10 Extraordinary War Movies With the Highest Rotten Tomatoes Ratings

Although it sounds odd, all the wars that took place in our world have actually served as a source of inspiration for many directors. They create their movies to make the viewers understand the horrible reality of those times and to promote anti-war sentiments.

Here are ten movies that anyone with even a passing interest in history should see.

1. Casablanca — 99%

This Michael Curtiz film is the most acclaimed war picture. Although set during World War II, Casablanca is primarily a romantic story with a moral dilemma at its heart.

Rick Blaine owns a nightclub called Casablanca, and one day he learns that his former love, who broke his heart and married another man, is in town. She asks him to help her husband, a Czech resistance leader currently being hunted by the Germans. The movie was an instant success with the critics and the audiences.

2. The Battle of Algiers — 99%

This brutal film about the Algerian war is created as a documentary and has a lot of powerful images of a real battle that actually happened in Algiers with the French army. There are a lot of non-actors in it, which makes it realistic and hard to watch. At the center of the picture is the story of Ali La Pointe, the leader of the Algerian army.

Immediately upon its release, the critics in France didn't think it was the most accurate depiction of the story and even banned it in the country for five years. But later it still became one of the most important political films ever made.

3. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) — 98%

Many of you may be familiar with the novel of the same name written by Erich Maria Remarque. The book has the most graphic and realistic depiction of trench warfare in World War I. It focuses on how horrible it really was and how no one outside the war really understood the gruesome reality.

The movie is based on the novel and tells the story of a group of young German men who are so eager to join the army that they don't realize there are horrors to be experienced along with the glory of serving their country.

4. Apocalypse Now — 98%

The film is considered one of Francis Ford Coppola's best. It tells the story of a captain who is forced to find a colonel who has gone mad. He used to be the perfect military man, but unfortunately, the war made him insane, and he started to threaten the army. Captain Willard's mission is to find him and remove him from command at any cost. The captain's journey is brutal and shows how dedicated he was to accomplish the task and save the army.

5. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb — 98%

It's not often that a war movie is mixed with a comedy genre, but Stanley Kubrick managed to create a true masterpiece. The movie focuses on a satire of the Cold War conflict and is actually one of the first films to help create the unique genre of dark comedy.

The story of General Ripper, the commander of an Air Force base, who makes everyone around him believe that the Pentagon has ordered a nuclear attack on the USSR, is at the core of the movie. In the course of time, however, it becomes clear that he is insane, and the premise comes down to stopping the attack.

6. Grand Illusion — 97%

Set during World War I, the movie follows a group of French officers who are captured as war prisoners. The premise of the movie is mainly to show the difference in class relations and to point out once again how meaningless the war is. At first, these prisoners seem aggressive and ready to rip each other off, but as the story progresses, they understand how similar they actually are and begin to help each other in some way.

7. Army of Shadows — 97%

It's a movie about the French Resistance during World War II, based on Joseph Kessel's book, in which he combined his own experiences as a member of the Resistance and created several other fictional stories that could easily have been true.

The movie ended up being quite a realistic portrayal of the events of the period, focusing on the story behind the betrayal of Philippe Gerbier that landed him in a Nazi prison camp. His journey of escape is a true depiction of devotion.

8. The Hurt Locker — 97%

Set during the Iraq war and occupation, the movie follows a bomb demolition team, focusing in particular on Sergeant William James, who becomes the group's team leader after the previous one is killed in an explosion. However, it takes him a long time to get acquainted with them as they are not very fond of his ways.

9. Lawrence of Arabia — 94%

The central character of the movie, as the name suggests, is Thomas Edward Lawrence, a British officer who served as a military advisor during the Arab revolt against the Ottoman Empire.

The film focuses on his time working with Prince Faisal as a mediator between the two sides, as well as the struggles he faced while crossing the harsh desert in hopes of gaining a military advantage.

10. Dunkirk — 92%

Another tough movie set in World War II. Christopher Nolan 's film revolves around the time of the Dunkirk evacuation and shows the audience the many different perspectives of this event.

What makes this movie different from many other war movies is the little use of dialogue, so the images and all the silent scenes just hit the viewers that much harder because the only sounds they hear are the real sounds that the characters were around.