War movies

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Realistic Brutal Bleak Restrained Deliberate

Overview

In 1937, during the height of the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Imperial Japanese Army has just captured Nanjing, then-capital of the Republic of China. What followed was known as the Nanking Massacre, or the Rape of Nanking, a six week period wherein tens of thousands of Chinese soldiers and civilians were killed.

Themes

Survival under occupation, Duty versus humanity, Safety zones under pressure, War crimes against civilians, Gendered vulnerability in war, Moral ambiguity in soldiers

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Overview

Irena Sendler is a Catholic social worker who has sympathized with the Jews since her childhood, when her physician father died of typhus contracted while treating poor Jewish patients. When she initially proposes saving Jewish children from the Warsaw Ghetto, her idea is met with skepticism by fellow workers, her parish priest, and even her own mother Janina.

Overview

A true-story account of a German businessman who saved more than 200,000 Chinese during the Nanjing massacre in 1937-38.

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Realistic Tense Steady Brutal Bleak

Overview

Based on a true story, during World War II, four Jewish brothers escape their Nazi-occupied homeland of West Belarus in Poland and join the Soviet partisans to combat the Nazis. The brothers begin the rescue of roughly 1,200 Jews still trapped in the ghettos of Poland.

Themes

Leadership under pressure, Collective resilience under oppression, Intergroup tension and unity, Mutual aid and endurance, Antisemitism confrontation within ranks, Protecting refugees and supplies

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Tense Claustrophobic Bleak Procedural Deliberate

Overview

Wounded in Africa during World War II, Nazi Col. Claus von Stauffenberg returns to his native Germany and joins the Resistance in a daring plan to create a shadow government and assassinate Adolf Hitler. When events unfold so that he becomes a central player, he finds himself tasked with both leading the coup and personally killing the Führer.

Themes

Loyalty under oath, Deception and treason, Resistance against tyranny, Leadership legitimacy under pressure, Military coup planning, Bureaucratic mobilization

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Realistic Tense Claustrophobic Bleak Dry

Overview

Max Manus is a Norwegian 2008 biographic war film based on the real events of the life of resistance fighter Max Manus (1914–96), after his contribution in the Winter War against the Soviet Union. The story follows Manus through the outbreak of World War II in Norway until peacetime in 1945.

Themes

Resistance under occupation, Deception and propaganda, Clandestine networks, Survival guilt, Collective sacrifice, Idealism vs pragmatism, Moral ambiguity under war

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Realistic Raw Claustrophobic Dry Relentless

Overview

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.

Themes

Loyalty under strain, Duty under pressure, Survivor guilt, Combat trauma, Trust vs control, Risk and restraint

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Realistic Dry Chaotic Stylish Witty

Overview

A group of self-absorbed actors set out to make the most expensive war film ever. After ballooning costs force the studio to cancel the movie, the frustrated director refuses to stop shooting, leading his cast into the jungles of Southeast Asia, where they encounter real bad guys.

Themes

Group dynamics under stress, Fame pressure, Ego vs craft, Land mine risk, Deception under production

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Tense Dynamic Atmospheric Relentless Stylish

Overview

In 208 A.D., in the final days of the Han Dynasty, shrewd Prime Minster Cao convinced the fickle Emperor Han the only way to unite all of China was to declare war on the kingdoms of Xu in the west and East Wu in the south. Thus began a military campaign of unprecedented scale. Left with no other hope for survival, the kingdoms of Xu and East Wu formed an unlikely alliance.

Themes

Deception and loyalty, Leadership under pressure, Alliance politics, Strategic maneuvering, Battlefield improvisation, Naval warfare tactics

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Claustrophobic Brutal Deliberate Relentless Minimalist

Overview

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.

Themes

Memory as defense, War memory fragmentation, Trauma and testimony, Veterans and civilians impact, Witnessing and recollection, Media and memory ethics

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