10 Best Movies About Dunkirk That You Should Watching Update 03/2024

Movies About Dunkirk

Nolan’s epic of the modern wars You don’t only have to watch Dunkirk to enjoy a terrific war film.

Dunkirk, the Academy Award-winning war picture directed by Christopher Nolan, came out in 2017, yet its impact on filmgoers and the industry as a whole has been profound. As the Nazis encircle France in World War II and British, French, and Belgian soldiers are forced to flee Dunkirk, the film takes place in the aftermath.

There are multiple timelines and perspectives in the story; one takes place in Dunkirk, another takes place in the sky and a third takes place at sea. Harry Styles, Cillian Murphy, Tom Hardy, Kenneth Branagh, Fionn Whitehead, and others star in the edgy, atmospheric drama. After Dunkirk, here are seven more powerful war films to see.

1. Darkest Hour (2017)

Darkest Hour (2017)

In Darkest Hour, Gary Oldman received an Oscar for his performance as Winston Churchill.

Is this movie about the darkest period of World War II, or is it about a dark period in British history?

Winston Churchill must make a difficult choice: sign a peace treaty with Germany but refuse to submit to the Nazis, or continue the battle against the fascists. Churchill resolves to keep fighting despite the country’s lack of faith in him, further obscuring their position. When the film released in the same year as Dunkirk, the impact was considerably greater. Churchill’s iconic speech (which was worked up to throughout Darkest Hour) may be heard in the final moments of Dunkirk, bringing together the events of both films.

2. The Boy In The Striped Pajamas (2008)

The Boy In The Striped Pajamaslaunched Asa Butterfield to fame after a terrifying on-screen debut. Bruno, the eight-year-old son of a concentration camp commandant, is played by him. Bruno develops a friendship with a Jewish prisoner in the camp. The cast also includes Vera Farmiga, David Thewlis, Jack Scanlon, and Rupert Friend.

However, unlike Dunkirk, this film leaves an indelible impression. Because of their innocence and vulnerability, the protagonists in this film enable viewers realize the true scale of conflict. It is a stark contrast between Dunkirk and The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, which depicts the horrors of war from the perspective of a soldier.

3. Unbroken (2014)

Unbroken (2014)

Filmmaker Angelina Jolie stars as an American track racer who finds himself in an unimaginable predicament. After Olympian Louis Zamperini survives a plane accident during World War II, the story of Unbroken continues.

While serving as a prisoner of war, he is subjected to brutal conditions that Unbroken does not skimp on. Garrett Hedlund, Miyavi, Finn Wittrock, Jai Courtney, and Domhnall Gleeson join Jack O’Connell in portraying Zamperini.

4. The Zookeeper’s Wife (2017)

Indeed, people who enjoyed the unorthodox features of Dunkirk could enjoy The Zookeeper’s Wife.

Similarly set during World War II, this film concentrates on those who were left behind rather than those who served in the military.

Her husband is a zookeeper in Poland in 1939 (Johan Heldenbergh), and she’s the mother of his two sons. The Zabinskis provide a safe haven for Jews and other victims of Nazi violence and inhumanity in the Warsaw Zoo.

5. Schindler’s List (1993)

Schindler's List (1993)

“Schindler’s List” is a superb war picture for those who want the most realistic depiction of war and its repercussions on those who aren’t even involved in the conflict. Oskar Schindler, played by Liam Neeson in Steven Spielberg’s film, is a Nazi party member who, after witnessing the atrocities committed against Jews in Poland, decides to intervene to save them.

An ageless look is achieved by shooting the movie in black and white, removing any opportunity for viewers to be distracted by their own aesthetic preferences.

In Schindler’s List, both the horrors of war and the surprising good that rises in the face of such evil are successfully depicted, juxtaposed against each other.

6. The Book Thief (2013)

Dunkirk fans will love The Book Thief’s storyline and visual brilliance. The film adaptation of the same-named book, narrated by Death (Roger Allam), follows aLisel, an orphaned child whose communist mother leaves her away.

Her younger brother dies as she travels to her new home. When she’s not stealing books for a Jewish refugee sheltering in her adoptive family’s basement, she’s struggling to adjust to her new life and the new world that World War II has placed her in.

7. The Imitation Game (2014)

The Imitation Game (2014)

Benedict Cumberbatch had a leading part in The Imitation Game, one of the movies on this list.

During World War II, British mathematician Alan Turing joins the cryptography team to break the nearly unintelligible NaziEnigma code. The plot is based on actual events.

He received an Oscar nod for his portrayal of Turing, and the film won Best Adapted Screenplay for his work. Alex Lawther portrays a younger and more frightened Turing in his schooldays as a young Joan Clarke, while Keira Knightley plays her. The scenes from Turing’s childhood that appear in these flashbacks indicate how he develops into the reclusive, self-reliant, and serious man he is now.

8. Atonement (2007)

The beach at Dunkirk is famous for its stunning long tracking shot in the movie Atonement, despite the fact that the film is more about the characters than the real conflict. Briony Tallis (Saoirse Ronan) falsely accuses a young man named Robbie (James McAvoy) of molesting a young girl when she was a toddler.

Cecelia (Keira Knightley) and Robbie (Josh Duhamel) are separated, and they write to each other for the next few years, pledging to find each other again. When Robbie, who is now in his third year of military service, walks unbroken over the wild beach, he appears unwell and nearly insane.

9. 1917 (2019)

1917 (2019)

Sam Mendes’ 1917, a rare modern World War I film, is shot in a style that mimics a single uninterrupted shot. Two teenage soldiers are assigned an impossible mission: deliver a message to a battalion by dawn across enemy territory and No Man’s Land. They need to retreat since one of them has a brother in the unit that will be wiped out if their commanders don’t stop an attack that is walking into a trap.

It’s a horrific depiction of battle, but it’s done in a way that brings the audience right into the trenches with these troops.

10. Saving Private Ryan (1998)

As one of the greatest war pictures ever made, this multiple Academy Award-winning production opens with a long, drawn-out sequence on Omaha Beach on D-Day. Many of the thousands of men that arrive at Bloody Omaha with Captain John Miller (Tom Hanks) are slaughtered within seconds of their arrival.

After that, Miller heads to Normandy to find Private Ryan, whose three brothers were killed in action and whom the military wants to bring back to the United States.

As compared to Dunkirk, SAVING PRIVATE RYANfocuses on more intimate and personal situations. In contrast toDunkirk,Saving Private Ryan reveals the utmost ferocity of World Conflict II, or any war for that matter.