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Movies that feel like The Tin Drum (1979)

If you loved The Tin Drum, the closest films we have are Stalingrad (1993), Where Eagles Dare (1968) and Army of Shadows (1969). All three share The Tin Drum's epic and bleak feel, which is what we rank on before quality. 6 of the 12 picks below are included with a subscription right now on Netflix, HBO Max and Amazon Prime Video and others, checked against today's data.

In 1924, Oskar Matzerath is born in the Free City of Danzig. At age three, he falls down a flight of stairs and stops growing. In 1939, World War II breaks out.

🍅 84% Rotten Tomatoes7.4 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Volker Schlöndorffcontemplativeepicbleak
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If The Tin Drum hit the spot, these will too

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

Contemplative where it counts, epic underneath

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.

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Where Eagles Dare poster
Where Eagles Dare
1968 · dir. Brian G. Hutton
🍅 84%7.6adventure · war

The same two preoccupations: nazi, and germany

The difference: Missing the stillness of The Tin Drum

World War II is raging, and an American general has been captured and is being held hostage in the Schloss Adler, a Bavarian castle that's nearly impossible to breach. It's up to a group of skilled Allied soldiers to liberate the general before it's too late.

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Army of Shadows poster
Army of Shadows
1969 · dir. Jean-Pierre Melville
🍅 97%8.1war · drama · thriller

Both are built on the same subject: nazi

The difference: Leans harder into thriller than The Tin Drum does

Betrayed by an informant, Philippe Gerbier finds himself trapped in a torturous Nazi prison camp. Though Gerbier escapes to rejoin the Resistance in occupied Marseilles, France, and exacts his revenge on the informant, he must continue a quiet, seemingly endless battle against the Nazis in an atmosphere of tension, paranoia and distrust.

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The Guns of Navarone poster
The Guns of Navarone
1961 · dir. J. Lee Thompson
🍅 92%7.5adventure · drama · war

Bleak drama in both cases

A team of allied saboteurs are assigned an impossible mission: infiltrate an impregnable Nazi-held island and destroy the two enormous long-range field guns that prevent the rescue of 2,000 trapped British soldiers.

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

History with a pulse of stillness, in both cases

The difference: Made in the 2000s, in a different era of the craft

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 Battle of Algiers poster
The Battle of Algiers
1966 · dir. Gillo Pontecorvo
🍅 99%8.1drama · war · history

War built on scale, twice over

Paratrooper commander Colonel Mathieu, a former French Resistance fighter during World War II, is sent to Algeria to reinforce efforts to squelch the uprisings of the Algerian War. There he faces Ali la Pointe, a former petty criminal who, as the leader of the Algerian Front de Liberation Nationale, directs terror strategies against the colonial French government occupation. As each side resorts to ever-increasing brutality, no violent act is too unthinkable.

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Patton poster
Patton
1970 · dir. Franklin J. Schaffner
🍅 92%7.9war · drama · history

Bleak drama, and it commits to that

"Patton" tells the tale of General George S. Patton, famous tank commander of World War II. The film begins with Patton's career in North Africa and progresses through the invasion of Germany and the fall of the Third Reich. Side plots also speak of Patton's numerous faults such his temper and habit towards insubordination.

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9th Company poster
9th Company
2005 · dir. Fyodor Bondarchuk
🍅 69%7.1war · drama · history

Both lean on stillness more than on history

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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Flame & Citron poster
Flame & Citron
2008 · dir. Ole Christian Madsen
🍅 86%7.2drama · history · war

Epic war, and it commits to that

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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Das Boot poster
Das Boot
1981 · dir. Wolfgang Petersen
🍅 98%8.4drama · history · war

Drama with a pulse of bleakness, in both cases

A German submarine hunts allied ships during the Second World War, but it soon becomes the hunted. The crew tries to survive below the surface, while stretching both the boat and themselves to their limits.

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T-34 poster
T-34
2018 · dir. Alexey Sidorov
6.8drama · history · war

Both know what they want from history

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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Grand Illusion poster
Grand Illusion
1937 · dir. Jean Renoir
🍅 97%8.1drama · history · war

Common ground: germany

A group of French soldiers, including the patrician Captain de Boeldieu and the working-class Lieutenant Maréchal, grapple with their own class differences after being captured and held in a World War I German prison camp. When the men are transferred to a high-security fortress, they must concoct a plan to escape beneath the watchful eye of aristocratic German officer von Rauffenstein, who has formed an unexpected bond with de Boeldieu.

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