Movies like An Optimistic Tragedy (1963)
The best movies like An Optimistic Tragedy (1963) are 9th Company (2005), The War Below (2021) and 1942: Unknown Battle (2019). If An Optimistic Tragedy hooked you with its war and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest rated1917 (2019)8.0/10 from 14,107 votes
- NewestThe Pilot: A Battle for Survival (2021)Released 2021
9th Company (2005)
Russian army recruits complete training and take their posting in late 1980s Afghanistan, where the insurgents are slowly gaining the upper hand.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe War Below (2021)
During World War I, a group of British miners are recruited to tunnel underneath no man's land and set bombs from below the German front in hopes of breaking the deadly stalemate of the Battle of Messines.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this1942: Unknown Battle (2019)
WWII 1942: Rzhev, USSR. Stuck in a crucial strategical position, a small company from the Red Army does whatever it takes to fend off the Nazis.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSiberiade (1979)
The story about a very small god-forgotten village in Siberia reflects the history of Russia from the beginning of the century till the early 1980s. Three generations try to find the land of happiness and to give it to the people. One builds the road through taiga to the star over horizon, the second 'build communism' and the third searches for oil.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Battalion (2015)
Russia, 1917, WWI. This is the story of the 1st Russian Women's Battalion of Death, formed as part of an ill-conceived propaganda ploy by the Russian Provisional Government in late May of 1917.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKalashnikov AK-47 (2020)
A Russian military propaganda film about the tank commander Kalashnikov, severely injured in battle in 1941. The accident leaves him incapacitated and unable to return to the front line. While recovering in the hospital, he begins creating the initial sketches of what will become one of the world’s most legendary weapons. A self-taught inventor is only 29 when he develops the now iconic assault riffle — the AK-47. Shot in occupied Crimea.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Last Frontier (2020)
The story of the Podolsk cadets’ heroic stand outside Moscow in October 1941. Cadets were sent to the Ilyinsky line, fighting alongside units from the Soviet 43rd Army to hold back the German advance until reinforcements arrived. Hopelessly outnumbered, young men laid down their lives in a battle lasting almost two weeks to obstruct the far superior German forces advancing towards Moscow. Around 3,500 cadets and their commanding officers were sent to hold up the last line of defense outside Moscow. Most of them remained there for eternity.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNicholas and Alexandra (1971)
Tsar Nicholas II, the inept last monarch of Russia, insensitive to the needs of his people, is overthrown and exiled to Siberia with his family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Scarlet and the Black (1983)
Fr. Hugh O'Flaherty is a Vatican official in 1943-45 who has been hiding downed pilots, escaped prisoners of war, and Italian resistance families. His activities become so large that the Nazis decide to assassinate him the next time he leaves the Vatican.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisField of Lost Shoes (2015)
A group of teenage cadets sheltered from war at the Virginia Military Institute must confront the horrors of an adult world when they are called upon to defend the Shenandoah Valley.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWar and Peace, Part I: Andrei Bolkonsky (1966)
In 1805 St. Petersburg, Pierre Bezukhov, illegitimate son of a rich nobleman, is introduced to high society. His friend, Prince Andrei Bolkonsky, joins the Imperial Russian Army as aide-de-camp of General Mikhail Kutuzov in the War of the Third Coalition against General Napoleon Bonaparte. Part one of the four-part adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's 1869 novel.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history & war
Worth the HypeMovies like this1917 (2019)
At the height of the First World War, two young British soldiers must cross enemy territory and deliver a message that will stop a deadly attack on hundreds of soldiers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Pilot: A Battle for Survival (2021)
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.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAdmiral (2008)
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 Ruler of Russia.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJacknife (1989)
A conflict develops between a troubled Vietnam veteran and the sister he lives with when she becomes involved romantically with the army buddy who reminds him of the tragic battle they both survived.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMission «Sky» (2021)
In the center of the story are three main characters - Lieutenant Colonel Soshnikov, Captain Muravyov and Major Zakharov. Three ages, three different characters, three different destinies, which are destined to meet at the Khmeimim military base.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisBehold a Pale Horse (1964)
Manuel Artiguez, a famous bandit during the Spanish civil war, has lived in French exile for 20 years. When his mother is dying he considers visiting her secretly in his Spanish home town. But his biggest enemy, the Spanish police officer Vinolas, prepared a trap at the hospital as a chance to finally catch Artiguez.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Dawns Here are Quiet (2015)
It is late spring of 1942, and the Great Patriotic War is in full swing. A long way off from the front-line, at some God-forgotten junction, the Germans make an air landing operation in an attempt to get through to the Kirov railway and the White Sea - the Baltic Sea Canal. These aren't just ordinary paratroopers. This is a team of seasoned and highly trained infiltrators, the elite of the Waffen-SS, superhumans. The only thing in their way is an anti-aircraft artillery unit of corporal Vaskov and five young women in training. It may seem like a fight of local significance, but the countrys main strategic transportation artery is at stake. Can the corporal and his 'petite newbies' prevent Nazi sabotage and at what cost? Television version: An extended version made out of four 45 minute episodes was released on Channel One Russia, on 9 May 2016. Available on PrimeVideo.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAn Ordinary Man (2017)
A war criminal in hiding forms a relationship with his only connection to the outside world - his maid.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisParadise (2016)
The historical drama set during the Second World War centres on three people whose paths cross: a Russian aristocratic emigrant and member of the French resistance, a French collaborator and a high-ranking German SS officer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMichael Collins (1996)
Michael Collins plays a crucial role in the establishment of the Irish Free State in the 1920s, but becomes vilified by those hoping to create a completely independent Irish republic.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both war & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe White Sun of the Desert (1969)
The setting is the east shore of the Caspian Sea (today's Turkmenistan) where the Red Army soldier Fyodor Sukhov has been fighting the Civil War in Russian Asia for a number of years. After being hospitalised and then demobbed, he sets off home to join his wife, only to be caught up in a desert fight between a Red Army cavalry unit and Basmachi guerrillas. The cavalry unit commander, Rahimov, "convinces" Sukhov to help, temporarily, with the protection of abandoned women of the Basmachi guerrilla leader Abdullah's harem. Leaving a young Red Army soldier, Petrukha, to assist Sukhov with the task, Rahimov and his cavalry unit set out to pursue fleeing Abdullah.Sukhov and women from Abdullah's harem return to a nearby shore town. Soon, looking for a seaway across the border, Abdullah and his gang come to the same town...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBeasts of No Nation (2015)
Based on the experiences of Agu, a child fighting in the civil war of a West African country. Follows Agu's journey as he's forced to join a group of soldiers. While he fears his commander and many of the men around him, his fledgling childhood has been brutally shattered by the war raging through his country, and he is at first torn between conflicting revulsion and fascination.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCheckpoint (1998)
A group Russian soldiers is send to an outpost to guard the area. They pass the day patroulling the area, while being shot at from the forest. They never know if the civillions are hostile or friendly to them.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both war & drama
Lenin: The Train (1988)
March/April 1917. The first world war is already a couple year to pace. A sealed train with Russian emigrants keeps on driving from Zürich Germany and Sweden to Sint-Petersburg. The outlaws stand under the guidance of Vladimir J. Lenin. Two senior officers support the revolutionary bomb "to ensure that everything runs smoothly. Yet there are some unpleasant clashes between Socialists and enthusiastic workers who are worried about the war. During train travel there comes an end to Lenin's affair with the gracious Inessa, and his wife Nadja is prepared take back him. The triumphant entrance in St. Petersburg will exceed all expectations....
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & history
Hampton's Legion (2021)
When the Confederacy can no longer finance massive armies, Wade Hampton III, using his own money started, financed, and supplied his own infantry, cavalry, and artillery to help fight the war.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both war & history
Under Fire (1983)
Three U.S. journalists get too close to one another and their work in 1979 Nicaragua.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAdmiral (2015)
When the young republic of The Netherlands is attacked by England, France and Germany and faces its own civil war no less, only one man, Michael de Ruyter, can lead the county's strongest weapon, the Dutch fleet.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Warlords (2007)
The civil war in China has ruined many lives including General Pang's. A wounded General Pang is saved by a beautiful young woman along with two other men. Together they vow to eradicate the rebels.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhen the Last Sword Is Drawn (2003)
Kanichiro Yoshimura is a samurai and family man who can no longer support his wife and children on the low pay he receives from his small-town clan. He is forced by his love for his family to leave for the city in search of higher pay to support them.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like this
Like An Optimistic Tragedy and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like An Optimistic Tragedy?
The closest matches to An Optimistic Tragedy are 9th Company (2005), The War Below (2021) and 1942: Unknown Battle (2019). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after An Optimistic Tragedy?
Start with 9th Company (2005), the closest match to An Optimistic Tragedy.
What is the highest-rated movie like An Optimistic Tragedy?
1917 (2019), rated 8.0/10 by 14,107 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like An Optimistic Tragedy?
The Pilot: A Battle for Survival (2021) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to An Optimistic Tragedy chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside An Optimistic Tragedy, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.