15 great WWII battlefront films to check out after 'Dunkirk'

15. Enemy at the Gates

An underrated film in many regards. It might feature an unnecessary romantic subplot (with one of the most strangely directed sex scenes in recent memory), and the finale might feel a bit muted and emotionally cold, but all in all this is a pretty strong film focusing on Soviet sniper Vasily Zaytsev (Jude Law). Whether or not this is a historically accurate film, I'll need to do more research to find out, but it's a very thrilling and taut action film first and foremost, and also quite an intelligent exploration of propaganda and what it means to be a 'hero' in wartime. Performances are uniformly quite good (with particular mention to Joseph Fiennes' devout Communist comissar and Ed Harris' cool-headed German sniper), and each tension-filled set piece is fairly remarkable.

14. Kelly's Heroes

The most lighthearted film on this list, this is one you should go for if you're not really feeling too good and want something to brighten up your day. A wacky comedy about a bunch of wacky soldiers looking for hidden treasure in the battlefields of WWII, it mixes the hardened tough-guy shennanigans of Clint Eastwood and Teddy Savalas with the loopy antics of characters like Donald Sutherland's chilled-out Oddball and the great Don Rickles as the exasperated Crapgame.

13. Cross of Iron

A very violent, dark and brooding film (though for Sam Peckinpah's standards it's relatively optimistic about human nature in many regards), which takes the German perspective of the war (albeit seen through the very American eyes of James Coburn) on the Eastern front. Focusing on the power struggle between Coburn's upstanding, no-nonsense Sergeant Steiner and the cowardly and despicable Captain Stransky (Maxmillian Schell), it's a very interesting character study of conflicting attitudes to the military and war, and quite impactful in its short but unforgettable bursts of violence. I don't think it all quite adds up into a great film, but it's a very good one to be sure.

12. A Bridge Too Far

A sprawling war epic with every big name of the 70s from Britain to America to Germany and back again, this is a true spectacle of filmmaking. Not every storyline works, and the conclusion is like (I assume) Dunkirk's fairly downbeat due to the Allied defeat in this particular conflict, but when it clicks into action, it's fairly remarkable. There's the fortitude of Anthony Hopkins' Major General John Frost and his resilient band of British soldiers, to the gung-ho heroics of who other than James Caan and Robert Redford, and even perspective given to the Dutch citizens and how they were affected by the battle. It's technically immaculate, and though perhaps it could have trimmed out some of the lesser storylines, it's still a very strong film.

11. Empire of the Sun

Speilberg's best WWII film, well his best WWII film that focuses directly on the battlefields, whereas Schindler's List taking more of a perspective of the battle outside of the battlefront. In many ways this film resembles another great WWII film, The Pianist, in its story of a solitary individual Jim Graham (young Christian Bale) struggling across a war-ravaged landscape. It features the conflicts of war more prominently than The Pianist though, and part of the terrifying beauty of the film is how the loss of Jim's innocence is reflected in the war surrounding him, changing from a glorious series of aerial battles where planes seem to dance with one another, to the brutal death of a close Japanese friend. It's a harrowing but also very heartfelt film, that in classic Speilberg fashion shows the horrors of warfare, while also retaining a certain hopefulness in its face.

10. The Big Red One

A disillusioned war story that carries its air of cynical disenchantment with every breath and every step its protagonists take. Directed by WWII veteran Samuel Fuller, this trek across North Africa by a group of world-weary American infantrymen is rather episodic in nature, and yet effectively so. Each vigenette builds up the intensity of war, and each character is developed in a brisk yet effective fashion, particularly Lee Marvin's burly Sergeant and Mark Hammill's youthful marksman Private Griff. The film's conclusion is a particularly great one, and as a whole it's one of the less preachy war movies that still gets its message across fairly well.

9. Battleground

It's crazy how the inimitable William Wellman created such a vivid and realistic war film given the constrictions of the time. It was released in 1949 but doesn't feel at all dated when viewed today. It's one of the first war films to actually give its soldier characters characterization beyond mere caricatures, and it captures not only the terror but also the mental and physical strain of warfare in a very effective fashion. It helps that the film never feels like it's constrained by a narrative, rather it takes the approach of a 'slice of life' of a soldier's struggle, and paints with such brutally honest airs the decidedly unromantic world of WWII.

8. Letters from Iwo Jima

One half of Clint Eastwood's 2006 back-to-back films on the Battle of Iwo Jima. Where Flags of our Others took the perspective of the American troops and their (ultimately) victorious success, this film focuses on the futile but defiant struggle of the Japanese troops. Led by a terrific Ken Watanabe, we are introduced to a group of characters who are shown to be neither heroes nor villains, but rather just men doing their duty towards their country. It's a great film that explores so many complexities of warfare: notions of cowardice, bravery in a useless struggle, and what is right and wrong. It's violent but never gratuitously so, and though its emotional beats are handled in a very understated fashion, fitting to the reserved nature of many of the Japanese soldiers, it still packs quite the emotional punch.

7. Das Boot

Set predominantly on water, this fantastic epic from Wolfgang Petersen is directed with aplomb. Make no mistake, this is a BIG film, big and intense, but also focuses on the little details. It presents the German soldiers at its centre from a sympathetic perspective, unique in a Hollywood film (of sorts), without glorifying the Nazi cause. It has at its centre a great reactionary performance by Jürgen Prochnow and is commonly held to be one of the greatest war film ever, a distinction it most certainly deserves. I'll admit it's been a while since I've sat through this film, it's definitely not for a casual moviegoer, but it's a terrific one well worth watching.

6. Come and See

A sort of 80s precursor to Beasts of No Nation but even darker and more unsettling...if you can imagine that. Young Flyora (Aleksei Kravchenko) and his terrifying coming-of-age journey through the Nazi-occupied Soviet Union is an unflinching film that never shies away from the brutal realities of the war. It is gritty yet never exploitative; as grim as it gets, it always has hints of the boy's innocence lingering, making it all the more haunting the more it seeps away. Each sequence is amazing, from Flyora's shy interactions with a girl that gradually segue into something more terrifying, and a downright amazing and unsettling scene involving the shooting of Hitler's portrait. A terrific film that's again, not an easy watch, but essential WWII viewing.

5. Grave of the Fireflies

One of Studio Ghibli's best films (from what I've seen), this is another film where we are not necessarily present in the 'battlefields', so to speak, but the who atmosphere and environment we find our two young protagonists in is very much an unsparing war zone. Our protagonist Seita and his young sister Setsuko are essentially forced to be child soldiers of sorts, fighting against not fighter pilots or enemy soldiers, but a crumbling world torn apart by the deep-reaching effects of war. Deeply upsetting from start to finish, this is a tough film to stomach, and even the more lighthearted and sweet moments in the film only serve to make the hard-hitting segments even more heartbreaking. It's a great achievement, and I'd suggest watching it back-to-back with another Ghibli film, perhaps a more upbeat one like My Neighbour Totoro.

4. Hacksaw Ridge

An extraordinary directorial achievement from Mel Gibson, featuring an astounding central performance by Andrew Garfield (I'm considering shifting my 2016 win to him) as the almost mythical figure of Desmond Doss, and a mixture of some of the most brutal and some of the most inspiring war film scenes of all-time. I'd say more, but there's not much more that needs to be said: like the real Desmond Doss, you'll have to see it to believe it.

3. Ice Cold in Alex

A good old fashioned British war film, with none other than John Mills in the lead as an alcoholic Captain who with his Sergeant Major (Harry Andrews), escorts a pair of nurses (Sylvia Syms and Diane Clare) across the Egyptian desert during the Western Desert Campaign. It's a rollicking fun ride that is equal parts unbearably tense (see: a quicksand sequence, a tentative trip through the minefields), extremely funny, and beautifully shot and scored. The screenplay creates its characters on the go so well, and goes a step further through the writing of the character of Captain van der Poel (a brilliant Anthony Quayle). This character is what transcends the film from being very good to a masterpiece, a mysterious and shady enigma that ends up becoming the heart and soul of the film.

2. Paths of Glory

I feel I need to write an extended essay on why exactly, but upon rewatches I've come around to considering Paths of Glory Kubrick's greatest film. Set around French commanding officer Dax (Kirk Douglas) defending his soldiers against charges of cowardice by the sleazy high command, it's an amazing war film, first and foremost, on a technical level which is to be expected of Kubrick. The cinematography and use of smoke with the medium of black and white, is mesmerizing, and so far beyond its time. When the soldiers go over the top, you can feel every blow and every gunshot due to the terrific sound design. The atmosphere of the trenches is created vividly by the beautiful set design, and more importantly the screenplay which sets up the central debate of the film, and sketches its large cast of characters with such complexity, down to the smallest role. I think what truly makes this a masterpiece is how it refutes a commonly held view of Kubrick's fault as a filmmaker, that he was supposedly without humanity. Watching this film immediately disproves this sweeping statement. It is a film that practically pulsates with humanity, from the three men picked at random to by tried by the kangaroo court of the French high command, to Dax and his Atticus Finch-esque brand of morality that always feels so genuine (thanks to Douglas' terrific performance), and of course the ending, the greatest of all of Kubrick's endings, which is saying something.

1. The Thin Red Line (1998)

I wrote a full article on this film previously (http://actorvsactor.blogspot.hk/2016/08/terrence-malicks-thin-red-line.html). But to summarize it succinctly: I wouldn't consider myself the biggest Terrence Malick fan, but this is one film where I wholeheartedly embraced his style (though I love Badlands too). It is arguably the most beautiful film ever made in terms of cinematography, has one of the most beautiful soundtracks of all time (a mix of Hans Zimmer and Melanesian choral music), and an otherwordly and viscreal view of war as hell, and the virtues of peace.