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1917 poster

Movies that feel like1917 (2019)

At the height of the First World War, two young British soldiers must cross enemy territory and deliver a message that will stop a deadly attack on hundreds of soldiers.

If you loved 1917, the closest films we have are Jarhead (2005), The Shadow in My Eye (2021) and Hacksaw Ridge (2016). All three share 1917's bleak and contemplative feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is The Captain (2018).

🍅 88% Rotten Tomatoes★ 8.2 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Sam Mendesbleakcontemplativeepic
8 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · Amazon Prime Video · OVID

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If 1917 hit the spot, these will too

Jarhead poster
Jarhead
2005 · dir. Sam Mendes
🍅 60%★ 7drama · warNetflixStarz

Mendes on war again — young soldiers and the machinery that spends them

The difference: A war of waiting — anticlimax is the point, not momentum

Jarhead is a film about a US Marine Anthony Swofford’s experience in the Gulf War. After putting up with an arduous boot camp, Swofford and his unit are sent to the Persian Gulf where they are eager to fight, but are forced to stay back from the action. Swofford struggles with the possibility of his girlfriend cheating on him, and as his mental state deteriorates, his desire to kill increases.

The Shadow in My Eye poster
The Shadow in My Eye
2021 · dir. Ole Bornedal
★ 7.3war · drama · historyNetflix

A wartime clock ticking toward a catastrophe ordinary people can't see

The difference: Civilian tragedy, not a soldier's mission — devastating and slower

On March 21st, 1945, the British Royal Air Force set out on a mission to bomb Gestapo's headquarters in Copenhagen. The raid had fatal consequences as some of the bombers accidentally targeted a school and more than 120 people were killed, 86 of whom were children.

Hacksaw Ridge poster
Hacksaw Ridge
2016 · dir. Mel Gibson
🍅 84%★ 8.1drama · history · war

Private conviction carrying one soldier through unimaginable carnage

The difference: Gorier and more sentimental, with a long calm run-up before the front

WWII American Army Medic Desmond T. Doss, who served during the Battle of Okinawa, refuses to kill people and becomes the first Conscientious Objector in American history to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor.

The King poster
The King
2019 · dir. David Michôd
🍅 71%★ 7.3drama · history · warNetflix

A reluctant young man hardened by the weight of a war he didn't choose

The difference: Medieval politics and long councils — battle is the exception

England, 15th century. Hal, a capricious prince who lives among the populace far from court, is forced by circumstances to reluctantly accept the throne and become Henry V.

War Horse poster
War Horse
2011 · dir. Steven Spielberg
🍅 74%★ 7.2war · history · drama

The same mud and wire of the Great War, crossed by one innocent

The difference: Sweeping storybook sentiment where 1917 stays boots-in-the-mud

On the brink of the First World War, Albert's beloved horse Joey is sold to the Cavalry by his father. Against the backdrop of the Great War, Joey begins an odyssey full of danger, joy, and sorrow, and he transforms everyone he meets along the way. Meanwhile, Albert, unable to forget his equine friend, searches the battlefields of France to find Joey and bring him home.

Land of Mine poster
Land of Mine
2015 · dir. Martin Zandvliet
🍅 91%★ 7.8war · drama · history

Crossing lethal ground inch by inch, where one wrong move ends it

The difference: Set after the war — a moral reckoning, intimate and ugly

In the days following the surrender of Germany in May 1945, a group of young German prisoners of war is handed over to the Danish authorities and subsequently sent to the West Coast, where they are ordered to remove the more than two million mines that the Germans had placed in the sand along the coast. With their bare hands, crawling around in the sand, the boys are forced to perform the dangerous work under the leadership of a Danish sergeant.

The Captain poster
The Captain
2018 · dir. Robert Schwentke
🍅 83%★ 7.3war · drama · historyPrime Video

War's final days stripped of every comfort about human nature

The difference: A pitch-black true story of cruelty — nobody to root for

Germany, 1945. Soldier Willi Herold, a deserter of the German army, stumbles into a uniform of a Nazi captain abandoned during the last and desperate weeks of the Third Reich. Newly emboldened by the allure of a suit that he has stolen only to stay warm, Willi discovers that many Germans will follow the leader, whoever he is.

13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi poster
🍅 52%★ 7.3war · history · drama

Men holding a position through a long night with no help coming

The difference: Loud, modern and gun-heavy, chaotic rather than one sustained push

An American Ambassador is killed during an attack at a U.S. compound in Libya as a security team struggles to make sense out of the chaos.

The Zone of Interest poster
The Zone of Interest
2023 · dir. Jonathan Glazer
🍅 93%★ 7.3drama · history · warRent or buy

Formally daring war filmmaking that traps you in one unbearable vantage

The difference: No mission, no front line — the horror stays just out of frame

The commandant of Auschwitz, Rudolf Höss, and his wife Hedwig, strive to build a dream life for their family in a house and garden next to the camp.

T-34 poster
T-34
2018 · dir. Alexey Sidorov
★ 6.8drama · history · warPrime Video

Soldiers threading an impossible route straight through enemy ground

The difference: A glossy Russian tank adventure — crowd-pleasing, not solemn

In 1944, a courageous group of Russian soldiers managed to escape from German captivity in a half-destroyed legendary T-34 tank. Those were the times of unforgettable bravery, fierce fighting, unbreakable love, and legendary miracles.

The Champion poster
The Champion
2021 · dir. Maciej Barczewski
★ 6.8drama · history · warPrime Video

The same mix in both: bleakness, then stillness

It is 1940. The first transport of prisoners arrives at the newly created concentration camp Auschwitz. One of them is Tadeusz “Teddy” Pietrzykowski, pre-war boxing champion of Warsaw. The camp officers force him to fight in the ring for his and other prisoners’ lives. However, his every win strengthens the hope that Nazis are not invincible. Auschwitz officers notice the growing resistance. The confrontation with the authorities of the camp becomes inevitable.

Kalashnikov AK-47 poster
Kalashnikov AK-47
2020 · dir. Konstantin Buslov
★ 6.6war · history · dramaPrime Video

Epic war, and it commits to that

A Russian military propaganda film about the tank commander Kalashnikov, severely injured in battle in 1941. The accident leaves him incapacitated and unable to return to the front line. While recovering in the hospital, he begins creating the initial sketches of what will become one of the world’s most legendary weapons. A self-taught inventor is only 29 when he develops the now iconic assault riffle — the AK-47. Shot in occupied Crimea.

In the mood for more bleak?

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The best-reviewed films that share 1917’s defining feeling.