War films are a tricky genre to tackle, because they are inherently political, and always have a perspective. At the fundamental level, there are only two types of war films (outside the documentary sphere) — anti-war movies and propaganda. Granted, just because something is propaganda doesn't mean it can't be awash in artistic brilliance or deep pathos (whether it's liberal like The Battle of Algiers or Che, or conservative like They Were Expendable or Flags of Our Fathers). Propagandistic war films are essentially pro-war. So that leaves anti-war films.
However, as French director and film critic François Truffaut famously said, “there’s no such thing as an anti-war film.” What he meant is that cinema, by its very nature, can't help but glorify what it depicts. That's why drug users enjoy films such as Trainspotting or Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, despite those movies depicting the horror of drug use. Try as they might, but anti-war films like Saving Private Ryan or Dunkirk are simply exciting; they use the violence and tragedy of war to create exhilarating, money-making spectacles far from the front.
As such, the cinematic landscape of war stories is an ideological minefield, pun intended. So what makes a great war film? Ethics are certainly a part of it, but aesthetic genius still exists outside an ethical orbit (look at Triumph of the Will or Birth of a Nation, for instance). A three-hour runtime or more, epic scope, and meticulously choreographed set pieces certainly help, as does historical accuracy.
Ultimately, though, the parameters of a great war film are the same as every other narrative film, except with war as its subject — filmic artistry, memorable visuals, rich characters, bombastic emotion, intellectual stimulation, and an almost spiritual understanding of human nature.
Updated July 23, 2023: This article has been updated with additional films to recognize our readers and explore even more of the greatest war films ever made.
A final note. While some past masterpieces could be classified as war films, if they're predominantly a romance or an action movie, they will be excluded (apologies to the perfect Casablanca, the epic Gone with the Wind, and the dramatic adventures and beauty of the biographical Lawrence of Arabia). That being said, these are the best war films of all time.
30 The Hurt Locker
Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker is easily one of the best dramatizations of the Iraq war ever put to film. Starring Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Ralph Fiennes, and Guy Pearce, this movie follows a bomb disposal team in an intimate and often unnerving way. A frequent target of insurgents in the line of duty, this film wonderfully portrays their reactions, both physical and psychological, to the stresses of combat.
With precise direction, a class-act script, a brilliant shot-list, and memorable performances, it's no wonder this film racked up a whopping 125 wins and 130 nominations come awards season. It was neck in neck for nominations at the Oscars alongside Avatar (the original), but when push came to shove, this film came out on top with more wins and the award for Best Picture to boot.
29 Breaker Morant
A unique Australian war film which explores some of the forgotten moments of war history, Breaker Morant is set at the turn of the 20th century during the Second Boer War in South Africa. The blistering drama follows three Australians in the British Army who are prosecuted for war crimes, and brings in elements of courtroom drama and ethical philosophy (which work a lot better than the often historically inaccurate plot details). Like The Grand Illusion, the film is interested in the death of civility and 'wars of gentlemen' with the advent of the 20th century, and has a melancholic, morally ambivalent air to it.
28 The Longest Day
The Longest Day was a successful book from 1959, and the movie rights were sold for one of the highest figures for any adaptation — $1.75 million in today's money, adjusted for inflation. The production itself was even more expensive, resulting in the single most expensive black and white movie of all time until 1993's Schindler's List took the spot.
Lavish and massive, The Longest Day was a huge, international production which explored D-Day from different perspectives, recruiting three different directors and five screenwriters to tell an elaborate and meticulously detailed story in a documentary style. The cast was packed (John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, Rod Steiger, Henry Fonda, Sean Connery, Richard Burton, Robert Ryan, and dozens more), and the film featured 750 real soldiers from World War II as extras. Multiple military men from the war were consulted and had their stories recreated on film, and the result is one of the most authentic and elaborate war films ever made.
27 1917
1917 is a cinematic masterpiece and for good reason. It was shot to appear as if the entire movie was one long take, which is no easy feat considering the extensive set list of cast and crew. With a half thousand extras and a $100 million dollar budget, using a single-take approach was nothing short of challenging. However, formatting it as a race against time proved a smart story choice for the approach.
The film followed two soldiers forced into enemy territory on a mission to deliver an important message that could save hundreds of lives. This gritty narrative from director Sam Mendes and cinematographer Roger Deakins busted open the one-shot conversation for a whole new generation.
26 Grave of the Fireflies
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Bust out the tissues, this one is a doozy. Grave of the Fireflies is based on the semi-autobiographical short story by the same name. The film follows Seita and Setsuko, two siblings trying to survive by their lonesome in Japan during WWII.
Though anime does predate WWII, there’s no doubt that it was heavily inspired and popularized as a result of the conflict, which also helped to popularize the genre. Released during what is arguably considered the Golden Age of anime, this 1988 classic from Studio Ghibli has a perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes. This haunting film ‘from the other side’ is simply a must-see for fans of both war movies and anime.
25 All Quiet on the Western Front
2022’s All Quiet on the Western Front is another magnificent example of telling a story from the losing side’s perspective. This German-language film, not to be confused with the previous two films by the same name, is also based on the iconic novel by Erich Maria Remarque. This outing, however, far surpassed the others in terms of cinematography, musical score, visual effects, and make-up.
All Quiet on the Western Front's haunting and gritty portrayal of the disillusionment of war follows a young German soldier whose hopes of becoming a hero are quickly dashed by the day to day reality of survival in the trenches. Among other accolades, this film went on to nab the Oscar for Best International Feature Film in 2023.
24 Hacksaw Ridge
Hacksaw Ridge single-handedly brought the discussion of conscientious objection back into the American lexicon. The movie is based on the true story of WWII American Army Medic Desmond T. Doss, the first conscientious objector in US history to be awarded the Medal of Honor without firing a weapon. Andrew Garfield’s portrayal of Everyman Doss earned him more than one nomination for Best Actor. This unique take on a war film is perfect for those looking to learn some more about a unique bit of history.
23 A Bridge Too Far
Richard Attenborough's A Bridge Too Far has received mixed reviews, but in recent years, war enthusiasts have returned to the three-hour epic with more and more enthusiasm, and deservedly so. The script from William Goldman (Lord of the Flies, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the President's Men) is excellent, and its meticulously detailed account of Operation Market Garden is historically accurate and enticing.
22 The Steel Helmet
Samuel Fuller was always a Hollywood renegade, and so it was almost unsurprising that he'd rush to write and direct a film about the Korean War almost immediately after it began. In 1950 (the year the war began), Fuller wrote the script for The Steel Helmet in a week, and then filmed the whole thing in 10 days in a park with UCLA students as extras. The result is anything but amateurish, and remains perhaps the most sophisticated anti-war films of its time, and one of the best American war movies of the 1950s.
The Steel Helmet follows the sole survivor of an executed unit or Army troops in North Korea as he wanders enemy territory and seeks help. He comes across another survivor, and then a whole platoon, but it's here that deep racial tensions emerge between the American military men. Brimming with Buddhist imagery, sociopolitical messages, and dark drama, The Steel Helmet is an underrated war film classic.
21 The Great Escape
A classic Steve McQueen movie based on the great book by Paul Brickhill, The Great Escape may actually be more famous for its iconic action sequences involving motorcycles than it is as a well-detailed war movie. While there are some inaccuracies (with the film understandably omitting the fact that German forces helped with the escape, and exaggerating the American involvement in it), The Great Escape is still brimming with tiny details that are movingly true-to-life and authentic to the POW experience. McQueen stars as 'The Cooler King,' Captain Virgil Hilts, a noted escapist who helps organize a mass escape from a POW camp. The wonderful color cinematography from the underrated Daniel Fapp and the rousing score from Elmer Bernstein help seal the deal on this American classic.
20 The Deer Hunter
Michael Cimino's expert epic The Deer Hunter chronicles the trauma experienced by Pennsylvanian friends during the Vietnam War, and how that affects them coming home. With arguably Christopher Walken's best performance and outstanding displays from Robert De Niro, John Cazale, John Savage, and Meryl Streep, the film is an emotionally gut-wrenching exercise in empathy. Following three friends who become POWs in Vietnam, the middle part of the film features perfect scene after perfect scene, with some of the most tense, unpredictable, and explosive moments in war movie history. Watching the devastating consequences of these scenes makes The Deer Hunter feel an updated, Vietnam-oriented version of The Best Years of Our Lives.
19 Kanal
Director Andrzej Wajda, himself a resistance fighter against the Nazis, made three masterful war films in the 1950s, including A Generation and the incredible Ashes and Diamonds, but Kanal is arguably the most war-centric and the best. Like the other films, Kanal follows the Polish resistance to Nazism and both the liberating and oppressive qualities of communism.
The film follows the intense efforts by the Home Army of freedom fighters to take back Poland from the Nazis in what was known as the Warsaw Uprising. Wajda takes his camera into the sewers of Poland and creates a claustrophobic masterpiece.
18 Patton
The Oscar-winning epic Patton was a controversial epic about a controversial man, General George S. Patton. Containing one of the most famous opening scenes of all time (Patton giving a speech to the audience in front of a gigantic flag) and a powerful ending, Patton chronicles the General's career as he grows in stature and acclaim. George C. Scott is absolutely perfect in the role.
17 The Best Years of Our Lives
The Best Years of Our Lives was one of the boldest American films to explore the actual traumas of war, made especially bolder by the fact of its 1946 release date. The movie follows three men returning from home after World War II, and proceeds to chronicle the PTSD, alcoholism, insecurity, and general instability that would go on to define a generation of men who witnessed things no one ever should.
Related: Best World War II Movies Ever Made, Ranked
It's fitting that one of the most emotionally poignant anti-war films had to be about what happens next, after the war, in order to truly show the horrors of combat.
16 Waltz with Bashir
A hybrid fiction and documentary film, Ari Folman's Waltz with Bashir is a breathtaking masterpiece of cinema that uses interviews, poetic animation, and grueling documentary images to depict the Lebanon War of 1982. Focusing on a specific character while elucidating universal truths,
Folman's masterpiece follows his conversations with Boaz, who was a soldier in the war, and whose memories instigate Folman's own search for further understanding about the war and the Sabra and Shatila massacre. Waltz with Bashir is frequently beautiful and aesthetically perfect, and the final scenes are some of the most haunting in cinematic history.
Stanley Kubrick's bifurcated film Full Metal Jacket follows the lead-up to war and the war itself, focusing on boot camp and then the Vietnam War. It's a clever bit of mirroring which details how people can be trained to kill other people, and the utter brutality and inhumanity that is often required to do so.
The first half features one of the most disturbing performances of all time courtesy of a young Vincent D'Onofrio, not to mention the darkly hilarious and profane performance from R. Lee Ermey (a former Marine Corps staff sergeant himself).
14 M*A*S*H
While most people think of the hit television series when they hear the title, M*A*S*H was actually an incredible Robert Altman film before heading to the small screen with a different cast. The story of wisecracking medical officers stationed in Korea struck a real chord with American audiences as the war in Vietnam resulted in a wave of cynicism and anti-war sentiments.
While the series had a great cast, the film has arguably better actors, with pitch-perfect sarcasm and confidence from Donald Sutherland, Elliott Gould, Tom Skerritt, Robert Duvall, and Sally Kellerman.
13 The Bridge on the River Kwai
The film with the most popular whistling of all time, The Bridge on the River Kwai followed a group of gung-ho prisoners of war taken by Japanese soldiers to Thailand in order to help construct a strategic railway bridge. The wily gang plans the destruction of the bridge while trying to stay alive as the war nears its end. With masterful performances from Alec Guinness, William Holden, and Sessue Hayakawa, the film is a rousing, exciting classic from the great David Lean.
12 The Ascent
A rarely seen but deeply powerful Soviet war film, The Ascent follows Soviet soldiers fighting against Nazi forces as they wander the snowy Belorussian landscape looking for food. With stark black and white cinematography and a minimalist narrative, Larisa Shepitko's 1977 masterpiece has no heroes and instead looks at the moral, emotional, and physical peril wrought by war on all sides and everyone involved. The atmospheric and unsentimental film becomes more abstract as it nears a truly unforgettable ending.
11 Paths of Glory
Early remnants of Stanley Kubrick's formalist, unemotional, and rigid filmmaking genius are on full display in his 1957 classic, Paths of Glory. Setting itself far apart from other American war films, Paths of Glory is a patient and solemn look at military structures, hierarchy, and morality in wartime.
The film follows a commanding officer (Kirk Douglas at his very best) whose unit is charged for cowardice for refusing a veritable suicide mission during World War I. His attempts to prevent the soldiers from being punished reveal the complicated politics and depressing bureaucratic indifference of war, just as much as the film depicts the fragility of the human condition.
