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Movies that feel like The Flowers of War (2011)

If you loved The Flowers of War, the closest films we have are Katyn (2007), The Shadow in My Eye (2021) and Red Cliff II (2009). All three share The Flowers of War's contemplative and epic feel, which is what we rank on before quality. 6 of the 12 picks below are included with a subscription right now on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and OVID and others, checked against today's data.

A Westerner finds refuge with a group of women in a church during Japan's rape of Nanking in 1937. Posing as a priest, he attempts to lead the women to safety.

πŸ… 41% Rotten Tomatoesβ˜… 7.5 IMDb β†—TMDB β†—dir. Zhang Yimoucontemplativeepicbleak

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If The Flowers of War hit the spot, these will too

Katyn poster
Katyn
2007 Β· dir. Andrzej Wajda
πŸ… 91%β˜… 7drama Β· history Β· war

Common ground: a true story

The difference: Reviewed even better

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.

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The Shadow in My Eye poster
The Shadow in My Eye
2021 Β· dir. Ole Bornedal
β˜… 7.3war Β· drama Β· history

The same preoccupation in both: a true story

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.

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Red Cliff II poster
Red Cliff II
2009 Β· dir. John Woo
β˜… 7.5action Β· adventure Β· drama

One thread runs through both: china

The difference: Sits closer to action than The Flowers of War does

The battle of Red Cliff continues and the alliance between Xu and East Wu is fracturing. With Cao Cao's massive forces on their doorstep, will the kingdoms of Xu and East Wu survive?

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Flame & Citron poster
Flame & Citron
2008 Β· dir. Ole Christian Madsen
πŸ… 86%β˜… 7.2drama Β· history Β· war

Contemplative and epic in the same breath

Gunman Flame and his partner Citron assassinate Nazi collaborators for the Danish resistance. Assigned targets by their Allies-connected leader, Aksel Winther, they relish the opportunity to begin targeting the Nazis themselves. When they begin to doubt the validity of their assignments, their morally complicated task becomes even more labyrinthine.

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Hotel Rwanda poster
Hotel Rwanda
2004 Β· dir. Terry George
πŸ… 91%β˜… 8.1drama Β· history Β· war

Both are built on the same subject: atrocity

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 Captain poster
The Captain
2018 Β· dir. Robert Schwentke
πŸ… 83%β˜… 7.3war Β· drama Β· history

Bleak drama, and it commits to that

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.

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9th Company poster
9th Company
2005 Β· dir. Fyodor Bondarchuk
πŸ… 69%β˜… 7.1war Β· drama Β· history

History with a pulse of stillness, in both cases

Russian army recruits complete training and take their posting in late 1980s Afghanistan, where the insurgents are slowly gaining the upper hand.

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T-34 poster
T-34
2018 Β· dir. Alexey Sidorov
β˜… 6.8drama Β· history Β· war

War built on scale, twice over

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.

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Red Cliff poster
Red Cliff
2008 Β· dir. John Woo
πŸ… 89%β˜… 7.3adventure Β· drama Β· history

Both keep coming back to the same thing: china

In 208 A.D., in the final days of the Han Dynasty, shrewd Prime Minster Cao convinced the fickle Emperor Han the only way to unite all of China was to declare war on the kingdoms of Xu in the west and East Wu in the south. Thus began a military campaign of unprecedented scale. Left with no other hope for survival, the kingdoms of Xu and East Wu formed an unlikely alliance.

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Kalashnikov AK-47 poster
Kalashnikov AK-47
2020 Β· dir. Konstantin Buslov
β˜… 6.6war Β· history Β· drama

Both lean on bleakness more than on drama

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 β€” the AK-47. Shot in occupied Crimea.

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The Champion poster
The Champion
2021 Β· dir. Maciej Barczewski
β˜… 6.7drama Β· history Β· war

Contemplative history in both cases

It is 1940. The first transport of prisoners arrives at the newly created concentration camp Auschwitz. One of them is Tadeusz β€œTeddy” 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.

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Land of Mine poster
Land of Mine
2015 Β· dir. Martin Zandvliet
πŸ… 91%β˜… 7.8war Β· drama Β· history

Epic war in both cases

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.

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The best-reviewed films that share The Flowers of War’s defining feeling.