Best War Movies of 1999

In 1429 a teenage girl from a remote French village stood before her King with a message she claimed came from God; that she would defeat the world's greatest army and liberate her country from its political and religious turmoil. Following her mission to reclaim god's diminished kingdom - through her amazing victories until her violent and untimely death.

Semi-autobiographical film directed by Franco Zeffirelli, telling the story of young Italian boy Luca's upbringing by a circle of English and American women, before and during World War II.

Ride with the Devil follows four people who are fighting for truth and justice amidst the turmoil of the American Civil War. Director Ang Lee takes us to a no man's land on the Missouri/Kansas border where a staunch loyalist, an immigrant's son, a freed slave, and a young widow form an unlikely friendship as they learn how to survive in an uncertain time. In a place without rules and redefine the meaning of bravery and honor.

If the conflict in Bosnia has become something of a forgotten war, it's not for the want of trying from the immensely powerful BBC film Warriors, the story of five young soldiers and their harrowing experiences in the region.

Horatio Homblower, now promoted to Acting Lieutenant, captures the French ship Le Reve off the Spanish coast. The Captain of the French ship is furious that such a youngster has pulled off such a coup. But far more daunting is Hornblower's first taste of the high life, when he is invited to dine with the Governor of Gibraltar and his wife. The prospect of this is frightening enough, but an unexpected guest, the glamorous Duchess of Wharfedale, adds another spin to his evening.

Leading statesmen, generals, terrorists and others who made the headlines in one of history's most bitter and enduring struggles tell the story of the Arab-Israeli conflict in The 50 Years War: Israel and the Arabs. Opening with the U.N decision to partition Palestine in 1947, the program charts the ensuing half-century of enmity, warfare, mediation and negotiation. Among the current and former heads of state and prime ministers interviewed or featured in the series are Benjamin Netanyahu, Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Shamir of Israel; King Hussein of Jordan; Yasir Arafat of the Palestine Authority; Hafez al-Assad of Syria; Jafaar Numeiry of Sudan; and U.S. Presidents Bill Clinton, George Bush and Jimmy Carter. Also appearing are foreign ministers, defense ministers, commanders in the field, heads of intelligence and guerrilla leaders, as well as high-ranking officials in the United States and the former Soviet Union.

CSS Hunley tells the incredible true story of the crew of the manually propelled submarine CSS Hunley, during the siege of Charleston of 1864. It is a story of heroism in the face of adversity, the Hunley being the first submersible to sink an enemy boat in time of war. It also relates the human side of the story relating the uncommon and extaordinary temperament of the 9 men who led the Hunley into history and died valiantly accomplishing this feat.

In London, during October 1993, England is playing Holland in the preliminaries of the World Cup. The Bosnian War is at its height, and refugees from the ex-Yugoslavia are arriving. Football rivals, and political adversaries from the Balkans all precipitate conflict and amusing situations. Meanwhile, the lives of four English families are affected in different ways by encounter with the refugees.

When an elite eight-man British SAS team is dropped behind enemy lines, their mission is clear: take out Saddam Hussein's SCUD missile systems. But when communications are cut and the team finds themselves surrounded by Saddam's army, their only hope is to risk capture and torture in a desperate 185-kilometer run to the Syrian border. Based on the true story of a British Special Forces unit behind enemy lines during the Gulf War, Bravo Two Zero explores the tragedies and triumphs of men taken to the edge of survival in the Persian Gulf War.

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.

September, 1916. As Corporal Henri Defense, young Indiana Jones has become a motorcycle courier stationed near the trenches at Verdun. His friend Remy is still in the trenches, and both grow more disillusioned about the war each day. Chosen to sneak into enemy territory on account of his gift for languages, Indy overhears German officers speaking of the imminent arrival of their most powerful artillery guns, nicknamed Big Bertha. A month later Indy and Remy are granted leave to Paris, where Indiana meets the exotic dancer Mata Hari at a dinner party. He falls for her immediately, but soon finds out she is dating other men as well, including the French Minister of War.

Africa, December 1916. Despite disobeying orders, Indy is promoted to Captain after capturing a German machine gun. He is then ordered to cross the jungle with Remy and Captain Boucher to pick up a shipment of weaponry. Along the way his Ubangan Sgt, Barthelemy picks up the sole surviving child from a disease ridden village despite Boucher's orders against it. On the way back, Indy and company succumb to disease themselves, and are picked up by Albert Schweitzer and the orderlies from his jungle hospital. At first resistant to being treated by a German, Indy soon begins to realize that Schweitzer is not interested in war, only attempting to cure people against all odds.

Feature-length drama about the mystery of Sandringham Company, which disappeared in action at Gallipoli in 1915. Commanded by Captain Frank Beck, their estate manager, the men advanced into battle, were enveloped in a strange mist and never seen again.

August, 1917. Using the name 'Henri Defense', 17 year old Indiana Jones has enlisted in the Belgian army to fight in the Great War. After all his commanding officers have been wiped out during combat in Flanders, Corporal 'Defense' is left in charge of what's left of the 9th Belgian Infantry. They are assigned to the French 14th Company and dispatched into the Battle of the Somme. When Indy is captured by the Germans, he quickly gains a reputation as an escape artist, and is sent to the maximum security prison at Dunsterstadt on the Danube.

Working with a beautiful lady spy, Indiana Jones is assigned to assist the British forces in their attack on the Turkish-occupied town of Beersheba. With a regiment of the Australian Lighthorsemen approaching, Indy must defuse the explosives the Turks have placed throughout the town.

La Guerre Dans le Haut Pays is a period piece set in the winter of 1797-98, during the six days leading up to the fall of Bern and the victory of Napoleon's army, when the Bern government is faced with mixed loyalties from its subjects. The population of the lower valley is divided, but the upper region remains loyal, since they have been given special autonomy and a favorable system of taxation. David, a postman, works between the two regions. His father, who is a hard-line conservative, does not approve of his relationship with Julie, who is from the lower part of the valley. Julie's father, on the other hand, is more open to the new ideas of liberation. As a result of his work, David is exposed to new ideas and becomes a believer in equality and justice.

A vicious serial killer terrorizes the city by brutally strangling attractive young women. Weary, cynical Detective Grant Sutherland enlists the aid of blind, fragile psychic Maggie Russo in order to capture the lethal psycho.

National Geographic follows underwater explorer Bob Ballard as he searches for the aircraft carrier sunk during the Battle of Midway.

Eyewitness is a 1999 American short documentary film directed by Bert Van Bork. The film explores the lives of three artists forced to work in secret while living in Nazi death camps: Jan Komski, Dinah Gottliebova, and Felix Nussbaum, and who all witnessed and painted the horrors of the Holocaust. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short.

The year 1540 was a crucial turning point in American history. The Great Indian Wars were incited by Francisco Vazquez de Coronado when his expedition to the Great Plains launched the inevitable 350-year struggle between the white man and the American Indians. From that point forward, the series of battles between the military and civilian forces of the United States and the native American Indians began when blood was shed and ultimately tens of thousands of lives were lost on both sides. The Battle of Tippicanoe, the Battle of Horseshoe Band, all three Seminole Wars and the Battle of Little Big Horn were some of the most important conflicts that led up to the last massacre, the Battle of Wounded Knee, where America's landscape would be forever changed!

After Captain Murphy lost some of his men on his last mission to Mexico to bring back a US Senator, he has been plagued with unhappiness and bad dreams. When Murphy is given orders to go back to Mexico to help Mexican people slaving for Salvatore, a rich drug dealer, he must use a new technology plane to get there. The plane is technically advanced with a new protection luxury called 'Active Stealth'. Murphy and his men get aboard the 'Active Stealth', piloted by Hollywood who dreams of being an actor and embark to Mexico. The action never stops from then on when Salvatore sends his men in to block them from getting through.

A clear and critical look at Western intervention in the Balkans leading to the civil wars in Yugoslavia during the 1990s.

Short documentary celebrating the achievements and passion of the women who were ferry pilots during World War II. They transported all types of aircraft, often in hazardous conditions, for Britain’s Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA).

A story of WWI soldiers and the Black struggle for pride and freedom. Eye witness testimonies of surviving veterans, official documents and archive photos reveal the incredible story of the British West Indies Regiment.

During World War II, a transport ship is struck by a mine just north of Morocco. Two black Canadian soldiers are the only survivors and must travel through shark infested waters as they attempt to reach land.