Subgenre Sampler
Rental > Foreign Cinema > War: 169 Films to Rent
- De Gaulle (2020)
- Dir. Gabriel Le Bomin
Feat. Lambert Wilson, Tim Hudson, Isabelle Carré…
- Spectacularly mounted biographical drama depicting a crucial period in the life of French army officer Charles de Gaulle, a famous figure in modern…
- 1917 (2019)
- Dir. Sam Mendes
Feat. Dean-Charles Chapman, George MacKay, Daniel Mays
- Immersive epic war film from director Sam Mendes (JARHEAD) which evokes the impression of a continuous take to follow two British soldiers on a…
- Donbass (2018)
- Dir. Sergey Loznitsa
Feat. Tamara Yatsenko, Irina Zayarmiuk, Grigory Masliuk
- A 13–part exploration of the conflict between Ukraine and the Russian–supported Donetsk People's Republic throughout the…
- Captain, The (Der Hauptmann) (2017)
- Dir. Robert Schwentke
Feat. Max Hubacher, Frederick Lau, Bernd Holscher
- Gripping historical drama about German soldier Willi Herold, who was fighting for survival against the Nazis until he found the uniform of a Nazi…
- Foxtrot (2017)
- Dir. Samuel Maoz
Feat. Lior Ashkenazi, Sarah Adler
- The impressive sophomore effort of director Samuel Maoz (LEBANON) is a perceptive and bold exploration of war and grief. An affluent couple living in…
- See You Up There (Au revoir là-haut) (2017)
- Dir. Albert Dupontel
Feat. Albert Dupontel, Nahuel Pérez Biscayar, Laurent Lafitte…
- French film adaptation of the ambitious novel set a few days before the 1918 Armistice, where, among the ruins of WWI, a genius draftsman and a…
- King's Choice, The (2016)
- Dir. Erik Poppe
Feat. Jesper Christensen, Anders Baasmo
- Vibrant war–time drama set during the three days in 1940 when German forces occupied Oslo and King Haakon VII and his family went into hiding.…
- War, A (Krigen) (2016)
- Dir. Tobias Lindholm
Feat. Pilou Asbæk, Søren Malling
- The director and leading cast of A HIJACKING turn their attention to the dilemmas of modern warfare in this gripping account of an unexpected tragedy…
- Heavy Water War, The (The Saboteurs) (2015)
- Dir. Per-Olav Sørensen
Feat. Espen Klouman-Høiner, Soren Pilmark, Anna Friel…
- Thrilling Norwegian mini–series tells the story behind Hitler's plan for obtaining the atomic bomb during WW2, and the heavy water sabotages in…
- Land of Mine (Under sandet) (2015)
- Dir. Martin Zandvliet
Feat. Roland Møller, Mikkel Boe Følsgaard
- Multi award–winning historical drama following a unit of captured German soldiers who are put to work disabling Hitler's munitions by an…
- Son of Saul (2015)
- Dir. László Nemes
Feat. Géza Röhrig, Levente Molnár, Urs Rechn
- Masterful, but deeply disturbing glimpse into the horror of Auschwitz seen through the perspective of a prisoner forced to burn the corpses of his…
- 1864 (TV Series) (2014)
- Dir. Ole Bornedal
Feat. Pilou Asbæk, Jacob Oftebro, Sidse Babett Knudsen…
- The most expensive Danish TV series made to date, this lavish historical war drama is based on two books by Tom Buk–Swienty about the Second…
- Diplomacy (2014)
- Dir. Volker Schlondorff
Feat. Andre Dussollier, Niels Arestrup, Burghart Klaussner…
- A thematically rich and expertly staged historical drama that depicts the relationship between Dietrich von Choltitz, the German military governor of…
- Tangerines (2013)
- Dir. Zaza Urushadze
Feat. Lembit Ulfsak, Elmo Nüganen
- Immeasurably moving drama set durng the war in Georgia in which an Estonian man stays behind to harvest tangerines and care for a wounded fighter.
- 1612 (2012)
- Dir. Vladimir Khotinenko
Feat. Pyotr Kislov
- Bloated Russian 'historical' epic renders the 17th century civil war that ravaged the divided country as a Peter Jackson–esque battle fantasy.…
- In the Fog (2012)
- Dir. Sergey Loznitsa
Feat. Vladislav Svirskiy, Vladislav Abashin
- Intense, slow burning Russian drama exploring the moralities of war through the story of a man wrongly accused of collaboration with the German…
- Suskind (2012)
- Dir. Rudolf van den Berg
Feat. Karl Markovics, Jeroen Spitzenberger
- A serious, respectful historical dramatisation of the deeds of Walter Sueskind, a Jewish industrialist in Amsterdam who used his leverage as an…
- Third Half, The (2012)
- Dir. Darko Mitrevski
Feat. Katarina Ivanovska, Sasko Kocev
- A Macedonian football club hires a German coach to galvanize the team as Nazis prepare to enter the country in this wartime occupation drama.
- War Witch (Rebelle) (2012)
- Dir. Kim Nguyen
Feat. Rachel Mwanza
- A remarkable magical realist portrayal of the tragedy of child soldiering in one of Africa’s many civil wars, with the phenomenal Rachel Mwanza as…
- White Tiger (2012)
- Dir. Karen Shakhnazarov
Feat. Aleksey Vertkov, Vitaliy Kishchenko, Valeriy Grishko
- A Red Army sergeant becomes obsessed with a mysterious white Tiger tank responsible for the destruction of his battalion.
- Bomber, The (Ballada o bombere (Ballad Of A Bomber)) (2011)
- Dir. Vitaliy Vorobyov
Feat. Nikita Efremov, Ekaterina Astakhova, Aleksandr Davydov
- Hum–drum war film – originally a television series – has a Russian aircraft crashing in Nazi occupied territory and the three…
- Fall of the Innocent (The Butcher of Prague) (2011)
- Dir. Petr Nikolaev
Feat. Karel Roden, Zuzana Fialova, Zuzana Bydzovska
- WWII drama about the Nazi massacre and destruction of the Czech village of Lidice.
The main protagonist is a man from the village who is sent to…
- Flowers of War, The (2011)
- Dir. Zhang Yimou
Feat. Christian Bale, Ni Ni, Paul Schneider
- Dir. Zhang Yimou tackles the Nanking massacre with equal parts grim realism and stylish melodrama – befitting of a lavish wartime epic, less so…
- Front Line, The (2011)
- Dir. Hun Jang
Feat. Ha-kyun Shin, Soo Go
- Big battles clash with big themes in this sizable war epic set during the last days of the Korean war, where soldiers from both the North and South…
- In Darkness (2011)
- Dir. Agnieszka Holland
Feat. Robert Wieckiewicz, Agnieszka Grochowska, Kinga Preis
- A stirring, endlessly suspenseful wartime resistance drama from dir. Agnieszka Holland (EUROPA, EUROPA), about the ordinary men and women surviving…
- My Best Enemy (2011)
- Dir. Wolfgang Murnberger
Feat. Moritz Bleibtreu, Georg Friedrich, Ursula Strauss
- A Jewish man switches places with his Nazi best friend in order to survive, in this dark WWII drama.
- My Way (2011)
- Dir. Kang Je-Gyu
Feat. Jang Dong-Gun, Joe Odagiri, Bingbing Fan
- The director of BROTHERHOOD OF WAR raises the stakes with this louder, bloodier, more spectacular WWII epic, centred on the true story of rival…
- Wunderkinder (2011)
- Dir. Markus Rosenmüller
Feat. Gedeon Burkhard, Natalia Avelon
- A history of Germany in broad strokes, this heartrending coming–of–age tale charts the upheaval of WWII through the eyes of three child…
- 20 Cigarettes (2010)
- Dir. Aureliano Amadei
Feat. Vinicio Marchioni, Carolina Crescentini, Giorgio Colangeli
- Wry autobiographical story about an assistant director who receives an offer to fly to Iraq in order to shoot a film, surprisingly sincere.
- Rise and Fall (Jew Suss) (2010)
- Dir. Oskar Roehler
Feat. Tobias Moretti, Martina Gedeck, Moritz Bleibtreu
- Wrenching true story about German actor Ferdinand Marian who, despite being married to a Jewish woman chose to play lead in the antisemitic…
- Round Up, The (La Rafle) (2010)
- Dir. Rose Bosch
Feat. Jean Reno, Mélanie Laurent, Gad Elmaleh…
- A sensitive recreation of the tragic events and personal stories surrounding the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup of 1942, where some 13,000 French Jews were…
- Army of Crime, The (2009)
- Dir. Robert Guediguian
Feat. Simon Abkarian, Virginie Ledoyen
- Part of a recent wave of prestigious WWII resistence dramas, this one reconstructs events around a group of Paris–based resistance fighters,…
- Betrayal (2009)
- Dir. Hakon Gunderson
Feat. Lene Nystrøm, Götz Otto, Kåre Conradi
- Deceit and opportunism are the currencies traded in this passable wartime thriller, recommended for fans of MAX MANUS. Lene Nystrøm (of 90’s pop…
- City of Life and Death (2009)
- Dir. Chuan Lu
Feat. Ye Liu, Yuanyuan Gao, Hideo Nakaizumi
- This first serious depiction of the atrocities wrought on Chinese refugees and soldiers during the occupation of Nanking is a harrowing, expertly…
- City of War (John Rabe) (2009)
- Dir. Florian Gallenberger
Feat. Ulrich Tukur, Daniel Bruhl, Steve Buscemi…
- Riveting dramatisation of an unlikely true story in which a Nazi industrialist conspires to save the lives of 200,000 Chinese during the infamous…
- Lebanon (2009)
- Dir. Samuel Maoz
Feat. Yoav Donat, Itay Tiran, Oshri Cohen…
- Intense, multi–faceted battle thriller set during the height of the Israeli–Lebanon conflict in 1982 in which four young soldiers sent by…
- Man Who Will Come, The (L'uomo che verrà) (2009)
- Dir. Giorgio Diritti
Feat. Maya Sansa, Alba Rohrwacher, Greta Zuccheri Montanari
- Moving Italian war drama told through the eyes of an eight–year–old mute, who witnesses the brutal struggle between Italian partisans and…
- Message, The (2009)
- Dir. Kuo-fu Chen, Qunshu Gao
Feat. Bingbing Li, Xun Zhou, Zhiwen Wang…
- Sino–Japanese tensions are foregrounded in this enthralling cat and mouse thriller, set in a clifftop mansion during the height of World War…
- Un Village Francais (TV Series) (2009-2017)
- Feat. Robin Renucci, Audrey Fleurot
- Confronting the difficult subject of French collaboration with the Germans during WW2, this series details the lives of the people of a fictional…
- Admiral, The (2008)
- Dir. Andrei Kravchuk
Feat. Konstantin Khabensky, Elizaveta Boyarskaya, Sergey Bezrukov
- Sweeping war time biopic of Russian war hero Admiral Kolchak covers the last years of his life focusing on his bravery in the face of insurmountable…
- Bridge, The (Die Brücke) (2008)
- Dir. Wolfgang Panzer
Feat. Franke Potente, François Goeske, Lars Steinhöfel
- Inferior remake of the 1959 film based on the true story of a group of German teenagers who fight to defend a bridge from the approaching allied…
- Female Agents (Les femmes de l'ombre) (2008)
- Dir. Jean-Paul Salome
Feat. Sophie Marceau, Julie Depardieu, Marie Gillain…
- Substantial, exciting WWII espionage thriller following an all–female commando unit of the French Resistance recruited to rescue a British…
- Flame and Citron (2008)
- Dir. Ole Christian Madsen
Feat. Thure Lindhardt, Mads Mikkelsen, Stine Stengade…
- Lavishly–appointed wartime thriller based on the true story of contrasting Danish resistance fighters as they take vengeance on the occupying…
- Giovanna's Father (2008)
- Dir. Pupi Avati
Feat. Silvio Orlando, Francesca Neri, Alba Rohrwacher…
- Set during the second world ward this is a sad character study of a naive father who covers for his daughter's terrible crime.
- Max Manus: Man of War (2008)
- Dir. Joachim Roenning, Espen Sandberg
Feat. Aksel Hennie, Agnes Kittelsen, Nicolai Cleve Broch…
- Rousing wartime actioner chronicles the exploits of irrepressible Norwegian resistance hero Max Manus, whose sabotaging of the Nazi’s stampede…
- Nazi Number One: Herman Göring (2008)
- Dir. Guido Knopp
- German director Guido Knopp continues his straightforward, biography–centric investigations into all things Nazi with this documentary on…
- Red Baron, The (Der rote Baron) (2008)
- Dir. Nikolai Müllerschön
Feat. Maxim Mehmet, Til Schweiger, Joseph Fiennes…
- Biographical melodrama focused around Baron Manfred von Richthofen, the celebrated showboating WW1 pilot. Thrilling airborne set–pieces make up…
- Sauna (2008)
- Dir. Antti-Jussi Annila
Feat. Ville Virtanen, Tommi Eronen, Viktor Klimenko
- Something of a hybrid of the historical epic and ghost story, this unique genre entry from Finland concerns two brothers haunted by a young girl whom…
- Sky Crawlers, The (2008)
- Dir. Mamoru Oshii
- Mamoru Oshii’s (GHOST IN THE SHELL) latest head–scratcher conceives an alternate World War II–reality around another conceptually dense…
- Un Secret (2008)
- Dir. Claude Miller
Feat. Cecile De France, Ludivine Sagnier, Julie Depardieu…
- Graceful, poignant French wartime drama centred on the son of a Jewish family who uncovers a piece of unsettling family history at the time of the…
- Winter in Wartime (2008)
- Dir. Martin Koolhoven
Feat. Martijn Lakemeier, Yorick van Wageningen, Jamie Campbell Bower…
- Sensitively handled account of a thirteen year old boy who joins the Dutch resistance at the tail end of World War II.
- Assembly (2007)
- Dir. Feng Xiaoning
Feat. Hanyu Zhang
- Searing Chinese war drama set during the country's last days of Civil war, in which a courageous army captain fights tooth and nail to stave off a…
- Black Belt (Kuro-obi) (2007)
- Dir. Shunichi Nagasaki
Feat. Akihito Yagi, Tatsuya Naka
- Defence meets attack in this measured martial arts drama set in 1930s Japan, in which two karate experts (played by real–life karate pros) take…
- Counterfeiters, The (Die Fälscher) (2007)
- Dir. Stefan Ruzowitzky
Feat. Karl Markovics, Devid Striesow
- An Oscar–winner for Best Foreign Language film, this taut German thriller reconstructs the story of a Jewish fraudster forced to assist the…
- Joy Division (2007)
- Dir. Reg Traviss
Feat. Ed Stoppard, Tom Schilling, Bernadette Heerwagen…
- Ed Stoppard, son of Sir Tom, stars as a young German boy who becomes a KGB agent in this ambitious wartime saga that sweeps from WWII to swinging,…
- Katyn (2007)
- Dir. Andrzej Wajda
Feat. Maja Ostaszewska, Artur Żmijewski, Pawel Malaszynski
- Andrzej Wajda cements himself as Poland’s greatest director with this late–career triumph, a war story addressing the eradication of some…
- Kite Runner, The (2007)
- Dir. Marc Forster
Feat. Khalid Abdalla, Homayon Ershadi, Shaun Toub…
- The ravages of Afghanistan and its effect on an American 'refugee' forms the basis of Khaled Hosseini's best–selling book, here given due…
- Lust, Caution (Se, Jie) (2007)
- Dir. Ang Lee
Feat. Tony Leung (Chiu-wai), Joan Chen, Wei Tang…
- Dir. Ang Lee (BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN) returns to the mainland to present a slow–burn, psychologically dense and provocative spy thriller, based on…
- Mongol (2007)
- Dir. Sergei Bodrov
Feat. Tadanobu Asano
- A fiercely–mounted early history of Genghis Khan, from the Mongol leader’s childhood years through to his all–conquering warpath across…
- Black Book (Zwartboek) (2006)
- Dir. Paul Verhoeven
Feat. Carice Van Houten, Sebastian Koch, Thom Hoffman
- A Jewish singer goes deep undercover for the Dutch resistance in this splashy, larger–than–life WWII yarn set in Nazi–occupied…
- Days of Glory (Indigènes) (2006)
- Dir. Rachid Bouchareb
Feat. Jamel Debbouze, Samy Naceri, Bernard Blancan…
- Epic Algerian WW2 drama focused on a determined group of Algerian soldiers fighting to defend France with little acknowledgement of their sacrifices…
- Etoile Du Soldat, L' (Star of the Soldier) (2006)
- Dir. Christophe de Ponfilly
Feat. Sacha Bourdo, Philippe Caubere, Hanns Zischler
- Maladroit war drama based on the true story of a Russian soldier captured by the Mujahedin in Afghanistan who becomes enthralled by his freedom…
- I Served the King of England (2006)
- Dir. Jiri Menzel
Feat. Julia Jentsch, Oldrich Kaiser, Ivan Barnev
- Whimsical yet biting Czech farce centres on the exploits of an endearingly opportunistic waiter, whose thrifty wiles propel him into all manner of…
- Kiss Me Baby (Baciami Piccina) (2006)
- Dir. Roberto Cimapnelli
Feat. Neri Marcore, Vincenzo Salemme, Elena Russo
- Elegant blend of love–story, witty road movie and historical drama tells the story of a couple on their honeymoon at the most unlikely of times…
- Pan's Labyrinth (El Laberinto del fauno) (2006)
- Dir. Guillermo Del Toro
Feat. Ariadna Gil, Ivana Baquero, Sergi Lopez…
- A stunning, sinister netherworld fantasy that parallels an equally compelling story of uprising against a fascist military unit in WWII Spain, this…
- Tiger and the Snow, The (2006)
- Dir. Roberto Benigni
Feat. Roberto Benigni, Jean Reno, Nicoletta Braschi…
- Italian jester Roberto Benigni unites comedy and tragedy within the throws of the Iraq war, playing a poet who follows his true love (real life…
- 9th Company (2005)
- Dir. Fyodor Bondarchuk
Feat. Artur Smolyaninov, Aleksey Chadov , Konstantin Kryukov
- A muscular, at times brutal, war film set during the Russian invasion of Afghanistan follows a regiment from training to ill–fated combat with…
- Airlift, The (2005)
- Dir. Dror Zahavi
Feat. Heino Ferch, Ulrich Tukur, Bettina Zimmerman
- Sweeping historical drama set in post–WWII Berlin with the love affair between a German single mother and an American General complicated by…
- Fateless (Sorstalanság) (2005)
- Dir. Lajos Koltai
Feat. Marcell Nagy, Aron Dimeny, Daniel Craig
- Harrowing and distilled vision of the Holocaust adapted from a novel by concentration–camp survivor and Nobel prize–winning author Imre…
- Joyeux Noel (Merry Christmas) (2005)
- Dir. Christian Carion
Feat. Ian Richardson, Diane Kruger, Daniel Bruhl
- Fact–based WWI drama centred around how, on Christmas Eve, 1914, opposing French, German and British soldiers called a temporary ceasefire amid…
- La Maison de Nina (2005)
- Dir. Richard Dembo
Feat. Agnes Jaoui, Sarah Adler, Katia Lewkowicz
- Quietly accomplished French drama focused on the relationships within the fragile structures of the 'houses of hope': houses run by surrogate mothers…
- Sophie Scholl: The Final Days (2005)
- Dir. March Rothemund
Feat. Julia Jentsch
- An interesting and worthy companion piece to the excellent DOWNFALL, this necessarily grim drama looks at the trial of 21–year–old…
- Speer And Hitler: The Devil's Architect (2005)
- Dir. Heinrich Breloer
Feat. Sebastian Koch, Tobias Moretti
- Painstaking docu–drama attempts to reevaluate the war crimes of one Albert Speer, Third Reich celebrity and Hilter’s personal architect…
- Brotherhood of War (Tae Guk Gi) (2004)
- Dir. Kang Je-Gyu
Feat. Jang Dong-Gun, Won Bin, Lee Eun-Joo
- Deemed as one of the most graphic and violent war films ever made, this tells the story of two South Korean brothers (Bin and Dong–Gun) who…
- Downfall (Der Untergang) (2004)
- Dir. Oliver Hirschbiegel
Feat. Bruno Ganz, Thomas Kretschmann, Juliane Kohler…
- Widely acclaimed for its claustrophobic intensity, intelligence and detail, this vivid re–enactment of the last ten days in the life of Adolf…
- Innocent Voices (Voces inocentes) (2004)
- Dir. Luis Mandoki
Feat. Carlos Padilla, Leonor Varela
- The tumultuous upheaval of civil war is witnessed through the eyes of a terrified 12–year–old boy, whose approaching teenage years spell…
- Life is a Miracle (Zivot je cudo) (2004)
- Dir. Emir Kusturica
Feat. Slavko Stimac, Natasa Solak
- Another feverish, frenetic and heartfelt vision from Balkan dir. Emir Kusturica (UNDERGOUND), attempting here to fathom and unknot the bloody Bosnian…
- Operation Valkyrie (Stauffenberg) (2004)
- Dir. Jo Baier
Feat. Sebastian Koch, Ulrich Tukur, Hardy Kruger…
- Highly credible Germanic take on the failed 'Valkyrie' plot to assassinate Hitler favors sobering realism over Hollywood heroism. Made for German…
- Sun, The (2004)
- Dir. Alexandr Sokurov
Feat. Robert Dawson, Issey Ogata
- A lucid, painstaking portrait of Emperor Hirohito, whose authority over Japanese troops during WWII is contrasted against intimate scenes of…
- Trilogy 1: The Weeping Meadow (To Livadi pou dakryzei) (2004)
- Dir. Theo Angelopoulos
- The first part of an intended trilogy of films dealing with 20th century Greece, this monumental epic depicts the travails of a Greek refugee family…
- Turtles Can Fly (Lakposhtha hâm parvaz mikonand) (2004)
- Dir. Bahman Ghobadi
Feat. Soran Ebrahim, Avaz Latif
- The first widely–released film to emerge from post–Hussein Iraq, this wrenching tale concerns a raucous gang of children who scratch out…
- Very Long Engagement, A (Long dimanche de fiançailles, Un) (2004)
- Dir. Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Feat. Audrey Tautou, Gaspard Ulliel, Clovis Cornillac…
- Another crowd–pleasing favourite from the dir. of AMELIE, which uses the Great War as setting for the fairytale search by Audrey Tatou for her…
- As Far as My Feet Will Carry Me (2003)
- Dir. Hardy Martins
- Based on the novel by Josef Martin Bauer, this film recounts the harrowing true story of Clemens Forell, the German POW who escaped a Siberian labour…
- Bon Voyage (2003)
- Dir. Jean-Paul Rappeneau
Feat. Isabelle Adjani, Gerard Depardieu, Virginie Ledoyen…
- A plushly–mounted, grander–than–life romantic farce from director of "Cyrano De Bergerac".
It's June 1940, when a group of…
- Triple Agent (2003)
- Dir. Eric Rohmer
- A measured and discrete exercise in espionage cinema from octagenrian dir. Rohmer (AN AUTUMN TALE), eschewing his usual air of cordial romance for an…
- Zelary (2003)
- Dir. Ondrej Trojan
Feat. Anna Geislerova, Gyorgy Cserhalmi
- A layered tale of war and romance set around the 1943 purge of the Czech resistance by the occupying Nazis, and a young nurse's flight to…
- Cuckoo, The (Kukushka) (2002)
- Dir. Aleksandr Rogozhkin
Feat. Anni-Kristiina Juuso, Ville Haapasalo, Viktor Bychkov
- An earthy drama of non–communication set amid the frozen WW2 battleground of Lapland, where a pacifist Finnish soldier, a survivalist Russian…
- House of Fools (Dom Durakov) (2002)
- Dir. Andrei Konchalovsky
- Based around the true story of a Chechen mental hospital which was abandoned by staff during the recent civil war, with patients left to fend for…
- Yossi and Jagger (2002)
- Dir. Eytan Fox
Feat. Ohad Knoller
- Subversive, sweetly–natured gay drama set amid the close–quarters comraderie of the IDF (Israeli Defence Force) where a commanding…
- Aimee and Jaguar (2001)
- Dir. Max Farberbock
Feat. Maria Schrader, Juliane Kohler
- A forbidden love story that crosses both ethnic and sexual lines, inspired by a true love affair between a role–model Nazi mother and a…
- Dark Blue World (Tmavomodry Svet) (2001)
- Dir. Jan Sverak
Feat. Krystof Hadek, Ondrej Vetchy, Charles Dance…
- From the dir. of KOLYA and based on the story of Czech pilots who fled the Nazis in WW2 to fly alongside the RAF, this is an unsentimental, yet…
- Divided We Fall (2001)
- Dir. Jan Hrebejk
Feat. Boleslav Polivka, Anna Siskova, Jaroslav Dusek
- In WW2 Czechoslovakia, couple Bolek Polívka and Anna Sisková shelter their Jewish neighbour during the Nazi Occupation, with much absurd comedy…
- Cabaret Balkan (The Powder Keg) (1999)
- Dir. Goran Paskaljevic
Feat. Nikola Ristanovski
- Troubling split–portrait of the Serbian psyche, depicting a series of often violent incidents over the course of a single night in Belgrade,…
- Emperor and the Assassin, The (Jing Ke Ci Qin Wang) (1999)
- Dir. Chen Kaige
Feat. Gong Li, Zhang Fenyi
- Vast, gilded historical spectacle set in the 3rd Century BC, centred on China's legendary first Qin emperor's struggle to consolidate a unified…
- Gloomy Sunday (Ein Lied Von Liebe Und Tod) (1999)
- Dir. Rolf Schubel
Feat. Joachim Krol, Erika Marozsan, Ben Becker…
- Captivating drama which pivots around the apocryphal origins of the classic melancholy song 'Gloomy Sunday' in pre–WW2 Budapest.
An amiably…
- Life Is Beautiful (La vita e bella) (1998)
- Dir. Roberto Benigni
Feat. Roberto Benigni
- Winner of both Best Foreign Film and Best Actor Oscars (a first for an actor speaking a foreign tongue) as well as the top prize at Cannes, Roberto…
- Men with Guns (1998)
- Dir. John Sayles
Feat. Frederico Luppi
- Criminally denied a theatrical release, this masterful study of Third World realities is arguably prolific indie dir. John Sayles most accomplished…
- Thief, The (1998)
- Dir. Pavel Chukhrai
Feat. Vladimir Mashkov, Yekaterina Rednikova, Misha Philipchuk
- Serious–minded trek across the landscapes and mindsets of post–WWII Russia that's been compared to BURNT BY THE SUN for dramatic impact.…
- Lucie Aubrac (1997)
- Dir. Claude Berri
Feat. Carole Bouquet, Klaus Barbie
- French Resistance true–story from the period–eye of dir. Claude Berri (JEAN DE FLORETTE), offering a romantic sub–plot between…
- Truce, The (1997)
- Dir. Francesco Rosi
Feat. John Turturro, Rade Serbedzija
- The aftermath of WWII locates Auschwitz survivor John Turturro on a difficult, redemptive journey back to his home town.
Based on Primo Levi's…
- Blade, The (1996)
- Dir. Tsui Hark
Feat. Xin Xin Xiong, Moses Chan, Man Cheuk Chiu
- Honour and retribution are the key themes in this densely–plotted, straight–faced actioner set in a mythic–historical setting.…
- Fiesta (1996)
- Dir. Pierre Boutron
Feat. Jean-Louis Trintignant, Gregoire Colin
- Biting, rigorously intelligent parable of the Spanish Civil War, watches unblinking as a young soldier is intiated into the brutalities by his…
- Libertarias (1996)
- Dir. Vincente Aranda
Feat. Victoria Abril, Ana Belen, Miguel Bose…
- Examining the Spanish Civil War from a left–wing point–of–view, this passionate war drama focuses on a trio of women – a…
- Pretty Village, Pretty Flame (1996)
- Dir. Sadjan Dragojevic
Feat. Dragan Bjelorgrlic, Nikola Kojo
- Seen in flashback from a ward in triage, the Bosnian war is portrayed in a riveting counter–play of nihilism and theatre, as a band of Serbian…
- Prisoner of the Mountains (1996)
- Dir. Sergei Bodrov
Feat. Oleg Menshikov, Sergei Bodrov Jr, Susanna Mekhraliyeva…
- A Tolstoy fable is here seamlessly transposed to the Chechean conflict, with two Russian soldiers apprehended by a Chechean village elder who hopes…
- Self Made Hero, A (1996)
- Dir. Jacques Audiard
Feat. Mathieu Kassovitz
- Mattieu Kassovitz (director of LA HAINE) proves to be no slouch actor here as a WW2 idler who swats up and cheekily ascends the ranks of the…
- Black Sun: The Nanking Massacre (1995)
- Dir. T.F. Mous
- This extreme 'shocker' depicts in grisly detail the story of the massacre of 300 000 Chinese by Japanese soldiers following the invasion of Nanking…
- Promise, The (1995)
- Dir. Margarethe von Trotta
Feat. Corinna Harfouch, Meret Becker, August Zirner
- Separated while trying to cross the Berlin Wall to the West in 1961, two lovers traverse thirty odd years of German history apart, yet faithful. This…
- An Unforgettable Summer (Un été inoubliable) (1994)
- Dir. Lucian Pintilie
Feat. Kristin Scott Thomas, Claudiu Bleont
- Spare, well–realized drama taking place in 1925 on the Romanian/Bulgarian border, where Capitaine Petre Dumitriu (Bleont) and his wife…
- Temptation of a Monk (1993)
- Dir. Clara Law
Feat. Joan Chen, Zhang Fenyi
- Graphic chronicle of blood–letting by a fierce warrior general in 7th century China, that hews to the visual traditions of the classic Japanese…
- Stalingrad (1992)
- Dir. Joseph Vilsmaier
Feat. Dominique Horwitz, Thomas Kretschmann, Jochen Nickel
- Superlative evocation of WW2 tragedy from a German perspective. A unit of soldiers are posted to the front line in the merciless Russian winter to…
- Europa, Europa (1991)
- Dir. Agnieszka Holland
Feat. Marco Hofschneider, Salomon Perel, Rene Hofschneider
- A riveting account of the real–life ordeal experienced by German Jew Soloman Perel, who concealed his ethnicity for seven years when drafted…
- Mediterraneo (1991)
- Dir. Gabriele Salvatores
Feat. Claudio Bigagli, Diego Abatanthono, Giuseppe Cederna
- Oscar–winning tale of eight Italian soldiers who find themselves stranded on a remote Greek isle during WW2. An affecting and surprising…
- Olivier Olivier (1991)
- Dir. Agnieszka Holland
Feat. Francois Cluzet, Brigitte Rouan, Gregoire Colin
- After disappearing from his country home six years earlier, a boy's mysterious return brings with it a mix of salvation and suspicion to his…
- Bullet in the Head (1990)
- Dir. John Woo
Feat. Tony Leung (Chiu-wai), Jacky Cheung, Waise Lee
- John Woo's indictment of war as raw and visceral as its title. Three friends flee Hong Kong and find themselves knee deep in the corruption and…
- Doctor Petiot (1990)
- Dir. Christian De Chalonge
Feat. Michel Serrault, Pierre Romans, Berangere Bonvoisin
- A dark, expressionistic account of a depraved physician who, in occupied Paris, used his practise to facilitate emigration for hopeful Jews, only to…
- Life and Nothing But (1990)
- Dir. Bertrand Tavernier
Feat. Philippe Noiret, Sabine Azema
- Philippe Noiret plays a Missing–in–Action chief officer whose obsession to account for the anonymous casualties of WW1 draws him to a…
- Five Days in June (1989)
- Dir. Michel Legrand
Feat. Sabine Azema, Annie Girardot, Matthieu Roze
- Yet another addition to the canon of dramas based on childhood memoirs. A renowned composer takes the helm to recall five days in his life on the…
- Sandwich Years (Les années sandwiches) (1989)
- Dir. Emile Ghigo
Feat. Michel Aumont, Clovis Cornillac
- In post–war France, a young Jewish boy befriends an elderly op–shop owner after his parents are arrested.
- Hanussen (1988)
- Dir. Istvan Szabo
Feat. Klaus Maria Brandauer
- Klaus Maria Brandauer adds to his list of distinctive roles in this allegedly true tale of an Austrian soldier who recovers from shotgun wounds and…
- Last Stop Paradise (Terminus paradis) (1988)
- Dir. Lucian Pintilie
Feat. Costel Cascaval, Dorina Chiriac, Gheorghe Visu
- French/Romanian drama set against the outskirts of Budapest, centered around the ill–fated love affair between a waitress and a young pig…
- Au Revoir Les Enfants (1987)
- Dir. Louis Malle
Feat. Gaspard Manesse, Raphael Fejto, Francine Racette…
- Dir. Malle has transformed a childhood memoir into a powerful and vivid account of a catholic schoolboy who unknowingly witnesses anti–semitism…
- Debajo Del Mundo (Underground) (1987)
- Dir. Beda Docampo Feijóo
Feat. Oscar Ferrigno Jr., Gabriel Rovito
- Intense WW2 drama focused on a Polish family who make the drastic decision to bury themselves underground to hide from the Nazis. Based on a true…
- Colonel Redl (1985)
- Dir. Istvan Szabo
Feat. Klaus Maria Brandauer
- Klaus Maria Brandauer offers another tour–de–force performance for the second in Szabo's WW2 trilogy (between MEPHISTO and HANUSSEN)…
- Come and See (1985)
- Dir. Elim Klimov
Feat. Aleksei Kravchenko, Olga Mironova, Liubomiras Lauciavicius
- Shattering film that chronicles the devastating effect the Nazi occupation had on Russian peasantry, focusing on one impoverished youth. The brutal…
- Ran (1985)
- Dir. Akira Kurosawa
Feat. Tatsuya Nakadai
- The title translates to 'chaos'; it is Kurosawa's vast and bloody interpretation of Shakespeare's King Lear. Grandiose in every sense – a…
- Hong Kong 1941 (Dang doi lai ming) (1983)
- Dir. Po-Chi Leong
Feat. Chow Yun-Fat, Alex Man, Kien Shih…
- One of Chow Yun–Fat's early classics, this portrays the disturbing invasion of Hong Kong by the Japanese in 1941, which disrupts the dreams and…
- Das Boot (The Boat) (1981)
- Dir. Wolfgang Petersen
Feat. Jurgen Prochnow
- Nail biting, meticulous and realistic account of a German U–boat's prowlings through the North Atlantic. The most expensive German film to…
- Kagemusha (1980)
- Dir. Akira Kurosawa
Feat. Tatsuya Nakadai, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Kenichi Hagiwara
- A majestic 16th century saga about a petty thief who ascends to tribal leadership on account of his resemblance to a dying warlord. Shared the top…
- Lili Marleen (1980)
- Dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Feat. Hanna Schygulla, Giancarlo Giannini, Mel Ferrer
- Fassbinder's fact–based account of the recording of the Nazi anthem, sung by a jaded cabaret singer with a Jewish love interest.
- Desert of the Tartars, The (1976)
- Dir. Valerio Zurlini
Feat. Vittorio Gassman, Jacques Perrin, Helmut Griem…
- Italian drama set in a hostile East Asian desert, where a isolated Lieutenant defends an old, unmaintained border fortress while awaiting an attack…
- Mr. Klein (1976)
- Dir. Joseph Losey
Feat. Alain Delon, Jeanne Moreau
- A dark, dread–inducing moral tale, with Delon fleecing vulnerable Jews under German–occupied–France, only to be mistaken by…
- Seven Beauties (1975)
- Dir. Lina Wertmuller
Feat. Giancarlo Giannini, Shirley Stoler
- Wimpish Casanova Giancarlo Giannini is cast wherever the winds of WWII fling him: eventually into a German concentration camp run by Shirley Stoler…
- Lacombe Lucien (1974)
- Dir. Louis Malle
Feat. Pierre Blaise, Aurore Clement
- A subtle, probing study of the psychology of collaboration set in WW2 rural France, sees young peasant lad Pierre Blaise drawn into the local…
- Army of Shadows (L'Armée des Ombres, aka Army in the Shadows) (1969)
- Dir. Jean-Pierre Melville
Feat. Lino Ventura, Paul Meurisse, Jean-Pierre Cassel…
- Melville’s heavyweight masterpiece – by turns sombre, exhilarating, and tension–filled – tackles the clandestine rearguard…
- Damned, The (1968)
- Dir. Luchino Visconti
Feat. Dirk Bogarde, Ingrid Thulin, Helmut Berger
- Italian dir. Luchino Visconti casts a languorous eye over the decline of a German industrialist family during the Nazi era. Heavyweight cast includes…
- Signs of Life (Lebenszeichen) (1968)
- Dir. Werner Herzog
Feat. Peter Brogle
- An early descent into madness for dir. Werner Herzog, in which a soldier charged with guarding a remote island fortress must overcome the boredom of…
- Skammen (Shame) (1968)
- Dir. Ingmar Bergman
Feat. Liv Ullmann, Max von Sydow, Gunnar Bjornstrand
- Bleak parable set against the back drop of a fictional war finds an apolitical couple aloofly living out their days on an island indulging in various…
- Red and the White, The (Csillagosok, katonak) (1967)
- Dir. Miklos Jancso
Feat. Jozsef Madaras
- Russia’s bloody civil war of 1918 is lamented in this visionary war movie from influential Hungarian auteur Miklos Jancso. A formally stunning…
- Don't Look Now We're Being Shot At (La Grande Vadrouille) (1966)
- Dir. Gerard Oury
Feat. Andre Bourvil, Gerard Oury, Louis de Funès
- Side–splitting war caper turns a downed British bomber over Paris into a hilarious escape from German clutches. One of France’s highest…
- Guerre Est Finie, La (1966)
- Dir. Alain Resnais
Feat. Yves Montand, Ingrid Thulin, Genevieve Bujold…
- (The War is Over). Deeply romantic film in which Spanish Civil War refugee Yves Montand tries in vain to keep alive the memory of his struggle.
- Patriotism (Yûkoku) (1966)
- Dir. Yukio Mishima
Feat. Yukio Mishima, Yoshiko Tsuruoka
- Short film directed by Japanese writer and revolutionary Yukio Mishima, based on his short story of the same name published in 1961. Set in February…
- War and Peace (1966)
- Dir. Sergei Bondarchuk
Feat. Lyudmila Savelyeva, Vyacheslav Tikhonov, Irina Gubanova
- The definitive version of Leo Tolstoy's gargantuan novel, set during the Napoleonic invasion of Russia in the early 19th century. Nothing else quite…
- Battle of Algiers, The (1965)
- Dir. Gillo Pontecorvo
Feat. Brahim Haggiag
- Gripping account of the Muslim uprising which led to the withdrawal of France from Algeria was shot merely four years after the revolution, and as…
- Diamonds of the Night (1964)
- Dir. Jan Nemec
Feat. Ladislav Jansky, Antonin Kumbera, Irma Bischofova
- Extraordinarily intense account, told with almost no dialogue, of two Jewish teenagers running for their lives after escaping from a train bound for…
- My Way Home (Igy jottem) (1964)
- Dir. Miklos Jancso
Feat. Andras Kozak, Sergei Nikonyenko, Janos Gorbe
- In the final days of World War II, a young Hungarian is making his way home, through countryside full of the debris of war, when he is captured and…
- Weekend at Dunkirk (1964)
- Dir. Henri Verneuil
Feat. Jean-Paul Belmondo, Catherine Spaak, Georges Geret…
- The decimation of French and English troops who retreated to the coastal settlement of Dunkirk in 1940 is the sobering subject of this otherwise…
- Ivan's Childhood (1962)
- Dir. Andrei Tarkovsky
Feat. Nikolai Burlyayev, Valentin Zubkov, Yevgeni Zharikov
- A teenage spy works behind enemy lines in WW2 Germany. The Russian master's first feature is his least self–conscious and most efficient…
- Ballad of a Soldier (1959)
- Dir. Grigori Chukhrai
Feat. Vladimir Ivashov
- Soviet poetic realism brings a contemplative tone to the theatre of war, following a soldier’s pilgrimage back home after being granted leave for…
- Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959)
- Dir. Alain Resnais
Feat. Emmanuelle Riva, Eiji Okada
- Romance between a French actress and a Japanese architect rekindles their traumatic wartime experiences. The twin threads of despair and sensual love…
- Human Condition, The (No Greater Love, Road to Eternity, A Soldier's Prayer) (1959-1961)
- Dir. Masaki Kobayashi
Feat. Tatsuya Nakadai, Michiyo Aratana
- An epic Japanese film trilogy following the life of a well–intentioned yet naïve pacifist and socialist as he tries to survive in the…
- Ashes and Diamonds (1958)
- Dir. Andrzej Wajda
Feat. Zbigniew Cybulski, Ewa Krzyzanowksa
- Set on the day after WWII, the striking–looking Zbigniew Cybulski plays a Polish freedom fighter torn between wartime duties and peacetime…
- Hidden Fortress (1958)
- Dir. Akira Kurosawa
Feat. Toshiro Mifune
- Toshiro Mifune displays astounding skill with horse and sword as the ultimate warrior in this innovative amalgam of fairy–tale and Samurai…
- Cranes are Flying, The (Letyat Zhuravli) (1957)
- Dir. Mikhail Kalatozov
Feat. Tatyana Samojlova, Aleksei Batalov, Vasili Merkuryev
- A Russian classic which conveys homefront anxieties during WW2 for a young bride whose original fiance has gone to the front.
Pursued by his…
- Throne of Blood (1957)
- Dir. Akira Kurosawa
Feat. Toshiro Mifune, Isuzu Yamada, Takashi Shimura
- Kurosawa transposes MacBeth into a Samurai setting and the result justifies his reputation. Nothing short of an awesome spectacle Shakespeare himself…
- Burmese Harp, The (Biruma no tategoto) (1956)
- Dir. Kon Ichikawa
Feat. Rentaro Mikuni
- Another muted anti–war elegy conceived during Japan’s post–WWII recovery, this tells the journey of a Japanese private, who upon…
- Kanal (1956)
- Dir. Andrzej Wajda
Feat. Teresa Izewska, Tadeusz Janczar
- The darkest chapter of dir. Wadja's WWII 'Trilogy', is an unremitting portrayal of the last gasps of the 1944 Warsaw uprising. With desperate…
- Napoleon (1955)
- Dir. Sacha Guitry
Feat. Daniel Gelin, Raymond Pellegrin, Yves Montand…
- A somewhat farcical film that suffers from being dubbed into English, over–narration, and the attempt to give a complete account of Napoleon's…
- Generation, A (Pokolenie) (1954)
- Dir. Andrzej Wajda
Feat. Roman Polanski
- Fast–moving account of the Polish Resistance during WWII, as a scrappy young recruit falls in love with his unit leader. Depicts the spirited,…
- Twenty-Four Eyes (24 Eyes/Nijushi no hitomi) (1954)
- Dir. Keisuke Kinoshita
Feat. Hideko Takamine, Chishu Ryu
- An elegiac triumph of nostalgia for youth and wartime humanism, this cherished landmark of Japanese cinema gracefully chronicles the 20–years…
- Forbidden Games (Jeux Interdits) (1952)
- Dir. Rene Clement
Feat. Georges Poujouly, Brigitte Fossey, Laurence Badie
- After her parents are killed in an air raid during WWII, a small girl makes friends with a peasant boy, and the pair gradually come to terms with the…
- Germany Year Zero (1947)
- Dir. Roberto Rossellini
- A heart–breaking depiction of life in the post–WW2 ruins of Berlin, in which a boy struggles to help his family who are forced to live in…
- Silence de la Mer, Le (The Silence of the Sea) (1947)
- Dir. Jean-Pierre Melville
Feat. Howard Vernon
- A German officer is billeted with an elderly man and his niece during the occupation of France in this introspective and talky chamber piece, heavy…
- Paisa (1946)
- Dir. Roberto Rossellini
Feat. Carmela Sazio, Robert Van Loon, Benjamin Emmanuel
- Six short films focusing on the minor victories and losses of ordinary folk during WW2. Pioneering the now–familiar use of documentary footage,…
- Rome: Open City (1945)
- Dir. Roberto Rossellini
Feat. Anna Magnani, Aldo Fabrizi
- Neo–realist war drama about resistance fighters in fascist Italy places the action right inside the everyday and humanises the heroic.…
- Jean Grémillon: During the Occupation (Remorques, Lumière d'été, Le Ciel Est à Vous) (1941-1944)
- Dir. Jean Gremillon
Feat. Jean Gabin, Madeleine Renaud
- Three character–driven dramas from the heralded French film director who has been little represented outside of his home country:
Remorques…
- Alexander Nevsky (1938)
- Dir. Sergei Eisenstein
Feat. Nikolai Cherkassov, Nikolai Okhlopkov
- Eisenstein's first sound film is a patriotic epic about the 13th century hero who led his people against the Teutonic Knights. Monumental battle…
- I Accuse (J'Accuse) (1938)
- Dir. Abel Gance
Feat. Victor Francen, Line Noro, Marie Lou
- Dir. Gance’s own remake of his 1919 silent classic, in which a soldier traumatised by the slaughter of WWI attempts to prevent future…
- Grand Illusion (La Grande Illusion) (1937)
- Dir. Jean Renoir
Feat. Jean Gabin, Pierre Fresnay, Erich von Stroheim…
- The heroics and hypocrasies of war are illustrated through an imprisoned French squadron in WW1 and their cultured German commandant. A hailed…