The Best World War II Movies
by deenadayalan-ds | created - 21 Jun 2013 | updated - 29 Jul 2015 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. In Darkness (2011)
R | 145 min | Drama, War
A dramatization of one man's rescue of Jewish refugees in the German-occupied Polish city of Lvov.
Director: Agnieszka Holland | Stars: Robert Wieckiewicz, Benno Fürmann, Agnieszka Grochowska, Maria Schrader
Votes: 11,162 | Gross: $1.04M
2. Downfall (2004)
R | 156 min | Biography, Drama, History
Traudl Junge, the final secretary for Adolf Hitler, tells of the Nazi dictator's final days in his Berlin bunker at the end of WWII.
Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel | Stars: Bruno Ganz, Alexandra Maria Lara, Ulrich Matthes, Juliane Köhler
Votes: 375,419 | Gross: $5.51M
3. Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)
R | 141 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
The story of the battle of Iwo Jima between the United States and Imperial Japan during World War II, as told from the perspective of the Japanese who fought it.
Director: Clint Eastwood | Stars: Ken Watanabe, Kazunari Ninomiya, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Ryô Kase
Votes: 170,110 | Gross: $13.76M
4. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
R | 169 min | Drama, War
Following the Normandy Landings, a group of U.S. soldiers go behind enemy lines to retrieve a paratrooper whose brothers have been killed in action.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Tom Hanks, Matt Damon, Tom Sizemore, Edward Burns
Votes: 1,497,329 | Gross: $216.54M
5. Inglourious Basterds (2009)
R | 153 min | Adventure, Drama, War
In Nazi-occupied France during World War II, a plan to assassinate Nazi leaders by a group of Jewish U.S. soldiers coincides with a theatre owner's vengeful plans for the same.
Director: Quentin Tarantino | Stars: Brad Pitt, Diane Kruger, Eli Roth, Mélanie Laurent
Votes: 1,585,542 | Gross: $120.54M
6. Valkyrie (2008)
PG-13 | 121 min | Drama, History, Thriller
A dramatization of the July 20, 1944 assassination and political coup plot by desperate renegade German Army officers against Adolf Hitler during World War II.
Director: Bryan Singer | Stars: Tom Cruise, Bill Nighy, Carice van Houten, Kenneth Branagh
Votes: 259,374 | Gross: $83.08M
7. Enemy at the Gates (2001)
R | 131 min | Action, Drama, War
A Russian and a German sniper play a game of cat-and-mouse during the Battle of Stalingrad.
Director: Jean-Jacques Annaud | Stars: Jude Law, Ed Harris, Joseph Fiennes, Rachel Weisz
Votes: 277,717 | Gross: $51.40M
8. Schindler's List (1993)
R | 195 min | Biography, Drama, History
In German-occupied Poland during World War II, industrialist Oskar Schindler gradually becomes concerned for his Jewish workforce after witnessing their persecution by the Nazis.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Kingsley, Caroline Goodall
Votes: 1,451,763 | Gross: $96.90M
9. The Way Back (I) (2010)
PG-13 | 133 min | Adventure, Drama, History
Siberian gulag escapees travel four thousand miles by foot to freedom in India.
Director: Peter Weir | Stars: Jim Sturgess, Ed Harris, Colin Farrell, Dragos Bucur
Votes: 122,039 | Gross: $2.70M
10. The Thin Red Line (1998)
R | 170 min | Drama, History, War
Adaptation of James Jones' autobiographical 1962 novel, focusing on the conflict at Guadalcanal during the second World War.
Director: Terrence Malick | Stars: Jim Caviezel, Sean Penn, Nick Nolte, Kirk Acevedo
Votes: 199,678 | Gross: $36.40M
11. The Pianist (2002)
R | 150 min | Biography, Drama, Music
During WWII, acclaimed Polish musician Wladyslaw faces various struggles as he loses contact with his family. As the situation worsens, he hides in the ruins of Warsaw in order to survive.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann, Frank Finlay, Emilia Fox
Votes: 913,020 | Gross: $32.57M
12. The Great Dictator (1940)
G | 125 min | Comedy, Drama, War
Dictator Adenoid Hynkel tries to expand his empire while a poor Jewish barber tries to avoid persecution from Hynkel's regime.
Director: Charles Chaplin | Stars: Charles Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, Jack Oakie, Reginald Gardiner
Votes: 237,474 | Gross: $0.29M
13. Pearl Harbor (2001)
PG-13 | 183 min | Action, Drama, Romance
A tale of war and romance mixed in with history. The story follows two lifelong friends and a beautiful nurse who are caught up in the horror of an infamous Sunday morning in 1941.
Director: Michael Bay | Stars: Ben Affleck, Kate Beckinsale, Josh Hartnett, William Lee Scott
Votes: 351,994 | Gross: $198.54M
14. Flags of Our Fathers (2006)
R | 135 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
The life stories of the six men who raised the flag at the Battle of Iwo Jima, a turning point in World War II.
Director: Clint Eastwood | Stars: Ryan Phillippe, Barry Pepper, Joseph Cross, Jesse Bradford
Votes: 129,294 | Gross: $33.60M
15. Katyn (2007)
Not Rated | 121 min | Drama, History, War
An examination of the Soviet slaughter of thousands of Polish officers and citizens in the Katyn forest in 1940.
Director: Andrzej Wajda | Stars: Andrzej Chyra, Maja Ostaszewska, Artur Zmijewski, Danuta Stenka
Votes: 17,417 | Gross: $0.12M
16. Defiance (I) (2008)
R | 137 min | Action, Drama, History
Jewish brothers in German-occupied Eastern Europe escape into a Belorussian forest, where they join Russian resistance fighters, and endeavor to build a village, in order to protect themselves and about one thousand Jewish non-combatants.
Director: Edward Zwick | Stars: Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber, Jamie Bell, Alexa Davalos
Votes: 155,720 | Gross: $28.64M
17. Black Book (2006)
R | 145 min | Drama, Thriller, War
In the Nazi-occupied Netherlands during World War II, a Jewish singer infiltrates the regional Gestapo headquarters for the Dutch resistance.
Director: Paul Verhoeven | Stars: Carice van Houten, Sebastian Koch, Thom Hoffman, Halina Reijn
Votes: 80,539 | Gross: $4.40M
18. 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: 13,533 | Gross: $0.54M
19. The Pianist (2002)
R | 150 min | Biography, Drama, Music
During WWII, acclaimed Polish musician Wladyslaw faces various struggles as he loses contact with his family. As the situation worsens, he hides in the ruins of Warsaw in order to survive.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann, Frank Finlay, Emilia Fox
Votes: 913,020 | Gross: $32.57M
20. 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: 36,131 | Gross: $4.54M
21. A Woman in Berlin (2008)
Unrated | 131 min | Biography, Drama, History
A woman tries to survive the invasion of Berlin by the Soviet troops during the last days of World War II.
Director: Max Färberböck | Stars: Nina Hoss, Evgeniy Sidikhin, Irm Hermann, Rüdiger Vogler
Votes: 7,049 | Gross: $0.29M
22. The Counterfeiters (2007)
R | 99 min | Crime, Drama, History
The story of the Operation Bernhard, the largest counterfeiting operation in history, carried out by Germany during World War II.
Director: Stefan Ruzowitzky | Stars: Karl Markovics, August Diehl, Devid Striesow, Martin Brambach
Votes: 47,188 | Gross: $5.48M
23. Conspiracy (2001 TV Movie)
R | 96 min | Biography, Drama, History
At the Wannsee Conference on January 20, 1942, senior Nazi officials meet to determine the manner in which the so-called "Final Solution to the Jewish Question" can be best implemented.
Director: Frank Pierson | Stars: Clare Bullus, Stanley Tucci, Simon Markey, David Glover
Votes: 24,848
24. Sophie Scholl: The Final Days (2005)
Not Rated | 120 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
A dramatization of the final days of Sophie Scholl, one of the most famous members of the German World War II anti-Nazi resistance movement, The White Rose.
Director: Marc Rothemund | Stars: Julia Jentsch, Fabian Hinrichs, Alexander Held, Johanna Gastdorf
Votes: 28,677 | Gross: $0.68M
25. Flame & Citron (2008)
Not Rated | 130 min | Action, Drama, History
A drama centered on two fighters in the Holger Danske World War II resistance group.
Director: Ole Christian Madsen | Stars: Thure Lindhardt, Mads Mikkelsen, Stine Stengade, Peter Mygind
Votes: 19,948 | Gross: $0.15M
26. The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler (2009 TV Movie)
TV-PG | 95 min | Biography, Drama, History
The story of Irena Sendler, a social worker who was part of the Polish underground during World War II and was arrested by the Nazis for saving the lives of nearly 2,500 Jewish children by smuggling them out of the Warsaw ghetto.
Director: John Kent Harrison | Stars: Anna Paquin, Goran Visnjic, Michelle Dockery, Danuta Stenka
Votes: 4,661
27. Generation War (2013)
TV-MA | 270 min | Action, Drama, History
Five friends go out to war and promise each other to be back for Christmas.
Stars: Volker Bruch, Tom Schilling, Katharina Schüttler, Miriam Stein
Votes: 32,603 | Gross: $0.09M
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