.5/10
Director: Peter Berg
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Eric Bana, Ben Foster, Emile Hirsch, Ali Suliman, Jerry Ferrara,...
Based on The New York Times bestselling true story of heroism, courage and survival, "Lone Survivor" tells the incredible tale of four Navy SEALs on a... Read more
The Book Thief (2013)
7.6/10
Director: Brian Percival
Starring: Emily Watson, Geoffrey Rush, Sophie Nelisse
"The Book Thief" tells the inspirational story of a girl who transforms the lives of those around her during World War II, Germany. When her mother ca... Read more
The Railway Man (2013)
7.1/10
Director: Jonathan Teplitzky
Starring: Colin Firth, Nicole Kidman, Stellan Skarsgard, Hiroyuki Sanada, Jeremy Irvine, S...
While serving in the Second World War, British Army officer Eric Lomax (Jeremy Irvine) is captured and held prisoner by the Japanese. He is brutally t... Read more
The Railway Man ( Blu-ray ) (2013)
7.1/10
Director: Jonathan Teplitzky
Starring: Colin Firth, Nicole Kidman, Stellan Skarsgard, Hiroyuki Sanada, Jeremy Irvine, S...
While serving in the Second World War, British Army officer Eric Lomax (Jeremy Irvine) is captured and held prisoner by the Japanese. He is brutally t... Read more
How I Live Now (2013)
6.5/10
Director: Kevin Macdonald
Starring: Anna Chancellor, George MacKay, Saoirse Ronan, Tom Holland, Harley Bird
Set in the near-future UK, Saoirse Ronan plays Daisy, an American teenager sent to stay with relatives in the English countryside. Initially withdrawn... Read more
Day Of The Siege (2012)
4.3/10
Director: Renzo Martinelli
Starring: F Murray Abraham, Enrico Lo Verso, Alicja Bachleda, Piotr Adamczyk, Claire Bloom
n the summer of 1683, 300,000 warriors of the Ottoman Empire began the siege of Vienna. The fall of the city would have opened the way to conquer Euro... Read more