Selected Documentaries, Movies, & Television Series on the Second World War

Documentaries, Movies, and Television Series

 

It is the task of every student and teacher to analyze the listed documentaries, movies, and television series critically. Especially – but not only – some of the older productions in the chronologically organized overview are, according to contemporary standards, not politically correct, biased, and sometimes overtly racist and sexist.

We nevertheless included these films to foster important discussions in the classroom about the historical change in the construction and perception of war in film and its intersection with notions of class, race and gender. Therefore, all films need to be seen and studied critically as a reflection of the time of their production, including more recent movies. A good introduction into the study of the history of movies and critical film analysis is:

 

Especially interesting films for the subject of gender and war are marked with an *.

 

Documentaries

 

(United States, PBS & WGBH, 1998) (53 m)
Director: John Bridcut

During the First and Second World War the nature of war changed. Both were highly industrialized total wars which pit whole societies against each other. Civilians were needed at the home front to support the war efforts. At the same time, they found themselves in the line of fire. The PBS documentary, Total War, focuses on the Second World War and presents eyewitnesses from Britain, Germany, Russia, Korea, Japan, and the United States. The film tells the story of how millions of civilians participated and came to be legitimate targets in the Second World War.
PBS Website
PBS Website of The People’s Century Series
You Tube

 

(United States, PBS/Florentine Films 2007) (Seven episodes, 2h 7 m each)
Directors: Ken Burns and Lynn Novick

In this documentary series, the directors aspired to honor the experiences of those who lived through the greatest cataclysm in human history by providing the opportunity for them to bear witness to their own history. The film is therefore an attempt to describe, through eyewitness testimony, what the war was actually like for those who served on the front lines, in the places where the killing and the dying took place, as well as what it was like for their loved ones back home. The series does not sentimentalize, glorify, or aestheticize the war, but instead simply tells the stories of those who fought.
Trailer
PBS Website
IMDb

 

(France, Lagardère, 2015) (1h 31 m)
Directors: Fabien Beziat and Hugues Nancy

This French documentary tells the story of the millions of European women who fought against the misery and unspeakable horror in war-torn Europe during the Second World War. It explores their humiliations and imprisonment, their persecution and their deaths. These women worked at the home front in war industries and war welfare or became auxiliaries and soldiers, doctors and nurses. They fought against Nazi occupation as partisans, resistance fighters, and spies. The documentary tells the story of these women, neglected by most historians, and presents individual biographies of French, German, and American women such as Virginia Hall, Danielle Casanova, Sophie Scholl, Simone de Beauvoir, Simone Schloss, Suzanne Spaak, Germaine Tillon, Violette Szabo, Lucie Aubrac, Vera Atkins.
Netflix
IMDb
Lagardère Website

 

Movies
 

(United States, 1942) (2h 12m)
Director: William Wyler

Mrs. Miniver is a 1942 American romantic war drama directed by William Wyler and starring Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon. Inspired by the 1940 novel, Mrs. Miniver, by Jan Struther, the film shows how the life of an unassuming British housewife in rural England is touched by World War II. Mrs. Miniver won six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress (Greer Garson), and Best Supporting Actress (Teresa Wright). It was the first film with a plot line centered on World War II to win an Oscar for Best Picture.
Trailer
IMDb
Wikipedia

 

(United Kingdom, 1942) (1h 55 m)
Director: Noel Coward

This British war propaganda film made with the assistance of the Ministry of Information in the midst of the Second World War highlights and encourages national unity during the struggle. The film tells the story of a British naval ship, the HMS Torrin, from its construction to its sinking in the Mediterranean in 1941. The ship’s first and only commanding officer is the experienced Captain E.V. Kinross, who trains his men not only to be loyal to him, but to their country and to themselves. The men face daunting challenges at sea and at home: they lose shipmates in action and loved ones at home in Blitz. Throughout it all, the men of the Torrin serve valiantly and heroically.
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IMDb
Wikipedia

 

(United States, 1942) (2h 2m)
Director: Michael Curtiz

This 1942 romantic drama by Michael Curtiz won an Oscar for Best Picture. It is based on Murray Burnett and Joan Alison's unproduced stage play, Everybody Comes to Rick's, and stars Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, and Paul Henreid. Casablanca is often cited as one of the best films of all time. An American expatriate who owns an upscale nightclub unexpectedly reunites with his former lover in Morocco in the early days of World War II. He must choose between his love for her or help her husband, a Czech resistance leader, escape the Vichy-controlled territory.
Trailer
IMDb
Wikipedia

 

(United Kingdom, United States, 1961) (2h 38m)
Director: J. Lee Thompson

Based on Alistair MacLean's 1957 novel, this British-American epic war film tells the story of the Battle of Leros during the Dodecanese Campaign of World War II. With the Battle of Stalingrad turning the war against them in 1943, the Germans attempt to bully neutral Turkey into joining the Axis powers; to this end they have trapped 2,000 British soldiers on Kiros, an island in the Aegean, with only one sea route for evacuation, a route commanded by two gigantic German anti-ship batteries deployed in a massive cliffside bunker on the island of Navarone. A British team is sent to cross the occupied Greek territory and destroy the German gun emplacement that commands the route.
Trailer
IMDb
Wikipedia

 

(United Kingdom, 1969) (2h 12 m)
Director: Guy Hamilton

Renowned at the time for its unprecedented and spectacular flying sequences, this big-budget war film, directed by Guy Hamilton, drew multiple major acting names to star in its depiction of the Battle of Britain, the conflict that took place over the summer and autumn of 1940 when the British Royal Air Force defeated Germany’s Luftwaffe, ensuring the cancellation of Hitler’s plan to invade Britain by sea.
Trailer
IMDb
Wikipedia

 

(United States, 1970) (2h 5 m)
Director: Franklin J. Schaffner

This Oscar-winning film focuses on General George C. Patton during World War II. From campaigns in North Africa to Italy and Germany, Patton ruthlessly pursues the Germans in his quest to bring victory to the Allies. But his love of war and insistence on discipline, as well as his physically demanding maneuvers costs him the command of the Allied invasion of northern France. Patton's overt militarism later served as an anti-war message in early 1970s America.
Trailer
IMDb
Wikipedia

 

(United Kingdom, West Germany, 1977) (2h 12 m)
Director: Sam Peckinpah

Class conflict, greed, and blackmail characterize this film about German troops on the Eastern Front during World War II directed by Sam Peckinpash. Stransky, an aristocratic officer newly transferred from occupied France, aspires to earn the prestigious Iron Cross with his feats on the battlefield, but his inexperience and arrogance jeopardize his troops and instead win him many enemies. Corporal Steiner, a battle-hardened non-commissioned officer, is the challenger of Stransky in this movie and represents his opponents.
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Wikipedia

 

(West Germany, 1981) (2h 29m | 3h 29m)
Director: Wolfgang Petersen

This classic war film tells the story of a German U-Boat crew during the Battle of the Atlantic in World War II. Presenting the crew as ordinary men, some embittered by and some new to war, director Wolfgang Petersen presents a claustrophobic depiction of war as the crew try to evade the British fleet and Royal Air Force while desperately holding onto the reasons they fight.
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IMDb
Wikipedia

 

(United Kingdom, 1987) (2h 58m)
Director: John Boorman

This film was a semiautobiographical project for writer and director, John Boorman. It focuses on nine-year-old Bill Rohan, who grows up in Britain during the Blitz of World War II. Living on the outskirts of London, Bill experiences not only the horrors of war, but also its exhilarations. As he prowls the ruins of bombed houses, he quickly learns about sex, death, love, hypocrisy, and the failings of adults.
Trailer
IMDb
Wikipedia

 

(West Germany, Soviet Union, 1993) (2h 14m)
Director: Joseph Vilsmaier

This film, directed by Joseph Vilsmaier, follows the progress of a German platoon through the brutal fighting of the Battle of Stalingrad. After having half their number wiped out and being placed under the command of a sadistic captain, the lieutenant of the platoon convinces his men to desert, and they are faced with the task of escaping a city completely surrounded by a hostile Soviet army.
Trailer
IMDb
Wikipedia

 

(United States, 1998) (2h 49m)
Director: Steven Spielberg

Saving Private Ryan is a 1998 American war film that portrays the Normandy (D-Day) landings and its immediate aftermath. Directed by Steven Spielberg it stars Tom Hanks, Matt Damon, and Tom Sizemore, won five Oscars and went on to become an iconic American war film. The film follows United States Army Rangers Captain John H. Miller and his squad as they search for a paratrooper, Private First Class James Francis Ryan, the last surviving brother of three servicemen killed in action.
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IMDb
Wikipedia

 

(United States, 1998) (2h 50m)
Director: Terrence Malick

Highly acclaimed and considered one of the best contemporary war films, The Thin Red Line is based on a novel by James Jones and explores the horrors of war as well as the beauty of nature during the Battle of Guadalcanal, a turning point for the Allies in the Pacific theater during World War II. U.S. Army Private Witt goes AWOL to live simply among indigenous people but is forced back into war. Extended fighting on Hill 210 leaves Witt's company depleted and dispersed. By focusing on disenchanted soldiers who either leave their unit, refuse unjust orders, or are motivated by ruthless careerism, the film offers a different perspective on American participation in the Second World War. The film stars Jim Caviezel, Sean Penn, and Nick Nolte.
Trailer
IMDb
Wikipedia

 

(United States, France, Germany, United Kingdom, Ireland, 2001) (2h 11m)
Director: Jean-Jacques Annaud

This battle movie by Jean-Jacques Annaud portrays the German siege of Stalingrad. For the Soviets, the fall of Stalingrad meant the collapse of the whole country. The Germans and Russians are therefore fighting over every block, leaving only ruins behind. The Russian sniper Vassili Zaitsev, stalks the Germans soldiers, taking them out one by one. As German morale plummets, German master sniper, Major König, arrives to hunt Zaitsev down and Zaitsev is forced to draw on deep reserves to protect his country and live up to the expectations his countrymen and the Communists project on him.
Trailer
IMDb
Wikipedia

 

(United Kingdom, United States, Germany, Netherlands, 2001) (2h 59m)
Director: Michael Apted

This highly fictionalized account of the British cryptography project during World War II is directed by Michael Apted. During the heart of World War II, in March of 1943, cryptoanalysts at Britain's code-breaking center have discovered to their horror that Nazi U-boats have changed their enigma code. Authorities enlist the help of a brilliant young man named Tom Jericho to help them break the code again. The possibility of a spy within the British code-breakers' ranks looms large, however, and Tom's lover, Claire, has disappeared. With the help of Claire’s best friend, Tom discovers both personal and national betrayals.
Trailer
IMDb
Wikipedia

 

(United Kingdom, Canada, 2001) (2h 3m)
Director: Lyndon Chubbuck

During the London Blitz, two young working-class women fall in love with Canadian soldiers. When their new husbands go off to war, Lily and Sophia leave for Canada. Once there, they receive different receptions from their in-laws. Lily decides to stay and raise her daughter with her shell-shocked husband, while Sophia returns home.
IMDb
Wikipedia

 

(United Kingdom, 2006) (1h 35m)
Director: Gavin Millar

Based on the diaries of Nella Last and initially composed for the Mass Observation project to record ordinary people's war experiences, Housewife, 49 follows the Last’s transformation from a timid housewife to an empowered and assertive agent with the Women’s Volunteer Services  during World War II. Last volunteers for local branch of the Service in defiance of her controlling husband. She gains independence and friendship in spite of rationing, air raids, and the war's effects on her sons.
IMDb
Wikipedia

 

(France, Algeria, 2006) (2h 55m)
Director: Rachid Bouchareb

Rachid Bouchareb's powerful film chronicles the journey of four North African soldiers who join the French army to help liberate France from Nazi occupation during World War II, thereby redirecting attention to a region and demographic largely ignored by history. The film begins in North Africa where large numbers of indigènes (French Algerian Tirailleurs as well as Tunisian or Moroccan Goumiers) have been recruited into the French First Army of the Free French Forces,  formed to liberate France from the Nazi occupation. The film explores in detail the discriminatory treatment of colonial North Africans by the white French and pays overdue tribute to the heroism of these forgotten troops.
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IMDb
Wikipedia

 

(United States, 2006) (1h 55m)
Director: Steven Soderbergh

Visually styled as a post-war film noir, The Good German, based on a novel by Joseph Kanon and directed by Steven Soderbergh, explores corruption, immorality, and compromise in post-World War II Berlin. American war correspondent Jake Geismar arrives in Berlin to cover the Potsdam Conference and reunite with his old flame, Lena. His attention soon turns to unraveling two murder mysteries connected to Lena. His investigation uncovers the U.S. Army's secret mission to recruit German scientists involved with perpetrating the Holocaust. Fast-paced but nuanced, Soderbergh’s classic film explores the aftermath of war and the many wrenching dilemmas faced by its survivors.
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Wikipedia

 

(United Kingdom, France, 2007) (2h 3m)
Director: Joe Wright

When 13-year-old Briony Tallis spies her older sister and neighbor Robbie Turner at the fountain in front of the family estate, her subsequent misinterpretation of their relationship sets into motion a series of misunderstandings that will have tragic and lasting repercussions for the whole family. Based on acclaimed British author, Ian McKellan’s eponymous masterpiece, this film by director Joe Wright chronicles a crime and its consequences over the course of six decades, beginning in the 1930s and continuing into the Second World War.
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Wikipedia

 

(United States, Italy, 2008) (2h 30m)
Director: Spike Lee

This film by Spike Lee follows the adventures of three African American soldiers who get caught on the wrong side of the line in a disastrous American offensive against Axis powers in Italy. After rescuing an Italian boy from a collapsing building, the soldiers reach a village and befriend its residents. But they are soon faced with traitorous partisans and army informants and must marshal all their resolve to survive and protect their newfound friends.
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IMDb
Wikipedia

 

(United States, 2008) (2h 17m)
Director: Edward Zwick

Based on a true story, this film by Edward Zwick, traces the evolution of the Bielski Partisans, the largest and most successful Jewish resistance during World War II. The three Bielski brothers escape into the Naliboki Forest in Belarus after the Nazi Einsatzgruppen (special forces) sweep through Eastern Europe.The brothers create a self-sustaining, self-governing community of 1,200 Jewish refugees and organize a guerilla force to fight the Nazis. The eldest brother, Tuvia Bielski, assumes leadership of the survivors, but his brother longs to join the Russian resistance, even though the partisans don’t allow Jews to fight. The brothers must face wrenching decisions in their struggle to survive and reclaim dignity for their people in a region riven with anti-Semitism.
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Wikipedia

 

(United States, Germany, 2009) (2h 33m)
Director: Quentin Tarantino

Director Quentin Tarantino re-imagines World War II as a revenge-fantasy for Jewish victims of Nazi Germany in this 2009 film. In Nazi occupied France, young Jewish refugee, Shosanna Dreyfus, witnesses the slaughter of her family by Colonel Hans Landa. Narrowly escaping with her life, she plots her revenge several years later when German war hero Fredrick Zoller takes an interest in her and arranges for an illustrious movie premiere to take place at the theater he runs. With the promise of every major Nazi officer in attendance, the event catches the attention of the “Basterds,” a group of Jewish-American guerilla soldiers led by the ruthless Lt. Aldo Raine. As the executioners advance and Shosanna’s plans are set in motion, the two groups’ paths cross to create  a fateful evening that will shake the very annals of history.
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Television Series
 

(Britain, BBC, 2009-11) (15 episodes, 45m per episode)
Creator: Roland Moore

Land Girls is a BBC television period drama series, created by Roland Moore and commissioned to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the Second World War. The series depicts the work and life of British women in the Women’s Land Army (WLA). The story focuses  on a group of women of different ages and social backgrounds who were forced to join the WLA at the British home front.
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IMDb
Wikipedia

 

(Canada, Univision Canada, 2012-13) (3 series,18 episodes, 45m per episode)
Directors: Michael MacLennan and Adrienne Mitchell

Bomb Girls profiles  four women who work in a Canadian munitions factory building bombs for the Allied forces fighting on the European front during World War II. The series highlights how the war thrust these women into new worlds, changing their lives profoundly and irrevocably as they are liberated from domestic and social restrictions.
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Wikipedia

 

(Germany, German Public Broadcasting organization ZDF 2013)
(3 episodes, 1h 30m per episode)
Director: Philipp Kadelbach

Generation War (German: Unsere Mütter, Unsere Väter, lit. “Our Mothers, Our Fathers”) is a German World War II TV miniseries in three parts. The series tells the story of five young German friends on their different paths through Nazi Germany and World War II: as Wehrmacht soldiers on the Eastern Front, a war nurse, an aspiring singer, and a Jewish tailor. The narrative spans four years, starting in 1941 Berlin, when the friends meet up for a last time before embarking on their journeys, enthusiastically vowing to meet up again the following Christmas. As the months pass and the war does not end, each must grapple with the dawning horror of their country’s crimes and their own complicity.
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Wikipedia

 

(Britain, ITV Studios, 2015-16) (12 episodes, 44-46m per episode)
Creator: Simon Block

This BBC series tells the story of British women’s war efforts through the National Federation of Women’s Institutes, a community-based organization for women in the United Kingdom, Canada, South Africa, and New Zealand. The Institute served as a source of comfort and community for the women as their men left for war, many of them never to return. Set in a rural Cheshire community, the series provides viewers a snapshot into English life on the home front during the war.
Trailer
IMDb
PBS Website
Wikipedia

 

(Britain, United States, BBC/PBS, 2019) (6 episodes, c. 60m per episode)
Creator: Peter Bowker

This series is an emotionally gripping, intense World War II drama that follows the intertwining fates of ordinary people in five countries as they grapple with the effects of the war on their every-day lives. Set in Britain, Poland, France, Germany and the United States, the events of the seven-hour series take place during the first year of the war and include a stellar cast with Academy Award-winner Helen Hunt, Sean Bean, Lesley Manville, Jonah Hauer-King and Blake Harrison.
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IMDb
PBS Website
Wikipedia