Children and war
by emurer | created - 06 Oct 2017 | updated - 06 Oct 2017 | PublicFilms about war's effect on children
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1. Germany Year Zero (1948)
Not Rated | 78 min | Drama
A young German boy faces the problems of the tough life in the immediate post-WWII Berlin.
Director: Roberto Rossellini | Stars: Edmund Moeschke, Ernst Pittschau, Ingetraud Hinze, Franz-Otto Krüger
Votes: 13,719
2. The Search (1948)
Approved | 104 min | Drama, War
In post-war Berlin, an American private helps a lost Czech boy find his mother.
Director: Fred Zinnemann | Stars: Montgomery Clift, Ivan Jandl, Aline MacMahon, Wendell Corey
Votes: 4,840
3. Children of Hiroshima (1952)
Not Rated | 97 min | Drama, War
Post war Hiroshima: It's been four years since the last time she visited her hometown. Takako faces the after effects of the A-bomb when she travels around the city to call on old friends.
Director: Kaneto Shindô | Stars: Nobuko Otowa, Osamu Takizawa, Masao Shimizu, Jûkichi Uno
Votes: 1,372
4. Forbidden Games (1952)
Not Rated | 86 min | Comedy, Drama, War
A young French girl orphaned in a German air attack is befriended by the son of a poor farmer, and together they try to come to terms with the realities of death.
Director: René Clément | Stars: Georges Poujouly, Brigitte Fossey, Amédée, Laurence Badie
Votes: 13,108 | Gross: $0.01M
5. The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958)
Approved | 158 min | Biography, Drama, War
A tenacious British woman becomes a missionary and runs an inn for travelling merchants in China during the Japanese invasion and the tumultuous years leading up to the Second World War.
Director: Mark Robson | Stars: Ingrid Bergman, Robert Donat, Curd Jürgens, Michael David
Votes: 5,422
6. The Bridge (1959)
Not Rated | 103 min | Drama, History, War
In 1945, Germany is being overrun, and nobody is left to fight but teenagers.
Director: Bernhard Wicki | Stars: Volker Bohnet, Fritz Wepper, Michael Hinz, Frank Glaubrecht
Votes: 8,659
7. The Diary of Anne Frank (1959)
Approved | 180 min | Biography, Drama, Family
During World War II, a teenage Jewish girl named Anne Frank and her family are forced into hiding in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands.
Director: George Stevens | Stars: Millie Perkins, Shelley Winters, Joseph Schildkraut, Richard Beymer
Votes: 13,696 | Gross: $5.01M
8. Ivan's Childhood (1962)
Not Rated | 95 min | Drama, War
During WWII, Soviet orphan Ivan Bondarev strikes up a friendship with three sympathetic Soviet officers while working as a scout behind the German lines.
Directors: Andrei Tarkovsky, Eduard Abalov | Stars: Nikolay Burlyaev, Valentin Zubkov, Evgeniy Zharikov, Stepan Krylov
Votes: 39,947
9. The Soldier (1966)
103 min | Drama, War
A story of a boy, forced to grow mature before his time and to die too early because of the cruel war circumstances. This film is dedicated to all the children who have died during the National Liberation War.
Director: George P. Breakston | Stars: Rade Markovic, Fraser MacIntosh, Branka Zoric, Petar Banicevic
Votes: 27
10. Birds, Orphans and Fools (1969)
78 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
Three adolescent war orphans seclude themselves in an anarchic and playful existence of denial and juvenile joy.
Director: Juraj Jakubisko | Stars: Philippe Avron, Jirí Sýkora, Magda Vásáryová, Francoise Goldité
Votes: 986
11. The Tin Drum (1979)
R | 142 min | Drama, War
In 1924, Oskar Matzerath is born in the Free City of Danzig. At age three, he falls down a flight of stairs and stops growing. In 1939, World War II breaks out.
Director: Volker Schlöndorff | Stars: David Bennent, Mario Adorf, Angela Winkler, Katharina Thalbach
Votes: 25,758
12. Liten Ida (1981)
87 min | Drama
Little Ida's mother is working for the Germans during World War II, and she is also having a relationship with a German SS officer. Ida is experiencing the problems of having a mother who ... See full summary »
Director: Laila Mikkelsen | Stars: Sunniva Lindekleiv, Lise Fjeldstad, Arne Lindtner Næss, Howard Halvorsen
Votes: 140
13. Don't Cry, It's Only Thunder (1982)
PG | 108 min | Drama, War
During the Vietnam War, Brian Anderson (Dennis Christopher), a young Army medic, is stationed in Saigon. Initially apathetic and self-serving, he eventually has his heart won over by the ... See full summary »
Director: Peter Werner | Stars: Dennis Christopher, Susan Saint James, Roger Aaron Brown, Robert Englund
Votes: 263
14. The Night of the Shooting Stars (1982)
R | 107 min | Drama, Fantasy, Romance
In 1944, the residents of a small Italian town under Axis control flee their homes to seek out the liberating Allied forces.
Directors: Paolo Taviani, Vittorio Taviani | Stars: Omero Antonutti, Margarita Lozano, Claudio Bigagli, Massimo Bonetti
Votes: 4,652
15. Barefoot Gen (1983)
TV-PG | 83 min | Animation, Biography, Drama
A powerful statement against war, Barefoot Gen is a disturbing story about the effect of the atomic bomb on a boy's life and the lives of the Japanese people.
Director: Mori Masaki | Stars: Issei Miyazaki, Catherine Battistone, Yoshie Shimamura, Iona Morris
Votes: 9,213
16. The Revolt of Job (1983)
98 min | Drama
An elderly Jewish couple, adopt an unruly non-Jewish child to whom they intend to pass on their wealth and knowledge before Nazi oppression engulfs Hungary.
Directors: Imre Gyöngyössy, Barna Kabay | Stars: Hédi Temessy, Ferenc Zenthe, Gábor Fehér, Heinrich Starhemberg
Votes: 698
17. Ballad of the Little Soldier (1984)
Not Rated | 46 min | Documentary, War
The film focuses on a group of Miskito in Nicaragua who used child soldiers in their resistance against the Sandinistas.
Directors: Werner Herzog, Denis Reichle | Stars: Werner Herzog, Denis Reichle
Votes: 1,019
18. Come and See (1985)
Not Rated | 142 min | Drama, Thriller, War
After finding an old rifle, a young boy joins the Soviet resistance movement against ruthless German forces and experiences the horrors of World War II.
Director: Elem Klimov | Stars: Aleksey Kravchenko, Olga Mironova, Liubomiras Laucevicius, Vladas Bagdonas
Votes: 97,349
19. Barefoot Gen 2 (1986)
TV-PG | 85 min | Animation, Biography, Drama
Three years after the Hiroshima bombing, a teenager helps a group of orphans to survive and find their new life.
Director: Toshio Hirata | Stars: Issei Miyazaki, Masaki Kôda, Kei Nakamura, Takami Aoyama
Votes: 1,420
20. The Assault (1986)
PG | 144 min | Drama, History, Romance
A Dutch doctor, haunted by grueling childhood memories of World War II, struggles to find peace as he spends his life looking for answers about the tragic night that shaped him.
Director: Fons Rademakers | Stars: Derek de Lint, Marc van Uchelen, Monique van de Ven, John Kraaijkamp Sr.
Votes: 3,404 | Gross: $0.20M
21. Goodbye, Children (1987)
PG | 104 min | Drama, War
A French boarding school run by priests seems to be a haven from World War II until a new student arrives. Occupying the next bed in the dormitory to the top student in his class, the two young boys begin to form a bond.
Director: Louis Malle | Stars: Gaspard Manesse, Raphael Fejtö, Francine Racette, Stanislas Carré de Malberg
Votes: 36,129 | Gross: $4.54M
22. Hope and Glory (1987)
PG-13 | 113 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Bill, a young boy living on the outskirts of London experiences the exhilaration of World War II. During this period, Bill learns about sex, death, love, hypocrisy, and the faults of adults as he prowls the ruins of bombed houses.
Director: John Boorman | Stars: Sarah Miles, David Hayman, Sebastian Rice-Edwards, Geraldine Muir
Votes: 14,604 | Gross: $10.02M
23. Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
Not Rated | 89 min | Animation, Drama, War
A young boy and his little sister struggle to survive in Japan during World War II.
Director: Isao Takahata | Stars: Tsutomu Tatsumi, Ayano Shiraishi, Akemi Yamaguchi, Yoshiko Shinohara
Votes: 310,655
24. Après la guerre (1989)
105 min | Comedy, Drama, War
The film is set in France in August 1944 at the end of the war. German troops are in retreat as the allies are coming in. Two French boys run from home and on their journey they stumble ... See full summary »
Director: Jean-Loup Hubert | Stars: Richard Bohringer, Antoine Hubert, Julien Hubert, Martin Lamotte
Votes: 453
25. Bashu, the Little Stranger (1989)
120 min | Drama, War
An Iranian boy is lost after fleeing home for his life; his family has been killed during the Iran-Iraq war. He's saved and trained by a middle-aged woman.
Director: Bahram Beyzaie | Stars: Susan Taslimi, Parviz Poorhosseini, Adnan Afravian, Golshan Anooshe
Votes: 3,205
26. Europa Europa (1990)
R | 112 min | Drama, History, War
A boy in Nazi Germany, trying to conceal that he is Jewish, joins the Hitler Youth.
Director: Agnieszka Holland | Stars: Solomon Perel, Marco Hofschneider, René Hofschneider, André Wilms
Votes: 17,483 | Gross: $5.58M
27. The Last Butterfly (1991)
PG-13 | 118 min | Drama, War
Stage mime Antoine Moreau (Sir Tom Courtenay) is compelled by the Gestapo to put on a performance for the children of Terezin, a "model" concentration camp, to convince the Red Cross ... See full summary »
Director: Karel Kachyna | Stars: Tom Courtenay, Brigitte Fossey, Ingrid Held, Freddie Jones
Votes: 307
28. Rhapsody in August (1991)
PG | 98 min | Drama, War
Three generations' responses to the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Sachiko Murase, Richard Gere, Hisashi Igawa, Narumi Kayashima
Votes: 7,554 | Gross: $0.52M
29. Killer Kid (1994)
90 min | Drama, War
A Lebanese kid is sent to France on a terrorist mission for "Allah's Army". An Lebanese French kid becomes involved unwittingly. A bond develops between the two, while they become alienated... See full summary »
Director: Gilles de Maistre | Stars: Tewfik Jallab, Younesse Boudache, Salah Teskouk, Fatiha Cheriguene
Votes: 238
30. The Ogre (1996)
R | 118 min | Drama
Frenchman Abel Tiffauges likes children, and wants to protect them against the grown-ups. Falsely suspected as child molester, he's recruited as a soldier in the 2nd World War, but very ... See full summary »
Director: Volker Schlöndorff | Stars: John Malkovich, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Gottfried John, Marianne Sägebrecht
Votes: 2,679 | Gross: $0.05M
31. Life Is Beautiful (1997)
PG-13 | 116 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
When an open-minded Jewish waiter and his son become victims of the Holocaust, he uses a perfect mixture of will, humor and imagination to protect his son from the dangers around their camp.
Director: Roberto Benigni | Stars: Roberto Benigni, Nicoletta Braschi, Giorgio Cantarini, Giustino Durano
Votes: 743,500 | Gross: $57.60M
32. Mendel (1997)
95 min | Comedy, Drama
A Jewish family leaves Germany after surviving the Holocaust and heads to Norway. Mendel, their youngest son, is too young to make sense of the Holocaust but tries to comprehend his ... See full summary »
Director: Alexander Røsler | Stars: Thomas Jüngling Sørensen, Teresa Harder, Hans Kremer, Martin Meingast
Votes: 210
33. Comédia Infantil (1998)
93 min | Drama
Based on the book by Henning Mankell (Sweden), this story takes place in Mozambique and is about a young boy, Nelio, who loses his entire family during a time of civil war. A wounded Nelio ... See full summary »
Director: Solveig Nordlund | Stars: Sérgio Titos, Jaime Julio, Francisco Chilengue, Avelino Manhiça
Votes: 86
34. Butterfly (1999)
R | 96 min | Drama, War
Based in 1936 Spain, Moncho is an outcast at school but is able to form a strong bond with his outspoken teacher. When fascism arrives to Spain, his teacher is considered an enemy of the regime & arrested.
Director: José Luis Cuerda | Stars: Manuel Lozano, Fernando Fernán Gómez, Uxía Blanco, Gonzalo Uriarte
Votes: 9,757 | Gross: $2.09M
35. Machuca (2004)
Not Rated | 121 min | Biography, Drama, History
Two 12-year-old Chilean children from different social classes become friends in 1973. They both discover each other's world as political tensions in their country increase.
Director: Andrés Wood | Stars: Matías Quer, Ariel Mateluna, Manuela Martelli, Aline Küppenheim
Votes: 12,658
36. Turtles Can Fly (2004)
PG-13 | 98 min | Drama, War
Near the Iraqi-Turkish border on the eve of an American invasion, refugee children like 13-year-old Kak (Ebrahim), gauge and await their fate.
Director: Bahman Ghobadi | Stars: Soran Ebrahim, Avaz Latif, Saddam Hossein Feysal, Hiresh Feysal Rahman
Votes: 20,763 | Gross: $0.26M
37. Innocent Voices (2004)
R | 120 min | Drama, Thriller, War
A young boy, in an effort to have a normal childhood in 1980's El Salvador, is caught up in a dramatic fight for his life as he desperately tries to avoid the war which is raging all around him.
Director: Luis Mandoki | Stars: Carlos Padilla, Leonor Varela, Xuna Primus, Gustavo Muñoz
Votes: 8,195 | Gross: $0.84M
38. Mother of Mine (2005)
Not Rated | 111 min | Drama, War
During World War II, more than 70,000 Finnish children were evacuated to neutral Sweden to avoid the conflict. From the award-winning Klaus Härö (Elina: As If I Wasn't There (2002)), "... See full summary »
Director: Klaus Härö | Stars: Topi Majaniemi, Marjaana Maijala, Maria Lundqvist, Michael Nyqvist
Votes: 4,607
39. Nina's House (2005)
112 min | Drama, History, War
During WWII a group of Jewish children is sent to a castle outside Paris to hide there until things cool down, but it eventually becomes their new home. Later, children from the liberated concentration camps arrive there as well.
Director: Richard Dembo | Stars: Agnès Jaoui, Sarah Adler, Katia Lewkowicz, Arié Elmaleh
Votes: 238
40. Pan's Labyrinth (2006)
R | 118 min | Drama, Fantasy, War
In the Falangist Spain of 1944, the bookish young stepdaughter of a sadistic army officer escapes into an eerie but captivating fantasy world.
Director: Guillermo del Toro | Stars: Ivana Baquero, Ariadna Gil, Sergi López, Maribel Verdú
Votes: 703,229 | Gross: $37.63M
41. Buddha Collapsed Out of Shame (2007)
81 min | Drama, War
In Afghanistan, a young girl wants to go to school and learn to read and write, but is met with hostility or indifference.
Director: Hana Makhmalbaf | Stars: Abbas Alijome, Abdolali Hoseinali, Nikbakht Noruz
Votes: 2,358
42. Ezra (I) (2007)
Not Rated | 110 min | Drama
Ezra is the first film to give an African perspective on the disturbing phenomenon of abducting child soldiers into the continent's recent civil wars. Ezra is structured around the ... See full summary »
Director: Newton I. Aduaka | Stars: Mamoudu Turay Kamara, Mariame N'Diaye, Mamusu Kallon, Richard Gant
Votes: 290
43. War Dance (2007)
PG-13 | 105 min | Documentary, Music, War
Three children living in a displacement camp in northern Uganda compete in their country's national music and dance festival.
Directors: Sean Fine, Andrea Nix | Stars: Dominic, Nancy, Rose, Jane Adong
Votes: 1,199 | Gross: $0.11M
44. 120 (2008)
114 min | Drama, History, War
During the Sarikamis Battle, the Ottoman army runs out of ammunition and appeals to the people of Van for help, who happen to have supplies. However, the First World War is on and all men ... See full summary »
Directors: Özhan Eren, Murat Saraçoglu | Stars: Özge Özberk, Burak Sergen, Cansel Elcin, Emin Olcay
Votes: 7,082
45. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2008)
PG-13 | 94 min | Drama, War
Through the innocent eyes of Bruno, the eight-year-old son of the commandant at a German concentration camp, a forbidden friendship with a Jewish boy on the other side of the camp fence has startling and unexpected consequences.
Director: Mark Herman | Stars: Asa Butterfield, David Thewlis, Rupert Friend, Zac Mattoon O'Brien
Votes: 246,608 | Gross: $9.03M
46. Feuerherz (2008)
92 min | Biography, Drama, War
The true story of a young female soldier who comes of age during the Eritrean civil war.
Director: Luigi Falorni | Stars: Letekidan Micael, Solomie Micael, Seble Tilahun, Daniel Seyoum
Votes: 227
47. Johnny Mad Dog (2008)
98 min | Drama, War
A cast of unknown performers are used in this drama about child soldiers fighting a war in the West African Country Liberia.
Director: Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire | Stars: Christophe Minie, Daisy Victoria Vandy, Joseph Duo, Dagbeth Tweh
Votes: 3,535
48. Winter in Wartime (2008)
R | 103 min | Drama, History, War
In German-occupied Netherlands, a teenage boy gets involved in the Dutch resistance after coming to the aid of a wounded RAF pilot.
Director: Martin Koolhoven | Stars: Martijn Lakemeier, Jamie Campbell Bower, Yorick van Wageningen, Raymond Thiry
Votes: 13,532 | Gross: $0.54M
49. The Silent Army (2008)
115 min | Drama, Thriller
Child soldiers in Africa are at the fore in this tale of a white restaurant owner in an African town bordering a conflict zone. When his son's African friend Abu is abducted, he sets out to... See full summary »
Director: Jean van de Velde | Stars: Marco Borsato, Abby Mukiibi Nkaaga, Thekla Reuten, Andrew Kintu
Votes: 1,218
50. 71: Into the Fire (2010)
Not Rated | 120 min | Action, Drama, War
The story of student-soldiers trying to protect a middle school during the early days of the Korean War.
Director: John H. Lee | Stars: Cha Seung-won, Kwon Sang-woo, Choi Seung-hyun, Kim Seung-woo
Votes: 5,815
51. Lore (2012)
Not Rated | 109 min | Drama, Romance, War
As the Allies sweep across Germany, Lore leads her siblings on a journey that exposes them to the truth of their parents' beliefs. An encounter with a mysterious refugee forces Lore to rely on a person she has always been taught to hate.
Director: Cate Shortland | Stars: Saskia Rosendahl, Kai-Peter Malina, Nele Trebs, Ursina Lardi
Votes: 15,937 | Gross: $0.97M
52. War Witch (2012)
Not Rated | 90 min | Drama, War
Somewhere in Sub-Saharan Africa, Komona, a 14-year-old girl, tells her unborn child growing inside her the story of her life since she has been at war. Everything started when she was abducted by the rebel army at the age of 12.
Director: Kim Nguyen | Stars: Rachel Mwanza, Alain Lino Mic Eli Bastien, Serge Kanyinda, Ralph Prosper
Votes: 7,565 | Gross: $0.07M
53. Zaytoun (2012)
Not Rated | 110 min | Adventure, Drama, Thriller
Beirut, 1982: a young Palestinian refugee helps an Israeli fighter pilot escape from PLO captivity because he wants to visit his ancestral family home. En route through war-torn Lebanon their relationship develops into a close bond.
Director: Eran Riklis | Stars: Stephen Dorff, Abdallah El Akal, Alice Taglioni, Loai Nofi
Votes: 1,727 | Gross: $0.04M
54. Lost Child: Sayon's Journey (2013)
76 min | Documentary, Biography, History
LOST CHILD ~ SAYON'S JOURNEY shows how one Khmer Rouge child soldier confronts his childhood experiences during Cambodia's darkest hour, what he witnessed, and struggled with as he came of ... See full summary »
Directors: Janet P. Gardner, Kevin Cloutier | Stars: Susan Beers, Ken Lavallee, Eath Kim Sao, Sao Sim
Votes: 10
55. The Notebook (2013)
R | 112 min | Drama, War
Twin siblings enduring the harshness of WWII in a village on the Hungarian border hedge their survival on studying and learning from the evil surrounding them.
Director: János Szász | Stars: László Gyémánt, András Gyémánt, Piroska Molnár, Ulrich Thomsen
Votes: 3,243 | Gross: $0.07M
56. The Rocket (2013)
96 min | Drama
Laos. In a land ravaged by war and exploitation, a boy whose family believe he is cursed must redeem himself by taking part in a dangerous rocket competition.
Director: Kim Mordaunt | Stars: Sitthiphon Disamoe, Loungnam Kaosainam, Suthep Po-ngam, Boonsri Yindee
Votes: 3,202
57. The Search (III) (2014)
135 min | Drama, War
A French woman who works for a non-governmental organization forms a special relationship with a lost young boy in war-torn Chechnya in 1999.
Director: Michel Hazanavicius | Stars: Bérénice Bejo, Annette Bening, Maksim Emelyanov, Abdul Khalim Mamutsiev
Votes: 2,999
58. Theeb (2014)
Not Rated | 100 min | Adventure, Drama, Thriller
In the Ottoman province of Hijaz during World War I, a young Bedouin boy experiences a greatly hastened coming-of-age as he embarks on a perilous desert journey to guide a British officer to his secret destination.
Director: Naji Abu Nowar | Stars: Jacir Eid Al-Hwietat, Hussein Salameh Al-Sweilhiyeen, Hassan Mutlag Al-Maraiyeh, Jack Fox
Votes: 11,518 | Gross: $0.28M
59. Alias Maria (2015)
TV-MA | 91 min | Drama, War
A vision of Colombia's inhuman armed conflict, seen through the eyes of a young - and pregnant - girl soldier.
Director: José Luis Rugeles | Stars: Carlos Clavijo, Anderson Gomez, Carmenza González, Lola Lagos
Votes: 401
60. Beasts of No Nation (2015)
TV-MA | 137 min | Drama, War
A drama based on the experiences of Agu, a child soldier fighting in the civil war of an unnamed African country.
Director: Cary Joji Fukunaga | Stars: Abraham Attah, Emmanuel Affadzi, Ricky Adelayitor, Andrew Adote
Votes: 86,861 | Gross: $0.08M
61. Les grandes Grandes Vacances (2015– )
TV-PG | Animation, Family, War
A pair of young siblings visit their grandparents in Normandy as WWII breaks out in Europe.
Stars: Julie-Ann Dean, Benjamin Bollen, Janet James, Clara Quilichini
Votes: 520
62. I Want to Live (2015)
106 min | Documentary, Adventure, Biography
Stories of Kurdish Refugees from Syria who are living in refugee camps in Kurdistan. The film was shot on location and takes place during the Syrian civil war and the ISIS attacks on ... See full summary »
Director: Karzan Kardozi | Stars: Shndar Noradin Ali, Ahmed Noradin Ali, Noradin Khalaf Ali, Nariman Abdullah
Votes: 2,877
63. Land of Mine (2015)
R | 100 min | Drama, History, War
In post-World War II Denmark, a group of young German POWs are forced to clear a beach of thousands of land mines under the watch of a Danish Sergeant who slowly learns to appreciate their plight.
Director: Martin Zandvliet | Stars: Roland Møller, Louis Hofmann, Joel Basman, Mikkel Boe Følsgaard
Votes: 45,790 | Gross: $0.44M
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