Movies like The War Below (2021)
The best movies like The War Below (2021) are The Lost Battalion (2001), The Great War (2019) and Journey's End (2017). If The War Below 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 ratedSaving Private Ryan (1998)8.2/10 from 18,058 votes
- NewestBefore Dawn (2024)Released 2024
The Lost Battalion (2001)
Fact-based war drama about an American battalion of over 500 men which gets trapped behind enemy lines in the Argonne Forest in October 1918 France during the closing weeks of World War I.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both history & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Great War (2019)
In November of 1918 as World War I was ending, a unit of American soldiers goes behind enemy lines to find a lost platoon of African American soldiers.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both history & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJourney's End (2017)
Set in a dugout in Aisne in 1918, a group of British officers, led by the mentally disintegrating young officer Stanhope, variously await their fate.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both war & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBeneath Hill 60 (2010)
The true story of Australia's cat-and-mouse underground mine warfare—one of the most misunderstood, misrepresented and mystifying conflicts of WW I. It was secret struggle BENEATH the Western Front that combined daring engineering, technology and science. Few on the surface knew of the brave, claustrophobic and sometimes barbaric work of these tunnellers.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies 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: Fans watch both · both war & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisBefore Dawn (2024)
After leaving his family's sheep farm in the Australian outback, a young man joins his countrymen on the western front of World War I with hopes of helping expedite an end to the bloody conflict. But as war rages on, he is forced to grapple with the brutal realities of trench warfare, including a near-constant battle to keep himself alive—without leaving another man behind. Inspired by the real-life diary entries of local ANZACs, the feature film details the untold story of some of Australia’s greatest military victories.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both war & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Rifleman (2019)
The love story of sixteen-year-old Arturs is interrupted by the First World War. After losing his mother and his home, he finds some consolation in joining the army, because this is the first time national battalions are allowed in the Russian Empire. But war is nothing like Arturs imagined – no glory, no fairness. It is brutal and painful. Arturs is now completely alone as war takes the lives of his father and brother. Also, no progress is made in the promised quick resolution of the war and timely return home. Within the notion that only he alone cares about returning home and that his homeland is just a playground for other nations, Arturs finds strength for the final battle and eventually returns home to start everything from scratch, just like his newly born country.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both war & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPasschendaele (2008)
Sergeant Michael Dunne fights in the 10th Battalion, AKA The "Fighting Tenth" with the 1st Canadian Division and participated in all major Canadian battles of the war, and set the record for highest number of individual bravery awards for a single battle
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWolves of War (2023)
Decorated British officer Jack Wallace must lead a band of Allied commandos across enemy lines to rescue Professor Hopper, an American scientist held hostage by the Nazis. With information that could turn the tide of war, these unlikely heroes must traverse enemy territory with an untrained US civilian, avoiding brutal Nazi mercenaries and non-stop bombing – with the fate of the war resting on their shoulders, the outcome of this mission will change the world forever; failure is not an option.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both war & drama
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: Fans watch both · both war & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisLand of Mine (2015)
In the days following the surrender of Germany in May 1945, a group of young German prisoners of war is handed over to the Danish authorities and subsequently sent to the West Coast, where they are ordered to remove the more than two million mines that the Germans had placed in the sand along the coast. With their bare hands, crawling around in the sand, the boys are forced to perform the dangerous work under the leadership of a Danish sergeant.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both war & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Trench (1999)
The Trench tells the story of a group of young British soldiers on the eve of the Battle of the Somme in the summer of 1916, the worst defeat in British military history. Against this ill-fated backdrop, the movie depicts the soldiers' experience as a mixture of boredom, fear, panic, and restlessness, confined to a trench on the front lines.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both war & history
SnoozefestMovies like thisFather & Soldier (2023)
1917. Bakary Diallo enlists in the French army to join his 17-year-old son, Thierno, who has been forcibly recruited. Sent to the front, they will have to face the war together. While Thierno learns to become a man, Bakary will do everything to bring him back safely.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both war & drama
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: Fans watch both · both war & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEnemy Lines (2020)
In the frozen, war torn landscape of occupied Poland during World War II, a crack team of allied commandos are sent on a deadly mission behind enemy lines to extract a rocket scientist from the hands of the Nazis.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both war & drama
120 (2008)
During the Sarikamis Battle, the Ottoman army runs out of ammunition and appeals to the people of Van for help, who happen to have supplies. However, the First World War is on and all men are fighting at four corners of the empire and therefore can not respond to to the appeal. The young children of Van want to do something...
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both history & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Nightingale Falling (2014)
Set against a backdrop of a turbulent, war-torn Ireland in the early 1920s, this is a story of three people and the unfolding events from a crucial time in their extraordinary and tragic lives.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both war & drama
Çanakkale 1915 (2012)
The story of the film is about the Gallipoli Campaign during World War I on the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey in 1915. The film covers the resurrection of Turkey following its defeat in the Balkan War, through depictions of Sergeant Mehmet Ali (Ali Ersan Duru) from Biga, Corporal Seyit and many others. To help Russia and threaten Constantinople, the Allies try to force through the Dardanelles Straight with a large fleet. Through a series of historical sketches, the film documents how they were defeated despite many difficulties and hardships.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both war & drama
All Quiet on the Western Front (2022)
Paul Baumer and his friends Albert and Muller, egged on by romantic dreams of heroism, voluntarily enlist in the German army. Full of excitement and patriotic fervour, the boys enthusiastically march into a war they believe in. But once on the Western Front, they discover the soul-destroying horror of World War I.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both war & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Great Escaper (2023)
In the summer of 2014, a World War II veteran sneaks out of his care home to attend the 70th anniversary commemoration of the D-Day landings in Normandy.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both history & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBattle Over Britain (2023)
A young pilot, fresh out of training, is called to join a Flight while they wait for the call to scramble. Throughout a single day, he witnesses the skies of southern England filled with deadly dog fights, and after every exhausting battle the men return to their dispersal hut, only to find another of their number missing. Unwilling to surrender, the pilot and his comrades unite to take to the skies once more, determined to defend not only the airfield, but their entire country.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGallipoli (1981)
Two Australian sprinters face the brutal realities of war when they are sent to fight in the Gallipoli campaign in the Ottoman Empire during World War I.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both war & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisResistance (2020)
The story of mime Marcel Marceau as he works with a group of Jewish boy scouts and the French Resistance to save the lives of ten thousand orphans during World War II.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both war & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSaving Private Ryan (1998)
As U.S. troops storm the beaches of Normandy, three brothers lie dead on the battlefield, with a fourth trapped behind enemy lines. Ranger captain John Miller and seven men are tasked with penetrating German-held territory and bringing the boy home.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both war & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisAn Ungentlemanly Act (1992)
Based on actual accounts, this film portrays the days and hours before and during the invasion of the Falkland Islands by Argentina, which eventually lead to the Falklands War. As the Argentine forces land on the main island and make their way towards Government House, the handful of British defenders batten down the hatches and prepare to defend Governor Rex Hunt, his family, and their fellow islanders from the invaders.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both war & history
Hacksaw Ridge (2016)
WWII American Army Medic Desmond T. Doss, who served during the Battle of Okinawa, refuses to kill people and becomes the first Conscientious Objector in American history to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Eastern Front (2020)
A dwindling group of German soldiers battle to return to their lines on the harsh Eastern Front.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOperation Cicero (2019)
Ilyas Bazna works as a butler in the British Embassy in Turkey during WW2. After Bazna starts to work as a German spy he is going to experience a series of unexpected events.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & 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 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 this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The War Below?
The closest matches to The War Below are The Lost Battalion (2001), The Great War (2019) and Journey's End (2017). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The War Below?
People who watched The War Below most often go on to The Lost Battalion (2001), The Great War (2019) and Journey's End (2017).
What is the highest-rated movie like The War Below?
Saving Private Ryan (1998), rated 8.2/10 by 18,058 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The War Below?
Before Dawn (2024) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The War Below?
Yes: The Lost Battalion (2001), The Great War (2019) and Journey's End (2017).
How are movies similar to The War Below chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The War Below, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.