Top 5 Must-Watch Historically Accurate WWII Movies Ranked

Hollywood has been crafting World War II films even before the United States officially entered the war. As one of the most pivotal events of the 20th century, these stories provide rich material for dramatic portrayals on the big screen. However, despite the inherently gripping and emotionally charged nature of the war, filmmakers have occasionally taken creative liberties, stretching the true events for cinematic effect.

The level of accuracy in World War II films varies significantly across different productions. While many movies choose to emphasize drama at the expense of historical truth, some strive to meticulously capture the real essence of the conflict. These exceptional films go above and beyond to deliver an authentic representation, creating an immersive experience that takes viewers back in time.

Naturally, some World War II films adopt a revisionist angle, such as Quentin Tarantino’s bold take in “Inglourious Basterds.” However, those are not the focus here. The movies featured in this list have been praised for their commitment to depicting the war as it unfolded, offering an enlightening blend of accurate history and compelling storytelling that results in truly captivating cinema.

Both Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks were well-acquainted with World War II narratives before they collaborated on “Saving Private Ryan.” Spielberg directed the Oscar-winning “Schindler’s List,” while Hanks earned acclaim for his role in “A League of Their Own.” Their combined expertise led to one of the most acclaimed World War II films ever. Right from its opening scenes, “Saving Private Ryan” sets a high standard. The story follows Captain John Miller (Tom Hanks) as he embarks on a mission across war-torn France to locate Private James Francis Ryan (Matt Damon). Ryan, whose four brothers have perished in the war, is to be sent home—a task that proves challenging amid the chaos of battle.

In a gripping introduction, “Saving Private Ryan” delivers a harrowing depiction of D-Day, showing the Allied invasion of Normandy with raw intensity. This opening sequence is hailed as one of cinema’s most realistic battle portrayals, with veterans commending its authenticity. D-Day survivor John Raaen remarked to Time, “Everybody was stunned by it.” The profound realism resonated so deeply that the Department of Veterans Affairs anticipated a wave of trauma responses, setting up a dedicated support line. Frank L. Davis, who landed on Omaha Beach as a young sergeant, shared with The Philadelphia Inquirer, “It felt like I was right there again. It was so damned real.”

The end of World War II came hard and fast for the Germans, and no one lived in more denial about their inevitable defeat than Adolf Hitler himself, who spent the last few days of the war — and indeed, his life — holed up in an underground bunker. The German film “Downfall” captures the bitter end for the Nazi dictator, as well as the devoted staff who surrounded him and the soldiers fighting in the streets of Berlin above. “Downfall” courted controversy for its efforts to give audiences a glimpse at a human Hitler, but human doesn’t necessarily mean sympathetic — it certainly doesn’t attempt to soften his character, it simply shows him how he actually was.

“Downfall” is incredibly accurate when it comes to detailing both the personal characteristics of Hitler and the events of his final days. Screenwriter Bernd Eichinger did extensive research from primary sources in his efforts to be as true to life as possible, consulting first-person accounts from some of the surviving members of Hitler’s bunker. According to Hitler’s personal bodyguard, Rochus Misch, “Downfall” was generally accurate with only minor deviations (such as raised voices during certain scenes) for dramatic effect, an assertion that was supported by Erna Flegel, who was a nurse in the bunker.

Franklin D. Roosevelt didn’t call it “a date which will live in infamy” for nothing. The December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor that drew the United States into World War II is seared in the brains of every American who was alive at the time. It’s become a subject of fascination for many filmmakers, with Michael Bay famously tackling the event with his movie “Pearl Harbor.” But the film that comes the closest to capturing the chaos of the surprise attack is 1970’s “Tora! Tora! Tora!,” directed by Richard Fleischer, Toshio Masuda, and Kinji Fukasaku.

“Tora! Tora! Tora!” is one of several ’70s war movies that still hit hard today. It shows the events of the Pearl Harbor attack from both the Japanese and American perspectives, with separate film crews devoted to each side of the story. While its narrative merits can be questioned, the accuracy of its depiction of the Pearl Harbor attack is undeniable. Filmed on location in Oahu, Hawaii, the combat scenes look so real because they are — all the flying and explosions are legit. “If you worked on this movie, you thought you were in World War II,” stuntman Charlie Piecerni told HistoryNet. “This was real. There was no faking, no bulls**t.”

The film even features a real-time, totally unintentional plane crash — the people you see scrambling to safety are actually stunt performers running for their lives. The scene was supposed to depict an American fighter plane bursting into flames soon after taking off as if it had been hit, but the radio-controlled Curtiss P-40E Warhawk, which was packed with gasoline and explosives, spun out of control and burst into flames on the runway. It’s a minor miracle that this didn’t join the list of movie scenes that actually killed stunt performers.

File this one under World War II movies that are accurate but are too emotionally devastating to watch more than once. The 1985 Soviet film “Come and See” tells the tale of the Eastern Front and the brutality that unfolds around Flyora (Aleksei Kravchenko), a Belarusian boy who unintentionally brings tragedy upon his village. Hoping to join the partisans in the area, he digs up a rifle that had been buried to avoid Nazi reprisals. He later returns home to discover that his entire community has been massacred as a result of his actions.

Perhaps the most horrifying thing about “Come and See” is how true to life its atrocities are. The script was co-written by Ales Adamovich, who had himself served as a Belorussian partisan fighter in his youth, joining up at age 15. The film actually faced an eight-year delay due to the State Committee for Cinematography refusing to allow it to be made because the violence it contained was too realistic.

At once a lyrical anti-war abstraction and a vivid look at the Second World War in Belarus, “Come and See” forces audiences to confront the reality of what war actually looks like. According to director Elem Klimov, a former Wehrmacht officer once vouched for the film’s authenticity, saying, “I marched through Poland, Belarus, and even reached Ukraine. I testify: everything told in this film is true. And the most terrible and shameful thing for me is that my children and grandchildren will see this film.”

One of the most emblematic components of the German navy during World War II was the fearsome U-boat, submarines capable of carrying out sneak attacks before enemies knew they were around. But as we see in 1981’s “Das Boot,” life in a wartime submarine is not exactly a walk in the park. In its depiction of a sub in the midst of the Battle of the Atlantic, “Das Boot” — which is based on wartime journalist Lothar-Günther Buchheim’s 1973 semi-autobiographical novel of the same name — devotes itself to realism from start to finish.

For the shoot, director Wolfgang Peterson had five reconstructions of a U-96 commissioned, some for exterior shots (one of which was rented by Lucasfilm for “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” which came out the same year) and others for the inside of the sub. Peterson was particularly pleased with the replica of the interior. “It was a perfectly reconstructed submarine,” he said in a 1982 interview. “They worked about one and a half year on that to recreate and reconstruct it. It was a tube. It was a real submarine insert.” Of course, this wasn’t cheap — Peterson spent a staggering amount of money bringing “Das Boot” to life.

The decision to film sequentially over the course of one year meant that the men playing the submariners took on an increasingly pale and unhealthy appearance from having spent so much time inside the dark, cramped submarine model. The actors spent time training to more accurately mimic actual submariners and were even forbidden from staying outdoors for too long so they didn’t catch a tan. It’s no wonder War History Online called Peterson’s classic “the most realistic submarine movie ever released.”