Best War Movies of 2002

1.

The Pianist

6.9

8.5/10

The true story of pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman's experiences in Warsaw during the Nazi occupation. When the Jews of the city find themselves forced into a ghetto, Szpilman finds work playing in a café; and when his family is deported in 1942, he stays behind, works for a while as a laborer, and eventually goes into hiding in the ruins of the war-torn city.

2.

We Were Soldiers

5.3

7.1/10

The story of the first major battle of the American phase of the Vietnam War and the soldiers on both sides that fought it.

3.

K-19: The Widowmaker

4.9

6.7/10

When Russia's first nuclear submarine malfunctions on its maiden voyage, the crew must race to save the ship and prevent a nuclear disaster.

4.

The Four Feathers

4.8

6.5/10

The story, set in 1875, follows a British officer (Heath Ledger) who resigns his post when he learns of his regiment's plan to ship out to the Sudan for the conflict with the Mahdi. His friends and fiancée send him four white feathers which symbolize cowardice. To redeem his honor he disguises himself as an Arab and secretly saves the lives of those who branded him a coward.

5.

Hart's War

4.7

6.3/10

Fourth-generation Army Col. William McNamara is imprisoned in a brutal German POW camp. Still, as the senior-ranking American officer, he commands his fellow inmates, keeping a sense of honor alive in a place where honor is easy to destroy, all under the dangerous eye of the Luftwafe vetran Col. Wilhelm Visser. Never giving up the fight to win the war, McNamara is silently planning, waiting for his moment to strike back at the enemy. A murder in the camp gives him the chance to set a risky plan in motion. With a court martial to keep Visser and the Germans distracted, McNamara orchestrates a cunning scheme to escape and destroy a nearby munitions plant, enlisting the unwitting help of young Lt. Tommy Hart. Together with his men, McNamara uses a hero's resolve to carry out his mission, ultimately forced to weigh the value of his life against the good of his country.

9.

Max

3.4

6.5/10

In 1918, a young, disillusioned Adolph Hitler strikes up a friendship with a Jewish art dealer while weighing a life of passion for art vs. talent at politics

10.

Deathwatch

3.3

6.0/10

In the brutal trench fighting of the First World War, a British Infantry Company is separated from their regiment after a fierce battle. Attempting to return to their lines, the British soldiers discover what appears to be a bombed out German trench, abandoned except for a few dazed German soldiers. After killing most of the Germans, and taking one prisoner, the British company fortifies to hold the trench until reinforcements can arrive. Soon, however, strange things being to happen as a sense of evil descends on the trench and the British begin turn on each other.

17.

Good Morning Afghanistan

0.0

4.0/10

Damien Degueldre recounts day after day the Battle of Qala-I-Jangi, as seen by his own eyes: a young French reporter in the middle of extraordinary circumstances. Damien Degueldre caught exclusive footage of the Mazar-el Sharif uprising where John Walker – better known as the ‘American Taliban’ – was captured as he fought on Taliban frontlines. An incredible testimony on the aftermath of 9/11 and the events that took place in Afghanistan in the early days of the War on Terror.

19.

Windtalkers

0.0

6.1/10

Joe Enders is a gung-ho Marine assigned to protect a "windtalker" - one of several Navajo Indians who were used to relay messages during World War II because their spoken language was indecipherable to Japanese code breakers.