Nobody makes war films like Hollywood. For better or worse, the standard Hollywood model for the war film genre is to focus on chaos and spectacle. It is rare for a big-budget war film to be more of an intimate, psychological affair.
In other markets of the world, filmmakers have long been producing intelligent and contemplative films about a certain historical battle, focusing on the destruction of war, as opposed to the glory it allegedly brings. From stuffy period pieces to films so gritty and real, they are often more like nonfiction horror films. These are the 10 best foreign war films, ranked by their IMDb ratings.
Red Cliff (Part I - 7.4) (Part II - 7.6)
John Woo directed this two-part epic historical film about the enormous siege of action scenes with some serious scale to create a truly cinematic experience that needs to be seen on the biggest possible screen.
Both volumes of the film should be seen one right after the other, an exhaustive adventure that visually pays off in spades. The films are held back from total greatness by the cheesier romance inclinations and some hollow dialogue. Still, they are two of John Woo's best modern efforts.
Son Of Saul (7.6)
The subject of the Son of Saul, without appearing to try at all.
The film, the debut project from writer/directed Nemes Laszlo, is such a strikingly bleak depiction of history's darkest hour that all that's left in the end is the credits and a dropped jaw. A film that earns every moment it's in front of the audience, Son of Saul is one of the best Holocaust movies ever made.
Cold War (7.6)
Though the titular dispute never had frontline battles like traditional conflicts, it nevertheless produced casualties and destruction. This fact is beautifully displayed in crisp black-and-white melancholy in the film Cold War.
Ostensibly a doomed romance story, the film follows a Polish composer and a singer he discovers in audition as they fall in love. Their romance is constantly undermined by the political turmoil of the 1950s, culminating in an unforgettable finale. A brilliantly melancholic film that manages to balance the historical context with the deeply personal narrative at its center in satisfying and organic ways, the film is close to perfection.
Soldier Of Orange (7.7)
Before he made films like Paul Verhoeven directed this Dutch film about the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. A mix between a war epic and a coming of age dramedy, the film cleverly details both sides of the war and the ways that the national crisis affects the central friendships.
Rutger Hauer gives an excellent leading performance as one of the boys who get sucked into the fighting, and later a political plot with the Dutch resistance. The film is well-acted and subversive enough to be worth a watch and points to the spectacle based filmmaking Verhoeven would go on to achieve.
Au Revoir Les Enfants (8.0)
Louis Malle is one of the best French filmmakers of his generation. Perhaps his greatest work is this 1987 semiautobiographical film about a Catholic boarding school that is run by a man who may or may not just be using the school to hide Jewish children from the Gestapo.
Malle's film is raw and constructed in a way that accomplishes every narrative and subliminal task that it sets out to achieve. The film went on to win the prestigious Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival and has maintained a reputation as one of 's best cinematic offerings from the 1980s.
La Grande Illusion (8.1)
Speaking of masterpieces from , Jean Renoir's 1937 film La Grande Illusion is one of the best films of all time. The film tells the story of two French pilots who are gunned down out of the sky and spend the next chunk of time being herded from POW camp to POW camp.
A mix of daring escapes and real human drama, Renoir's film is expertly paced and shot in such a masterful way that there is always something interesting happening on screen. A classic exploration of the will to survive, the film is a must for every film lover out there.
Downfall (8.2)
Never has a film this bleak and long been so well-made that the time simply flies by. Downfall is the story of the last days of WWII from the perspective of Adolf Hitler and a bulk of the Third Reich leadership, who are all cooped up in a bunker underground.
Bruno Ganz gives one of the most courageous and brilliant performances in film history as the German dictator, showing the man for what he was - a mentally ill megalomaniac unable to accept his defeat. Haunting and unforgettable in every way, filmmaking is rarely this bold.
Come And See (8.3)
More of an experimental nightmare than a traditional war narrative, Come and See is one of the most disturbing depictions of history ever committed to celluloid.
Telling the story of a young Belarussian boy who s the Belarus resistance movement to fight the Nazi invasion, the film details the boy's first hand witnessing of the Nazi's vile war crimes. Utilizing unconventional cinematography and a surreal hazy blanket that settles over the images, the film manages to get under the viewer's skin and linger there forever.
Das Boot (8.3)
Wolfgang Petersen's submarine thriller is the most effectively claustrophobic film in the war genre. A crossover hit that launched Petersen's Hollywood career, U-boat crew out on the Atlantic ocean patrolling for enemy warships during WWII.
The film commands attention for its 2.5-hour runtime, every minute of which is necessary for the film's masterful blend of exciting naval warfare and the day-to-day lives of the crew who are forced to endure each other in tight quarters. The film is the best of its kind and a stroke of genius for the prolific German auteur.
Life Is Beautiful (8.6)
A film that has long been more favored by the audiences than the critics (59 on Metacritic), Life is Beautiful is a crowd-pleasing crossover hit that features an Academy Award-winning performance from writer/director Roberto Benigni, as a man who uses humor and charm to shield his family from the horrors of the Nazi war-machine.
A decidedly smart but maudlin exploration of the power of love and laughter, the film's success is no surprise, it's message and content transcending the language barrier so much that the film became a huge international hit.
