Best movies like Downfall
Last updated March 2024
Looking for movies similar to Downfall? Contribute your familiarity to steer others to movies and tv shows you've already watched that might appeal to them too. Facilitate broadening the circle of people putting forward videos knowledge one another. We encourage your involvement!
Plot Summary:
In April of 1945, Germany stands at the brink of defeat with the Russian Army closing in from the east and the Allied Expeditionary Force attacking from the west. In Berlin, capital of the Third Reich, Adolf Hitler proclaims that Germany will still achieve victory and orders his generals and advisers to fight to the last man. When the end finally does come, and Hitler lies dead by his own hand, what is left of his military must find a way to end the killing that is the Battle of Berlin, and lay down their arms in surrender.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 370000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: Germany, Austria, Italy
Duration: 156 min
Plot tags: psychological, bleak, dramatic, disturbing, harsh, realistic, suspense, political, atmospheric, thought provoking
Best tv shows and movies like Downfall (2004):
Similar in 85%
The Captain (2017)
Plot Summary:
The Captain captures the final act of the Third Reich as Hitler's dream falls completely into ruins. The downfall is the seen through the eyes of a young German soldier who, amidst the chaos, decides to desert.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 21000
Genere: Drama, History, Thriller, War
Country: Germany, France, Poland
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: tense, thought provoking, black and white, psychological, suspense, suspenseful, sad, art house, cult film
Similar in 89%
A Hidden Life (2019)
Plot Summary:
The Austrian Franz Jägerstätter, a conscientious objector, refuses to fight for the Nazis in World War II and is executed by them in 1943. Opening at Jägerstätter’s home in Austria’s countryside, the film follows Franz and his wife, Fani, along their path of resistance. Told through real wartime letters, this love story finds the couple in conflict with the members of their close-knit town, their church, their government, and even their friends — all of which brings them to a dramatic choice.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 27000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Romance, War
Country: USA, UK, Germany
Duration: 174 min
Plot tags: psychological, thought provoking, political, romantic, captivating, disturbing, retro, philosophical, sexy, depressing
Similar in 78%
13 Minutes (2015)
Plot Summary:
The breath-taking story of a man who nearly would have changed the world. 1939, when Hitler tricked millions of people at the height of his power, one said a radical No: Georg Elser, disparaged as an assassin, is one of the greatest resistance fighters.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Biography, Drama, War
Country: Germany, Italy
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, tense, suspenseful
Similar in 90%
Speer & Hitler: The Devil's Architect (2005)
Plot Summary:
A reassessment of the role Albert Speer played in the Third Reich. Speer, who was ultimately convicted at the Nuremburg trials and served a 20-year prison sentence, was known for designing many of the Third Reich's buildings and for being Hitler's minister for war production.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 789
Genere: Biography, Drama, War
Country: Germany
Duration: 270 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, contemplative, thought provoking, captivating, realistic, historical drama, intellectual
Similar in 77%
Operation Valkyrie (2004)
Plot Summary:
In 1944, a group of high command officers plot an attempt against Hitler, and one of the leaders of the conspiracy, Stauffenberg (Sebastian Koch), goes to a meeting with the Fuhrer in charge of exploding the place. However, Hitler survives and the officers are executed. This unsuccessful operation was called "Valkyrie Operation", and this realistic movie discloses this true event.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: Germany, Austria, Italy
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, captivating
Similar in 75%
Hitler: The Last Ten Days (1973)
Plot Summary:
Hitler: The Last Ten Days takes us into the depths of der Furher’s Berlin bunker during his final days. Based on the book by Gerhard Boldt, it provides a bleak look at the goings-on within, and without.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: UK, Italy
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: independent film, bleak, serious, captivating, realistic, disturbing, contemplative
Similar in 75%
Katyn (2007)
Plot Summary:
An examination of the Soviet slaughter of thousands of Polish officers and citizens in the Katyn forest in 1940.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 17000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Poland
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: disturbing, sentimental, heartbreaking, realistic, sad, sincere, touching, epic, social, controversial
Similar in 78%
Das Boot - The Director's Cut (1981)
Plot Summary:
A German submarine hunts allied ships during the Second World War, but it soon becomes the hunted. The crew tries to survive below the surface, while stretching both the boat and themselves to their limits.
IMDB Rating: 8.4
IMDB Votes: 261000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: West Germany, Italy, France, UK
Duration: 149 min
Plot tags: epic, tense, suspenseful, realistic, atmospheric, suspense, tension, factual, rough, serious
Similar in 85%
Before the Fall (2004)
Plot Summary:
In 1942, Friedrich Weimer's boxing skills get him an appointment to a National Political Academy (NaPolA) – high schools that produce Nazi elite. Over his father's objections, Friedrich enrolls. During his year in seventh column,Friedrich encounters hazing, cruelty, death, and the Nazi code. His friendship with Albrecht, the ascetic son of the area's governor, is central to this education.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 17000
Genere: Drama, Sport, Thriller, War
Country: Germany
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: melancholic, harsh, disturbing, sentimental, touching, emotional, serious, suspenseful, sincere, captivating
Similar in 85%
Lore (2012)
Plot Summary:
After her Nazi parents are imprisoned, Lore leads her younger siblings across a war-torn Germany in 1945. Amidst the chaos, she encounters mysterious Jewish refugee Thomas, who shatters her fragile reality with hatred and desire. To live, she must trust someone she was taught to hate and face the darkness within herself.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 16000
Genere: Drama, Romance, War
Country: Australia, Germany, UK
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: tense, disturbing, bleak, suspense, psychological, harsh, sincere, realistic, art house, road movie
Similar in 82%
City of Life and Death (2009)
Plot Summary:
City of Life and Death takes place in 1937, during the height of the Second Sino-Japanese War. The Imperial Japanese Army has just captured the then-capital of the Republic of China, Nanjing. What followed was known as the Nanking Massacre, or the Rape of Nanking, a period of several weeks wherein tens of thousands of Chinese soldiers and civilians were killed.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: China, Hong Kong
Duration: 132 min
Plot tags: disturbing, rough, bleak, black and white, tense, captivating, depressing, breathtaking, political, dark
Similar in 76%
Black Book (2006)
Plot Summary:
In the Nazi-occupied Netherlands during World War II, a Jewish singer infiltrates the regional Gestapo headquarters for the Dutch resistance.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 80000
Genere: Drama, Thriller, War
Country: Netherlands, Germany, UK, Belgium
Duration: 145 min
Plot tags: tense, erotic, psychological, realistic, dramatic, political, suspense, breathtaking, emotional, intense
Similar in 82%
Resistance (2020)
Plot Summary:
The story of a group of Jewish Boy Scouts who worked with the French Resistance to save the lives of ten thousand orphans during World War II.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: UK, France, Germany, USA, China
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: costume drama, powerful
Similar in 81%
The Bunker (1981)
Plot Summary:
Dramatization depicting the events surrounding Adolf Hitler's last weeks in and around his underground bunker in Berlin before and during the battle for the city.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: France, USA
Duration: 150 min
Plot tags: bleak, realistic, psychological, serious, captivating, disturbing, suspenseful, rough, suspense, contemplative
Similar in 82%
The Grey Zone (2001)
Plot Summary:
A Nazi doctor, along with the Sonderkomando Jews – who are forced to work in the crematoria of Auschwitz against their fellow-Jews – find themselves in a moral grey zone.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: depressing, bleak, disturbing, factual, emotional, harsh, compassionate, serious, realistic, heartbreaking
Similar in 80%
Amen. (2002)
Plot Summary:
The film "Amen." examines the links between the Vatican and Nazi Germany. The central character is Kurt Gerstein, a member of the Institute for Hygiene of the Waffen-SS who is horrified by what he sees in the death camps. Moreover, he is shocked to learn that the process he used to purify water for his troops, by using zyklon, served as a basis to kill people in gas chambers.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 15000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama, War
Country: France, Germany, Romania
Duration: 132 min
Plot tags: political, sincere, thought provoking, disturbing, bleak, suspenseful, realistic, intense, christian film, sentimental
Similar in 85%
John Rabe (2009)
Plot Summary:
A true-story account of a German businessman who saved more than 200,000 Chinese during the Nanjing massacre in 1937-38.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: France, China, Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain
Duration: 134 min
Plot tags: tense, realistic, disturbing, bleak, serious, uplifting, epic, edutainment, emotional, contemplative
Similar in 84%
The Counterfeiters (2007)
Plot Summary:
The story Jewish counterfeiter, Salomon Sorowitsch, coerced into assisting the Nazi operation of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp during World War II.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 47000
Genere: Crime, Drama, History, War
Country: Austria, Germany
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: tense, brutal, bleak, harsh, serious, disturbing, suspenseful, realistic, intense, sincere
Similar in 85%
Darkest Hour (2017)
Plot Summary:
A thrilling and inspiring true story begins on the eve of World War II as, within days of becoming Prime Minister of Great Britain, Winston Churchill must face one of his most turbulent and defining trials: exploring a negotiated peace treaty with Nazi Germany, or standing firm to fight for the ideals, liberty and freedom of a nation. As the unstoppable Nazi forces roll across Western Europe and the threat of invasion is imminent, and with an unprepared public, a skeptical King, and his own party plotting against him, Churchill must withstand his darkest hour, rally a nation, and attempt to change the course of world history.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 216000
Genere: Biography, Drama, War
Country: UK, USA, China
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: period piece, political, inspirational, serious, suspense, realistic, exciting, harsh, motivational, tense
Similar in 76%
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (2008)
Plot Summary:
When his family moves from their home in Berlin to a strange new house in Poland, young Bruno befriends Shmuel, a boy who lives on the other side of the fence where everyone seems to be wearing striped pajamas. Unaware of Shmuel's fate as a Jewish prisoner or the role his own Nazi father plays in his imprisonment, Bruno embarks on a dangerous journey inside the camp's walls.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 239000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: emotional, touching, sad, heartbreaking, sentimental, tear jerker, serious, crying, thought provoking, gloomy
Similar in 83%
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 76%
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 84%
Anthropoid (2016)
Plot Summary:
In December 1941, Czech soldier Jozef Gabčík and Jan Kubiš parachute into their occupied homeland to assassinate Nazi officer Reinhard Heydrich.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 53000
Genere: Action, Biography, Drama, History, Romance, Thriller, War
Country: UK, France, USA, Czech Republic
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: factual, clever, emotional, realistic, slasher, social, visually stunning, intense, crying, freeze frame
Similar in 84%
The Pianist (2002)
Plot Summary:
The true story of pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman's experiences in Warsaw during the Nazi occupation. When the Jews of the city find themselves forced into a ghetto, Szpilman finds work playing in a café; and when his family is deported in 1942, he stays behind, works for a while as a laborer, and eventually goes into hiding in the ruins of the war-torn city.
IMDB Rating: 8.5
IMDB Votes: 890000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music, War
Country: France, Poland, Germany, UK, USA
Duration: 150 min
Plot tags: emotional, heartbreaking, harsh, bleak, suspense, poignant, reflective, touching, dramatic, motivational
Similar in 83%
Hitler: The Rise of Evil (2003)
Plot Summary:
A unique slant, profiling the life of Adolf Hitler as a child and his rise through the ranks of the National German Workers' Party prior to World War II.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 23000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 186 min
Plot tags: serious, bleak, captivating, realistic, disturbing, political, factual, suspense, rough, suspenseful
Similar in 79%
Conspiracy (2001)
Plot Summary:
The historical recreation of the 1942 Wannsee Conference, in which Nazi and SS leaders gathered in a Berlin suburb to discuss the "Final Solution to the Jewish Question". Lead by SS-General Reinhard Heydrich, this group of high ranking German officials came to the historic and far reaching decision that the Jews of Europe were to be exterminated in what would come to be known as the Holocaust.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 24000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: political, factual, bleak, disturbing, atmospheric, intense, suspense, realistic, historical drama, non fiction
Similar in 83%
Patton (1970)
Plot Summary:
"Patton" tells the tale of General George S. Patton, famous tank commander of World War II. The film begins with patton's career in North Africa and progresses through the invasion of Germany and the fall of the Third Reich. Side plots also speak of Patton's numerous faults such his temper and habit towards insubordination.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 107000
Genere: Biography, Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 172 min
Plot tags: breathtaking, realistic, patriotic, historical drama, epic, political, art house, spectacular, aesthetic, twisted
Similar in 77%
Hotel Rwanda (2004)
Plot Summary:
Inspired by true events, this film takes place in Rwanda in the 1990s when more than a million Tutsis were killed in a genocide that went mostly unnoticed by the rest of the world. Hotel owner Paul Rusesabagina houses over a thousand refuges in his hotel in attempt to save their lives.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 368000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: UK, South Africa, Italy, USA
Duration: 121 min
Plot tags: emotional, intense, informative, rough, political, sad, depressing, inspirational, sincere, touching
Similar in 78%
The 12th Man (2017)
Plot Summary:
After a failed anti-Nazi sabotage mission leaves his 11 comrades dead, Norwegian resistance fighter Jan Baalsrud finds himself fleeing from the Gestapo through the snowbound reaches of Scandinavia.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 29000
Genere: Drama, History, Thriller, War
Country: Norway
Duration: 135 min
Plot tags: uplifting, suspense, serious, motivational, inspirational, entertaining, dark, costume drama, action adventure, beautiful
Similar in 80%
Schindler's List (1993)
Plot Summary:
The true story of how businessman Oskar Schindler saved over a thousand Jewish lives from the Nazis while they worked as slaves in his factory during World War II.
IMDB Rating: 9.0
IMDB Votes: 14000000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 195 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, heartbreaking, realistic, thought provoking, poignant, black and white, dramatic, serious, sad