A dozen of the best

War History Online has a list of the twelve best World War Two movies:

The Second World War was a conflict that spanned the globe, left huge craters and countless unexploded vintage bombs in three continents and touched billions of lives directly until now including those of filmmakers, the actors they cast for their World War Two movies, and even the crew that worked for them. Yes, there have been a number of epic war films [both World War One and World War Two along with movies showcasing other conflicts throughout world history] made throughout filmmaking history.
While there’s that fact, it doesn’t erase the “other side of the coin”, so to speak, the many terrible movies in the war genre made. But the good ones make up for the bad ones. That spoken, here’s what we think are the best war films made, all twelve of them ,in no particular order:

1: The Pianist
Based on the true story of the Polish-Jewish pianist and composer Wladyslaw Szpilman, this historical drama is a standout when it comes to showcasing the horrors of World War Two, in particular for the Jews during the Holocaust. 

2: The Battle of Britain
This 1969 war film is in this best list for three reasons:
One, it’s an exceptional movie centered on one of World War Two’s most critical encounters. Two, the fact that each of the aircraft used in the movie was the real deal. That meant each one of them came and saw action during World War Two. Thirdly, the dogfight sequences were simply epic! Besides, you don’t get to see the latter two things in films nowadays.

3: A Bridge Too Far
Based on a book of the same name and boasting of an all-star cast of A-list actors in the 70s, the likes of Sean Connery, Gene Hackman, and Anthony Hopkins, this film tackled one of the most daring attempts at ending the war at an earlier date but ended up in failure: Operation Market Garden.
The movie may run a bit too long for some but, aside from the impressive cast, the re-imagining of the deteriorating situation the Allied paratroopers were in was quite masterful so, these make up for that shortcoming.

4: The Longest Day
If Quentin Tarantino took liberties in making his Inglorious Basterds, Ken Annakin did the opposite when making his black-and-white classic, The Longest Day. This was the D-Day movie before Saving Private Ryan came into the picture.
The war flick boasted of a huge stellar cast. Furthermore, some of its actors, like Henry Fonda, really did fight in the conflict. This, along with the number of Allied and Axis consultants employed just for the movie, lent to a really authentic look at what happened during the invasion.

5: Tora! Tora! Tora!
This movie is on the top list when it comes to accuracy with its plot centered on the attack on Pearl Harbor, leading to the American decision to wage war against Japan. After all, this 1970 war flick was the product of years of negotiation and collaboration between American and Japanese directors thus was able to show both sides in just one picture. And, like The Battle of Britain, this World War Two movie used aircraft and equipment left over from the Second World War.

6: Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad is one of the most, if, arguably, the most, depicted conflicts during World War Two, with many shows and documentaries about the events surrounding it and its two key players, the Russians and the Germans.
This 1993 war flick is the second movie made about the battle, showing it from a German perspective, with all the gritty horrors the soldiers experienced in the Russian city after being drilled that they were chosen “because they are the best” before being deployed there. (Just a note, if you are into feel-good war films, then, this one’s not for you.)

7: The Bridge on the River Kwai
This 1957 war flick was another work of fiction based on an actual World War Two event, the building of the Burma Railway, aka the Death Railway, by Allied POWs between 1942 and 1943.
The circumstances that surrounded those who built the railway were quite hellish, and an estimated ninety thousand Allied POWs died during its construction, due to the brutal treatments their Japanese and Korean captors put them through. This war film made it to this best list simply because it's one of the greatest movies ever made.

8: The Great Escape
This 52-year-old war World War Two movie may be dumb to some but then, it has some great stunt sequences that are thrilling to see.
It’s a fun, adventure-filled movie of POWs trying to make a break from the camp they were put into and was based from the non-fiction book written by Paul Brickhill in 1944 about the mass escape of POWs from Stalag Luft III in what is now Poland. But then, the end is a reminder how war is not a game after all.

9: Saving Private Ryan
Watch the film’s opening scenes, and you’ll get why this 1998 American flick made it to this best list. The realistic and very graphic elements of this movie’s first 27 minutes or so sets it above others in the war film genre.
Added to that, it was a Steven Spielberg masterpiece and featured the stellar performance of Tom Hanks, among others. Need we say more?

10: Das Boot
This 1981 German World War Two film [released in the US as The Boat] was originally a television miniseries with a showing span of six hours. It enjoyed theatrical release and its thrilling and suspenseful elements are the main reasons why it is in this best list.
One fact, most of Das Boot was shot inside a real submarine, subjecting its actors to that real claustrophobic feeling U-boat crews had to deal with during the war. It could be the reason their acting was extraordinarily realistic.

11: Letters From Iwo Jima
This Japanese-American war film was directed and co-produced by Clint Eastwood and was half of his two-part Iwo Jima saga with its companion movie, Flag of Our Fathers. While the latter was, in my honest opinion, a terrible movie, this one, told from the point-of-view of the Japanese soldiers who defended the island of Iwo Jima, is an exceptional piece.
The Japs here were portrayed just like any other human being caught up in the brutalities of war, not the usual “we are fanatical brutes” kind of way. I shed many tears after watching this one.

12: Grave of the Fireflies
You may find it weird that an animated picture made it to this best list but, in all seriousness, this haunting, and heart-breaking 1988 Japanese animated drama flick deserves its spot. Its plot centers on the two siblings’ will to survive and the struggles they go through in a war-torn Japan at the end of World War Two.

Like any other list, a line has to be drawn. Don’t get angry if a certain war film or that great World War Two epic flick did not make it. And anyway, as impressive as these war-genre pictures are, nothing tops Band of Brothers.

Rico says he's seen most of these, but some of the videos refuse to save in Blogger, so go to the article to view them or, better yet, go to Netflix and watch them...