20 best movies like Heaven & Earth (1993)

List of the best movies like Heaven & Earth (1993): Little Dieter Needs to Fly, Defiance, Emperor, The Heroes of Telemark, Les Misérables, Cold Mountain, The Boys in Company C, Colonia, Paradise Road, The Battle of Neretva.

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Markimdb: 8
Genredrama, documentary, military, biography
CountryGermany, United Kingdom, France
Duration01:20

In 1966, Dieter Dengler was shot down over Laos, captured, and, down to 85 pounds, escaped. Barefoot, surviving monsoons, leeches, and machete-wielding villagers, he was rescued. Now, near 60, living on Mt. Tamalpais, Dengler tells his story: a German lad surviving Allied bombings in World War II, postwar poverty, apprenticed to a smith, beaten regularly. At 18, he emigrates and peels potatoes in the U.S. Air Force. He leaves for California and college, then enlistment in the Navy to learn to fly. A quiet man of sorrows tells his story: war, capture, harrowing conditions, escape, and miraculous rescue. Where did he find the strength; how does he now live with his memories?

Markimdb: 7.1
Genreaction, thriller, drama, military, history
CountryUSA
Duration02:17

Based on a true story, during World War II, four Jewish brothers escape their Nazi-occupied homeland of West Belarus in Poland and join the Soviet partisans to combat the Nazis. The brothers begin the rescue of roughly 1,200 Jews still trapped in the ghettos of Poland.

Markimdb: 6.5
Genredrama, military, history
CountryJapan, USA
Duration01:45

As the Japanese surrender at the end of WWII, Gen. Fellers is tasked with deciding if Emperor Hirohito will be hanged as a war criminal. Influencing his ruling is his quest to find Aya, an exchange student he met years earlier in the U.S.

Markimdb: 6.5
Genreaction, drama, military, history
CountryUnited Kingdom
Duration02:05

Set in German-occupied Norway, resistance fighter Knut Straud enlists the reluctant physicist Rolf Pedersen in an effort to destroy the German heavy water production plant in rural Telemark.

Markimdb: 7.6
Genremelodrama, drama, musical, military, history
CountryUnited Kingdom, USA
Duration02:38

    An adaptation of the successful stage musical based on Victor Hugo's classic novel set in 19th-century France, in which a paroled prisoner named Jean Valjean seeks redemption.

    Markimdb: 7.2
    Genremelodrama, drama, adventure, military, history
    CountryUSA, Italy, Romania, United Kingdom
    Duration02:28

    In this classic story of love and devotion set against the backdrop of the American Civil War, a wounded Confederate soldier named W.P. Inman deserts his unit and travels across the South, aiming to return to his young wife, Ada, who he left behind to tend their farm. As Inman makes his perilous journey home, Ada struggles to keep their home intact with the assistance of Ruby, a mysterious drifter sent to help her by a kindly neighbor.

    Markimdb: 6.9
    Genredrama, military, history
    CountryHong Kong, USA
    Duration02:05

    Disheartened by futile combat, appalled by the corruption of their South Vietnamese ally, and constantly endangered by the incompetence of their own company commander, the young men find a possible way out of the war. They are told that if they purposely lose a soccer game against a South Vietnamese team, they can spend the rest of their tour playing exhibition games behind the lines.

    Markimdb: 7.1
    Genredrama, biography, history
    CountryGermany, France, Luxembourg, United Kingdom, USA
    Duration01:05

    A young woman's desperate search for her abducted boyfriend that draws her into the infamous Colonia Dignidad, a sect nobody ever escaped from.

    Markimdb: 6.8
    Genredrama, military, history
    CountryAustralia, USA
    Duration02:02

    A group of English, American, Dutch and Australian women creates a vocal orchestra while being imprisoned in a Japanese POW camp on Sumatra during World War II.

    Markimdb: 7
    Genredrama, military, history
    CountryItaly, Yugoslavia, West Germany
    Duration02:24

    In January 1943 the German army, afraid of an Allied invasion of the Balkans, launched a great offensive against Yugoslav Partisans in Western Bosnia. The only way out for the Partisan forces and thousands of refugees was the bridge on the river Neretva.

    Markimdb: 7.2
    Genredrama, military
    CountryUSA
    Duration01:43

    A hardened mercenary in the Foreign Legion begins to find his own humanity when confronted with atrocities during the fighting in Bosnia

    Markimdb: 6.7
    Genredrama, military, history
    CountryRussia, Germany, Netherlands, Latvia, Belarus
    Duration02:07

    Western frontiers of the USSR, 1942. The region is under German occupation. A man is wrongly accused of collaboration. Desperate to save his dignity, he faces an impossible moral choice.

    Markimdb: 6.4
    Genreaction, melodrama, drama, military, history
    CountryRomania, Hungary, Canada, USA

    Regent Horthy is the leader of Hungary and a German ally, but his favorable standing with Hitler changes as the war comes to an end. Forced to cede Hungary’s power or else witness the execution of his son, Regent Horthy gives up control of his country to the Nazis, who quickly move Hungarians to ghettos and death camps, with no hope in sight. But the despair changes when a young man named Elek emerges. Separated from his family during the relocations and aided by the woman he loves , Elek defies the enemy by becoming one of them. In a race against time, disguised as a Nazi Officer he embarks on a mission to save his family and thousands of his countrymen.

    Markimdb: 6.4
    Genremelodrama, drama, military
    CountryUSA
    Duration01:52

    A sergeant must deal with his desires to save the lives of young soldiers being sent to Vietnam. Continuously denied the chance to teach the soldiers about his experiences, he settles for trying to help the son of an old army buddy.

    Markimdb: 7.3
    Genredrama, military, biography, history
    CountryUnited Kingdom, Denmark
    Duration02:09

    Testament of Youth is a powerful story of love, war and remembrance, based on the First World War memoir by Vera Brittain, which has become the classic testimony of that war from a woman’s point of view. A searing journey from youthful hopes and dreams to the edge of despair and back again, it’s a film about young love, the futility of war and how to make sense of the darkest times.

    Markimdb: 6.8
    Genremelodrama, drama, military, history
    CountryUnited Kingdom, USA

    A German soldier tries to determine if the Dutch resistance has planted a spy to infiltrate the home of Kaiser Wilhelm in Holland during the onset of World War II, but falls for a young Jewish Dutch woman during his investigation.

    Markimdb: 7
    Genredrama, military, history
    CountryUnited Kingdom

    An investigation of the massacre of 24 men, women and children in Haditha, Iraq allegedly shot by 4 U.S. Marines in retaliation for the death of a U.S. Marine killed by a roadside bomb. The movie follows the story of the Marines of Kilo Company, an Iraqi family, and the insurgents who plant the roadside bomb.

    Markimdb: 6
    Genredrama, military, history
    CountryPortugal, France

    Passionate romance, brutal treachery, and selfless nobility are set against the background of Napoleon’s 1810 invasion of Portugal.

    Markimdb: 6.3
    Genredrama, military, biography, history
    CountryUSA
    Duration01:48

    Battle Hymn was inspired by the true story of American minister Dean Hess, played here with rare sensitivity by Rock Hudson. A bomber pilot during World War II, Hess inadvertently releases a bomb which destroys a German orphanage. Tortured by guilt, Hess relocates in Korea after the war to offer his services as a missionary. Combining the best elements of Christianity and Eastern spiritualism, Hess establishes a large home for orphans. The preacher's efforts are threatened when the Korean "police action" breaks out in 1950.

    Markimdb: 7.3
    Genreaction, drama, military, history
    CountrySouth Korea
    Duration02:13

    In 1951 ceasefire is declared, but two remaining armies fought their final battle on the front line Towards the end of the Korean War, a South Korean battalion is fiercely battling over a hill on the front line border against the North in order to capture a strategic point that would determine the new border between two nations. The ownership of this small patch of land would swap multiple times each day. Kang is dispatched to the front line in order to investigate the tacit case that’s been happening there. But he gets spiraled into the war that’s more terrifying than death itself when he meets his friend Kim, who has transformed into a war machine, and his unit. As the countdown for ceasefire begins, both sides become more vicious, resulting in deaths of countless lives until the last man could claim the land.

    Markimdb: 7.8
    Genredrama, military, history
    CountryUnited Kingdom, Netherlands, France, USA
    Duration02:27

    The story of the miraculous evacuation of Allied soldiers from Belgium, Britain, Canada and France, who were cut off and surrounded by the German army from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk between May 26th and June 4th 1940 during World War II.

    Markimdb: 4.6
    Genremelodrama, drama, military
    CountryUSA
    Duration02:07

    During the Bosnian War, Danijel, a soldier fighting for the Serbs, re-encounters Ajla, a Bosnian who's now a captive in his camp he oversees. Their once promising connection has become ambiguous as their motives have changed.

    Markimdb: 7.7
    Genredrama, military, history
    CountryUnited Kingdom, Germany
    Duration01:55

    Two westerners, a priest and a teacher find themselves in the middle of the Rwandan genocide and face a moral dilemna. Do they place themselves in danger and protect the refugees, or escape the country with their lives? Based on a true story.

    Markimdb: 7.4
    Genremelodrama, drama, military
    CountryUSA
    Duration02:07

    The wife of a Marine serving in Vietnam, Sally Hyde decides to volunteer at a local veterans hospital to occupy her time. There she meets Luke Martin, a frustrated wheelchair-bound vet who has become disillusioned with the war. Sally and Luke develop a friendship that soon turns into a romance.

    Markimdb: 7.3
    Genreaction, drama, military, history
    CountrySouth Korea
    Duration02:00

    A civil war broke out in the 1950s between North and South Korea which changed the country forever. 71: Into the Fire centers on the struggles of 71 student soldiers who fought through the Korean War. Using real people and events based on the opening moves of the Battle of P'ohang-dong, the film exposes the personal and physical conflicts that these students faced when finding themselves on the last line of defense at P'ohang-dong Girl's Middle School against the NKPA's advancement, needing to hold out until back up from other Korean troops and the Allies arrived.

    Markimdb: 7.1
    Genremelodrama, drama, military, biography
    CountryAustralia, United Kingdom
    Duration01:56

    A victim from World War II's "Death Railway" sets out to find those responsible for his torture. A true story.

    Markimdb: 6.6
    Genredrama, adventure, military, history
    CountryUnited Kingdom, Netherlands, USA
    Duration01:53

    In 1879, the British suffer a great loss at the Battle of Isandlwana due to incompetent leadership.

    Markimdb: 6.7
    Genreaction, drama, military
    CountryUSA
    Duration01:49

    The men of Bravo Company are facing a battle that's all uphill… up Hamburger Hill. Fourteen war-weary soldiers are battling for a mud-covered mound of earth so named because it chews up soldiers like chopped meat. They are fighting for their country, their fellow soldiers and their lives. War is hell, but this is worse. Hamburger Hill tells it the way it was, the way it really was. It's a raw, gritty and totally unrelenting dramatic depiction of one of the fiercest battles of America's bloodiest war. This happened. Hamburger Hill - war at its worst, men at their best.

    Markimdb: 7.7
    Genreaction, drama, military, history
    CountryChina, Hong Kong
    Duration02:13

    City of Life and Death takes place in 1937, during the height of the Second Sino-Japanese War. The Imperial Japanese Army has just captured the then-capital of the Republic of China, Nanjing. What followed was known as the Nanking Massacre, or the Rape of Nanking, a period of several weeks wherein tens of thousands of Chinese soldiers and civilians were killed.

    Markimdb: 3.4
    Genreaction, drama, military, history
    CountryUSA

    Untold and lost history. A true story of the American Pathfinders, the volunteer paratroopers whose deadly mission was to land 30 minutes before the Normandy invasion, locate and mark strategic "drop zones" and set up the top-secret navigation equipment needed to guide the main airborne assault on D-Day.

    Markimdb: 6.7
    Genreaction, drama, military, history
    CountryUSA
    Duration03:28

    The theme is the founding of the state of Israel. The action begins on a ship filled with Jewish immigrants bound for Israel who are being off loaded on Cyprus. An Intelligence officer succeeds in getting them back on board their ship only to have the harbor blocked by the British with whom they must negotiate. The second part deals with declaring independence and the resulting warring.

    Markimdb: 7.7
    Genredrama, military, history
    CountryUSA
    Duration02:18

    A drama based on the experiences of Agu, a child soldier fighting in the civil war of an unnamed African country. Follows the journey of a young boy, Agu, who is forced to join a group of soldiers in a fictional West African country. While Agu fears his commander and many of the men around him, his fledgling childhood has been brutally shattered by the war raging through his country, and he is at first torn between conflicting revulsion and fascination Depicts the mechanics of war and does not shy away from explicit, visceral detail, and paints a complex, difficult picture of Agu as a child soldier.

    Markimdb: 8
    Genrefantastic, action, drama
    CountryUnited Kingdom, Australia, USA
    Duration02:05

    Documentary style account of a nuclear holocaust and its effect on the working class city of Sheffield, England; and the eventual long run effects of nuclear war on civilization.

    Markimdb: 6.4
    Genreaction, documentary, military, history
    CountryUSA, United Kingdom, Afghanistan
    Duration01:28

    What does it mean to lead men in war? What does it mean to come home? Hell and Back Again is a cinematically revolutionary film that asks and answers these questions with a power and intimacy no previous film about the conflict in Afghanistan has been able to achieve. It is a masterpiece in the cinema of war.

    Markimdb: 7.2
    Genredrama, military, history
    CountryUSA
    Duration02:18

    In the wake of Pearl Harbor, a young lieutenant leaves his expectant wife to volunteer for a secret bombing mission which will take the war to the Japanese homeland.

    Markimdb: 6.6
    Genredrama, military, biography, history
    CountryIndia
    Duration02:30

    The film begins in 1857, when India was ruled by the British East India Company. Mangal Pandey is a sepoy, a soldier of Indian origin, in the army of the East India Company. Pandey is fighting in the Anglo-Afghan Wars and saves the life of his British commanding officer, William Gordon. Gordon is indebted to Pandey and a strong friendship develops between them, transcending both rank and race.

    Markimdb: 7.2
    Genredrama, military, biography, history
    CountryFrance, China, Germany
    Duration02:14

    A true-story account of a German businessman who saved more than 200,000 Chinese during the Nanjing massacre in 1937-38.

    Markimdb: 7.5
    Genrethriller, drama, military
    CountryUSA
    Duration02:20

    Blacklisted in modern day WW2, a Swedish oil trader opts to assist British Allies, by means of infiltrating and surveying Nazi Germany.

    Markimdb: 7.5
    Genreaction, drama, military, history
    CountryBelarus, Russia
    Duration02:11

    A war drama set during the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, in which Russian troops held on to a border stronghold for nine days. The film shows the heroic defense of Brest Fortress, which has taken upon the first stroke of German fascist invaders on June 22 1941.

    Markimdb: 7.2
    Genreaction, thriller, melodrama, drama, military, biography, history
    CountryCzech Republic, United Kingdom, USA, France
    Duration02:24

    In December 1941, Czech soldier Jozef Gabčík and Jan Kubiš parachute into their occupied homeland to assassinate Nazi officer Reinhard Heydrich

    Markimdb: 7.1
    Genrethriller, drama, military, biography
    CountryUnited Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, USA
    Duration02:13

    Michael Collins plays a crucial role in the establishment of the Irish Free State in the 1920s, but becomes vilified by those hoping to create a completely independent Irish republic.

    Markimdb: 7
    Genredrama, military, history
    CountrySpain, Italy, Belgium

    At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, the nun Maria is forced to flee her convent. She takes refuge in a brothel, until it is liberated by a woman's anarchist group. Maria joins the group and eventually goes to the front. The women's group faces the problems of fighting not only the nationalists, but also factions on the left seeking to impose a more traditional military structure. Written by Brian Rawnsley

    Markimdb: 7.4
    Genreaction, drama, military, history
    CountryUSA, United Kingdom
    Duration02:56

    A Bridge Too Far tells the story of Operation Market Garden, the failed attempt by the allies to end the war quickly by securing three bridges in Holland and allowing access over the Rhine into Germany. A combination of poor allied intelligence and the presence of two crack German Panzer divisions meant that the final part of this operation (the bridge in Arnhem over the Rhine, the titular 'bridge too far') was doomed to failure.

    Markimdb: 7.3
    Genredrama, military
    CountryIsrael, Germany, France

    Salma Zidane, a widow, lives simply from her grove of lemon trees in the West Bank's occupied territory. The Israeli defence minister and his wife move next door, forcing the Secret Service to order the trees' removal for security. The stoic Salma seeks assistance from the Palestinian Authority, Israeli army, and a young attorney, Ziad Daud, who takes the case. In this allegory, does David stand a chance against Goliath?

    Markimdb: 7.5
    Genreaction, drama, military
    CountryUSA, United Kingdom
    Duration01:56

      Four Navy SEALs on a covert mission to neutralize a high-level al-Qaeda operative must make an impossible moral decision in the mountains of Afghanistan that leads them into an enemy ambush. As they confront unthinkable odds, the SEALs must find reserves of strength and resilience to fight to the finish.

      Markimdb: 5.8
      Genredrama, military, biography, history
      CountryHungary, United Kingdom

      Based upon the final confession of Adolf Eichmann, made before his execution in Israel, of his role in Hitler's plan for the final solution.

      Markimdb: 6.3
      Genrethriller, drama, military, history
      CountryFrance, Germany, United Kingdom, USA

      Based on true events, an American submarine collides into a Soviet sub of the coast of America and an ensuing standoff occurs that could lead to total annihilation.

      Markimdb: 7.6
      Genreaction, drama, military, history
      CountryChina, Hong Kong
      Duration02:26

      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.

      Markimdb: 7.2
      Genredrama, military, biography, history
      CountryUnited Kingdom
      Duration03:03

      Tsar Nicholas II, the inept last monarch of Russia, insensitive to the needs of his people, is overthrown and exiled to Siberia with his family.

      Markimdb: 6.4
      Genredrama
      CountryUSA, United Kingdom, France, Japan
      Duration01:37

      The dysfunctional twenty-three years old Sarah takes her six year old natural son Jeremiah from the home of his beloved foster parents with the support of the social service to live with her. Along the years, the boy shares her insane and lowlife style and is introduced to booze and drugs and mentally, physically and sexually abused by Sarah, her lovers and her religiously fanatic family.




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