First Wolfgang Petersen's TV serial was cut to make a highly acclaimed film, nominated for 6 Oscars, but now he has reshot many scenes, added new ones and remastered the sound in order to make a genuine movie. The film follows the crew of a German WW2 U-Boat crew as they co-exist between hunting Allied ships and being prey themselves. The tension, claustrophobia and fear leap out of the screen and the movie successfully avoids any sense of nationalism, a sentiment that would have irredeemably fl
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FLAME AND CITRON (2007)
Certification15 Our Rating
1944, occupied Copenhagen; two young hit men are killing Danish Nazis and Germans whom their resistance commander has told them to on 'orders from London'. But things in war are never clear and no-one's motives are pure, even the heroic Flame's ideological abhorrence of the Nazis is revealed as part of a more complicated picture. Who's feeding information to whom? Why are these people being assassinated? As if opening a series of Russian Dolls, betrayals and loyalties are revealed, people are tr
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ICE COLD IN ALEX (1960)
CertificationPG Our Rating
In the Western Desert of 1942, a battle-weary army officer is driving an ambulance to the safety of Alexandria. One of his passengers, a stray South African, saves the group from enemy capture, but an uneasy feeling begins to grow that he may in fact be a German spy. Superb war movie with a Stella cast - sorry couldn't help the pun!
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INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS (2009)
Certification15 Our Rating
1941; a Jewish girl witnesses the murder of her family by a Nazi officer and a Jewish American guerrilla team roam Occupied France operating with a Geneva Accord breaking ferocity.
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KATYN (2007)
Certification15 Our Rating
Based on the novel 'Post Mortem: The Story of Katyn' by Andrzej Mularczyk this film tells the horrific story of the 1940 Soviet NKVD's massacre, and subsequent cover-up, of an estimated 22,000, mainly Polish, military officers, police and intellectuals. Rarely does a film about the horrors of organised genocide achieve in its representation such an honest and harrowing account of crimes against humanity.
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KELLY'S HEROES (1970)
Certification15 Our Rating
A US platoon capture a German general and discover the whereabouts of a fortune in stolen gold so decide to go after it. A comedy war film with laughs provided by Sutherland as a spaced out weirdo in a tank, whilst Eastwood does his bit to make the action enjoyable.
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LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA (2006)
Certification15 Our Rating
The battle of Iwo Jima from an American perspective of the view of Japanese soldiers, eg 'good' Japanese soldiers are those that had had prior contact with the US. Starting with a contemporary archaeological discovery of a box of unsent letters from Japanese soldiers, we flashback to follow the fortunes of individual soldiers and officers through the horrific and unwinnable battle. Much beloved by 'liberal' US critics.........which has to be a lot better than unbeloved by them. Also check out it
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MAX MANUS (2007)
Certification15 Our Rating
A high octane action - and not far from historically accurate - pic glorifying the role of Norwegian Resistance fighter Max Manus in his battle against the evil Nazi empire. We follow our likeable hero from the 1940 winter war against the Soviets in Finland through to the 1945 defeat of the Bosch. We observe his guilt at his own survival while his mates are killed in the struggle and, we learn of his own high risk manoeuvres - the mining of two German ships being a classic set piece.
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PAN'S LABYRINTH (2006)
Certification18 Our Rating
Guillermo Del Toro's blockbusting tale of a young girl struggling to make sense of the violent world around her was a big 2006 arthouse hit. Continuing his exploration of the impact of the Spanish Civil War on his generation (it was also the backdrop for his excellent ghost story, The Devil's Backbone) Del Toro's fantasy mixes strong horror with fairytale-style aesthetics to great effect, making Ofelia's escape into an imaginary realm a poignant response to the cruel realities of her existence.
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SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE (1972)
Certification18 Our Rating
The film version of Kurt Vonnegut Jr's famous anti-war sci-fi novel. Slipping back and forth along his own life line a suburban optometrist experiences the fire bombing of Dresden and captivity on the planet Trafalmardore. A powerful and seemingly unfilmable book that turned out to be a great movie.
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