Films about the Post-Cold War Period

This collection provides information on selected movies, TV productions and documentaries on the themes of gender, military and war in the period covered by the Oxford Handbook.

The most important wars for this period include:

  • Wars in former Yugoslavia (1991– 99)
  • U.S. Wars in the Middle East (1990–91ff)
  • Wars of Globalization
  • UN Peacekeeping / New Humanitarianism

Advanced Keyword Search

Previous | War Periods


Director(s): Fuglsig, Nicolai
Year of Publication: 2018
Major Wars:
Abstract:

In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, a unit of the U.S. Special Forces and CIA paramilitary officers travel to Afghanistan to topple the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. The Americans align with a local warlord on their march, by horseback, toward Mazar-i-...

Director(s): Sokurov, Aleksandr
Year of Publication: 2007
Major Wars:
Abstract:

In this highly acclaimed film about the Second Chechen War, an elderly Russian woman transforms the barren landscape of war and the deadened spirit of those engaged in it. Aleksandra travels to a remote outpost in Chechnya to visit her grandson....

Director(s): Dabis, Cherien
Year of Publication: 2009
Major Wars:
Abstract:

A moving portrait of Arab immigrant life in America following 9/11 and the Iraq War. Muna, a Christian Palestinian, lives and works in the West Bank until she receives a green card in the lottery. She and her son move in with her sister's family...

Director(s): Vajraca, Sabina
Year of Publication: 2005
Abstract:

Back to Bosnia is a documentary film about a family who returns to Bosnia in 2000, to reclaim the property they were forced out of at gun point. While there, the family is confronted with the destruction of their city's multi-ethnic...

Director(s): Moore, John
Year of Publication: 2001
Abstract:

The international politics of war delay the rescue mission of a U.S. naval pilot during the Bosnian War. During a reconnaissance mission, Lt. Chris Burnett flies off course and identifies mass graves in the demilitarized zone. After his plane is...

Director(s): Korki, Shawkat Amin
Year of Publication: 2014
Major Wars:
Abstract:

In this absurdist black comedy, a filmmaking duo encounters tragedy and corruption as they attempt to make a movie about the Iraqi-led genocide of Kurds (the Al-Anfal campaign) during the Iran-Iraq War. 

Director(s): Amata, Jeta
Year of Publication: 2011
Major Wars:
Abstract:

One local Niger Delta community's struggle against their own government and a multi-national oil corporation who has plundered their land and destroyed the environment. The film was reissued in 2012 with the title, Black November, with...

Director(s): Jeta Amata
Year of Publication: 2012
Major Wars:
Abstract:

The people of a volatile, oil-rich Nigerian community wages war against their corrupt government and a multi-national oil corporation to protect their land from being destroyed by excessive drilling and spills. To seek justice, a rebel...

Director(s): Sturm, Lukas
Year of Publication: 2012
Abstract:

In the midst of international tribunals on war crimes during the Bosnian War, an Austrian journalist questions whether the war and its crimes still continue. Nicole travels to a small Bosnian village to search for Edina, who disappeared after her...

Director(s): Paskaljevic, Goran
Year of Publication: 1998
Abstract:

In a series of interlocking stories, director Goran Paskaljević explores the connection between violence and masculinity within the context of the then ongoing wars in former Yugoslavia. On a harsh winter night in Belgrade before the signing of...

Director(s): Haneke, Michael
Year of Publication: 2005
Major Wars:
Abstract:

In Caché, an internationally acclaimed psychological thriller and widely hailed as a masterpiece, director Michael Haneke explores postcolonial tensions and memory in modern day France. Georges Laurent, a celebrity journalist, receives...

Director(s): Tanovic, Danis
Year of Publication: 2012
Abstract:

This film explores familial tensions, daily life, and possibilities in a small town in Herzegovina between the fall of communism and the outbreak of war in the former Yugoslavia. Divko returns home after twenty years in exile and sets out to...

Director(s): Zwick, Edward
Year of Publication: 1996
Major Wars:
Abstract:

In the first film about the Gulf War (1990-91), director Edward Zwick scrutinizes "friendly fire" and its emotional toll on the survivors. Lt. Colonel Nathaniel Serling investigates the posthumous candidacy of Captain Karen Walden, the first...

Director(s): Begić, Aida
Year of Publication: 2013
Abstract:

Rahima is an orphan of the Kosovo war. She works in a restaurant and must raise her young brother Nedim by herself. However, he is a careless student and a troublemaker, getting into various illicit schemes. During a confrontation, he breaks the...

Director(s): Pavlovic, Zivojin
Year of Publication: 2002
Abstract:

This allegorical film explores the disintegration of Yugoslavia through a family that represented its multiple ethnic and religious groups. When the Yugoslav wars break out, a Slovenian sergeant major of the Yugoslav People's Army moves to...

Director(s): Narvaja, Miguel Hugo Vaca
Year of Publication: 2009
Major Wars:
Abstract:

This documentary explores the history of Venezuela from its independence to modern day times. It frames Venezuela's struggle within the larger context of Latin America striving to win autonomy and emancipation from colonial and interventionist...

Director(s): White, Susanna
Year of Publication: 2008
Major Wars:
Abstract:

Based on journalist Evan Wright's award winning book, this HBO miniseries explores U.S. invasion of Iraq from the perspective of the U.S. Marines Corps 1st Reconnaissance Battalion. By following the battalion in their three-week trek from...

Director(s): Imamovic, Ahmed
Year of Publication: 2005
Abstract:

Kenan, a Bosniak classical musician, and Milan, a Serb, live in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina in a clandestine gay relationship. When the Bosnian War breaks out in 1992, they try to escape from the city. In order to hide from Serbian...

Director(s): Zbanic, Jasmila
Year of Publication: 2006
Abstract:

This critically acclaimed film explores ongoing traumas in postwar Sarajevo. A school field trip, free for children of war heroes, prompts Sara to ask her mother Esma about her father. Esma confesses that Sara is a child of rape, a war crime...

Director(s): Ostojic, Arsen A.
Year of Publication: 2012
Abstract:

This family drama exposes the long-standing ethnic tensions that led to the Bosnian War. Halima, a Bosniak woman searches for her son's remains, but she must provide DNA to the U.N. Committee for Missing Persons. Her search leads to her estranged...

Pages