10 Most Realistic World War II Movies, Ranked

Realistic war movies can be bad, and unrealistic war movies can be good. Realism is not always synonymous with quality here, but still, those that go the extra mile in reflecting reality or feeling grounded are worthy of being explored here. 2025’s Warfare kind of brought extra attention to this idea of war films being particularly realistic, but it’s far from the only war movie to take such an approach.

As the biggest conflict of the 20th century, it makes sense that World War II is particularly well-represented in cinema, and of the bunch, what follows is a rundown of some of the most realistic. Some tell true stories, while others were inspired by true stories. Some take real-life battles and add fictional characters. Regardless, all work hard to capture a certain feeling of authenticity and reality, and that’s what matters here, for current ranking purposes.

10

‘The Human Condition I: No Greater Love’ (1959)

Directed by Masaki Kobayashi

So, The Human Condition is technically three movies, all adding up to tell one immense, devastating, and intimate story that plays out over 10 hours. The first movie deals with a conscientious objector trying to avoid being a soldier in the Japanese army, the second movie has him unfortunately conscripted and forced into active combat, while the third movie sees him trying to survive and get home after Japan’s surrender.

Every step of the way, The Human Condition feels harrowing, grounded, and honestly tough to watch. It’s an emotionally exhausting experience on top of being a physically exhausting one, too, considering 10 hours is a good deal of time to commit to something, especially when it’s so downbeat. But that dedication and unwillingness to pull punches is worth celebrating, and damn, does The Human Condition hit hard.

9

‘The Longest Day’ (1962)

Directed by Ken Annakin, Bernhard Wicki, Andrew Marton

A soldier on the battlefield looking to the distance in The Longest Day — Image via 20th Century Studios

There’s a certain 1998 movie that’s probably the most well-known World War II movie to depict the Normandy landings (more on that one in a bit), but The Longest Day is also deserving of recognition. It’s more specifically focused on the events of June 6, 1944, and shows what went down that day from a few different points of view, having American, British, French, and German characters appearing throughout what ends up being a lengthy epic.

For its time, it was pretty raw and matter-of-fact, dramatizing events to some extent, but also trying to stay true to what really happened.

But The Longest Day is very engaging for the entirety of its runtime, and not just because it has one of the most wildly expansive and impressive casts of the entire 1960s (though that does help). For its time, it was pretty raw and matter-of-fact, dramatizing events to some extent, but also trying to stay true to what really happened, prioritizing authenticity in its depiction of D-Day.

8

‘The Great Escape’ (1963)

Directed by John Sturges

This might be a bit of an eyebrow-raising selection, seeing as The Great Escape feels a bit over-the-top and has a certain adventurous quality that’s a bit out of step with other, grimmer realistic World War II movies. But while the film is entertaining, it doesn’t mess around with depicting life in a prisoner-of-war camp during the conflict, being tough in that depiction so you truly feel the motivation to, you know, make an escape that’s great.

Also, The Great Escape was a dramatization of a real-life escape during World War II, and the film doesn’t get sentimental or overly Hollywood with the ending, which is pretty brutal and downbeat for many of the characters who attempted the escape. Liberties are taken with the retelling, sure, but you can say that about a good many World War II movies that were based on – or inspired by – real-life events.

7

‘Fires on the Plain’ (1959)

Directed by Kon Ichikawa

If you weren’t sufficiently bummed out by The Human Condition trilogy, it might be worth checking out Fires on the Plain, which scratches a similar itch, particularly to parts 2 and 3 of that trilogy. Things take place near the end of World War II in this film, with most of it following a single Japanese soldier who gets abandoned by his so-called allies and struggles to survive, all the while dealing with tuberculosis.

Anti-war movies don’t get a whole lot more stark or downbeat than this one, especially since Fires on the Plain still packs a punch and remains depressing to watch 60+ years on from its release. You do get the sense that it tells it like it is, and presents a sad sort of reality regarding those who were wounded or afflicted in some way, but didn’t die, so instead were basically left for dead.

6

‘Saving Private Ryan’ (1998)

Directed by Steven Spielberg

With Saving Private Ryan, most of the film isn’t based on a true story, and it culminates with a battle in a fictional town, but there’s still a high degree of realism and grit throughout the entire film. All of that probably goes without saying, and can be said because of the opening battle sequence alone, which does depict something that actually happened, admittedly (the Normandy landings, albeit with a focus on fictional characters taking part in the real-life event).

It’s the viciousness of combat, the constant death, and the unstable camerawork that all work in tandem to make Saving Private Ryan feel real. It’s about as close to fighting in World War II as one can get without being an actual veteran of it, and the intensity/realism of it all is a big reason why Saving Private Ryan is considered one of Steven Spielberg‘s very best films.

5

‘Letters from Iwo Jima’ (2006)

Directed by Clint Eastwood

Letters From Iwo Jima, Ken Watanabe — Image via Warner Bros.

Made in a decade when Clint Eastwood was probably at his peak, as a filmmaker, Letters from Iwo Jima is one part of a duology, with the other film being Flags of Our Fathers. Both are about the battle of Iwo Jima, though the former focuses on the Japanese soldiers defending the island, while the latter is concerned with the U.S. forces that took the island (and the aftermath, involving one famous photo taken as part of the battle, is also explored).

Both are very realistic and grounded movies, taking the flash away from cinematic warfare and seeking to humanize the soldiers who fought and died in the battle; those on both sides in equal measure. Letters from Iwo Jima is being singled out here because it’s the stronger film, but honestly, as far as realism is concerned, Flags of Our Fathers is probably equally worthy of being mentioned, too.

Letters from Iwo Jima

Release Date: February 2, 2007
Runtime: 141 Minutes

Kazunari Ninomiya

General Tadamichi Kuribayashi

4

‘Dunkirk’ (2017)

Directed by Christopher Nolan

Dunkirk tries to sustain the sort of feeling one gets from watching the opening of Saving Private Ryan for an entire movie. It’s mostly successful, putting aside complex character development and even dialogue, really, in the service of just dramatizing one particular event from World War II, and trying to give the audience an impression of what being wrapped up in it might’ve felt like.

There are a few different points of view shown regarding the evacuation from the titular harbor, with Dunkirk also playing around with time and making some very bold editing choices in the process. It’s a continually intense watch, and the way that it doesn’t focus too much on telling a convenient kind of story/narrative has the effect of making it feel more immediate and realistic.

Dunkirk

Release Date: July 21, 2017
Runtime: 106 minutes

3

‘Rome, Open City’ (1945)

Directed by Roberto Rossellini

A unique war film, given when it was made and how it was shot, Rome, Open City was, for at least a few decades, perhaps as realistic as World War II movies could possibly get. Hell, there’s an argument to be made that it’s still the most grounded and authentic-feeling of them all, given it was about a war that only ended in the year the movie ended up coming out.

Rome, Open City makes use of locations that have clearly been impacted by the war itself, and everyone who appeared in the movie was, naturally, someone who’d just lived through events they were subsequently recreating for a film. The story told here is still interesting, being about resistance fighters combating Nazi forces in the titular city, but the story behind how the film was made is an arguably even more fascinating one.

Rome, Open City

Release Date: October 8, 1945
Runtime: 103 minutes

Aldo Fabrizi

Don Pietro Pellegrini
Marcello Pagliero

Giorgio Manfredi aka Luigi Ferraris
Harry Feist

Major Fritz Bergmann

2

‘Come and See’ (1985)

Directed by Elem Klimov

Come and See - 1985 (1) — Image via Mosfilm

While Come and See has a certain surreal quality to it, what makes it feel stark and realistic is the way it depicts the psychological torment of living through something as big and devastating as World War II. There’s an authenticity to it all that’s truly harrowing, and the nightmarish feel of the film doesn’t make it come across as fantastical or otherworldly, since it’s all in service of that ultimate psychological impact.

The protagonist here is a young boy who joins a group of resistance fighters who want to take on German forces, but they find themselves outmatched in every way, with tragedy and horror ensuing at every turn. Come and See starts a little offbeat, gets more unsettling, and then gives way to all-out terror in its final act. Few films will make you feel as though you’re right in the thick of the chaos of war like this one does.

Come And See

Release Date: October 17, 1985
Runtime: 142 Minutes

1

‘Das Boot’ (1981)

Directed by Wolfgang Petersen

A man inside a sub yelling in Das Boot (1981) — Image via Neue Constantin Film

Not only does Das Boot feel like the most realistic World War II movie, it could also be argued that it’s the most realistic-feeling war movie ever made, full stop. For a lengthy amount of time (depending on what version you watch), Das Boot confines you to a submarine, much like the main characters. There’s very little relief, and also not much by way of positive emotions to feel.

Throughout Das Boot, things are either tedious, unsettling, or all-out harrowing (the last of those emotions comes about when combat does end up happening, though it’s rare). It’s the sort of thing that might well be too immersive and for too long for some viewers, but for anyone who wants to feel the sorts of emotions one would expect actual soldiers confined to a submarine would’ve felt, no other film does it better.