Best movies like Ayla: The Daughter of War
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
In 1950, amidst the ravages of the Korean War, Sergeant Süleyman stumbles upon a a half-frozen little girl, with no parents and no help in sight. Frantic, scared and on the verge of death, this little girl captures the heart of Süleyman, who risks his own life to save her, smuggling her into his Army base and out of harms way. Not knowing her name and unable to communicate with her, Süleyman names her Ayla, in reminiscence of the moon on the fateful night during which they met. The two form an instantaneous and inseparable bond, and Ayla, almost effortlessly, brings an uncanny joy to the Turkish brigade in the grip of war. As the war comes to a close however, Süleyman's brigade is told that they will be returning home. Süleyman cannot bear abandoning Ayla, and does everything within his power to take her with him. After repeated failure, he is forced to give Ayla to an orphanage, but doesn't give up on the hope of one day reuniting with her. Will the two ever get back together?.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 43000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: Turkey
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: touching, suspenseful, disturbing, factual, suspense, dramatic
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The Battle at Lake Changjin (2021)
Plot Summary:
Korean War, winter 1950. In the frozen and snowy area of Changjin Lake, a bloody battle is about to begin between the elite troops of the United States and China.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Action, Drama, History, War
Country: China
Duration: 176 min
Plot tags: tense, thought provoking, captivating, suspense, disturbing
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Berenshtein (2021)
Plot Summary:
The unbelievable story of Leonid Bernshtein, a young Jewish soldier who rose to become the leader and led the operation to destroy the secret facility of the notorious Nazi V2 ballistic missiles.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 409
Genere: Biography, History, War
Country: Israel
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, captivating, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing
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Our Time Will Come (2017)
Plot Summary:
In Japanese-occupied Hong Kong, a school teacher and her would-be-fiancé link up with Chinese guerrilla fighters, forging their own path to freedom.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 995
Genere: Drama, War
Country: China, Hong Kong
Duration: 130 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, suspense, disturbing
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Cinco de Mayo: La Batalla (2013)
Plot Summary:
On May 5th, 1862, a few thousand Mexican soldiers put their lives on the line against the world's largest and most powerful army in one legendary battle for freedom and for Mexico.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 934
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Mexico
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: exciting, realistic, captivating, factual, rough, touching, epic, serious, emotional
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Water Gate Bridge (2022)
Plot Summary:
In the follow-up to "The Battle At Lake Changjin", brothers Wu Qianli and Wu Wanli undertake a new task for the People's Volunteer Army, defending a bridge part of the American troops' escape route from the advancing Chinese.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Action, Drama, History, War
Country: China
Duration: 153 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, suspense, disturbing
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Malazgirt 1071 (2022)
Plot Summary:
Malazgirt 1071 tells the story of the Battle of Manzikert, which opened the doors of Anatolia to Turks.
IMDB Rating: 3.7
IMDB Votes: 730
Genere: History, War
Country: Turkey
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, disturbing, islamic
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Operation Chromite (2016)
Plot Summary:
A squad of soldiers fight in the Korean War's crucial Battle of Incheon.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Action, Drama, History, War
Country: South Korea
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: psychological, exciting, suspense, suspenseful
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The Battle: Roar to Victory (2019)
Plot Summary:
In 1920, when Korea is under Japanese rule the Korean Independence Army’s Hae-chul and his subordinates are carrying out the operation to deliver funds to the Korean Provisional Government in Shanghai. During the operation Hae-chul is reunited with Jang-ha, a young squad commander, whose mission is to defend Samdunja. They unite and trap the Japanese soldiers in Samdunja, soundly defeating them. Now they’re chased by Japanese troops and Hae-chul finds out that Jang-ha’s mission isn’t over yet. A crucial yet dangerous task is still assigned to him.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 873
Genere: Action, Drama, History, War
Country: South Korea, USA
Duration: 135 min
Plot tags: rough, suspense, disturbing, compassionate
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The Sacrifice (2020)
Plot Summary:
In 1953, the Korean War is entering the final stage. The People's Volunteer Army of China has launched the last major battle in Kumsong. In order to arrive at the battleground on time and deliver enough force to the Kumsong front line, the soldiers have to defend themselves against the never ending bombing of enemy bombers and race with time to repair bridges, all under the circumstance of supply shortages and inferior equipment. The rarely told history slowly unfolds.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Action, Drama, War
Country: China
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, suspense, philosophical, political
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The Pilot: A Battle for Survival (2021)
Plot Summary:
December of 1941, Northwestern Front. A German tank column is moving towards Moscow. During a mission to stop the enemy advance, Nikolai Komlev's IL-2 is shot down. Komlev manages to crash-land his plane in a remote forest clearing. He's alive, but far from friendly territory. Ahead of him is a relentless trial of severe physical and mental endurance. After battling hunger and extreme cold, evading packs of wolves and detachments of Nazi soldiers, the wounded Komlev finally makes it back to safety. But there he faces another challenge, the most life-changing of them all.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: Russia
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: rough, tense, suspense, suspenseful, patriotic, complex
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120 (2008)
Plot Summary:
During the Sarikamis Battle, the Ottoman army runs out of ammunition and appeals to the people of Van for help, who happen to have supplies. However, the First World War is on and all men are fighting at four corners of the empire and therefore can not respond to to the appeal. The young children of Van want to do something.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Turkey
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: captivating, realistic, educational, serious
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Soldier Boy (2019)
Plot Summary:
The film is based on real events. This is a story about exciting events that occurred in the life of the smallest soldier - the hero of the Great Patriotic War, six-year-old Sergei Aleshkov. He lost all his relatives and got into the army. With a six-year-old boy, they started playing the soldier game in order to preserve his childhood, and he, in order to comply with this honorary title, became a real defender of the Motherland.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 795
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Belarus, Russia
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, captivating, suspenseful, disturbing
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71: Into the Fire (2010)
Plot Summary:
A civil war broke out in the 1950s between North and South Korea which changed the country forever. 71: Into the Fire centers on the struggles of 71 student soldiers who fought through the Korean War. Using real people and events based on the opening moves of the Battle of P'ohang-dong, the film exposes the personal and physical conflicts that these students faced when finding themselves on the last line of defense at P'ohang-dong Girl's Middle School against the NKPA's advancement, needing to hold out until back up from other Korean troops and the Allies arrived.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Action, Drama, War
Country: South Korea
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, touching, captivating, stylized
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Legend of the Patriots (2010)
Plot Summary:
Legend of the Patriots is a remake of the 1975 South Korean drama Comrades. Its production was spawned to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Korean War. The story centers around the lives of eleven Korean soldiers fighting in the Korean War. Director Kim Sang-hwi remarked that the series is not about the ideologies of South and North Korea, but rather focuses on the struggles of ordinary people who lived through the war.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 58
Genere: History, War
Country: South Korea
Duration:
Plot tags: tense, captivating, suspense, disturbing
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Pathfinders: In the Company of Strangers (2011)
Plot Summary:
Untold and lost history. A true story of the American Pathfinders, the volunteer paratroopers whose deadly mission was to land 30 minutes before the Normandy invasion, locate and mark strategic "drop zones" and set up the top-secret navigation equipment needed to guide the main airborne assault on D-Day.
IMDB Rating: 3.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Action, Drama, History, War
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: tense, realistic, captivating, suspenseful, epic, serious, independent film
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May 18 (2007)
Plot Summary:
The citizens of Gwangju lead a relatively peaceful life, until one day the military takes over the city, accusing the residents of conspiracy and claiming that they are communist sympathisers preparing a revolution against the current government. Seeing as the soldiers beat defenceless people, mainly students, to death, the citizens are in for retaliation and form a militia.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: South Korea
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, suspenseful, touching, disturbing
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Gallipoli: End of the Road (2013)
Plot Summary:
April, 1915. First World War in Canakkale, Ottoman Empire. Two brothers leave their mountain village to fight on the front line. One is an experienced sniper fighting for Ottomans against the invasion, while his brother finds it much tougher to cope with life in the trenches. Meanwhile, landing of the occupation forces in the shores of Gallipoli has begun.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Action, Drama, History, War
Country: Turkey
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, epic, captivating, realistic, stylized, surprise ending
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The Front Line (2011)
Plot Summary:
In 1951 ceasefire is declared, but two remaining armies fought their final battle on the front line Towards the end of the Korean War, a South Korean battalion is fiercely battling over a hill on the front line border against the North in order to capture a strategic point that would determine the new border between two nations. The ownership of this small patch of land would swap multiple times each day. Kang is dispatched to the front line in order to investigate the tacit case that’s been happening there. But he gets spiraled into the war that’s more terrifying than death itself when he meets his friend Kim, who has transformed into a war machine, and his unit. As the countdown for ceasefire begins, both sides become more vicious, resulting in deaths of countless lives until the last man could claim the land.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Action, Drama, History, War
Country: South Korea
Duration: 133 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, serious, captivating, realistic, touching
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21 Brothers (2011)
Plot Summary:
21 Brothers tells the story of the Canadian 21st Battalion as they prepare for the battle of Courcellette in WWI. Taking place in real time, the film follows Sgt. Reid as he must get his men ready for the impending battle. Not only must he prep his battalion Sgt. Reid must also deal with the day to day difficulties of Life in the trenches, including injuries to his men, supply issues, and an underage recruit who has recently been sent into the front lines.
IMDB Rating: 3.7
IMDB Votes: 127
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Canada
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: suspense, psychological, captivating, suspenseful, exciting
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Everyman's War (2009)
Plot Summary:
No one in high command believed that German forces would attack in the sub zero temperatures and near blizzard conditions. As the pre-dawn attack comes, with communications down Sgt. Smith is left with no choice but to make his way through enemy fire, unarmed and wounded, into town and warn of the coming attack. Based on actual accounts "Everyman's War" explores the heroic events of this decorated veterans courage and the struggle between duty and desire. Between the prospect of the life and love, Dorine that waits at home and the harsh realities of war which marks the pivotal epoch in his life as he discovers that the loss of hope can be worse than the loss of life. One man's courage... One man's hope...Everyman's War.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Biography, Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic, uplifting
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Bat*21 (1988)
Plot Summary:
Lt. Col. Iceal "Ham" Hambleton is a weapons countermeasures expert and when his aircraft is shot over enemy territory the Air Force very much wants to get him back. Hambleton knows the area he's in is going to be carpet-bombed but a temporary shortage of helicopters causes a delay. Working with an Air Force reconnaissance pilot, Capt. Bartholomew Clark, he maps out an escape route.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: realistic, suspense, harsh, exciting, serious, suspenseful, rough, tense, sentimental, light
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Battle for Haditha (2007)
Plot Summary:
An investigation of the massacre of 24 men, women and children in Haditha, Iraq allegedly shot by 4 U.S. Marines in retaliation for the death of a U.S. Marine killed by a roadside bomb. The movie follows the story of the Marines of Kilo Company, an Iraqi family, and the insurgents who plant the roadside bomb.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: UK
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: tense, disturbing, rough, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, captivating, sexy, touching
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9th Company (2005)
Plot Summary:
The picture opens in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, in late 1988, when military trainees Petrovsky, Ryaba, Chugun, Stas, Pinochet, Lyutev and Vorobyev are whipped into shape at a training camp by the brutal, sadistic commander, Warrant Officer Dygalo - prior to being sent off to the front lines. After several one-by-one dalliances with the local whore, Snow White, and a cautionary lecture on the history, geography and culture of Afghanistan (which most of the men sleep through), the trainees head off to battle - first to the Bagram air base, then to the Afghani province of Khost to secure supply lines. But nothing can begin to prepare them for the brutal devastation into which they are plunged, or the relentless tide of slaughter that scatters thousands of Soviet victims in its wake.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 22000
Genere: Action, Drama, History, War
Country: Russia, Ukraine, Finland
Duration: 139 min
Plot tags: dramatic, realistic, rough, exciting, clever, touching, serious, suspenseful, stylized
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The Admiral: Roaring Currents (2014)
Plot Summary:
The film mainly follows the famous 1597 Battle of Myeongryang during the Japanese invasion of Korea (1592-1598), where the iconic Joseon admiral Yi Sun-sin managed to destroy a total of 133 Japanese warships with only 13 ships remaining in his command. The battle, which took place in the Myeongryang Strait off the southwest coast of the Korean Peninsula, is considered one of the greatest victories of Yi.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Action, Drama, History, War
Country: South Korea
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First They Killed My Father (2017)
Plot Summary:
A 5-year-old girl embarks on a harrowing quest for survival amid the sudden rise and terrifying reign of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 20000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: Cambodia, USA
Duration: 136 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, factual, psychological, rough, captivating, suspense, suspenseful, emotional, political, independent film
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MacArthur (1977)
Plot Summary:
The film portrays MacArthur's (Gregory Peck) life from 1942, before the Battle of Bataan, to 1952, the time after he had been removed from his Korean War command by President Truman (Ed Flanders) for insubordination, and is recounted in flashback as he visits West Point.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: USA
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Battle of the Bulge (1965)
Plot Summary:
In the winter of 1944, the Allied Armies stand ready to invade Germany at the coming of a New Year. To prevent this occurrence, Hitler orders an all out offensive to re-take French territory and capture the major port city of Antwerp. "The Battle of the Bulge" shows this conflict from the perspective of an American intelligence officer as well as from a German Panzer Commander.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 18000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: USA
Duration: 167 min
Plot tags: epic, factual, tense, exciting, serious, realistic, suspenseful, suspense, retro, rough
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Admiral (2008)
Plot Summary:
This is a story of a great love facing the greatest drama of the history of Russia. Admiral Kolchak is a true war hero and beloved husband and father. One day he meets Anna, the love of his life and the wife of his best friend. The revolution in his heart faces the revolution in his own country His destiny is to become the Supreme Rules of Russia.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, Romance, War
Country: Russia
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, dramatic, touching, tragic ending, suspense, romantic, costume drama
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The Zookeeper's Wife (2017)
Plot Summary:
The account of keepers of the Warsaw Zoo, Jan and Antonina Zabinski, who helped save hundreds of people and animals during the Nazi invasion.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 46000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: Czech Republic, UK, USA
Duration: 127 min
Plot tags: factual, rough, tense, suspense, sad, suspenseful, disturbing, costume drama, thought provoking, touching
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Texas '46 (2002)
Plot Summary:
Based on a true story its the untold story of Italian World War II POW"S in Jan 1946. Luca Zingaretti stars as one of over 50,000 Italian Prisoners of War detained at POW camps in the U.S. Roy Schneider stars as Colonel Gartner, the Commander of the camp. Things take a turn for the worse when Manin is brought back from his most recent escape by a patrol force, only to realize that the camp has been evacuated while he was gone. Gartner is forced to keep Manin at the camp until another patrol force can come pick him up. However, no one ever comes. The phone lines get cut, and the two men realize they are completely isolated from the outside world. It is up to each man now to escape the camp.An untold and rarely known fact of US held Italian POW"S.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 235
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: USA, Italy
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: rough, realistic, suspenseful, disturbing, exciting, bleak, serious, captivating