World War 2 was the largest conflict in human history, and countless films have told and retold the story of the many men and women who fought--and often died--during this time. The best World War 2 movies have managed to stand out from the crowd in a variety of ways, ranging from extremely authentic battle sequences to emotionally heart-wrenching tales of death and grief. These films are still produced today, and as you'll see below, some contemporary World War 2 movies have had a profound impact on us. Many of these are, as you might expect, not appropriate for younger viewers, though there are also a selection that manage to convey their message and story without excessive violence and gore on screen.
For our list of the best World War 2 movies, we opted to focus on films that are actively about the war itself and the effect it had on soldiers and civilians alike. We omitted films focused primarily on the Holocaust, as we felt this was an equally important topic that was worth more than a few inclusions in a larger list.
Read on for our list of the best World War 2 movies, including where you can watch them among the various streaming services--except for one of them, which is infuriatingly difficult to track down.
Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds is a brilliantly entertaining what-if tale of the titular Basterds--sent ahead of Operation Overlord to strike terror into the Nazis--planning a massive attack on the German high command while a French-Jewish woman plans the same, each without the other's knowledge. It contains all the great elements you'd expect from a Tarantino movie, like sudden moments of extreme violence, tremendous dialogue, and Samuel L. Jackson (as the narrator), but it's Christoph Waltz's Oscar-winning performance as SS Colonel Hans Landa that truly brings it all together. Landa is both charming and terrifying, his motivations and intentions often disguised with a cheery and polite disposition that will leave you squirming in your seat.
Streaming on: Paid rental services
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
When you read "World War 2 movies," this was probably the first one that came to mind, and for good reason. Saving Private Ryan is an alarmingly graphic and realistic depiction of the Normandy invasion, and while Private Ryan's story is fictional, Steven Spielberg's approach to combat was so authentic that it famously caused some D-Day veterans to have to leave their screenings. It's not an easy watch, even on repeat viewings, but that sense of horror and brutality serves a real purpose. Thousands of servicemen stepped "Into the Jaws of Death" to put an end to Hitler's reign of terror, and we--the grateful civilians--can at least see something resembling what they went through.
Streaming on: Prime Video, Paramount+
The Thin Red Line (1998)
Terrence Malick's The Thin Red Line released mere months after Saving Private Ryan, but make no mistake: This is not the Pacific-conflict equivalent to Spielberg's movie. Malick, who returned to direct the movie 20 years after his previous feature, made a film that is as much about the human condition and our connection to the world as it is World War 2 itself. This film doesn't much care to remind you that war is bad, or violent--it knows you already understand that, and instead is often content to show the natural beauty of the environment and turn the camera away from the dead and dying. Perhaps that's frustrating for someone looking for a more "normal" war movie, but the interpretations one can draw from Malick's work make for one unique film.
Streaming on: Apple TV+
Stalingrad (1993)
Americans have made a whole bunch of World War 2 movies, as have the Russians, British, and French, but one of the most impactful comes from Germany. 1993's Stalingrad (do not confuse this with the more recent and very bad film of the same name) sees a group of Wehrmacht soldiers sent to the Eastern Front for what initially seems like the next step in their rout of the Soviet Union. If they didn't realize the Third Reich and its fervent supporters were pure evil, however, the Battle of Stalingrad served as a big wake-up call, with the German officers just as eager to slaughter them for insubordination as the Soviets were for their invasion. There are no happy endings for the cogs in the Nazi war machine, and that was especially true during Germany's most-crucial defeat.
Streaming on: Nowhere, but cheap on physical disc
Hacksaw Ridge (2016)
War heroes have often been recognized for how many enemies they killed, but there was another type of war hero whose valor and drive were measured in the allies he saved. Hacksaw Ridge tells the true story of Desmond Doss, a Seventh-Day Adventist who enlisted in the United States Army and fought--through the legal system, not literally--to be able to serve in the Pacific without holding a weapon, in accordance with his religious beliefs. Andrew Garfield gives a brilliant performance in the lead role, his faith never shaking in the face of horrible gore and destruction as he braves enemy fire and grenades to rescue those who once mocked him for his convictions. Through the toughest moments, Doss keeps telling himself to go save "one more," and he did far more than that.
Streaming on: Netflix
Come And See (1985)
Elem Klimov isn't exactly a household name in the West, but his 1985 film Come And See is one of the most powerful depictions of Nazi atrocities during World War 2. Set in Belarus, the film sees a teenage boy, Flyora, come into possession of a Soviet rifle, which he hopes will let him be accepted into the local resistance. His journey to join, however, is quickly interrupted as he witnesses the most evil acts imaginable, culminating in a truly horrifying mass-killing from which he barely escapes. Flyora's face rapidly ages despite the film taking place over a very short time period, and Come And See continually shifts between hyper-realism and surrealism in a unique and brutally effective way. The title itself is a command to the audience--you may not have had to suffer like so many did during WW2, but the least you can do is see what happened without turning away.
Streaming on: The Criterion Channel
When Trumpets Fade (1998)
Some men are born to be heroes. Others aren't given much of a choice. When Trumpets Fade--a made-for-TV HBO movie from 1998--is one of the grimmest and most-depressing World War 2 movies ever made, in large part because there are no valiant heroes. Protagonist David Manning (Ron Eldard) has survived up to the Battle of Hürtgen Forest through sheer luck and his own unwillingness to put himself in harm's way, and his fellow soldiers have started wising up to his bare-minimum combat approach. But when you see the death all around him--and the futile push the Americans are making in an effort to break through German defenses--you can't help but understand someone who just wants to make it out alive. Alongside Eldard's excellent performance, the film has a surprising number of big names for what is a pretty low-budget production, including Timothy Olyphant, Dwight Yoakam, and Bobby Cannavale.
Streaming on: Max
Jojo Rabbit (2019)
A film about the dangers of indoctrination and the brainwashing so many accepted outright under Hitler's regime, Jojo Rabbit satirizes Hitler--with Jewish-Maori director Taika Waititi playing the role like an overgrown child--not to simply make fun of the one-testicled madman, but to show how Germany's children had been lied to since birth. Not only were they lied to about the Jews, who didn't actually have horns or shapeshifting abilities, but also Germany's military might in the closing stage of the war. This led to many of the Hitler Youth fighting to their last breath to defend Berlin from certain destruction at the hands of the Soviet Union, while their fearless leader took the cowardly route. Protagonist Jojo's eventual realization that he had been lied to, and that Germany losing the war was a good thing, ultimately provides a glimmer of hope for the future after such brutally evil acts have occurred.
Dunkirk (2017)
When World War 2 had just begun, it looked like the Germans were going to take over all of Europe, and the Fall of France in 1940 was a terrifying display of their military might. However, all hope was not lost, as a miraculous rescue operation--largely conducted by civilian ships--managed to save hundreds of thousands of British troops while the German army hesitated its advance. Told across three perspectives--a British soldier, an RAF pilot, and a civilian boat captain--Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk is both gripping and intentionally frustrating. With no means of defending themselves, the British troops are simply forced to wait and hope for the best, and only the collective action of those who vowed to make a difference--both military and civilian--was enough to save their lives and, by extension, the lives of even more who would have been murdered by the Nazis. As with many Nolan films, Dunkirk benefits from a second viewing, as the three storylines take place over different stretches of time and only converge during the closing moments.
Streaming on: Paid rental services
Letters From Iwo Jima (2006)
A companion piece to his film Flags of Our Fathers (also worth watching), Clint Eastwood's Letters From Iwo Jima tells the story of the Japanese soldiers futilely charged with defending the titular island from an American invasion. In the face of certain failure, many choose to follow the Emperor to their dying breath, with an honorable death seeming better than surviving in defeat. More than anything, Letters From Iwo Jima humanizes the Japanese grunt soldiers conscripted into the military, many of whom only battle the Americans because that's what they were told to do. A particularly moving scene sees an English-speaking Japanese officer talk to a mortally wounded American marine during his last moments, and it isn't hard to imagine a world in which they could have been friends--were it not for power-hungry monsters using the less-privileged as pawns for world domination.
Streaming on: Paid rental services
Defiance (2008)
While millions of Jews were murdered during World War 2--both in camps and by SS death squads--there was a small but endlessly resourceful group that was able to make an extraordinary stand against the Nazis in Belarus. Daniel Craig stars as Tuvia Bielski, a resistance leader tasked both with forming a battle plan against German attacks and keeping order within his community. Defiance is a grim, often ugly movie, but one that shows the potential for light at the end of a very, very long tunnel if we're willing to fight for it. Alongside Craig, Defiance has a fantastic supporting cast that includes Jamie Bell, Liev Schreiber, and a very young George MacKay--who would go on to have his career-defining role in the WW1 film 1917.
Streaming on: Paramount+, Pluto
Downfall (2004)
You've almost certainly seen the memes 2004's Downfall spawned, but this film is also a disturbing look at the final days of the Third Reich--and Hitler's dwindling sanity. Set during the Battle of Berlin, Downfall sees Adolf Hitler (Bruno Ganz) gradually come to terms with what nearly everyone around him already knew: The war is lost, and his reign of terror is over. Director Oliver Hirschbiegel and Ganz manage to do something truly remarkable, offering a "human" side to the dictator that actually makes him seem even more evil, as his fears begin to spiral and he suspects even his most ardent supporters have betrayed him. Seeing the Nazi inner circle lose hope and begin panicking is quite satisfying, as well, though we do wish the camera spent less time on Joseph Goebbels' face--he's shot in a pale, deathlike manner that seems to suggest he spawned from Hell itself, which is what we'd suspect from someone who willingly murdered his own children.
Streaming on: Tubi, Peacock, Hoopla, Pluto, Kanopy
Das Boot (1981)
Roughly 40,000 sailors manned German U-Boats during World War 2. Only about 10,000 lived to see the end of the war. Das Boot shows why, offering a harrowing look at a submarine crew that is bombarded by air attacks, depth charges, and horrible storms as it searches for allied ships to attack. It offers a mostly apolitical look at the conflict--which is probably necessary to make the audience accept traveling with these people for nearly four hours--but it's not any one sailor who becomes the focal point of Das Boot. Instead, you do, as the cramped submarine gives every shot a sense of anxiety and dread. This is exacerbated as the crew dives far below the U-Boat's rated depth, with the hull creaking and popping. Everyone on board silently braces for an implosion, and even though we know that's not how the film is going to end, it's tough not to worry a bit, anyway--for our own sake.
Stream on: Paid rental services
Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
Grave of the Fireflies is the greatest World War 2 movie you're not going to want to watch more than once. The Studio Ghibli production--directed by Isao Takahata rather than Miyazaki--sees a teenage boy and his younger sister forced to abandon their burning home after American air raids devastate Japan. By far the grimmest and most-disturbing film in the Ghibli catalog, Grave of the Fireflies isn't interested in focusing on the combatants in the conflict, instead reminding us that children--helpless and without a voice--are often the biggest victims of war. It's a film that won't give you any sort of patriotic pride, but it will make you hug your kids as tightly as possible while you remind them that you'll never let them go hungry or feel unloved. Criminally, Grave of the Fireflies is not available to stream anywhere online, nor are physical copies easily accessible. This is a film that everyone should see, so that needs to change.
Streaming on: Literally nowhere--fix this!
Patton (1970)
George C. Scott could read the phone book and make it a gripping, can't-miss epic, and he was perfectly cast as controversial general George Patton in the 1970 biopic. Covering some of his key moments during World War 2, including the African campaign and the Battle of the Bulge, Patton paints the general as gruff, unsympathetic, and crude, but also unquestionably effective. Scott plays the part with a bit of a wink to the audience, as you're clearly supposed to be thankful for Patton's contributions to the war effort while also absolutely detesting him as a person. It certainly works, especially because rival general Montgomery is portrayed with such a snooty sense of superiority that he could have a role working as host at Chicago's Chez Quis.
Streaming on: Roku Cinema Box, paid streaming services
The Dirty Dozen (1967)
A fictional World War 2 tale set just before the Normandy invasion, The Dirty Dozen sees a recalcitrant Army major (Lee Marvin) put in charge of a squad of 12 prisoners--either sentenced to death or decades in military detention--who are given the chance to win back their freedom and place in the armed forces. The mission, however, is all but certain death, as the group are sent parachuting into enemy territory to eliminate high-ranking officers gathered at a heavily fortified base. The Dirty Dozen's tone shifts from somewhat lighthearted to dead serious as the group launches its mission, and the substantial character-building time we get beforehand makes every death--yes, we did say this was a very dangerous mission--more impactful. That's especially true when you realize the squad includes big names like Donald Sutherland, Charles Bronson, and John Cassavetes.
Streaming on: Paid rental services
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
The oldest film on our list by a considerable margin, The Bridge on the River Kwai is still plenty engaging today, chronicling the imprisonment of British soldiers by the Japanese at a remote camp. Despite abuse from the guards and regular death threats, the soldiers refuse to stop working as a unit, with Colonel Nicholson (Alec Guinness of Star Wars fame) demanding they carry out their orders to the best of their ability. Those orders are to build a bridge capable of supporting a local supply train, which a British special-operations group wants to destroy. As the film reaches its climax and the action finally ramps up, The Bridge on the River Kwai does get a little messy, but the fantastic performances from Guinness, William Holden, and Sessue Hayakawa help it remain a classic nearly 70 years later.
Streaming on: Prime Video, The Criterion Channel
Wil/Will (2023)
Wil--known as Will in some regions--examines a group we've seldom seen in World War 2 films: the police in occupied countries under Nazi control. Set in Antwerp, Belgium, the film follows a few new recruits to the Auxiliary Police, who were essentially hired to follow the Germans' orders and spread the Nazis' reign of terror when they were unable to do it themselves. Protagonist Wil has little desire to act as an extension of the Nazis, and a violent encounter early in the story sees him simultaneously trying to do what is right while also avoiding attracting attention from the Germans. It's often a brutally difficult film to watch, and there are no larger-than-life heroes here. Don't expect a happy ending, as you will see the full evil of fascism on display.
Streaming on: Netflix
The Forgotten Battle (2020)
As the name implies, The Forgotten Battle focuses on the seldom-discussed Battle of the Scheldt, a bloody and lengthy campaign that saw primarily Canadian troops facing off against the Wehrmacht for control of a shipping pathway. The film splits its focus between a few different characters, including an SS combatant and a British pilot, the latter of whom finds himself on the ground and struggling to make contact with allies. The Forgotten Battle doesn't sugarcoat the events--it's extremely violent and shows that, at times, the fighting had turned into a meat grinder--and much like Saving Private Ryan helped do for D-Day, this film gives us a new sense of appreciation and respect for those who liberated Europe from the Nazis.
Streaming on: Netflix
