Best of War, a list by Chiggerz

9.0

/1567942/

88

/25430/

86

/16980/

4.5

/1253752/

98

/135/

97

/22910/

95

/30/

4.0

age 15+

The true story of how businessman Oskar Schindler saved over a thousand Jewish lives from the Nazis while they worked as slaves in his factory during World War II.

92

8.7

/11433/

81

/278/

82

/214/

4.5

/16063/

100

/37/

97

/117/

99

/4/

4.0

age 15+

Director Claude Lanzmann spent 11 years on this sprawling documentary about the Holocaust, conducting his own interviews and refusing to use a single frame of archival footage. Dividing Holocaust witnesses into three categories – survivors, bystanders, and perpetrators – Lanzmann presents testimonies from survivors of the Chelmno concentration camp, an Auschwitz escapee, and witnesses of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, as well as a chilling report of gas chambers from an SS officer at Treblinka.

91

8.5

/649536/

82

/9260/

81

/5858/

4.3

/724125/

99

/135/

95

/19579/

100

/18/

4.0

age 10+

In Casablanca, Morocco in December 1941, a cynical American expatriate meets a former lover, with unforeseen complications.

90

8.3

/547540/

81

/9139/

81

/5984/

4.3

/567661/

98

/98/

94

/10882/

97

/32/

4.0

age 14+

After the insane General Jack D. Ripper initiates a nuclear strike on the Soviet Union, a war room full of politicians, generals and a Russian diplomat all frantically try to stop it.

89

8.6

/1616530/

85

/31989/

82

/16772/

4.2

/1300325/

94

/148/

95

/41367/

91

/38/

4.0

age 16+

As U.S. troops storm the beaches of Normandy, three brothers lie dead on the battlefield, with a fourth trapped behind enemy lines. Ranger captain John Miller and seven men are tasked with penetrating German-held territory and bringing the boy home.

89

8.5

/13675/

84

/647/

82

/298/

4.4

/27125/

98

/102/

92

/48/

89

/19/

4.0

age 15+

A love letter from a young mother to her daughter, the film tells the story of Waad al-Kateab’s life through five years of the uprising in Aleppo, Syria as she falls in love, gets married and gives birth to Sama, all while cataclysmic conflict rises around her. Her camera captures incredible stories of loss, laughter and survival as Waad wrestles with an impossible choice– whether or not to flee the city to protect her daughter’s life, when leaving means abandoning the struggle for freedom for which she has already sacrificed so much.

89

8.1

/28715/

78

/690/

79

/714/

4.4

/54052/

97

/77/

94

/535/

99

/24/

4.0

Betrayed by an informant, Philippe Gerbier finds himself trapped in a torturous Nazi prison camp. Though Gerbier escapes to rejoin the Resistance in occupied Marseilles, France, and exacts his revenge on the informant, he must continue a quiet, seemingly endless battle against the Nazis in an atmosphere of tension, paranoia and distrust.

89

8.1

/74420/

78

/1175/

79

/847/

4.5

/112151/

99

/94/

95

/1191/

96

/22/

4.0

Paratrooper commander Colonel Mathieu, a former French Resistance fighter during World War II, is sent to Algeria to reinforce efforts to squelch the uprisings of the Algerian War. There he faces Ali la Pointe, a former petty criminal who, as the leader of the Algerian Front de Liberation Nationale, directs terror strategies against the colonial French government occupation. As each side resorts to ever-increasing brutality, no violent act is too unthinkable.

89

8.3

/337819/

80

/5369/

80

/3296/

4.4

/311070/

93

/132/

93

/5601/

100

/8/

4.0

age 13+

During World War I, English officer Thomas Edward 'T.E.' Lawrence sets out to unite and lead the diverse, often warring, Arab tribes to fight the Turks.

89

8.4

/236235/

81

/3644/

82

/3165/

4.5

/277050/

96

/77/

95

/1856/

90

/18/

4.0

age 13+

A commanding officer defends three scapegoats on trial for a failed offensive that occurred within the French Army in 1916.

89

8.4

/762405/

82

/13566/

83

/8800/

4.4

/885199/

91

/148/

94

/16503/

94

/15/

4.0

age 16+

At the height of the Vietnam war, Captain Benjamin Willard is sent on a dangerous mission that, officially, "does not exist, nor will it ever exist." His goal is to locate - and eliminate - a mysterious Green Beret Colonel named Walter Kurtz, who has been leading his personal army on illegal guerrilla missions into enemy territory.

87

8.1

/76707/

77

/979/

77

/708/

4.2

/45002/

98

/97/

93

/867/

93

/17/

4.0

age 13+

It's the hope that sustains the spirit of every GI: the dream of the day when he will finally return home. For three WWII veterans, the day has arrived. But for each man, the dream is about to become a nightmare.

87

8.1

/246796/

78

/3975/

78

/2279/

4.2

/109378/

96

/103/

93

/2260/

88

/16/

4.0

age 11+

The classic story of English POWs in Burma forced to build a bridge to aid the war effort of their Japanese captors. British and American intelligence officers conspire to blow up the structure, but Col. Nicholson, the commander who supervised the bridge's construction, has acquired a sense of pride in his creation and tries to foil their plans.

87

8.4

/285538/

82

/4641/

81

/2406/

4.3

/101514/

98

/55/

96

/2946/

85

/16/

age 15+

A German submarine hunts allied ships during the Second World War, but it soon becomes the hunted. The crew tries to survive below the surface, while stretching both the boat and themselves to their limits.

87

8.2

/40433/

81

/2362/

77

/636/

4.1

/57021/

99

/155/

91

/438/

91

/27/

4.0

age 16+

A documentary about World War I with never-before-seen footage to commemorate the centennial of Armistice Day, and the end of the war.

87

8.0

/17971/

77

/368/

75

/261/

4.2

/24878/

97

/37/

90

/298/

93

/20/

4.0

age 10+

General Candy, who's overseeing an English squad in 1943, is a veteran leader who doesn't have the respect of the men he's training and is considered out-of-touch with what's needed to win the war. But it wasn't always this way. Flashing back to his early career in the Boer War and World War I, we see a dashing young officer whose life has been shaped by three different women, and by a lasting friendship with a German soldier.

87

8.2

/8852/

79

/206/

78

/89/

3.9

/2409/

96

/97/

94

/1228/

89

/28/

4.0

Chronological look at the fiasco in Iraq, especially decisions made in the spring of 2003 - and the backgrounds of those making decisions - immediately following the overthrow of Saddam: no occupation plan, an inadequate team to run the country, insufficient troops to keep order, and three edicts from the White House announced by Bremmer when he took over.

87

8.5

/999318/

84

/15728/

83

/9830/

4.4

/1109428/

95

/186/

96

/10818/

85

/40/

3.5

age 15+

The true story of pianist Władysław Szpilman's experiences in Warsaw during the Nazi occupation. When the Jews of the city find themselves forced into a ghetto, Szpilman finds work playing in a café; and when his family is deported in 1942, he stays behind, works for a while as a laborer, and eventually goes into hiding in the ruins of the war-torn city.

86

8.0

/41479/

78

/821/

76

/457/

4.2

/43021/

100

/82/

90

/45/

97

/16/

3.5

Bosnia, July 1995. Aida is a translator for the UN in the small town of Srebrenica. When the Serbian army takes over the town, her family is among the thousands of citizens looking for shelter in the UN camp. As an insider to the negotiations Aida has access to crucial information that she needs to interpret. What is at the horizon for her family and people – rescue or death? Which move should she take?

86

8.1

/383501/

78

/5700/

79

/4100/

4.2

/268645/

86

/129/

91

/5764/

90

/18/

4.0

age 17+

Three steelworkers enlist in the Vietnam War, one leaving behind a rushed marriage, the others a shared love. What they encounter overseas changes their lives forever.

86

8.0

/38179/

78

/673/

75

/705/

4.2

/49189/

97

/36/

93

/731/

88

/18/

4.0

age 12+

Au revoir les enfants tells a heartbreaking story of friendship and devastating loss concerning two boys living in Nazi-occupied France. At a provincial Catholic boarding school, the precocious youths enjoy true camaraderie—until a secret is revealed. Based on events from writer-director Malle’s own childhood, the film is a subtle, precisely observed tale of courage, cowardice, and tragic awakening.

86

8.4

/257293/

82

/4211/

82

/3579/

4.3

/171374/

92

/52/

95

/1899/

3.5

age 10+

Dictator Adenoid Hynkel tries to expand his empire while a poor Jewish barber tries to avoid persecution from Hynkel's regime.

86

8.1

/12658/

79

/458/

79

/229/

4.0

/7890/

100

/22/

93

/132/

95

/5/

age 16+

Virunga in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is Africa’s oldest national park, a UNESCO world heritage site, and a contested ground among insurgencies seeking to topple the government that see untold profits in the land. Among this ongoing power struggle, Virunga also happens to be the last natural habitat for the critically endangered mountain gorilla. The only thing standing in the way of the forces closing in around the gorillas: a handful of passionate park rangers and journalists fighting to secure the park’s borders and expose the corruption of its enemies. Filled with shocking footage, and anchored by the surprisingly deep and gentle characters of the gorillas themselves, Virunga is a galvanizing call to action around an ongoing political and environmental crisis in the Congo.

86

8.0

/26016/

79

/611/

77

/291/

4.0

/19000/

96

/141/

93

/1006/

87

/36/

4.0

Using archival footage, cabinet conversation recordings, and an interview of the 85-year-old Robert McNamara, The Fog of War depicts his life, from working as a WWII whiz-kid military officer, to being the Ford Motor Company's president, to managing the Vietnam War as defense secretary for presidents Kennedy and Johnson.

86

8.1

/467200/

79

/8887/

77

/4903/

4.0

/316664/

89

/122/

93

/9634/

92

/16/

4.0

age 17+

As a young and naive recruit in Vietnam, Chris Taylor faces a moral crisis when confronted with the horrors of war and the duality of man.

85

8.1

/49070/

79

/1065/

78

/797/

4.3

/63376/

96

/54/

93

/369/

86

/13/

age 11+

During the Nazi occupation of Poland, an acting troupe becomes embroiled in a Polish soldier's efforts to track down a German spy.

85

8.2

/275018/

80

/4865/

79

/2737/

4.2

/138684/

94

/53/

95

/4759/

86

/16/

age 8+

The Nazis, exasperated at the number of escapes from their prison camps by a relatively small number of Allied prisoners, relocate them to a high-security 'escape-proof' camp to sit out the remainder of the war. Undaunted, the prisoners plan one of the most ambitious escape attempts of World War II. Based on a true story.

85

8.4

/1750800/

83

/45542/

82

/23577/

4.4

/3114647/

89

/332/

88

/36639/

69

/36/

4.0

age 17+

In Nazi-occupied France during World War II, a group of Jewish-American soldiers known as "The Basterds" are chosen specifically to spread fear throughout the Third Reich by scalping and brutally killing Nazis. The Basterds, lead by Lt. Aldo Raine soon cross paths with a French-Jewish teenage girl who runs a movie theater in Paris which is targeted by the soldiers.

85

7.9

/7981/

76

/256/

76

/180/

4.1

/10073/

93

/14/

89

/111/

4.0

A docudrama depicting a hypothetical nuclear attack on Britain. After backing the film's development, the BBC refused to air it, publicly stating "the effect of the film has been judged by the BBC to be too horrifying for the medium of broadcasting." It debuted in theaters in 1966 and went on to great acclaim, but remained unseen on British television until 1985.

85

8.0

/22140/

80

/300/

78

/233/

4.2

/19002/

87

/71/

93

/687/

85

/31/

4.0

Turtles Can Fly tells the story of a group of young children near the Turkey-Iraq border. They clean up mines and wait for the Saddam regime to fall.

85

7.9

/26820/

77

/1271/

76

/376/

4.2

/65273/

100

/15/

92

/391/

92

/5/

Documentary style account of a nuclear holocaust and its effect on the working class city of Sheffield, England; and the eventual long run effects of nuclear war on civilization.

85

7.7

/54946/

76

/921/

75

/683/

3.9

/25830/

97

/34/

90

/910/

91

/16/

4.0

Tired of life as soldiers, Peachy Carnehan and Danny Dravot travel to the isolated land of Kafiristan, where they are ultimately embraced by the people and revered as rulers. After a series of misunderstandings, the natives come to believe that Dravot is a god, but he and Carnehan can't keep up their deception forever.

85

8.3

/243819/

82

/5357/

81

/3107/

4.4

/494346/

91

/124/

92

/1356/

80

/42/

3.5

A mother's last wishes send twins Jeanne and Simon on a journey to Middle East in search of their tangled roots. Adapted from Wajdi Mouawad's acclaimed play, Incendies tells the powerful and moving tale of two young adults' voyage to the core of deep-rooted hatred, never-ending wars and enduring love.

84

7.9

/2036/

74

/33/

71

/27/

3.7

/1311/

100

/14/

92

/61/

4.0

Real-life letters written by American soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines during the Vietnam War to their families and friends back home. Archive footage of the war and news coverage thereof augment the first-person "narrative" by men and women who were in the war, some of whom did not survive it.

84

8.1

/389519/

79

/6290/

77

/3051/

3.9

/133034/

91

/188/

94

/12273/

79

/40/

4.0

age 15+

Inspired by true events, this film takes place in Rwanda in the 1990s when more than a million Tutsis were killed in a genocide that went mostly unnoticed by the rest of the world. Hotel owner Paul Rusesabagina houses over a thousand refuges in his hotel in attempt to save their lives.

84

7.9

/113485/

77

/2296/

74

/1172/

3.9

/50142/

92

/51/

93

/2434/

86

/20/

4.0

age 14+

"Patton" tells the tale of General George S. Patton, famous tank commander of World War II. The film begins with Patton's career in North Africa and progresses through the invasion of Germany and the fall of the Third Reich. Side plots also speak of Patton's numerous faults such his temper and habit towards insubordination.

84

7.5

/492807/

75

/12004/

72

/5966/

3.8

/300354/

96

/288/

84

/13782/

95

/37/

4.0

age 17+

During the Iraq War, a Sergeant recently assigned to an army bomb squad is put at odds with his squad mates due to his maverick way of handling his work.

84

7.6

/11013/

73

/241/

71

/236/

4.0

/18509/

96

/50/

85

/132/

94

/23/

4.0

Henry IV usurps the English throne, sets in motion the factious War of the Roses and now faces a rebellion led by Northumberland scion Hotspur. Henry's heir, Prince Hal, is a ne'er-do-well carouser who drinks and causes mischief with his low-class friends, especially his rotund father figure, John Falstaff. To redeem his title, Hal may have to choose between allegiance to his real father and loyalty to his friend.

84

7.8

/16574/

74

/186/

73

/177/

3.9

/7609/

92

/37/

94

/270/

4.0

The circularity of violence seen in a story that circles on itself. In Macedonia, during the war in Bosnia, Christians hunt an ethnic Albanian girl who may have murdered one of their own. A young monk who's taken a vow of silence offers her protection. In London, a photographic editor who's pregnant needs to talk it out with her estranged husband and chooses a toney restaurant.

84

8.0

/62350/

77

/1269/

76

/1022/

4.0

/54543/

97

/152/

91

/2622/

91

/33/

3.5

age 17+

An Israeli film director interviews fellow veterans of the 1982 invasion of Lebanon to reconstruct his own memories of his term of service in that conflict.

84

8.1

/201094/

79

/3557/

79

/3067/

4.4

/364492/

78

/152/

92

/2590/

89

/21/

3.5

age 12+

An Irish rogue uses his cunning and wit to work his way up the social classes of 18th century England, transforming himself from the humble Redmond Barry into the noble Barry Lyndon.

84

7.8

/176035/

76

/3512/

75

/2199/

3.9

/65354/

91

/201/

86

/10114/

89

/37/

4.0

age 16+

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.

83

7.8

/63092/

76

/1327/

74

/796/

3.9

/33452/

91

/45/

91

/1094/

76

/18/

4.0

age 16+

New York Times reporter Sydney Schanberg is on assignment covering the Cambodian Civil War, with the help of local interpreter Dith Pran and American photojournalist Al Rockoff. When the U.S. Army pulls out amid escalating violence, Schanberg makes exit arrangements for Pran and his family. Pran, however, tells Schanberg he intends to stay in Cambodia to help cover the unfolding story — a decision he may regret as the Khmer Rouge rebels move in.

83

7.5

/6170/

75

/113/

70

/156/

4.0

/11608/

96

/24/

85

/34/

4.0

Barny, although a Marxist, is intrigued by the mysteries of religion. In confession, she teases a priest, Léon Morin, but he is a young and intelligent man and ready to discuss anything.

83

8.1

/27406/

79

/624/

78

/443/

4.3

/31895/

93

/30/

91

/361/

75

/6/

Because of a technical defect an American bomber team mistakenly orders the destruction of Moscow. The President of the United States has but little time to prevent an atomic catastrophe from occurring.

83

7.8

/40766/

76

/673/

74

/556/

3.9

/40423/

95

/37/

90

/819/

90

/16/

A Martinique charter boat skipper gets mixed up with the underground French resistance operatives during WWII.

83

7.9

/6420/

75

/206/

74

/94/

4.0

/5898/

96

/23/

91

/35/

85

/25/