The 15 Most Truthful Films About the War of 1941-1945 Available for Free
War films are always touching, aren”t they? To watch them, you have to be a stone, at least trying not to shed an angry, brutal, masculine (or feminine, but also angry and brutal) tear every now and then. The realization of how broken and distorted the lives of such people were by these terrible events, “the 40th, the deadly, military, frontline event,” gives you goosebumps.
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Of course, we want it to be a real film, not just a movie. It shows how things really were. And in most cases, such films are Soviet-made. Simple.
Hell, these films were literally created by soldiers on the front lines! People truly did return from that war, from the battlefields, from the trenches, for ten or twenty years. There are countless stories of actors literally falling ill on the sets of war films because the filming evoked painful memories of the war.
So, in this collection, you”ll find 15 real, honest, kind, sometimes very bitter, sometimes tender, sometimes cruel films about the Great Patriotic War.
Fifteen Films About the War of 1941-1945
- “Only Old Men Are Going to Battle,” 1974.
Description: The viewer is introduced to a team of pilots (“the second singing squadron”) and follows the development of several main characters from young, greenhorns to experienced fighters, fresh from flight school. Covering the young, it”s always the old man who goes first into battle.”
What”s difficult: This is a rare war film, and not just because it”s a comedy. There”s no need to emphasize how horrific and brutal this war was, or the daily horrors the soldiers endured (and piloting is one of the most emotionally and physically demanding frontline professions). The life of a young pilot.
Here they joke and laugh, here mischievous boys quarrel with their commanders and with each other, here they fall in love for the first time, here they rush into battle. And what further deepens the film”s bittersweet note is that they still die. Because a joke is a joke—and war is in the garden, friends.
Here”s a beautiful, already familiar and beloved war song, here”s a charming boy. Here”s a tender, trembling first love. You see, it”s truly good, objective, and without any pity. If you”ve already seen it, why not watch it again? Everything is ephemeral, but music is eternal!
- “And the dawn is quiet here”, 1973.
Yes, yes, this is a classic on such lists, but what can you do if this is really one of the most honest, most bitter, most terrible and at the same time beautiful films about that war?
What is it: the audience is shown Baskov, a working foreman, forced to command a company of girls, and then, together with four girls, he is sent to perform difficult and dangerous work, where the forces are not equal. There is nowhere to retreat. Moscow is lagging behind.
The catch: as you know, this is a film that combines all the motifs of war in cinema. Here”s what we”re talking about:
- The contrast between the peaceful, calm pre-war life and life during the war.
- On the contrary, the fragile “their” girls know that their viewers are unstable, but they know their joys and sorrows, their desires, what they want from their lives before and after — and the terrible power of the Germans as some kind of impersonal, bestial evil.;
- The motive is “to oppose the enemy army, no matter how weak our forces are, no matter what the cost.”
All this, combined with the sincerity, simplicity and amazing power of the acting (seriously, the feeling that the girls are living and not acting, the feeling that you are actually watching a film — the feeling that it all really happened) makes “Dawn” one of the strongest and most insightful depictions of the Great Patriotic War. It became one of the films.
- “Atibat, there were soldiers.”, 1976.
What: The second film about the war by Leonid Bykov, director of “Old Men”. The plot is somewhat similar to “Dawn”: it is a brigadier and a company (although the confrontation is now “a company of young, novice brigadiers and experienced warriors who have been on the front lines since the beginning of the war”), an impossible task and a terrible ending. At the same time, there are parallels with Old Men, a film focused on life.
What”s the catch: yes, there”s a catch with all of the above. The war was also very bad, so it’s terrible and bitter to see how such lives, how such wonderful people perish, how heroic deeds become commonplace, how love that has just begun is destroyed.
- Railway station in Belarus”, 1971.
A rather extraordinary film about the war, because in many cases war films focus directly on the events of the 40s and reveal one or another aspect of the front-line years. Here, viewers are shown war veterans 20 years after its end. How they dealt with the traumas that the harsh years inflicted on them is something viewers can see and compare between their youth and adulthood.
Although this film can be called a film about PTSD, it is not shot in the same way as is usual in Hollywood cinema, with different accents and techniques.
All the actors in the film are real front-line soldiers. Nina Urgant, mother of TV presenter Ivan Urgant, according to legend: “The birds don’t sing here.” The famous scene where she sings the song “No Birds Sing Here” on the guitar was played in one take, and all the tears are real.
- Brest Fortress”, 2010.
Description of the film: The Great Patriotic War began with great feats and great grief. What the Brest fortress remained to the end is that it set the tone and spirit of all these great conflicts. “Good and Evil” The film only talks about this episode.
What catches your eye: as you know, it was a rather modest event, with such a small budget that the Brest Fortress team was able to convey all the emotional power of the moment. And yes, they destroyed the historical part of the city.” There isn”t even a clause that says. No, because they didn”t destroy it. Of course, historians will find something to cling to. That”s why they are historians, but for the average viewer “Brest Fortress” was filmed in very high quality. And the film is breathtaking.
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Contents of the film: in general, the theme of the Great Patriotic War is touched upon only indirectly. This is just an episode in the big picture of the life of one military family. “Officers” tells the story of the lives of two friends from youth to old age, how their family was created, how their children grew up and how they went through all the trials of life in their homeland.
What catches you: firstly, this is a tender, trembling, sad love story.
Secondly, this is a story of real, strong, male friendship.
Thirdly, this is a story about the continuity of generations, about how worthy people grow up, how they behave, how they go through the great trials of life in the long and turbulent 20th century.
Fourth, it moves toward the realization that film families actually exist. Genetic families of military men, whose fathers fought in the 40s, and whose sons fought in Chechnya or Afghanistan, do exist. And because of how real and truthful the movie “Goosebumps” is.
- Wait and see”, 1943.
What is it about: a lyrical and at the same time truthful and bitter film about how love can conquer death: a wife is informed that her husband has died, but she stubbornly continues to believe that he will return.
What”s catchy: buddy, this movie was seriously filmed during the war! And it was this poem that was removed. The author of the script is the same Simonov who wrote the poem! If that”s not a good enough reason to watch a movie, what is? If you do not take into account that the films of the 40s are very specific, it is difficult for a modern viewer to perceive them.
- The fate of man”, 1959.
The film is about: a simple but infinitely strong man going through a war, losing everything that was dear to him, and regaining the meaning of further life for himself.
What catches him: it seems — the 50s, a time when cinema was very propaganda and simple as two fingers: we are good, they are bad, that’s all. And suddenly — very strong, deep and at the same time simple masterpieces. It can show terrible events without savoring them, as Hollywood films do, but it can show the spirit of an individual and an entire nation.
And this is a film about a concentration camp, one of the most famous and powerful episodes of which takes place there, “To Drink Your Permission.”
- Soldier”s Father, 1964.
Contents of the film: a Georgian man decides to go to the front to meet his son, but not where his son wants; his father chases him through the roads and cities to meet him.
Persistent: This is a very interesting look at war — the emergence of people “outside the planet”. Every grape is important, “who lives to be a grape seed in the warm earth, and I kiss the ripe bunch of grapes and break them.”
And this man is faced with war — a cruel, unnatural, alien and terrible phenomenon. And the audience can see him as he is, in the eyes and soul of this infinitely kind and infinitely strong man, an almost majestic hero. A very humane film with a powerful humanitarian message. And in this deep drama, gentle notes of comedy are sometimes heard.
- Life is beautiful”, 1997, Italy.
What is the film about: the first part tells about the life of the main character — a touchy, slightly ridiculous and completely charming Italian waiter — when he falls in love with a girl and does everything to win her. The second part shows that the main character”s entire family was in concentration camps because they are all Jews, and he tries his best to make it nothing more than a hilarious game for his son.
What”s catchy: is it possible to make a good, funny comedy about war? Yes, and about the concentration camps, which are perhaps the most terrible part of the war? I see that this is possible. This is really a very funny film, the first part of which is generally perceived as a light, hilarious, sunny, romantic comedy. Second. There are some funny moments. And she”s amazingly smart. And — of course — very terrible: after all, the audience, like the main character, understands that this is not a game.
- “Ordinary Fascism”, 1965.
The film is about: how Germany came to fascism, how it was formed, why it happened, how an ordinary country became the Horror of Europe.
Continuation: it’s worth starting with the fact that every photo of Germany from there is actually a trophy person received free of charge by the Soviet leadership after the fall of Germany. This recognition alone is enough to breathe.
Secondly, the film gives a clear picture of how ordinary people turn into fascists, and it smacks of a terrible, terrible dystopia so clearly that you may find yourself asking, “What if I stay?! Oh God, never, never again!”
Thirdly, in this film, behind external restrictions, the enemy is literally boiling, still hot and not having time to cool down (only 20 years have passed since the war) — this is not so much hatred of the enemy as a phenomenon of struggle with oneself. He is also infected with this hatred.
- Schindler”s List, 1993, USA.
Film about: An attempt by one of Germany”s richest men to lead an underground effort to divert more prisoners from concentration camps.
Hold on: realizing that not everyone on the enemy side is a villain. And perhaps there is real human corruption: the idea of how charming, hilarious, likable, and even good people naturally are in everyday interactions. However, perhaps the perception of how oppressed the Jews were in that time and place was highlighted as a business, a profitable enterprise, to the extent that it was okay to kill people because it was the norm.
- “In the Sky”, Night Witches, 1981.
The film is about the famous unit of pilots, a squadron of women who flew out “to hunt” at night and brought serious terror to the enemy. By the way, the film director was one of these “witches” during the war.
Persistently: perhaps women see war. This image is radically different; it is not “softer” or “more romantic” than the male one.
This film contains many details that are only found in “women”s” war films, and it features many heroines—brave, angry, proud, beautiful, sad, and diverse, which is remarkable. The film features a wonderful song—a dedication to a friend who died in battle and continues to live. “Goodbye, Boy,” 1964.
- A film about pre-war youth, teenagers, men over 30, young women, and what they were like when June 20th arrived.
Endurant: This is an infinitely tender, bright, and at the same time very sad film, like a tender song about the past that literally never returns, about a crushed and destroyed past. The film was shot in the 1960s by people who actually found this young man, or were told about it by his parents. It”s a kind of farewell song, a bright and sad gratitude, not least because that”s how it happened.
The film is also filled with the atmosphere of 1960s cinema, with its tender symbolism, youthful and fragile sensuality, light dresses, sweet details, and wonderful heavenly shots.
Volunteer, 1958.
- What the film is about: About glorious moments, love, friendship, and joy, despite the numerous difficulties of the pre-war period. and the post-war years.
What touched you: probably, first of all, the realization that such people really exist. Who are your grandparents, or even your great-grandparents? But they really were like that—they lived, worked, built, fought, loved, made friends, got angry, and hated. This is an endlessly instructive film about who they were—people who won the war.
Also starring in the film are the very young Elina Bystritskaya and Leonid Bikov. Bykov played Alyosha Akinshin on the submarine, and in a very shocking and very terrifying scene, he handed over rescue equipment to the last crew member (the commander), who suffocated to death.
War film “Impenetrable” war films 1941-1945
