Best movies like Special Section
Last updated March 2024
Looking for movies like Special Section? Leverage your expertise to navigate others toward movies and tv shows you've already viewed that might likewise intrigue them. Assist in growing the cohort of people bringing up videos between each other. We value your contribution!
Plot Summary:
In occupied France during the WWII, a German officer is murdered. The collaborationist Vichy government decides to pin the murder on six petty criminals. Loyal judges are called in to convict them as quickly as possible.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, History, Thriller, War
Country: France, Italy, West Germany
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: political, suspense
Best tv shows and movies like Special Section (1975):
Similar in 88%
Shock Troops (1967)
Plot Summary:
A French resistance group liberates some German prisoners. Turns out one of them is a spy.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 792
Genere: Action, Drama, History, Thriller, War
Country: France, Italy
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: political
Similar in 81%
Heartbeat Detector (2007)
Plot Summary:
A psychologist discovers troubling links between Nazism and modern-day big business.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, History, Music, War
Country: France
Duration: 143 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, surreal, gloomy
Similar in 82%
An Officer and a Spy (2019)
Plot Summary:
In 1894, French Captain Alfred Dreyfus is wrongfully convicted of treason and sentenced to life imprisonment at Devil's Island.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 21000
Genere: Drama, History, Thriller
Country: France, Italy
Duration: 132 min
Plot tags: costume drama, political, suspense, art film, psychological, tense, captivating, disturbing, period drama
Similar in 79%
The Old Gun (1975)
Plot Summary:
In Montauban in 1944, Julien Dandieu in a surgeon in the local hospital. Frightened by the German army entering Montauban, he asks his friend Francois to drive his wife and his daughter in the back country village where Julien has an old castle. One week later, Julien decided to meet then for the week end, but the Germans are already occupying the village.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, Thriller, War
Country: France, West Germany
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: anthology, sincere, serious, realistic, disturbing, cult film
Similar in 90%
Attack and Retreat (1964)
Plot Summary:
Beautifully photographed and lyrically written, this largely factual account of Mussolini's disastrous invasion of Russia during World War II tells the story of an Italian regiment through the eyes of a farmer from Emilia, a plumber from Rome, a miner from Puglia and a colonel.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 396
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Italy, Soviet Union
Duration: 137 min
Plot tags: macaroni combat
Similar in 83%
The Collini Case (2019)
Plot Summary:
A young lawyer stumbles upon a vast conspiracy while investigating a brutal murder case.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller, War
Country: Germany
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: psychological, atmospheric, captivating, surprise ending, enigmatic, bleak, surreal, political, suspense, social
Similar in 81%
The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial (1988)
Plot Summary:
A full-length adaptation, originally staged as a play, of the court-martial segment from the novel "The Caine Mutiny".
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 693
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, clever, serious, realistic, disturbing, contemplative, talky, biting, suspense
Similar in 85%
Is Paris Burning? (1966)
Plot Summary:
The title is Adolf Hitler's question to his chief of staff Alfred Jodl on the eve of the liberation of Paris (August 25): the military governor of Paris, General Dietrich von Choltitz, had been ordered to destroy Paris rather than let it fall undamaged into the hands of the Allies, but von Choltitz disobeyed.The film follows historical events as U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower, head of the Allied invasion, refuses to divert troops to liberate Paris. His hand is forced by the French military leader, Philippe Leclerc, and by a Resistance uprising in the city. Von Choltitz keeps details of the uprising from the German high command in an effort to save the city being destroyed in retaliation. The film follows his turmoil as a soldier and as the man who doesn't wish to be seen by history as the cause of a beautiful city's destruction.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: France, USA
Duration: 175 min
Plot tags: harsh, factual, tense, suspense, serious, emotional, captivating, suspenseful, retro, informative
Similar in 76%
Breaker Morant (1980)
Plot Summary:
During the Boer War, three Australian lieutenants are on trial for shooting Boer prisoners. Though they acted under orders, they are being used as scapegoats by the General Staff, who hopes to distance themselves from the irregular practices of the war. The trial does not progress as smoothly as expected by the General Staff, as the defence puts up a strong fight in the courtroom.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Australia
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: political, tense, witty, factual, atmospheric, intense, rough, suspenseful, disturbing, thought provoking
Similar in 76%
The French Revolution (1989)
Plot Summary:
A history of the French Revolution from the decision of the king to convene the Etats-Generaux in 1789 in order to deal with France's debt problem. The first part of the movie tells the story from 1789 until August 10, 1792 (when the King Louis XVI lost all his authority and was put in prison). The second part carries the story through the end of the terror in 1794, including the deaths by guillotine of Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette, Danton, and Desmoulins.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, History, Thriller, War
Country: France, West Germany, Italy, Canada
Duration: 335 min
Plot tags: historical drama, cult classic, exciting, uplifting, serious, captivating, realistic, epic, suspense, political thriller
Similar in 77%
The Eichmann Show (2015)
Plot Summary:
The behind-the-scenes true life story of a groundbreaking producer, Milton Fruchtman, and blacklisted TV director Leo Hurwitz who, overcoming enormous obstacles, set out to capture the testimony of one of the war's most notorious Nazis, Adolf Eichmann, who is accused of executing the 'final solution' and organising the murder of 6 million Jews. This is the extraordinary story of how the trial came to be televised and the team that made it happen.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: UK, Lithuania
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, clever, serious, realistic, captivating, dark
Similar in 83%
The Shadow in My Eye (2021)
Plot Summary:
On March 21st, 1945, the British Royal Air Force set out on a mission to bomb Gestapo's headquarters in Copenhagen. The raid had fatal consequences as some of the bombers accidentally targeted a school and more than 120 people were killed, 86 of whom were children.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 16000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Denmark, Belgium
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: suspense, disturbing
Similar in 86%
De Gaulle (2020)
Plot Summary:
Paris, June 1940. The de Gaulle couple is confronted with the military and political collapse of France. Charles de Gaulle joins London while Yvonne, his wife, finds herself with her three children on the road of the exodus.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: France
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: captivating, suspense, suspenseful, psychological, exciting, tense, interesting
Similar in 89%
The Man Who Captured Eichmann (1996)
Plot Summary:
Set in 1960, the story follows the efforts of the Mossad, the Israeli Secret Service, to find former SS Colonel Adolf Eichmann, who ran from Germany to Argentina and took the name Ricardo Clement. He was wanted for the murders of both Europeans and Jews during the Holocaust. Learning of Eichmann's living in Argentina, the Mossad sends a team to capture him, led by agent Peter Malkin. The standing order: bring Eichmann back alive to Israel for trial.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 783
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: USA, Argentina
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: political, exciting, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 84%
The Round Up (2010)
Plot Summary:
1942. Joseph is eleven. And this June morning, he must go to school, a yellow star sown on his chest. He receives the support of a goods dealer. The mockery of a baker. Between kindness and contempt, Jo, his Jewish friends, their families, learn of life in an occupied Paris, on the Butte Montmartre, where they've taken shelter. At least that's what they think, until that morning on July 16th 1942, when their fragile happiness is toppled over.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: France, Germany, Hungary
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, emotional, disturbing, bleak, serious, realistic, sincere, touching, contemplative
Similar in 76%
Diplomacy (2014)
Plot Summary:
The night of August 24, 1944. The fate of Paris is in the hands of General von Choltitz, governor of Grand Paris, who is preparing, on Hitler’s orders, to blow up the French capital. The descendent of a long line of Prussian military men, the general has never had any hesitation when it came to obeying orders. This is what’s on Swedish consul Raoul Nordling’s mind as he takes the secret staircase that leads to General von Choltitz’s suite at the Hôtel Meurice. The bridges on the Seine and the major monuments of Paris (including the Louvre, Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower) are mined with explosives, ready to be detonated. Armed with all the weapons of diplomacy, the consul will try to convince the general not to follow Hitler’s order of destruction.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: France, Germany
Duration: 84 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, captivating, talky, political
Similar in 87%
Nuremberg (2000)
Plot Summary:
Justice Robert H. Jackson leads Allied prosecutors in trying 21 Germans for Nazi war crimes after World War II.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 180 min
Plot tags: captivating, disturbing, sincere, serious, political, detective, bleak, realistic, mad
Similar in 79%
Overlord (1975)
Plot Summary:
During the war a young lad is called up and, with an increasing sense of foreboding, undertakes his army training ready for D-day.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: UK
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: black and white, mind bending, psychedelic, political, surreal, independent film, psychological, tense, sincere, bleak
Similar in 83%
Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
Plot Summary:
In 1947, four German judges who served on the bench during the Nazi regime face a military tribunal to answer charges of crimes against humanity. Chief Justice Haywood hears evidence and testimony not only from lead defendant Ernst Janning and his defense attorney Hans Rolfe, but also from the widow of a Nazi general, an idealistic U.S. Army captain and reluctant witness Irene Wallner.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 83000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 179 min
Plot tags: political, black and white, emotional, suspenseful, disturbing, sincere, tense, realistic, talky, philosophical
Similar in 85%
Murder in the First (1995)
Plot Summary:
Inspired by a true story. A petty criminal sent to Alcatraz in the 1930s is caught attempting to make an escape. As punishment he is put in solitary confinement. The maximum stay is supposed to be 19 days, but Henri spends years alone, cold and in complete darkness, only to emerge a madman and soon to be a murderer. The story follows a rookie lawyer attempting to prove that Alcatraz was to blame.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 30000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, France
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: suspense, dramatic, emotional, depressing, sincere, dark, period piece, crime drama, historical drama, suspense thriller
Similar in 78%
Army of Crime (2009)
Plot Summary:
This gripping historical drama recounts the story of Armenian-born Missak Manouchian, a woodworker and political activist who led an immigrant laborer division of the Parisian Resistance on 30 operations against the Nazis in 1943. The Nazis branded the group an Army of Crime, an anti-immigrant propaganda stunt that backfired as the team's members became martyrs for the Resistance.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: France
Duration: 139 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic, disturbing, sincere, suspenseful, gloomy
Similar in 85%
Sobibor (2018)
Plot Summary:
Based on the true story, international historical project “Sobibor” is dedicated to the heroism of the Soviet o cer Alexander Pechersky. During the great Patriotic war, being in a Nazi concentration camp Sobibor he managed to do the impossible — for only three weeks to organize a revolt and mass escape of the prisoners. Part of the escapees were caught and shot, and the rest led by Pechersky managed to escape and joined the partisans.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, History, Thriller, War
Country: Russia, Germany, Lithuania
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: rough, factual, suspenseful, philosophical, political
Similar in 87%
A Bag of Marbles (2017)
Plot Summary:
In occupied France, Maurice and Joseph, two young Jewish brothers left to their own devices demonstrate an incredible amount of cleverness, courage, and ingenuity to escape the enemy invasion and to try to reunite their family once again.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: France, Canada, Czech Republic
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, captivating, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing, art film
Similar in 79%
The Statement (2003)
Plot Summary:
The film is set in France in the 1990s, the French were defeated by the Germans early in World War II, an armistice was signed in 1940 which effectively split France into a German occupied part in the North and a semi-independent part in the south which became known as Vichy France. In reality the Vichy government was a puppet regime controlled by the Germans. Part of the agreement was that the Vichy Government would assist with the 'cleansing' of Jews from France. The Vichy government formed a police force called the Milice, who worked with the Germans.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: Canada, France, UK
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: tense, suspenseful, political, intense, serious, cult classic, bleak, realistic, psychological, brutal
Similar in 86%
Operation: Daybreak (1975)
Plot Summary:
Czechoslovakia, 1942. Three brave Czech patriots risk everything to rid their country of its brutal Nazi leader, SS-General Reinhard Heydrich.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, USA
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 86%
Massacre in Rome (1973)
Plot Summary:
In the Nazi occupied city of Rome, an assault on an SS brigade draws retaliation from the military governship. "Massacre in Rome" is the true story of how this partisan attack led to the mass execution of Italian nationals under the orders of SS-Lieutenant Colonel Kappler.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Italy, France
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: rough, thought provoking, bleak, serious, captivating, realistic, disturbing, contemplative
Similar in 76%
Valkyrie (2008)
Plot Summary:
Wounded in Africa during World War II, Nazi Col. Claus von Stauffenberg returns to his native Germany and joins the Resistance in a daring plan to create a shadow government and assassinate Adolf Hitler. When events unfold so that he becomes a central player, he finds himself tasked with both leading the coup and personally killing the Führer.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 256000
Genere: Drama, History, Thriller, War
Country: USA, Germany, Italy, Spain, France, Japan, UK
Duration: 121 min
Plot tags: factual, bad ending, tense, suspense, suspenseful, captivating, realistic, political, contemplative, dramatic
Similar in 90%
Sophie Scholl: The Final Days (2005)
Plot Summary:
True story of Germany's most famous anti-Nazi heroine brought to thrilling, dramatic life. Sophie Scholl stars Julia Jentsch in a luminous performance as the fearless activist of the underground student resistance group, The White Rose. Armed with long-buried historical records of her incarceration, director Marc Rothemund expertly re-creates the last six days of Sophie Scholl's life.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 28000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama, History, Thriller, War
Country: Germany
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: touching, tense, sincere, suspenseful, emotional, political, disturbing, christian film, realistic, talky
Similar in 78%
Bridge of Spies (2015)
Plot Summary:
During the Cold War, the Soviet Union captures U.S. pilot Francis Gary Powers after shooting down his U-2 spy plane. Sentenced to 10 years in prison, Powers' only hope is New York lawyer James Donovan, recruited by a CIA operative to negotiate his release. Donovan boards a plane to Berlin, hoping to win the young man's freedom through a prisoner exchange. If all goes well, the Russians would get Rudolf Abel, the convicted spy who Donovan defended in court.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 324000
Genere: Drama, History, Thriller, War
Country: USA, India, Germany
Duration: 142 min
Plot tags: suspense, realistic, dramatic, tricky, intense, historical drama, serious, entertaining, period piece, suspenseful
Similar in 86%
JFK (1991)
Plot Summary:
New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison discovers there's more to the Kennedy assassination than the official story.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 167000
Genere: Drama, History, Thriller
Country: USA, France
Duration: 189 min
Plot tags: controversial, suspense, political, captivating, disturbing, tense, political thriller, factual, suspenseful, talky