Movies like My Private War (1990)
The best movies like My Private War (1990) are 2000 Meters to Andriivka (2025), Father Soldier Son (2020) and Korengal (2014). If My Private War hooked you with its war and documentary, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedFor Sama (2019)8.2/10 from 323 votes
- NewestMaternal Instinct (2026)Released 2026
- In GermanOf Fathers and Sons (2017)Also in German
2000 Meters to Andriivka (2025)
Amid the failing counteroffensive, a journalist follows a Ukrainian platoon on their mission to traverse one mile of heavily fortified forest and liberate a strategic village from Russian occupation. But the farther they advance through their destroyed homeland, the more they realize that this war may never end.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & war
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisFather Soldier Son (2020)
When Sgt. First Class Brian Eisch is critically wounded in Afghanistan, it sets him and his sons on a journey of love, loss, redemption and legacy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKorengal (2014)
Korengal picks up where Restrepo left off; the same men, the same valley, the same commanders, but a very different look at the experience of war.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCity of Ghosts (2017)
With unprecedented access, this documentary follows the extraordinary journey of “Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently”—a group of anonymous citizen journalists who banded together after their homeland was overtaken by ISIS—as they risk their lives to stand up against one of the greatest evils in the world today.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWhy We Fight: Prelude to War (1942)
Prelude to War was the first film of Frank Capra's Why We Fight propaganda film series, commissioned by the Pentagon and George C. Marshall. It was made to convince American troops of the necessity of combating the Axis Powers during World War II. This film examines the differences between democratic and fascist states.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Bloody Hundredth (2024)
Meet the real-life airmen who inspired Masters of the Air as they share the harrowing and transformative events of the 100th Bomb Group.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Battle of San Pietro (1945)
This documentary movie is about the battle of San Pietro, a small village in Italy. Over 1,100 US soldiers were killed while trying to take this location, that blocked the way for the Allied forces from the Germans. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2005.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFor Sama (2019)
A love letter from a young mother to her daughter, the film tells the story of Waad al-Kateab’s life through five years of the uprising in Aleppo, Syria as she falls in love, gets married and gives birth to Sama, all while cataclysmic conflict rises around her. Her camera captures incredible stories of loss, laughter and survival as Waad wrestles with an impossible choice– whether or not to flee the city to protect her daughter’s life, when leaving means abandoning the struggle for freedom for which she has already sacrificed so much.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & war
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Soviet Story (2008)
“The Soviet Story” is a story of an Allied power, which helped the Nazis to fight Jews and which slaughtered its own people on an industrial scale. Assisted by the West, this power triumphed on May 9th, 1945. Its crimes were made taboo, and the complete story of Europe’s most murderous regime has never been told. Until now...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThey Shall Not Grow Old (2018)
A documentary about World War I with never-before-seen footage to commemorate the centennial of Armistice Day, and the end of the war.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Kill Team (2013)
In 2010, the media branded a platoon of U.S. Army infantry soldiers “The Kill Team” following reports of its killing for sport in Afghanistan. Now, one of the accused must fight the government he defended on the battlefield, while grappling with his own role in the alleged murders. Dan Krauss’s absorbing documentary examines the stories of four men implicated in heinous war crimes in a stark reminder that, in war, innocence may be relative to the insanity around you.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHôtel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie (1988)
Marcel Ophuls' riveting film details the heinous legacy of the Gestapo head dubbed "The Butcher of Lyon." Responsible for over 4,000 deaths in occupied France during World War II, Barbie would escape—with U.S. help—to South America in 1951, where he lived until a global manhunt led to his 1983 arrest and subsequent trial.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFive Came Back (2017)
The extraordinary story of how Hollywood changed World War II – and how World War II changed Hollywood, through the interwoven experiences of five legendary filmmakers who went to war to serve their country and bring the truth to the American people: John Ford, William Wyler, John Huston, Frank Capra, and George Stevens. Based on Mark Harris’ best-selling book, “Five Came Back: A Story of Hollywood and the Second World War.”
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & war
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisLast Days in Vietnam (2014)
During the chaotic final weeks of the Vietnam War, the North Vietnamese Army closes in on Saigon as the panicked South Vietnamese people desperately attempt to escape. On the ground, American soldiers and diplomats confront a moral quandary: whether to obey White House orders to evacuate only U.S. citizens.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like this20 Days in Mariupol (2023)
As the Russian invasion begins, a team of Ukrainian journalists trapped in the besieged city of Mariupol struggle to continue their work documenting the war's atrocities.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & war
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Age of Stupid (2009)
Pete Postlethwaite stars as a man living alone in the devastated future world of 2055, looking at old footage from 2008 and asking: why didn’t we stop climate change when we had the chance?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOf Fathers and Sons (2017)
Talal Derki returns to his homeland where he gains the trust of a radical Islamist family, sharing their daily life for over two years. His camera focuses on Osama and his younger brother Ayman, providing an extremely rare insight into what it means to grow up in an Islamic Caliphate.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisVirunga (2014)
Virunga in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is Africa's oldest national park, a UNESCO world heritage site, and a contested ground among insurgencies seeking to topple the government that see untold profits in the land. Among this ongoing power struggle, Virunga also happens to be the last natural habitat for the critically endangered mountain gorilla. The only thing standing in the way of the forces closing in around the gorillas: a handful of passionate park rangers and journalists fighting to secure the park's borders and expose the corruption of its enemies. Filled with shocking footage, and anchored by the surprisingly deep and gentle characters of the gorillas themselves, Virunga is a galvanizing call to action around an ongoing political and environmental crisis in the Congo.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & war
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe War on Democracy (2007)
Set both in Latin America and the United States, the film explores the historic and current relationship of Washington with countries such as Venezuela, Bolivia and Chile. Pilger says that the film "...tells a universal story... analysing and revealing, through vivid testimony, the story of great power behind its venerable myths. It allows us to understand the true nature of the so-called "war on terror". According to Pilger, the film’s message is that the greed and power of empire is not invincible and that people power is always the "seed beneath the snow".
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMaternal Instinct (2026)
Police pull over a woman who claims she just gave birth. But the baby — and the blood — aren't hers. Twisted lies unravel in this true-crime documentary.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like My Private War?
The closest matches to My Private War are 2000 Meters to Andriivka (2025), Father Soldier Son (2020) and Korengal (2014). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after My Private War?
Start with 2000 Meters to Andriivka (2025), the closest match to My Private War.
What is the highest-rated movie like My Private War?
For Sama (2019), rated 8.2/10 by 323 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like My Private War?
Maternal Instinct (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there German movies like My Private War?
Yes: Of Fathers and Sons (2017).
How are movies similar to My Private War chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside My Private War, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.