Oldrich is the runt of his village, beaten by his father, bullied by the other boys. But he has imagination on his side, and a wiry toughness they can’t defeat. The village is in turmoil, because the Nazi occupiers have just retreated and the Red Army is advancing. Oldrich dodges amid the mayhem and panic, taking his share of blows but always managing to stay one step ahead. Beautifully shot and darkly ironic, Karel Kachyna’s forgotten masterpiece jumbles reality, memory and fantasy to capture the intensity and confusion of childhood in a war zone.
In the German-occupied Paris, Helene is torn between the love for her boyfriend Jean, working for the resistance and the German administrator Bergmann, who will do anything to gain her affection.
The Nazis, exasperated at the number of escapes from their prison camps by a relatively small number of Allied prisoners, relocate them to a high-security 'escape-proof' camp to sit out the remainder of the war. Undaunted, the prisoners plan one of the most ambitious escape attempts of World War II. Based on a true story.
Pistoia, World War II. After the Nazi occupation of Tuscany, Silvano Fedi, together with a group of twenty-year-olds like him, decides to establish the 'Squadre Franche Libertarie', the local and national resistance, ready to give their lives in order to free Italy from oppression and injustice and rebuild it on the ideals of freedom and non-violence.
Hitler no longer believes in himself, and can barely see himself as an equal to even his sheep dog. But to seize the helm of the war he would have to create one of his famous fiery speeches to mobilize the masses. Goebbels therefore brings a Jewish acting teacher Grünbaum and his family from the camps in order to train the leader in rhetoric. Grünbaum is torn, but starts Hitler in his therapy ...
The story of Operation Market Garden—a failed attempt by the allies in the latter stages of WWII to end the war quickly by securing three bridges in Holland allowing access over the Rhine into Germany. A combination of poor allied intelligence and the presence of two crack German panzer divisions meant that the final part of this operation (the bridge in Arnhem over the Rhine) was doomed to failure.
On June 4, 1944 Captain Daniel Gallery and his men of the U.S. Naval Task Force 22.3 did the nearly impossible - they captured a German U-boat. It was the first enemy vessel-of-war captured in battle on the high seas by the U.S. Navy since 1815. Climb aboard the historic U-505 and relive its journey from a powerhouse of the German fleet to a display at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. Witness archival footage and rare interviews with both German and American crew members involved in the capture of the U-505. And view even rarer footage of Captains Daniel Gallery and Harold Lange, captain of the 505 at the time of its capture..
A remarkable film that takes a special look at the first war to be truly reported and recorded by one of the more unsung heroes of World War II: the combat photographer. Through the unflinching eye of their camera's lenses, these courageous soldiers continually risked their lives in their brave attempts to capture history.
World War II. In autumn 1941 the German troops completely surrounded one of the biggest Russian cities — Leningrad. 2,5 million civilians got trapped in the city. The German commandment decided to destroy the city with bombings, artillery attacks and, most importantly, with hunger. The most difficult first winter of the siege (1941 — 1942). A young woman Olga is walking through the whole city to her father. She wants to see him one last time to say goodbye and to ask for his forgiveness.
How many Yamil remembers himself, war has always been. He is very much waiting for it to end - after all, then the father will return, whom the boy knows only from photographs and letters. One day, Mom leaves for a distant city and brings the silent girl Oksana with her. Mum transmits the order of his father to take care of Oksana, as if he was a little sister ... A film adaptation of the story “The Joy of Our Home” by the classic of Soviet literature Mustay Karim.
A brother and sister learn their biological grandfather was a kamikaze pilot who died during World War II. During their research into his life, they get conflicting accounts from his former comrades about his character and how he joined his squadron.
An elderly man tells his granddaughter his personal story of the Second World War. His life as a child and all the strange characters he populates it with takes the little girl to a bizarre world she doesn't understand.
A German submarine hunts allied ships during the Second World War, but it soon becomes the hunted. The crew tries to survive below the surface, while stretching both the boat and themselves to their limits.
Comedian Tommy Trinder plays it straight in this tribute to the wartime AFS (Auxiliary Fire Service). The dedicated band who kept the fires of London under control during the blitz and fire bombings of WWII.
The historical drama set during the Second World War centres on three people whose paths cross: a Russian aristocratic emigrant and member of the French resistance, a French collaborator and a high-ranking German SS officer.