War films have been an integral part of cinema for over a century. Each war film offers an immersive view for the audience to experience the hardships faced by soldiers. The moral dilemmas illustrate how complex humans are and how complicated every war can be. Additionally, every war film teaches some history related to the battle it portrays.
Many war films tackle bleak topics and showcase the harsh conditions faced by soldiers on both sides of the conflict. Among the numerous war films produced, some are extremely visceral, evoking intense emotions from the audience. With such a rich genre of war films, these films stand out as some of the saddest ever made.
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11 Hamburger Hill Showed the Struggle of Taking a Position That Met Nothing Soon After Its Capture
Hamburger Hill follows a group of soldiers who were part of the U.S. Army's 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry, 101st Airborne Division, fighting in Vietnam. Their comradery matched their enthusiasm until their fellow soldiers began to violently die on Hill 937, known more infamously as Hamburger Hill. After ten arduous days of fighting, the remaining men captured the hill, only to be quickly abandoned by the U.S. Army soon after.
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Hamburger Hill is a perfect Vietnam War film that never garnered the same popularity as other war films. What makes this move exceptionally sad is its focus on the characters at the start of the film, leaving only a handful alive by the end of the film. Excessive loss and the psychological damage from war make Hamburger Hill perfect to kick this list off.
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Hamburger Hill
R
Action
Drama Thriller9.5/10
- Release Date
- August 28, 1987
- Runtime
- 110 Minutes
Cast
-
Michael Patrick Boatman
-
Don Cheadle
10 Life Is Beautiful Captures of the Horrors of Concentration Camps as a Family Try To Keep a Sunny Disposition
Life Is Beautiful follows the family life of a Jewish man named Guido, who shelters his young son from the horrors of Nazi occupation. Guido uses the power of imagination, comedy, and a game to hide and distract his son from the concentration camp that they are trapped in. Guido tells his son that the camp is just an elaborate competition and alludes to a grand prize to be won at the end of their competition.
Life Is Beautiful approaches tragedy with elegance and focuses on the love that families give. The final moments of the film are Guido's last as he stays in character in the fake game he created moments before he's shot to death. While Life Is Beautiful takes on a hopeful tone, the reality of the matter for Guido and his family is devastating.
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Life Is Beautiful
PG-13
Comedy
Drama Romance- Release Date
- December 20, 1997
- Runtime
- 116 Mins
Cast
-
Roberto Benigni
-
Nicoletta Braschi
-
Giorgio Cantarini
-
Giustino Durano
9 Jojo Rabbit Starts as a Comedy but Becomes a Gut-Punch Twist
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Jojo Rabbit follows Jojo Betzler, a young boy obsessed with Nazi ideologies. With his malleable and immature 10-year-old mind, Jojo yearns to join the Hitler Youth Organization and is encouraged by his imaginary friend, Adolf Hitler. His mother, Rosie, acts as a beacon of hope, trying to instill better choices for him. Jojo's views are flipped upside down when he discovers that Rosie is hiding a Jewish girl in their attic.
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Now, Jojo Rabbit works primarily as a comedy but pulls off an epic bait-and-switch. Rosie did everything in her power to make sure Jojo's childhood was fulfilled, while her husband fought in the resistance against Hitler. In the end, Rosie was killed by Nazi soldiers and hanged as a traitor, with Jojo discovering her body accidentally. Jojo's discovery of his dead mother is one of the saddest moments of any war film.
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Jojo Rabbit
PG-13
DramaWar
Comedy
- Release Date
- October 18, 2019
- Runtime
- 108 minutes
Cast
-
Stephen Merchant
-
Sam Rockwell
-
Rebel Wilson
-
Taika Waititi
7 The Deer Hunter Showcased the Psychological Effects of the Vietnam War on Its Veterans
The Deer Hunter showcases the lives of three working-class Pennsylvanians during and after returning from the Vietnam War. Michael, Steven, and Nick were best friends before the war. When Michael returns home from Vietnam, he learns that Steven is permanently injured from Vietnam and Nick is still missing there, so Michael sets out on a journey back to Vietnam to find his friend.
The Deer Hunter doesn't sugarcoat the trauma and starkly displays the innocence that Michael, Steven, and Nick quickly lose by going to fight in Vietnam. The film is infamously known for the dreadful Russian Roulette scene, but the film focuses more on how broken the three men were after the war. Their trauma also affects the ones around them, creating a cycle of broken and beaten-down people.
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The Deer Hunter
R
Drama EpicWar
- Release Date
- February 23, 1979
- Runtime
- 184 Minutes
Cast
-
Robert De Niro
-
John Cazale
-
John Savage
-
Meryl Streep
6 The Boy in the Striped Pajamas Displayed the Horrors of the Concentration Camps From a Child’s Perspective
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas follows a friendship that Bruno takes up with a Jewish boy in a concentration camp. Bruno lives with his Nazi father opposite the camp and meets Shmuel at the fence dividing his yard from the camp. Bruno's naive mind thinks Shmuel is on some kind of farm and doesn't comprehend the concept of a concentration camp. To help Shmuel find his father, Bruno sneaks into the camp but gets rounded up with other prisoners for extermination.
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The Boy in the Striped Pajamas uses the simple minds of children to show the horrendous conditions of the Holocaust. The final moments of the film are a devastating blow when Bruno's father is too late in stopping the gas being released. Gas chamber exterminations are truly horrifying but Bruno's death alongside Shmuel and other prisoners is downright heart-rending.
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
PG-13
DramaWar
- Release Date
- September 12, 2008
- Runtime
- 94 Minutes
- Director
- Mark Herman
- Writers
- John Boyne, Mark Herman
WHERE TO WATCH
Streaming
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.
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5 Schindler’s List Is a Bittersweet Tale of Heroism During the Dark Times of Nazi Persecution
Schindler's List is the story of Oskar Schindler and how he saved over 1,000 Polish-Jewish refugees from death. Schindler initially seems to be a charismatic businessman looking to help make the Nazis money. However, he quickly becomes an advocate for the Jewish prisoners, hiring them in the factory that he builds, saving them from being sent to Auschwitz. As the Nazis continue to murder Jewish prisoners, Schindler tries to come up with more ways to save as many people as he can.
Schindler's List is based on a true story and is one of Spielberg's great war films. While the film has a positive message that one man can make a difference, Schindler's List doesn't diminish the displays of the camps or the brutality of Nazi soldiers, making it perfect for this spot on the list.
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Schindler's List (1995)
R
Historical
Drama- Release Date
- December 15, 1993
- Runtime
- 195 minutes
- Director
- Steven Spielberg
- Writers
- Steven Zaillian
WHERE TO WATCH
RENT
BUY
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4 Night and Fog Gives a First-Hand Look At Awful Conditions of the Concentration Camps
Night and Fog is a short documentary film breaking down exactly what the Holocaust was and its impact on those held captive in concentration camps. The film is narrated with a detached tone as it uses archival footage to show the exact horror inside. On full display were the tortures, medical experiments, and executions of the doomed prisoners. The final part of the film explores the liberation of the country from Germany while asking who was responsible for all the horrors.
Night and Fog is one of the saddest documentaries with a confrontational approach to the horrors that the Nazis committed. The film used graphic, real-life archival footage to supplement its narrator, giving it extensive authenticity. This film is under 40 minutes long but leaves a lasting mark on the audience.
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Night and Fog
TV-14
Documentary
- Release Date
- April 29, 1956
- Runtime
- 32 Minutes
- Director
- Alain Resnais
- Writers
- Jean Cayrol
Cast
-
Michel Bouquet
3 Come and See Demonstrates the Worst Sides of Humanity in a Visceral, Yet at Times Surreal Way
Come and See is a film about Flyora, a 14-year-old boy in Nazi-occupied Belarus as he joins a resistance to fight against Nazis. The film initially embraces Flyora's innocent child-like enthusiasm for life as he naively signs up to fight. After he meets a young nurse, they journey back to his hometown village, where the villagers, including Flyora's family, have been massacred. Nazis throw the remaining captives into a church and burn them alive, while they torture others. After Flyora witnesses nonstop horrors, his humanity seems more and more stripped away.
Come and See is a must-watch war film that almost wasn't made due to Soviet censorship. Klimov wrote it with inspiration from his own life in addition to first-hand accounts of survivors and fought against censors for eight years to make the film. Come and See is particularly sad because it displays psychological trauma, graphic violence, and the rapid loss of innocence through the eyes of a young boy.
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Come And See
NR
DramaWar
- Release Date
- October 17, 1985
- Runtime
- 142 Minutes
- Director
- Elem Klimov
- Writers
- Elem Klimov, Ales Adamovich
WHERE TO WATCH
RENT
BUY
2 Grave of the Fireflies Gave a Harrowing Display of Survival Through the Eyes of Two Suffering Siblings
Grave of the Fireflies follows Seita and Setsuko, recently orphaned siblings struggling to survive on their own during WWII. Their mother dies in a firebombing raid, so they're forced to wander in a war-torn town in the hopes of shelter and food. As they wander the streets of Kobe, Japan, Seita and Setsuko protect one another in the futile conditions surrounding them.
Grave of the Fireflies is by far the saddest animated war movie made. The film comes from a place of truth, inspired by Akiyuki Nosaka's short story about the loss of his sister. Similar to Life Is Beautiful and Come and See, Grave of the Fireflies provides optimism through the lenses of the two children. However, Seita and Setsuko's survival is met with more obstacles and ultimately ends in both of their devastating deaths. To see the young siblings fight to stay alive is sad, but to see them die in the end is just agonizing.
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Grave of the Fireflies
Not Rated
Animation DramaWar
8
10
9.3/10
- Release Date
- April 16, 1988
- Runtime
- 89 Mins
Cast
-
Tsutomu Tatsumi
-
Ayano Shiraishi
1 The Pianist Provides a Bleak Display of Ever-Growing Brutality Between the Nazis and the Warsaw Jewish People
The Pianist follows a radio station pianist, Władysław Szpilman, as Poland is overtaken by Nazi occupiers. The film starts with Poland being invaded, followed by Nazis rounding everyone up, forcing them into the Warsaw Ghetto. Due to his piano skills, Szpilman survives by playing music in the cafés. When the Nazis begin sending everyone to concentration camps, Szpilman is separated from his family, so he hides in numerous ruins across Warsaw until the end of the war.
The Pianist is inspired by the real Władysław Szpilman and showcases the horrors he faced for survival. Survivor's guilt, starvation, despair, and cruelty are seen at every turn of this film. The Pianist is perfect for the top of this list because it induces paralyzing sorrow while the audience deeply reflects on the dehumanizing horrors carried out by the Nazis.
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The Pianist
R
Biography
Drama Music- Release Date
- March 28, 2003
- Runtime
- 150 Minutes
Cast
-
Adrien Brody
Wladyslaw Szpilman
-
Thomas Kretschmann
Captain Wilm Hosenfeld
-
Frank Finlay
Father
-
Emilia Fox
Dorota
