Best War Movies of 2006

There were five Marines and one Navy Corpsman photographed raising the U.S. flag on Mt. Suribachi by Joe Rosenthal on February 23, 1945. This is the story of three of the six surviving servicemen - John 'Doc' Bradley, Pvt. Rene Gagnon and Pvt. Ira Hayes - who fought in the battle to take Iwo Jima from the Japanese.

In 1920s Ireland young doctor Damien O'Donovan prepares to depart for a new job in a London hospital. As he says his goodbyes at a friend's farm, British Black and Tans arrive, and a young man is killed. Damien joins his brother Teddy in the Irish Republican Army, but political events are soon set in motion that tear the brothers apart.

A US Fighter pilot's epic struggle of survival after being shot down on a mission over Laos during the Vietnam War.

The adventures of the Lafayette Escadrille, young Americans who volunteered for the French military before the U.S. entered World War I, and became the country's first fighter pilots.

The day after they get the word they'll go home in two weeks, a group of soldiers from Spokane are ambushed in an Iraqi city. Back stateside we follow four of them - a surgeon who saw too much, a teacher who's a single mom and who lost a hand in the ambush, an infantry man whose best friend died that day, and a soldier who keeps reliving the moment he killed a civilian woman.

Sean Bean is back as the swashbuckling hero in Sharpe's Challenge, an action packed mini-series to be shot on location in Rajasthan, India. Two years after the Duke of Wellington crushes Napoleon at Waterloo, dispatches from India tell of a local Maharaja, Khande Rao, who is threatening British interests there. Wellington sends Sharpe to investigate on what turns out to be his most dangerous mission to date. When a beautiful general's daughter is kidnapped by the Indian warlord, the tension mounts, leaving Sharpe no option but to pursue the enemy right into its deadly lair. Deep in the heart of enemy territory he also has to keep at bay the beautiful but scheming Regent, Madhuvanthi, who is out to seduce him. The fate of an Empire and the life of a General's daughter lie in one man's hands...

In the gathering dusk of 18 August 1966, 108 young, inexperienced Australian and NZ soldiers are separated and surrounded, fighting for their lives, holding off an overwhelming force of 2,500 battle-hardened Viet Cong and North Vietnamese soldiers. And, in the pouring rain, amid the mud and shattered trees of a rubber plantation called Long Tan, with their ammunition running out and another Vietnamese battalion massing for the final assault, the digger's situation seemed hopeless. Long Tan is the true story of ordinary boys who became extraordinary men.

A bitter battle is fought between Australian and Japanese soldiers along the Kokoda trail in New Guinea during World War II.

The Nuremberg trials, 1946 Goering and the Nazi high command stand trial. Within the prison a dangerous mind game is being conducted by Goering and the prison guards who stand watch over the perpetrators of the Holocaust.

A documentary chronicling Lima Company 3rd Battalion 25th Marines from Columbus Ohio and they deployment to Iraq.

Kate is a talented photojournalist. She risks her life to deliver powerful images to the waiting world until a photograph of a Girl changes her life forever.

Ever Again examines the sweeping resurgence of antisemitism in 21st century Europe and its connection to global terrorism.

A searing portrait of war and prejudice, 'Only the Brave' takes you on a haunting journey into the hearts and minds of the forgotten heroes of WWII - the Japanese-American 100th/442nd.

Different factions in WWII-era Holland race to find a stash of Nazi gold.

Thirty years on from Vietnam, a government official is trying to track down soldiers who went missing in action, in the hope that it may lead her to her father. Meanwhile, a war veteran is forced to relive painful memories of how he was left for dead by his own platoon, and the heinous crimes he once committed while in the line of duty.

An oracle has prophesied that a child will grow up to become the Prince of Egypt, and in order to prevent this from happening The Egyptian Pharaoh orders the immediate slaughter of all newborn males. No child in the entire kingdom is spared except for one. His name was Moses, the son of a Hebrew slave. Set adrift on the Nile immediately after he was born, Moses escapes certain death and enjoys a lavish upbringing in a royal Egyptian household. Moses has no memory of his past, and soon rises to the rank of prince. After Moses receives a fiery message from God and learns of his true heritage, he vows to reclaim his destiny by delivering his people from persecution and realizing his fate as the liberator of the Hebrews.

Based on diaries, records and eyewitness accounts, this is the story of the two Battles of the Somme from the perspective of British and German soldiers. It shows how the major lessons learned by the British Army leadership after the disastrous first attacks of July 1916 were turned into victory at the second attempt in September 1916, arguably the turning point for the First World War.

A rural Afghan family living at the base of a mountain, struggles to survive during the last year of the Taliban and the beginning of a new war that still rages. Living under harsh and oppressive conditions, the family finds comfort in one another and in trying to rebuild their mountainous home. The youngest daughter, Zolykha, is specially receptive, curious and clairvoyant. Zolykha can sense and see spirits of strange men from the past that roam the hills and mountains behind her home. As Zolykha and her older siblings, Amena and Zalmai struggle to find meaning in life's natural and man-made tragedies, they discover new convictions to carry on.

A group of WW2 soldiers who were never meant to see the front lines. Not only did they end up on the front lines, but they were under-gunned and under-manned. Patton called them his "golden nugget", the Nazi's called them "The Ghost Corps".

On the ‘home front’ in 1943, Ngarie and Gerald sort air graph letterforms destined for New Zealand soldiers abroad. A tiny act of heroism brings together this unlikely pair in an unconventional love story that cleverly blends fact with fiction.

Packed with combat action from key conflicts, this DVD traces the fascinating rise of the biggest warships the world has ever known. Find out how US air power evolved from early biplanes landing on converted battleships to sophisticated warplanes on enormous modern super carriers. Discover everything you need to know about the most powerful and flexible war machines in existence, and why the first question the President is likely to ask in an international crisis is, "Where is the nearest carrier?"

"When this last war broke out, I was faraway in Paris. I had but one idea: to return to Beirut as quickly as possible and to begin shooting a film, for historical moments were taking place. This film became indispensible: to film so that history would cease repeating itself and to build up a picture library for future generations. I never understood why so few films were made during the Lebanese Civil War. Apart from the odd film, nothing remains from that time. The war surely merited more attention." (Waël Noureddine)

Stealth or LO (Low-Observables) Governs the design of all today's combat aircraft.

This entry in filmmaker Gordon Forbes's documentary series tracks Navy SEALs as they execute a bold mission in broad daylight to save a downed pilot then follows the force's snipers on watch as the team rescues a captured soldier. Forbes's four-part documentary takes viewers behind the scenes of the ultra-secret world of the SEALs and explores the elite commando force's training strategies preparation procedures and combat operations.

A stop motion animated 16mm film combining the Wizard of Oz and the hunt for Bin Laden, with music by V. Vale and Jad Fair.

After World War II, Estonian (Latvian and Lithuanian) soldiers, airmen and sailors who had fought (been conscripted) on the German side ended in POW camps on the US side. They were the lucky ones. The others went to Siberia. This story is about those soldiers who were sitting in their POW camps when all of a sudden they were conscripted yet one more time, this time into a civil variant of the US Army.

Sometimes the greatest act of courage is to tell the truth. Hear and witness our soldiers in this penetrating film. The shocking Iraq War ground conflict is only a prelude to the even more challenging battles these reluctant heroes face upon their return home.

This segment of filmmaker Gordon Forbes's documentary series explores top-of-the-line technological weaponry and artillery as the Navy SEALs unveil the hardware they use to quietly execute their highly specialized operations without a hitch. Forbes's series ushers viewers into the clandestine world of the SEALs and closely examines the elite maritime commando force's operations and procedures, from training and preparation to all-out combat.

This entry in Gordon Forbes's documentary series examines the complicated and ever-changing definition of war and national security from the perspective of the Navy SEALs whose operations include everything from narcotics trafficking to terrorists. Forbes's four-part documentary explores the ultra-secret world of the country's most elite maritime commando unit demonstrating exactly what it takes to be a Navy SEAL.

In this segment of Gordon Forbes's documentary series, you'll witness the Navy SEALs' most grueling training sequences as candidates have their physical and emotional limits pushed to the brink while enduring countless obstacles and challenges. Forbes's four-part documentary explores one of the most elite multipurpose commando units in the United States, revealing fascinating aspects of an ultra-secret world that few have seen before.

This is the untold story of the cold war race to build the perfect long range bomber. Using computer graphics and rare archive footage we show the US and Soviet race to construct a nuclear powered bomber that can fly for years at a time. Our story opens with one of many Soviet cold war era Hoaxes, the airshow flyover of a massive squadron of Bison bombers, which, in reality was only 18 planes flying in tight circles. We then meet a forgotten Soviet aerospace hero, an Italian by birth, who designed the world's first super-sonic flying boat. The US, meanwhile, in pursuit of a long range bomber with extended flight capability, turns to nuclear power, converting a special Convair B-36, which we show in flight. We then visit one of Britain's finest aircraft designs, the long range TSR2 bomber, the engines of which were eventually incorporated into Concorde. We end with the most successful and capable long range bomber of the cold war, the B-2 Stealth.