5 Essential Films About World War II
Few events have been depicted on screen as many times and in as many ways as World War II, which is remarkable given how many stories are left to tell. Eighty years’ worth of movies have deepened our understanding of the 20th century’s defining conflict, and there’s little reason to suspect that filmmakers will stop anytime soon. If you’ve seen all the usual suspects — your Saving Private Ryans, your Casablancas — and want to explore beyond the frontlines, here are five essential movies about World War II.
To Be or Not to Be (1942)
With good reason, we rarely associate war with comedy — World War II least of all. The ability to make a charming, lighthearted picture about such a world-altering event as it was happening is part of the “Lubitsch Touch” that made German-born director Ernst Lubitsch one of the most acclaimed filmmakers of his or any other era. (Billy Wilder, who directed such acclaimed movies as Double Indemnity, Some Like It Hot, and Sunset Boulevard, had a sign taped to his office wall asking, “How would Lubitsch do it?”)
To Be or Not to Be takes place in Nazi-occupied Warsaw, where a troupe of actors find themselves entangled in a scheme to track down a German spy. Whatever you think of their production of Hamlet, there’s no doubting their ability to trick the Nazis with their performances — or make you laugh at some truly dark jokes. The film was added to the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 1996 and remains one of Lubitsch’s most acclaimed works, no small feat considering he also directed Ninotchka, The Shop Around the Corner, and Heaven Can Wait.
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The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
You might not expect a movie named The Best Years of Our Lives to be about this or any other war, but then little about William Wyler’s classic was expected. The legendary filmmaker received 12 Academy Award nominations for Best Director throughout his one-of-a-kind career, winning the second of three for his epic story of three veterans readjusting to civilian life after returning home from World War II. Leading the ensemble are screen legends Fredric March and Myrna Loy, whose performances helped make the film as successful with audiences as it was with critics.
Indeed, few films have ever been as popular with the Academy. The Best Years of Our Lives won seven Oscars, including Best Picture, Director, Actor (March), and Supporting Actor for Harold Russell, a veteran who lost both of his hands in a demolition accident. As Russell wasn’t a professional actor and the Academy Board of Governors didn’t expect him to win, they gave him an honorary award “for bringing hope and courage to his fellow veterans through his appearance.” And yet he did win, of course, making this the only time someone has won two Oscars for a single performance.
Au revoir les enfants (1987)
One of the most personal movies ever made about the war, Au revoir les enfants (Goodbye, Children) is based on writer/director Louis Malle’s childhood experiences at a Catholic boarding school for boys near Fontainebleau, France. That lived-in quality is present throughout the movie, which has the feeling of an intimate memory come to life. Among the other students at the boarding school seen in the film are three Jewish boys who’ve been secretly taken in by the headmaster, a priest based on the heroic Père Jacques. He’s done so at great personal risk, as Nazi-occupied France isn’t exactly known for rewarding such good deeds, and even the other students are unaware of their new classmates’ true identities — including our protagonist Julien, who slowly forms a close friendship with one of them. Alternately charming and heartbreaking, Au revoir les enfants won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and was nominated for Best Foreign-Language Film and Best Original Screenplay at the 60th Academy Awards.
Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
History is written by the victors, which is to say that most World War II movies are by and about Americans. Not so Grave of the Fireflies, an animated adaptation of Akiyuki Nosaka’s short story of the same name released by Studio Ghibli in 1988. Following two Japanese war orphans (one 14, the other just 4) as the conflict nears its end, with a particular focus on the aftermath of the brutal bombing of Kobe, writer/director Isao Takahata’s devastating story of the struggle for survival is one of the most wrenching depictions of wartime you’ll ever see, animated or otherwise. It is, however, also considered one of the greatest animated films of all time, as well as one of the saddest.
The Thin Red Line (1998)
Only Terrence Malick could make a war movie like The Thin Red Line, one in which battle sequences seem less important than long shots of multicolored birds in trees and lyrical narration reveals more about its characters than the orders they give and receive in the heat of battle. It was Malick’s first movie in 20 years — the media-shy director had seemingly disappeared after wowing audiences and critics alike with Badlands (1973) and Days of Heaven (1978) — and just about every actor in Hollywood was desperate for a role. The result is a sprawling ensemble cast that includes Sean Penn, Nick Nolte, George Clooney, John Cusack, Woody Harrelson, John Travolta, John C. Reilly, Elias Koteas, and Jared Leto, many of whom are only on screen for a minute or so.
When they aren’t advancing on their Japanese counterparts’ position, these soldiers ask questions such as, “What’s this war in the heart of nature?” and “Is this darkness in you, too?” Despite not offering any easy answers, the film reveals as much about the human spirit as it does about the nature of war. The Thin Red Line went on to be nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Director, but didn’t win any — it had the misfortune of being released the same year as Saving Private Ryan, 1998’s most popular World War II movie by far, though arguably not its best.
