Almost a century after the Second World War took millions of lives and forever changed the geopolitical face of the planet, cinema still tries to capture the emotion and devastation from the era so that none are forgotten. Writers and directors have taken script and camera to recreate battlefields and bring historical leaders to modern eyes through some of the best WW2 movies.
They have reimagined the hardships of daily life, the horrors of the concentration camps, and the tragically short lives of so many soldiers who never made it home. In eight decades of film, there are some of the best to ever grace the silver screen in homage to the victors and victims of World War II.
Updated on September 22, 2023, by Hannah Saab:
Interest in the best World War 2 movies has undoubtedly spiked following the premiere of Oppenheimer, which depicts the creation of the atomic bomb during WWII. With a massive fanbase, the phenomenal film has attracted new viewers to a genre that portrays some of the most harrowing parts of history, several of which are set during the war to end all wars.
17 ‘Sophie’s Choice’ (1982)
Set after the war in 1947, Stingo (Peter MacNicol) meets Sophie (Meryl Streep), a Polish immigrant living with her husband Nathan (Kevin Kline) in the apartment above him. Sophie’s Choice follows the two as the protagonist tells her story of survival in Nazi-occupied Europe. Her choice, of which of her children will be killed in an Auschwitz gas chamber, has taken a severe psychological toll that she cannot heal from.
Streep’s award-winning performance depicts the trauma facing Holocaust survivors and the life-or-death decisions made to survive. Sophie’s Choice posits those decisions to an audience 40 years, and more removed from the horrors of the war and asked, if faced with the same circumstances, if they would do the same.
16 ‘Dunkirk’ (2017)
Christopher Nolan‘s Dunkirk transports viewers to the beaches of the titular location, where the messy evacuation of the British and Allied soldiers is taking place. Separated into three different settings – land, sea, and air – the film follows the characters’ struggle to survive on the beach, on a boat, and in a fighter plane.
Nolan’s ambitious WWII movie uses little dialogue, relying instead on cinematography and suspense to propel the story forward. Audiences are purposely made to feel disoriented, shocked, and confused, just like the film’s characters. While these techniques don’t always pay off, there are enough stunning moments throughout that make the dizzying movie worth watching.
15 ‘Letters from Iwo Jima’ & ‘Flags of Our Fathers’ (2006)
Clint Eastwood‘s couplet of war films details the Battle of Iwo Jima from the American and Japanese perspectives in two companion pieces. Flags of Our Fathers is told from the American point of view and follows the siege of Iwo Jima and eventual victory by American forces, focusing on those marines who raised an American flag in an iconic moment in history memorialized several times over. Letters from Iwo Jima, in turn, follow the desperate attempts by Japanese forces to hold their ground amidst both calls to retreat and their orders; to succeed or die trying.
While both were filmed and produced by American production houses, Letters from Iwo Jima stands out from many Hollywood films for being scripted in Japanese and casting Japanese actors for a rare strike of authenticity. The couplet shows the heroes and victims of both sides and is one of many pyrrhic victories for the American military.
14 ‘Jojo Rabbit’ (2019)
Directed by Taika Waititi, Jojo Rabbit is a satirical film with a wholly unique perspective of the events of WWII. Set during the final years of the war in Germany, the film follows ten-year-old Jojo Betzler (Roman Griffin Davis), who is a dedicated member of the Hitler Youth. His beliefs are challenged when he learns that his mom (played by Scarlett Johansson) is hiding a Jewish girl in their house.
The thought-provoking film is full of dark humor, which it uses to comment on war and prejudice. Carefully toeing the line between comedy and tragedy, the unconventional movie successfully raises crucial questions about innocence, the horrors of war, and empathy.
13 ‘The Sound of Music’ (1965)
At the onset of the annexation of Austria in 1938, The Sound of Music stars Julie Andrews as Maria and Christopher Plummer as Georg von Trapp. The award-winning musical follows Maria, the new governess of the von Trapp family. Bringing adventure and excitement into the lives of the seven children otherwise raised with militaristic strictness, Sound of Music is a classic love story against the backdrop of looming catastrophe.
The film is mainly detached from the war itself until the von Trapps are forced to flee Austria overnight to escape Georg’s commission with the German Navy. In a solemn and empowering show of quiet protest, the family sings “Edelweiss,” a song about the Austrian national flower, at the Salzburg Festival before Brownshirts try to take them in.
12 ‘The Great Escape’ (1963)
A heavily fictionalized depiction of the bravery and strength of prisoners of war, The Great Escape follows British POW’s real-life escape from camp Stalag Luft III in Germany. The film chronicles the teamwork and commitment of dozens of POWs’ ingenious attempts to keep the camp’s guards unaware of escape tunnels being dug beneath their feet. Praised also for its score and its stunts, including Steve McQueen‘s iconic motorcycle jump.
Much more of an action romp than a brutal snapshot of war, The Great Escape stays true to a few historical accuracies in the number and nationalities of those involved. It doesn’t shy away from the casualties sacrificed so the real-life soldiers could make it to freedom.
11 ‘Downfall’ (2004)
A German-Austrian-Italian cooperative, Downfall depicts the final weeks of WWII in Germany from Adolf Hitler’s point of view. The film’s director, Oliver Hirschbiegel, and the production team sought to be as realistic and historically accurate as possible to ensure that this piece of history would not be forgotten.
Downfall does not make a one-note caricature of Hitler and the movie is based on real events as recounted by primary and secondary sources who were with him during his final days, such as Inside Hitler’s Bunker: The Last Days of the Third Reichby historian Joachim Fest and Until the Final Hour by Hitler’s secretary Traudl Junge. Hitler goes from a seemingly immutable historical figure to a three-dimensional, flesh-and-blood person. This decision is still met with controversy. Critically, Downfall is a poignant retrospective that closes the gap between the “monster” anyone could succumb to being.
10 ‘Inglourious Basterds’ (2009)
A WWII revenge fantasy unlike any other, director Quentin Tarantino‘s Inglourious Basterds is centered on a group of Jewish-American soldiers led by Lieutenant Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt), who plan to wreak havoc among the very top Nazi officials. Alongside their storyline is Shosanna Dreyfus’ (Mélanie Laurent) own murderous plot, as the French-Jewish cinema owner wants payback for a war crime against her family.
Tarantino fans need no introduction to this fan-favorite film, and it showcases the director’s most famous trademarks. From sharp dialogue and unexpected twists to dark humor and over-the-top violence, Inglourious Basterds has it all.
9 ‘The Human Condition’ Film Series (1959 – 1961)
Director Masaki Kobayashi‘s sprawling epic, The Human Condition, is made up of three war films, which all follow the life and experiences of the protagonist and pacifist, Kaji (Tatsuya Nakadai). Kaji has become disillusioned and questions common practices in World War II-era Japan, but soon becomes involved in the very atrocities he despises.
The criminally underrated movie trilogy chronicles the protagonist’s heartbreaking transformation from being an idealistic socialist into a jaded survivor. The powerful film series delves into the human cost of war in a sweeping and insightful way, highlighting the horrific loss individuals endured during the war on both an intimate and grand scale.
Watch on The Criterion Channel
8 ‘Das Boot’ (1981)
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A widely acclaimed classic directed by Wolfgang Petersen, Das Boot is among the best submarine movies ever made. Delving into the deep and suffocating setting that is the inside of a German U-boat during the Second World War, the 1981 movie portrays the dangerous mission a crew of sailors goes on under the leadership of Captain Lehmann-Willenbrock (Jürgen Prochnow).
Known for its realistic portrayal of life inside a U-boat, the film uses meticulous attention to detail to accurately capture the routines, dangers, and rollercoasters of emotions the sailors go through before a perilous mission. The psychological impact of the gargantuan task on the characters is amplified by their confined setting, which leads to some truly intense exchanges throughout the film.
7 ‘Casablanca’ (1942)
A film actually produced during the war, Casablanca, offers a unique and poignant perspective. With a multinational cast, many of whom were refugees from the fighting in Europe, actors were able to bring their real-life struggles and experiences to the script in a story that endures as one of the best films of all time (with one of the best last lines in cinematic history).
Set in the eponymous city in Northern Africa, Casablanca follows Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) as he comes into the possession of letters of transit, offering invaluable safe passage for refugees trying to escape the war. When his estranged lover Ilsa Lund (Ingrid Bergman), and her husband, Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid), enter his bar seeking safe passage, Blaine sees the two to freedom and their brief love affair to rest.
6 ‘The Pianist’ (2002)
Based on the memoirs of Władysław Szpilman and directed by Roman Polanski, The Pianist tells the bleak tale of one man’s survival during the Holocaust. Szpilman (played by Adrien Brody) is a Jewish pianist, who watches the community he loves deteriorate as the war chugs along.
Brody’s career-defining performance brings the terrible true story to life in this emotionally draining and renowned WWII film. The protagonist’s haunting experiences are a testament to hope against all odds, but also a necessary reminder of the loss, suffering, and horrors people had to endure during the Holocaust.
5 ‘Grave of the Fireflies’ (1988)
Studio Ghibli’s renowned somber war film follows siblings Seita and Setsuko in the final months of the war in Japan, struggling, and ultimately failing, to survive starvation and frequent American air raids. The film gets its name from the needless and accidental deaths of a jar of fireflies the siblings had caught and released in their shelter, starved of sustenance alongside the people of Japan.
Grave of the Fireflies makes no silver lining familiar in Western animation. It is one of the best depictions of the era for its visceral realism and the cost of war beyond those conscripted and enlisted in the armies that fight them.
4 ‘Life is Beautiful’ (1997)
Life is Beautiful is an Italian Holocaust film that follows Guido Orefice (Roberto Benigni) and his son Giosuè (Giorgio Cantarini), prisoners in a German camp. After the war snatched their life as booksellers, Guido dedicates himself to convincing his son that their lives as prisoners are one big game with a tank as the grand prize.
In a comedy-drama, despite the subject matter, Guido’s antics help his son survive to the end of their internment and indeed win a tank that has come to liberate the camp. An essential Italian war movie, Life is Beautiful offers a fragile optimism that endures in the heart of a prisoner who is never broken by their circumstances and survived by a son forever grateful for his father’s sacrifices.
3 ‘Saving Private Ryan’ (1998)
Steven Spielberg’s award-winning war film remains regarded as one of the best depictions of life on the battlefield. Tom Hanks’ Captain Miller leads a company of soldiers from the landings at Omaha tasked with finding the last surviving son of the Ryan family. Saving Private Ryan is a grim and unapologetic tragedy that doesn’t stop killing off its characters.
Abstaining from glorifying bombastic battles or vilifying enemy soldiers as faceless drones, the film forces audiences to reckon with the strengths and weaknesses of a generation of young men sent to war, many of whom never made it home.
2 ‘Come and See’ (1985)
Set in Nazi-occupied Belarus during WWII, director Elem Klimov‘s Come and See depicts the war through the perspective of a young boy, Flyora (Aleksei Kravchenko). When Flyora joins the Belarusian resistance movement, he’s exposed to appalling events that no one should have to see (at any age). Soon, his community is thrust into the chaos of war, all for him to see.
It’s easy to see why Come and See has been the highest-rated film on Letterboxd for quite some time now, as the unflinching war movie tells its heart-wrenching story in surrealist and philosophical ways. It’s a war film that’s certainly not for the faint-hearted, as audiences will find that it’s a grueling, but important, viewing experience.
Watch on The Criterion Channel
1 ‘Schindler’s List’ (1993)
An adaptation of the real-life Oskar Schindler‘s account, Spielberg’s other WWII Best Picture winner, tells the story of Oskar Schindler’s mission to protect and see to safety more than a thousand persecuted Jews. Initially, he is a member of the Nazi party, but when Schindler witnesses the brutality against the Jewish ghetto in Kraków, he vows to save as many lives as possible.
Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, and Ben Kinglsey pay homage and respect to Schindler’s harrowing bravery and those who made it to safety with his aid. Filmed in black and white and scored with a hauntingly somber central theme, Schindler’s List is a masterpiece regarded as one of the greatest films of all time.
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