Best War Movies of 2002

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

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.

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

The story, set in 1885, 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.

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.

A criminal subculture operates among U.S. soldiers stationed in West Germany just before the fall of the Berlin wall.

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.

Interrogated by a customs officer, a young man recounts how his life was changed during the making of a film about the Armenian genocide.

A group of CNN reporters wrestle with journalistic ethics and the life-and-death perils of reporting during the Gulf War.A Directors Guild Award-winning movie for director Mick Jackson, starring Michael Keaton and Helena Bonham Carter. In 1990, CNN was a 24-hour news network in search of a 24-hour story. They were about to find it in Baghdad. Veteran CNN producer Robert Wiener and his longtime producing partner Ingrid Formanek find themselves in Iraq on the eve of war. Up against the big three networks, Weiner and his team are rebels with a cause, willing to take risks to get the biggest stories and - unlike their rivals - take them live at a moment's notice. As Baghdad becomes an inevitable US target, one by one the networks pull out of the city until only the crew from CNN remains. With a full-scale war soon to be launched all around them, and CNN ready to broadcast whatever happens 24 hours a day, Wiener and Formanek are about to risk their lives for the story of a lifetime.

Fact-based World War II story set on Christmas Eve, 1944, finds a German Mother and her son seeking refuge in a cabin on the war front. When she is invaded by three American soldiers and then three German soldiers, she successfully convinces the soldiers to put aside their differences for one evening and share a Christmas dinner.

Twenty year-old Julius Caesar flees Rome for his life during the reign of Sulla but through skill and ambition rises four decades later to become Rome's supreme dictator.

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

The Falklands Play is a dramatic account of the political events leading up to, and including, the 1982 Falklands War. The play was written by Ian Curteis, an experienced writer who had started his television career in drama, but had increasingly come to specialise in dramatic reconstructions of history. It was originally commissioned by the BBC in 1983, for production and broadcast in 1986, but was subsequently shelved by Controller of BBC One Michael Grade due to its alleged pro-Margaret Thatcher stance and jingoistic tone. This prompted a press furore over media bias and censorship.The play was not staged until 2002, when it was broadcast in separate adaptations on BBC Television and Radio.

Hitler escapes the war to London, where he lives as Mrs. Meitlemeihr, in this what-if black comedy from commercial director Graham Rose.

Night Flight was a powerful drama set in 1943 and the present telling the story of two World War II veterans. Harry Peters piloted a Lancaster bomber at just 20. His now middle-class world is thrown into disarray when former comrade Vic Green lands. A tale of secrets, scandal and corruption based on ghosts as yet not laid to rest.

A documentary history of the development and deployment of the Cold War's ultimate weapon: the nuclear missile submarine. Features interviews with Navy veterans and footage never-before-seen by the public.

During the 1864 battle of the Wilderness, three Union soldiers and three Confederate Soldiers get seperated from their units as twilight engulfs the ravaged battlefield. The men wander alone through the dangerous woods, separate of each other, until they meet by chance on the banks of a quiet creek. The men meet and spend the night around a campfire, not realizing they are enemies until the next morning when the sun rises and a new day of battle begins.

Unlikely friends in a melting pot of confusion. Simon Murray fights for the French Foreign Legion. Pascal Dupont fights for himself. War torn men question honour, hope, morality...because you can desert everything...except yourself.

Steven Spielberg, historian Stephen E. Ambrose, and director James Moll bring us a film with firsthand accounts chronicling the unforgettable events in the Pacific Theater of World War II. From the bombing of Pearl Harbor through the American occupation of Japan in 1945, this powerful documentary depicts the strength and courage of America's youth, while examining how these brave men and women dealt with being thrust into this tremendously brutal chapter of world history.

A boy is forced to face the hardships of war alone.

Comedy drama based on the true story of two British Army dentists who in 1942, eager to see action, go AWOL and invade occupied France on their own.

The absurd and often surrealistic story of the last propaganda film of the Third Reich.

The Year That Trembled is a coming-of-age story set in 1970 in the shadow of Kent State that focuses on a group of young people facing the Vietnam Draft Lottery.

Based on a true story its the untold story of Italian World War II POW"S in Jan 1946. Luca Zingaretti stars as one of over 50,000 Italian Prisoners of War detained at POW camps in the U.S. Roy Schneider stars as Colonel Gartner, the Commander of the camp. Things take a turn for the worse when Manin is brought back from his most recent escape by a patrol force, only to realize that the camp has been evacuated while he was gone. Gartner is forced to keep Manin at the camp until another patrol force can come pick him up. However, no one ever comes. The phone lines get cut, and the two men realize they are completely isolated from the outside world. It is up to each man now to escape the camp.An untold and rarely known fact of US held Italian POW"S

Siva, a young medical student, arrives undocumented in London Heathrow airport. He is taken into custody and recalls his flight from the civil war in Sri Lanka.

As the first major land battle of the American Civil War, the First Battle of Manassas, fought on July 21, 1861, shocked a nation expecting a short and easy conflict. Thirteen months later, Northern and Southern armies clashed again in the Second Battle of Manassas, a far larger battle that signaled the ascendancy of Confederate military prowess under the leadership of Robert E. Lee. With its narrative sweep and stunning imagery, Manassas: End of Innocence offers audiences a glimpse into the lives of soldiers and civilians enmeshed in the turmoil of war. Shot on location in Manassas National Battlefield Park and within the surrounding community, the film showcases such landmark features of the battlefield landscape as the Stone House and the Stone Bridge over Bull Run and recreates key scenes from both battles.

Exploring the personal and heartfelt story of the Navajo code talkers, this documentary tells the stories of the young Navajo men recruited from harsh government boarding schools into the Marines during World War II. From 1942-1945, the code talkers devised an unbreakable code in their native language and transmitted vital messages in the midst of combat against the Japanese.

A film showing the struggles of Lapu-Lapu and how he defended Mactan, Cebu from the invading Spanish forces.

British Ace and hero Albert Ball was perhaps the Allies' best known flyer of the Great War. Originally an infantryman, Ball was one of the first members of the Royal Flying Corps but, on 7th May 1917, he would depart for his last fight. While engaged in a ferocious dog fight with the Germans over northern France he was seen heading into heavy cloud cover with his machine guns blazing. That was the last time anyone ever saw him alive. Official German records claim that Lothar Von Richtoffen, brother of the Red Baron, shot Ball down but this was never officially confirmed and remains a mystery of the war.

What really happened at the battle of Mazar I Sharif? Using footage of combat never seen before, award-winning filmmaker Paul Yule chronicles an extraordinary ten days in November 2001 that involved the US Armed Forces, the CIA, the British SAS, the Taliban, al Qaeda, the warlords of the Northern Alliance, the Red Cross and the western media.

A condensed yet comprehensive look at the development and operations of RAF Bomber Command, from a fledgling force at the outbreak of hostilities to one of the most potent forces in the World on the final day. The video looks at the early years of 1939-1940 when the force suffered huge losses, through to 1941 when they began to possess the means of victory. In 1942 they developed new tactics and new aircraft and by 1943, with the use of the Pathfinder Force, they were making 1,000 bomber raids on Germany and for the next two years the Nazis reaped the 'Whirlwind' that 'Bomber Harris' had promised them. By 1945 they had destroyed most of Germany's towns and cities and broken the morale of the population.

"Whatever You Say, Sir!" is an exceptional military effort. This video raises the bar for military-themed productions! Authentic uniforms, trucks, tanks and tents are used throughout. This is a big-budget effort that looks real (the script, sets and acting are truly believable).

Canada: A People's History - Episode 14: 1940 to 1946 CE. Canada comes of age in the anguish of World War II, with soldiers on the beaches at Dieppe and women in the industrial work force back home. The country's military role, and the domestic, social and political consequences of the war are traced through poignant stories of Canadians on both sides of the Atlantic. The horrific global conflict steals the innocence of a generation... but brings hope for a new future.

he story describes the events of the civil war in 1992 in Tbilisi. Death is seen as something obvious, normal and an everyday occurrence. Death brings together very different people in abnormal circumstances and at the same time it pulls them apart to finally alienate them completely. The way these people behave, only underlines the great absurdity and tragedy of war.