Best War Movies of 2001

When U.S. Rangers and an elite Delta Force team attempt to kidnap two underlings of a Somali warlord, their Black Hawk helicopters are shot down, and the Americans suffer heavy casualties, facing intense fighting from the militia on the ground.

A Russian and a German sniper play a game of cat-and-mouse during the Battle of Stalingrad in WWII.

The lifelong friendship between Rafe McCawley and Danny Walker is put to the ultimate test when the two ace fighter pilots become entangled in a love triangle with beautiful Naval nurse Evelyn Johnson. But the rivalry between the friends-turned-foes is immediately put on hold when they find themselves at the center of Japan's devastating attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.

The historical recreation of the 1942 Wannsee Conference, in which Nazi and SS leaders gathered in a Berlin suburb to discuss the "Final Solution to the Jewish Question". Led by SS-General Reinhard Heydrich, this group of high ranking German officials came to the historic and far reaching decision that the Jews of Europe were to be exterminated in what would come to be known as the Holocaust.

While flying a routine reconnaissance mission over Bosnia, fighter pilot Chris Burnett photographs something he wasn't supposed to see and gets shot down behind enemy lines, where he must outrun an army led by a ruthless Serbian general. With time running out and a deadly tracker on his trail, Burnett's commanding officer decides to risk his career and launch a renegade rescue mission to save his life.

A Nazi doctor—along with the Sonderkomando, Jews who are forced to work in the crematoria of Auschwitz against their fellow Jews—find themselves in a moral grey zone.

Based on a real-life story, this drama focuses on a small group of Allied soldiers in Burma who are held captive by the Japanese. Capt. Ernest Gordon (Ciaran McMenamin), Lt. Jim Reardon (Kiefer Sutherland) and Maj. Ian Campbell (Robert Carlyle) are among the military officers kept imprisoned and routinely beaten and deprived of food. While Campbell wants to rebel and attempt an escape, Gordon tries to take a more stoic approach, an attitude that proves to be surprisingly resonant.

The story of the WWII project to crack the code behind the Enigma machine, used by the Germans to encrypt messages sent to their submarines.

This is a drama set in Nazi-occupied France at the height of World War II. Charlotte Gray tells the compelling story of a young Scottish woman working with the French Resistance in the hope of rescuing her lover, a missing RAF pilot. Based on the best-selling novel by Sebastian Faulks.

When a fisherman leaves to fight with the Greek army during World War II, his fiancée falls in love with the local Italian commander.

Over a period of two years, Mark Cowen and his crew travelled to thirty U.S. states and ten European cities, to interview the veterans of Easy Company. The stories told by the veterans themselves, create a history of the Second World War from the point of view of this heroic company of men, made famous in the mini-series Band of Brothers.

Hornblower and his comrades come under the command of a revered but mentally unstable captain and are forced to mutiny in order to save their ship, the HMS Renown.

In the Warsaw ghetto in 1943, Jews rise against the Nazis.

A romanced story of Attila the Hun, from when he lost his parents in childhood until his death. Attila is disclosed as a great leader, strategist and lover and the movie shows his respect to the great Roman strategist Flavius Aetius, his loves and passions, the gossips, intrigues and betrayals in Rome, all of these feelings evolved by magic and mysticism.

Following the defeat of Germany in WWII, the Allies determine that there must be an accounting of German war crimes. Twenty-four Nazis, representative of all sections of military and civilian life are chosen to stand trial for the crimes of conspiracy to commit aggression, commission of aggression, crimes during war and crimes against humanity. The preparations for the trial, the trial itself and its aftermath are shown through the eyes of Chief Prosecutor Robert Jackson and through the eyes of Reichsmarshal Hermann Goering, the ranking Nazi defendant.

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.

One of the most spectacular and renowned conductors of the 1930s, Wilhelm Furtwangler's reputation rivaled that of Toscanini's. After the war, he was investigated as part of the Allies' de-Nazification programme. In the bombed-out Berlin of the immediate post-war period, the Allies slowly bring law and order to bear on an occupied Germany. An American major is given the Furtwangler file, and is told to find everything he can and to prosecute the man ruthlessly. Tough and hard-nosed, Major Steve Arnold sets out to investigate a world of which he knows nothing.

A romanced story of Attila the Hun, since his childhood, when he lost his parents until his death. Attila is disclosed as a great leader, strategist and lover and the movie shows his respect to the great Roman strategist Flavius Aetius, his loves and passions, the gossips, intrigues and betrayals in Rome, all of these feelings evolved by magic and mysticism.

Between 1964 and 1973 the United States conducted a secret air war, dropping over 2 million tons of bombs and making tiny Laos the most heavily bombed country in history. Millions of these 'cluster bombs' did not explode when dropped, leaving the country massively contaminated with 'bombies' as dangerous now as when they fell 30 years ago. Bombies examines the problem of unexploded cluster bombs through the personal experiences of a group of Laotians and foreigners and argues for their elimination as a weapon of war. Unfortunately they are still a standard part of the US arsenal and were dropped in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq.

A Jewish strongman performs in Berlin as the blond Aryan hero Siegfried.

With World War 2 looming, a prominent family in China must confront the contrasting ideas of traditionalism, communism and Western thinking, while dealing with the most important ideal of all: love and its meaning in society.

In Search of Peace: 1948-1967 chronicles Israel's first two decades, offering new insights on the origins of the Middle East conflict. Combining a rich tapestry of rare archival film and photos, the film offers a unique global perspective on one of the seminal events in the 3,500-year history of the Jewish people. Featuring the voices of Edward Asner, Anne Bancroft, Richard Dreyfuss, Miriam Margolyes and Michael York. "An unabashedly emotional and stirring inspirational history of Israel..."

A mismatched team of British Special Services agents led by an American must infiltrate, in disguise, a female-run Enigma factory in Berlin and bring back the decoding device that will end the war.

Ahmad belongs to the Bangsamoro people. While many of his kind are bent on fighting, thinking that Mindanao is only for the Muslims, Ahmad prefers to live a simple and peaceful life. He works as a doctor in Manila while his wife, Fatima, and his only son, Ibrahim, stay in Mindanao with his mother, Farida. Ahmad is shocked and devastated when Fatima breaks the confounding news. Ibrahim was killed by a stray bullet when vigilantes indiscriminately fire at their village. Ahmad goes back to where he came from Mindanao. Ibrahim’s death did not cause Ahmad to stop striving to live a peaceful life, much to the consternation of his brother, Musa. His brother takes an exactly opposite stand. Musa believes in waging a war against all the Kaafir (unbelievers) who may impede the Moro’s goal of independence. He even trains his young son, Rashid to a Muslim warrior’s life.

Four young boys find a shipwrecked Japanese sailor during World War II and struggle with the decision to save him.

After being released from an Italian prison, British officer Eric Newby (Blue) must find his way out of Italy before the Germans come. However, he is injured on the way and is left behind from his fellow soldiers. He is helped out by the local Italians, and he meets Wanda (Bobulova), a beautiful local girl who helps him learn Italian so he can escape. Slowly, their small friendship turns into a romance, but with the Germans looking for Eric, they are kept apart, not knowing what will happen.

Guy Crouchback joins the war effort during World War 2, an idealistic quest to join the forces of good in the fight against evil. But his efforts is not rewarded, he never has any chance to join any real fighting, circumstances always prevent it. Instead he finds himself in the middle of an army full of cowards, incompetents and a few outright evil men. They of course reap the fortunes of war, promotions and fame, but never Crouchback. His war is just an endless list of transfers and an hopeless but noble quest for righteousness.

A series of short films packaged with certain model kits and aired at conventions, the Gundam Evolve series chronicles a number of side-stories, alternative scenes, and even bonus omake from all around the Gundam canon. Featuring a mix of animation media—from traditional cels to 3-D CG rendering to even cel-shaded 2-D animation—these often 5–8 minute shorts cover such events as Domon Kasshu's training (and a bit of a romantic tift with Rain Mikamura) from G Gundam, Amuro Ray battling Quess Paraya from Char's Counterattack, Kamille Bidan training in the Gundam Mk.II from Zeta Gundam, and Canard Pars dueling Prayer Reverie from the Gundam SEED X Astray manga.

Since 1950, there have been 32 nuclear weapon accidents, known as "Broken Arrows." A Broken Arrow is defined as an unexpected event involving nuclear weapons that result in the accidental launching, firing, detonating, theft or loss of the weapon. To date, six nuclear weapons have been lost and never recovered.Now, recently declassified documents reveal the history and secrecy surrounding the events known as "Broken Arrows". There have been 32 nuclear weapon accidents since 1950. Six of these nuclear weapons have been lost and never recovered. What does this say about our defense system? What does this mean to our threatened environment? What do we do to rectify these monumental "mistakes"? Using spectacular special effects, newly uncovered and recently declassified footage, filmmaker Peter Kuran explores the accidents, incidents and exercises in the secret world of nuclear weapons.

A group of Marines return to Vietnam with a news crew to relive their tragic war experiences.

Jung is a narrative documentary that follows the human and professional adventure of its protagonists, the Afghan people in the midst of civil war.

A detailed military history of the Korean War and preceding events, from 1945 to 1953.

October 1982: War is waged between Britain and Argentina over the Falkland Islands. A British soldier stumbles upon an Argentinean soldier. They share a few minutes of uneasy respite before national hostilities re-emerge.

In 1939, Kalman, an ambitious young businessman, leaves Europe to join his sister Samantha in Palestine. She lives with Dov, an idealistic architect obsessed with the Bauhaus style. With their friends, they form a group, which discusses the future Israeli State.

Margaret Williams directs this 2001 production of adaptation of Benjamin Britten's television opera based on a short story by Henry James. Performers featured include Gerald Finley, Peter Savidge and Josephine Barstow. The conductor is Kent Nagano. As pertinent now as then, OWEN WINGRAVE was composed by Benjamin Britten at the height of the Vietnam War. The opera poses the question: Is pacifism an act of cowardice? Or rather a desire to escape from the spiral of war and create world peace? To what extent do we determine our own futures? Should we let past events inform the decisions we make? Britten’s characters grapple with timeless issues in this gripping psychodrama.

Today, the Avro Lancaster is undoubtedly the most famous bomber employed by the RAF during the Second World War - but there were many other bombers which deserved to be remembered. This programme tells the story of those wartime British bombers that have been largely 'forgotten' either because they have been overlooked in favour of the Lancaster and other four-engine 'Heavies' or because there has been very little film footage found (until now) of their service careers. Aircraft such as the Avro Anson, Fairey Battle, Handley Page Harrow, Bristol Bombay, Vickers Wellesley, Handley Page Hampden, Vickers Wellington, Armstrong Whitworth Whitley, Handley Page Halifax, Short Stirling, Bristol Blenheim, Martin Maryland, Martin Baltimore, Vultee Vengeance, Lockheed Hudson and Ventura, Consolidated Liberator and Boeing Flying Fortress are all featured in RAF service on this unique DVD.

In Vietnam in 1970, Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) takes a perilous and increasingly hallucinatory journey upriver to find and terminate Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando), a once-promising officer who has reportedly gone completely mad. In the company of a Navy patrol boat filled with street-smart kids, a surfing-obsessed Air Cavalry officer (Robert Duvall), and a crazed freelance photographer (Dennis Hopper), Willard travels further and further into the heart of darkness.

The story of Britain's legendary WWII fighter plane.

Made by Scott William Winters, Starwater is a star-studded experimental film shot while doing the HBO series ‘Oz’