Best movies like This Is Not a War Story
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
A ragtag group of veterans in New York deal with the aftermath of war by creating unusual art.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 132
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags:
Best tv shows and movies like This Is Not a War Story (2021):
Similar in 80%
If Only Everyone (2012)
Plot Summary:
A beautiful girl named Sasha from Russia comes to Armenia. Born between Russian father and Armenian mother, Sasha is searching for the grave of her father who died in the Karabakh War. Karabakh, which was the territory of the Azerbaijani Republic during the Soviet Union’s collapse, has many Armenian residents. At the time, Armenians demanded their independence from Azerbaijani Republic and the subsequent conflict caused heavy casualties. Many Russian soldiers also lost their lives in the war. The conflict is still going on. This film is a postscript to a historical event occurred in the early 1990s and about a still ongoing conflict. In the scene that camera quietly crosses the border from Armenia, the director presents an image of each side of the people communicating with one another despite their own wounds instead of one pointing a gun at the other side.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 205
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Armenia
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: humorous, touching, realistic, semi serious
Similar in 85%
The Battle of Sinai (1968)
Plot Summary:
During the Six Day War between Egypt and Israel a crack team of soldiers are sent on a dangerous mission and end up getting stranded in the desert, where they are forced to fight off numerous attacks by the enemy.
IMDB Rating: 4.9
IMDB Votes: 81
Genere: Action, Drama, War
Country: Italy, Israel
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: macaroni combat
Similar in 80%
The Forgotten Man (1971)
Plot Summary:
A Marine officer reported as killed in Vietnam but was actually a POW returns home. Instead of being welcomed home, however, he discovers that his father has died, his wife has remarried, his daughter has been adopted, his business has been sold and his life has completely changed.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 89
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 73 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 82%
The Nun and the Sergeant (1962)
Plot Summary:
A weary sergeant in Korea commands military prisoners on a dangerous mission and is joined by a nun and a group of schoolgirls in enemy territory.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 93
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 74 min
Plot tags: bleak, serious, realistic
Similar in 90%
The Human Bullet (1968)
Plot Summary:
A soldier has been in the Japanese military for the entirety of WWII, and in that time, his dedication to the army has never faltered. However, as the war draws to a close, his commanding officers become increasingly desperate and push their men to ever more absurd extremes. The ridiculousness of the orders from above peak when the hero of the story is assigned to drive a one-man submarine straight into the hull of an enemy battleship.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 463
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Japan
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 78%
The Last Vermeer (2019)
Plot Summary:
A soldier and member of the Dutch resistance investigates stolen art in the wake of the Second World War, including a Vermeer sold to the Nazis by a flamboyant forger.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: captivating, suspense, disturbing, interesting
Similar in 83%
Break-through (2006)
Plot Summary:
Russian paratroopers company meets superior forces of Chechen separatists during raid in mountains and accept uphill battle with no chance to survive. Based on Battle for Height 776.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 79
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Russia
Duration: 84 min
Plot tags: tense, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 81%
The Last Winter (1983)
Plot Summary:
Tells the story of two women seeking leads to their missing husbands after the end of the Yom Kippur War (1973). A relationship builds between them when each identified her husband in the same blurred image of a foreign newsreel.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 111
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA, Israel
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: bleak, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, disturbing, gloomy
Similar in 85%
Karbala (2015)
Plot Summary:
On 3 April 2004, during the holiday of Ashura, Iraqi rebels loyal to Shiite leader Muktada As-Sadr, launched an insurgency in the Polish zone. The Poles, together with Bulgarian soldiers and Iraqi police, were given the task of defending City Hall, led by Lieutenant colonel Grzegorz Kaliciak. The clash developed into the biggest Polish engagement since World War II. Not a single allied soldier died, although about 80 insurgents were killed in a counter-attack.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Poland, Bulgaria
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: rough, brutal, suspenseful, disturbing
Similar in 88%
The Veteran (2006)
Plot Summary:
Sidney J. Furie's The Veteran is a respectable straight-to-DVD movie that was headed for the "pleasant surprise" category before self-destructing with a terrible, out-of-the-blue ending.
IMDB Rating: 3.9
IMDB Votes: 655
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, rough, realistic, suspenseful, bleak, cult film
Similar in 88%
Happy New Year (2011)
Plot Summary:
A war-torn marine returns home to face his fiercest battle yet - the one against himself.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 123
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, rough, captivating, sincere, touching, serious, realistic, gloomy, independent film
Similar in 84%
A Soldier's Sweetheart (1998)
Plot Summary:
An Army medic brings his girlfriend to stay with him at an out of the way Vietnam outpost in 1967, the woman disappears one day and he begins searching for her.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 655
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: sex comedy, psychological, atmospheric, rough, bleak, serious, realistic, disturbing
Similar in 90%
Operation Bikini (1963)
Plot Summary:
The film takes place aboard an American submarine in the Pacific during World War II. The sub's commander is ordered to stop and pick up an underwater demolition team led by Lt. Hayes, whose mission is to locate and destroy a US submarine sunken in a lagoon off Bikini Atoll before the Japanese are able to raise it and capture the advanced radar system on board.
IMDB Rating: 3.7
IMDB Votes: 307
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 84 min
Plot tags: independent film, exciting, serious, realistic, suspenseful, psychotronic
Similar in 80%
Carter's Army (1970)
Plot Summary:
The officer (Stephen Boyd) is put in charge of a squad of all black troops charged with the mission of blowing up an important hydro dam in Nazi Germany. Their failure would delay the Allies advance into Germany, thus prolonging the war. These African-Americans a have little military training, but Captain Beau Carter has no choice. He leads the rag-tag and they turn out to be heroic.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 589
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, captivating, realistic, cult film
Similar in 77%
War Hunt (1962)
Plot Summary:
Recruits head to the front lines towards the close of the Korean War. The interaction between two of the soldiers...an idealistic newcomer and a psychotic who goes on one-man patrols slitting enemy throats under cover of night...and the orphan boy who comes between them is examined. The Cease-Fire brings the three to a final resolution.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: neo noir, psychological, rough, serious, emotional, realistic, suspenseful, independent film
Similar in 77%
The Situation (2006)
Plot Summary:
The first U.S.-made film drama set during the Iraq war, THE SITUATION chronicles the tragic death of an Iraqi teenager at the hands of U.S. soldiers. The incident sets off an "investigation," a cover-up, and complications involving Iraqi mayor Sheikh Tahsin (Saïd Amadis), who has a complex relationship with the Americans.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 885
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: serious, suspenseful, rough, realistic, extraordinary
Similar in 76%
Mosquito Squadron (1969)
Plot Summary:
In WW2, a RAF squadron leader mourns the death of a comrade and receives a bombing mission against a secret Nazi V-2 rocket testing facility in France.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 90%
The Great War (2019)
Plot Summary:
In November of 1918 as World War I was ending, a unit of American soldiers goes behind enemy lines to find a lost platoon of African American soldiers.
IMDB Rating: 4.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating
Similar in 85%
Company K (2004)
Plot Summary:
Based on the popular World War I novel by author William March, director Robert Clem's COMPANY K follows a veteran of the first great conflict as he finishes a book about his wartime experiences and reflects on how a man's true character is revealed through his actions on the battlefield. From the German soldier who visits him in dreams to the camaraderie that is forged by fighting together and the true gravity of laying down your life for a greater cause, World War I veteran Joe Delaney will attempt to exorcise his demons through writing while struggling to readjust to small-town life following the trauma of war.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 339
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: psychological, epic, serious, captivating, disturbing, bleak, emotional, realistic
Similar in 88%
Beach Red (1967)
Plot Summary:
American troops storm ashore on a Japanese-held island and push inland while their enemies plan a counterattack in this look at warfare. Soldiers on both sides are haunted by memories of home and the horrifying, sickening images they find in combat.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: spectacular, independent film, rough, bleak, serious, realistic, crying
Similar in 77%
Back Door to Hell (1964)
Plot Summary:
During WWII, a three-man commando team places its trust in the hands of a band of Filipino resistors, as they try to knock out a Japenese communication center.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 907
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Philippines, USA
Duration: 75 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, realistic, tense, psychotronic, bleak, suspenseful
Similar in 90%
The Yellow Birds (2017)
Plot Summary:
Two young soldiers, Bartle and Murph, navigate the terrors of the Iraq war under the command of the older, troubled Sergeant Sterling. All the while, Bartle is tortured by a promise he made to Murph's mother before their deployment.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: tense, thought provoking, captivating, suspense, realistic, disturbing, sad
Similar in 77%
The Green Berets (1968)
Plot Summary:
Col. Mike Kirby picks two teams of crack Green Berets for a mission in South Vietnam. First off is to build and control a camp that is trying to be taken by the enemy the second mission is to kidnap a North Vietnamese General.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 142 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, thought provoking, captivating, retro, exciting, sentimental, sexy, epic, bad ending
Similar in 81%
All Quiet on the Western Front (1979)
Plot Summary:
At the start of World War I, Paul Baumer is a young German patriot, eager to fight. Indoctrinated with propaganda at school, he and his friends eagerly sign up for the army soon after graduation. But when the horrors of war soon become too much to bear, and as his friends die or become gravely wounded, Paul questions the sanity of fighting over a few hundreds yards of war-torn countryside.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: bleak, sad, suspenseful, historical drama, sincere, serious, realistic, disturbing, gloomy, tragic ending
Similar in 85%
A Midnight Clear (1992)
Plot Summary:
Set in 1944 France, an American Intelligence Squad locates a German Platoon wishing to surrender rather than die in Germany's final war offensive. The two groups of men, isolated from the war at present, put aside their differences and spend Christmas together before the surrender plan turns bad and both sides are forced to fight the other.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: bleak, realistic, sexy, scenic, cult classic, rough, serious, suspenseful, independent film, psychological
Similar in 75%
Johnny Got His Gun (1971)
Plot Summary:
Joe, a young American soldier, is hit by a mortar shell on the last day of World War I. He lies in a hospital bed in a fate worse than death - a quadruple amputee who has lost his arms, legs, eyes, ears, mouth and nose. Unbeknown to his doctors, he remains conscious and able to think, thereby reliving his life through strange dreams and memories and unable to distinguish whether he is awake or dreaming. He remains frustrated by his situation, until one day when Joe discovers a unique way to communicate with his caregivers.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 18000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: depressing, disturbing, thought provoking, surreal, political, psychological, atmospheric, controversial, black and white, emotional
Similar in 89%
Hell Is for Heroes (1962)
Plot Summary:
World War II drama where the action centers around a single maneuver by a squad of GIs in retaliation against the force of the German Siegfried line. Reese joins a group of weary GIs unexpectedly ordered back into the line when on their way to a rest area. While most of the men withdraw from their positions facing a German pillbox at the far side of a mine-field, half a dozen men are left to protect a wide front. By various ruses, they manage to convince the Germans that a large force is still holding the position. Then Reese leads two of the men in an unauthorized and unsuccessful attack on the pillbox, in which the other two are killed; and when the main platoon returns, he is threatened with court-martial. Rather that face the disgrace, and in an attempt to show he was right, he makes a one-man attack on the pillbox.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: realistic, suspenseful, exciting, rough, serious, black and white, retro, intense, fast paced, esoteric
Similar in 90%
Platoon (1986)
Plot Summary:
As a young and naive recruit in Vietnam, Chris Taylor faces a moral crisis when confronted with the horrors of war and the duality of man.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 432000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: epic, realistic, rough, disturbing, atmospheric, emotional, suspense, brutal, tense, harsh
Similar in 90%
Full Metal Jacket (1987)
Plot Summary:
A pragmatic U.S. Marine observes the dehumanizing effects the U.S.-Vietnam War has on his fellow recruits from their brutal boot camp training to the bloody street fighting in Hue.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 777000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: disturbing, suspense, bleak, cult classic, psychological, psychological thriller, clever, political, visually stunning, tense
Similar in 81%
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Plot Summary:
As U.S. troops storm the beaches of Normandy, three brothers lie dead on the battlefield, with a fourth trapped behind enemy lines. Ranger captain John Miller and seven men are tasked with penetrating German-held territory and bringing the boy home.
IMDB Rating: 8.6
IMDB Votes: 15000000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 169 min
Plot tags: realistic, epic, breathtaking, captivating, touching, motivational, rough, visually stunning, tense, inspirational