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Schindler's List poster

Movies that feel likeSchindler's List (1993)

The true story of how businessman Oskar Schindler saved over a thousand Jewish lives from the Nazis while they worked as slaves in his factory during World War II.

If you loved Schindler's List, the closest films we have are Saving Private Ryan (1998), War Horse (2011) and The Zone of Interest (2023). All three share Schindler's List's contemplative and epic feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Katyn (2007).

🍅 98% Rotten Tomatoes★ 9 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Steven Spielbergcontemplativeepicbleak
5 of 12 streaming nowAmazon Prime Video · Paramount Plus Premium · Peacock Premium

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If Schindler's List hit the spot, these will too

Saving Private Ryan poster
Saving Private Ryan
1998 · dir. Steven Spielberg
🍅 94%★ 8.6war · drama · historyParamount+Peacock

Spielberg's other WWII monument — duty weighed in human lives

The difference: Combat epic; the moral math on the battlefield

As U.S. troops storm the beaches of Normandy, three brothers lie dead on the battlefield, with a fourth trapped behind enemy lines. Ranger captain John Miller and seven men are tasked with penetrating German-held territory and bringing the boy home.

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

Spielberg staging war's cruelty and mercy on an epic canvas

The difference: Sentimental WWI storybook — a horse's odyssey, not history's wound

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.

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

Auschwitz again, seen from the desk where the horror was administered

The difference: Cold formal distance — it withholds the catharsis Spielberg allows

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.

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas poster
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
2008 · dir. Mark Herman
🍅 65%★ 7.7drama · war · history

The Holocaust approached through one relationship's innocence

The difference: A fable's simplicity, devastating end

When his family moves from their home in Berlin to a strange new house in Poland, young Bruno befriends Shmuel, a boy who lives on the other side of the fence where everyone seems to be wearing striped pajamas. Unaware of Shmuel's fate as a Jewish prisoner or the role his own Nazi father plays in his imprisonment, Bruno embarks on a dangerous journey inside the camp's walls.

Stalingrad poster
Stalingrad
1993 · dir. Joseph Vilsmaier
★ 7.5drama · history · war

War stripped of glory until only endurance and horror remain

The difference: Follows German soldiers in combat — no rescuer to root for

A German Platoon is explored through the brutal fighting of the Battle of Stalingrad. After half of their number is wiped out and they're placed under the command of a sadistic captain, the platoon lieutenant leads his men to desert. The platoon members attempt escape from the city, now surrounded by the Soviet Army.

Downfall poster
Downfall
2004 · dir. Oliver Hirschbiegel
🍅 90%★ 8.2drama · history · warPrime Video

The Reich's machinery witnessed from inside

The difference: The perpetrators' bunker, no rescuer

In April of 1945, Germany stands at the brink of defeat with the Russian Army closing in from the east and the Allied Expeditionary Force attacking from the west. In Berlin, capital of the Third Reich, Adolf Hitler proclaims that Germany will still achieve victory and orders his generals and advisers to fight to the last man. When the end finally does come, and Hitler lies dead by his own hand, what is left of his military must find a way to end the killing that is the Battle of Berlin, and lay down their arms in surrender.

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

Survival inside Auschwitz, where small victories keep hope alive

The difference: A modest, little-seen Polish production with a narrow focus

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.

The Thin Red Line poster
The Thin Red Line
1998 · dir. Terrence Malick
🍅 80%★ 7.6drama · history · war

Both keep coming back to the same thing: world war ii

The story of a group of men, an Army Rifle company called C-for-Charlie, who change, suffer, and ultimately make essential discoveries about themselves during the fierce World War II battle of Guadalcanal. It follows their journey, from the surprise of an unopposed landing, through the bloody and exhausting battles that follow, to the ultimate departure of those who survived.

Katyn poster
Katyn
2007 · dir. Andrzej Wajda
🍅 91%★ 7drama · history · war

A national atrocity recounted with sorrow and unsparing honesty

The difference: Dense Polish history told in fragments — demands homework going in

On September 1st, 1939, Nazi Germany invades Poland, unleashing World War II. On September 17th, the Soviet Red Army crosses the border. The Polish army, unable to fight on two fronts, is defeated. Thousands of Polish men, both military and government officials, are captured by the invaders. Their fate will only be known several years later.

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

One man's conscience defying the war around him

The difference: Battlefield faith story, graphic combat

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.

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

One man's wartime purpose found amid the machinery of WWII

The difference: An admiring Russian biopic of a weapons designer — no moral reckoning

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.

Hotel Rwanda poster
Hotel Rwanda
2004 · dir. Terry George
🍅 91%★ 8.1drama · history · war

Contemplative where it counts, epic underneath

Inspired by true events, this film takes place in Rwanda in the 1990s when more than a million Tutsis were killed in a genocide that went mostly unnoticed by the rest of the world. Hotel owner Paul Rusesabagina houses over a thousand refuges in his hotel in attempt to save their lives.

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The best-reviewed films that share Schindler's List’s defining feeling.