Movies like Below the Surface (2022)
The best movies like Below the Surface (2022) are 303 Squadron (2018), The Scarlet and the Black (1983) and Battle of the Bulge (1965). If Below the Surface hooked you with its war and history, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedGreyhound (2020)7.4/10 from 3,540 votes
- NewestThe Boy in the Woods (2023)Released 2023
303 Squadron (2018)
After the fall of the September Campaign of 1939, two Polish pilots are forced to fight for their nation in foreign battlefronts.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & drama
SnoozefestMovies 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 thisBattle of the Bulge (1965)
In the winter of 1944, the Allied Armies stand ready to invade Germany at the coming of a New Year. To prevent it, Hitler orders an all-out offensive to re-take French territory and capture the major port city of Antwerp.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFlyboys (2006)
The adventures of the Lafayette Escadrille, young Americans who volunteered for the French military before the U.S. entered World War I, and became the country's first fighter pilots.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOperation Mincemeat (2022)
In 1943, two British intelligence officers concoct Operation Mincemeat, wherein their plan to drop a corpse with false papers off the coast of Spain would fool Nazi spies into believing the Allied forces were planning to attack by way of Greece rather than Sicily.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Monuments Men (2014)
Based on the true story of the greatest treasure hunt in history, The Monuments Men is an action drama focusing on seven over-the-hill, out-of-shape museum directors, artists, architects, curators, and art historians who went to the front lines of WWII to rescue the world’s artistic masterpieces from Nazi thieves and return them to their rightful owners. With the art hidden behind enemy lines, how could these guys hope to succeed?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Last Valley (1971)
People in a small German village in the last valley to remain untouched by the devastating Thirty Years' War try to exist in peace with a group of soldiers occupying the valley.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMidway (1976)
This war drama depicts the U.S. and Japanese forces in the naval Battle of Midway, which became a turning point for Americans during World War II.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Boy in the Woods (2023)
The remarkable true-life survival story of a Jewish boy hiding and being hunted in the forests of Nazi-occupied Eastern Europe, based on Maxwell Smart's memoir.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Zookeeper's Wife (2017)
The account of keepers of the Warsaw Zoo, Jan and Antonina Zabinski, who helped save hundreds of people and animals during the Nazi invasion.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOperation Pacific (1951)
During WWII, Duke E. Gifford is second in command of the USS Thunderfish, a submarine which is firing off torpedoes that either explode too early or never explode at all. It's a dilemma that he'll eventually take up personally. Even more personal is his quest to win back his ex-wife, a nurse; but he'll have to win her back from a navy flier who also happens to be his commander's little brother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGreyhound (2020)
A first-time captain leads a convoy of allied ships carrying thousands of soldiers across the treacherous waters of the "Black Pit" to the front lines of WWII. With no air cover protection for 5 days, the captain and his convoy must battle the surrounding enemy Nazi U-boats in order to give the allies a chance to win the war.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBattleground (1949)
Members of the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division are fighting for their country amidst the rugged terrain of Bastogne, Belgium, in December 1944. Holley and his American compatriots have already seen one of their own, Roderigues, perish under enemy fire. The men try to rebuff another series of Nazi attacks, but what they really need is a change in the weather. Without clear skies, they'll never get the air support they need.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Bedford Incident (1965)
During a routine patrol, a reporter is given permission to interview a hardened cold-war warrior and captain of the American destroyer USS Bedford. The reporter gets more than he bargained for when the Bedford discovers a Soviet sub and the captain begins a relentless pursuit, pushing his crew to breaking point.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTaking Sides (2002)
One of the most spectacular and renowned conductors of the 1930s, Wilhelm Furtwangler's reputation rivaled that of Toscanini's. After the war, he was investigated as part of the Allies' de-Nazification programme. In the bombed-out Berlin of the immediate post-war period, the Allies slowly bring law and order to bear on an occupied Germany. An American major is given the Furtwangler file, and is told to find everything he can and to prosecute the man ruthlessly. Tough and hard-nosed, Major Steve Arnold sets out to investigate a world of which he knows nothing.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisK-19: The Widowmaker (2002)
When Russia's first nuclear submarine malfunctions on its maiden voyage, the crew must race to save the ship and prevent a nuclear disaster.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLifeboat (1944)
During World War II, a small group of survivors is stranded in a lifeboat together after the ship they were traveling on is destroyed by a German U-boat.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisUprising (2001)
In the Warsaw ghetto in 1943, Jews rise against the Nazis.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Call to Spy (2020)
The story of Vera Atkins, a crafty spy recruiter, and two of the first women she selects for Churchill's "secret army": Virginia Hall, a daring American undaunted by a disability and Noor Inayat Khan, a pacifist. These civilian women form an unlikely sisterhood while entangled in dangerous missions to turn the tide of the war.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMidway (2019)
The story of the Battle of Midway, and the leaders and soldiers who used their instincts, fortitude and bravery to overcome massive odds.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHostile Waters (1997)
Based on true events, an American submarine collides into a Soviet sub of the coast of America and an ensuing standoff occurs that could lead to total annihilation.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Man Who Saved the World (2012)
During the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, Soviet Navy officer Vasily Arkhipov refused to launch a nuclear strike and saved the world from nuclear war and total destruction.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both history & war
Battle of the Coral Sea (1959)
A US submarine and its crew are captured by the Japanese on the eve of a major WWII battle.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both war & drama
Torpedo Run (1958)
A submarine commander is on a relentless pursuit of a Japanese aircraft carrier in the South Seas during World War II.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both war & drama
The Damned (1947)
In April 1945, a group of Nazis and collaborators gather in Oslo to board a submarine headed for South America, aiming to avoid justice. Kidnapped Doctor Guilbert is forced to accompany them.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUntitled Crimson Tide Sequel (TBA)
The sequel to 1995 nuclear submarine thriller. Plot TBA.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & war
Atlantic Convoy (1942)
American naval forces are using a port in Iceland as a base for anti-submarine patrols to protect North Atlantic convoys from Nazi subs. The Nazis send undercover agents into the port in a scheme to blow up the entrance to the harbor and keep the patrols blocked in. The officers in charge of the patrols have to find the spies and stop them before they achieve their objective.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both war & drama
The Navy Comes Through (1942)
A U.S. Navy crew aboard a merchant marine ship battle Nazis.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both war & drama
The Enemy Below (1957)
The crew of the American destroyer escort, the USS Haynes, detects a German U-Boat—resulting in a prolonged, deadly battle of wits.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHein Petersen, vom Schiffsjungen zum Matrosen (1917)
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both war
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Below the Surface?
The closest matches to Below the Surface are 303 Squadron (2018), The Scarlet and the Black (1983) and Battle of the Bulge (1965). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Below the Surface?
Start with 303 Squadron (2018), the closest match to Below the Surface.
What is the highest-rated movie like Below the Surface?
Greyhound (2020), rated 7.4/10 by 3,540 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Below the Surface?
The Boy in the Woods (2023) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to Below the Surface chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Below the Surface, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.