In this adaptation of the autobiography "The Pianist: The Extraordinary True Story of One Man's Survival in Warsaw, 1939-1945," 'Wladyslaw Szpilman' (qv), a Polish Jewish radio station pianist, sees Warsaw change gradually as World War II begins. Szpilman is forced into the Warsaw Ghetto, but is lat…er separated from his family during Operation Reinhard. From this time until the concentration camp prisoners are released, Szpilman hides in various locations among the ruins of Warsaw. (Read More)
Themes: | starvation, humiliation |
Locations: | rooftop, wheelchair, bathtub, restaurant, hospital |
Characters: | jewish, musician |
Period: | 1930s, 1940s |
Story: | warsaw ghetto, ghetto, jewish resistance, loaf of bread, nazi occupied poland, polish resistance, underground resistance, long suffering, warsaw poland, ruins, pianist, piano concerto, grand piano, hit on the head with a rifle, desaturated colors, budding friendship, warsaw uprising, ghettoization, jaundice, child knocked unconscious, hiding jews, penknife, passionate, panzer, pyre, losing weight, pogrom, surviving, radio broadcasting, separation from family, boy killed, tinnitus, freight train, death of a child, change of heart, motivational, shoah, nazi soldier, pretending to be dead, based on autobiography, bloody body of a child, child killed, nazi uniform, red army, luggage, gestapo, weight loss, nazi occupation, hiding place, ss, disc jockey, loss of sister, second chance, contraband, bloody body of child, atrocity, no title at beginning, dead children, wall, bread, deportation, molotov cocktail, grenade launcher, loss of brother, war crime, flamethrower, dead boy, existentialism, prisoner of war, thrown through a window, poland, assault rifle, attic, hunger, resistance, anti semitism, suffering, faked death, genocide, mass murder, child murder, whipping, loss of mother, police brutality, loss of father, tank, mistaken identity, holocaust, shot in the forehead, execution, no opening credits, massacre, concert, survival, piano, shot in the head, corpse, world war two, fire, based on true story, cult film, blood, violence, murder |
On the run and hiding in the deep forests of the then German-occupied Poland and Belorussia (World War II), the four Bielski brothers find the impossible task of foraging for food and weapons for their survival. They live, not only with the fear of discovery, contending with neighboring Soviet parti…sans and knowing whom to trust but also take the responsibility of looking after a large mass of fleeing Polish Jews from the German war machine. Women, men, children, the elderly and the young alike are all hiding in makeshift homes in the dark, cold and unforgiving forests in the darkest times of German-occupied Eastern Europe. (Read More)
Themes: | starvation |
Characters: | jewish |
Story: | jewish resistance, poland, shoah, red army, nazi occupation, ss, bread, hunger, resistance, anti semitism, genocide, tank, holocaust, execution, no opening credits, massacre, survival, shot in the head, corpse, world war two, based on true story, blood, violence, murder |
The feature film directed by Elem Klimov, shot in the genre of military drama. The action takes place on the territory of Belarus in 1943. In the center of the story is a Belarusian boy, who witnesses the horrors of the Nazi punitive action, turning from a cheerful teenager into a gray-haired old ma…n for two days. (Read More)
Period: | 1940s |
Story: | surviving, tinnitus, nazi soldier, nazi uniform, nazi occupation, ss, atrocity, war crime, hunger, resistance, genocide, mass murder, tank, execution, massacre, corpse, world war two, fire, violence, murder |
Oskar Schindler is a vainglorious and greedy German businessman who becomes an unlikely humanitarian amid the barbaric German Nazi reign when he feels compelled to turn his factory into a refuge for Jews. Based on the true story of Oskar Schindler who managed to save about 1100 Jews from being gasse…d at the Auschwitz concentration camp, it is a testament to the good in all of us. (Read More)
Themes: | starvation |
Locations: | bathtub |
Characters: | jewish |
Period: | 1930s, 1940s |
Story: | holocaust, hiding jews, boy killed, child killed, hiding place, ss, bloody body of child, dead boy, poland, ghetto, anti semitism, child murder, no opening credits, piano, shot in the head, world war two, based on true story, murder, blood, violence |
Israel 1956. Rachel, a Jew, rather unexpectedly meets an old friend at the kibbutz where she is working as a teacher. It brings back memories of her experiences in The Netherlands during the war, memories of betrayal. September 1944. Rachel is in trouble when her hiding place is bombed by allied tro…ops. She gets in contact with a man from the resistance and joins a group of Jews who are to be smuggled across the Biesbosch by boat to the freed South Netherlands. Germans from a patrol boat murder them all however. Only Rachel is able to escape. She is rescued by a resistance group under the leadership of Gerben Kuipers. When Kuipers' son is captured after trying to smuggle weapons, he asks Rachel to seduce SS-hauptsturmfuhrer Ludwig Muntze. Soon she will find out the attack in the Biesbosch wasn't a coincidence. (Read More)
Themes: | starvation, humiliation |
Characters: | jewish |
Period: | 1940s |
Story: | resistance, hiding place, ss, hiding jews, death of a child, luggage, gestapo, nazi occupation, contraband, atrocity, faked death, mass murder, whipping, pianist, holocaust, execution, massacre, survival, piano, shot in the head, corpse, world war two, based on true story, murder, blood, violence |
1945, in World War II Germany, the tough Sergeant Don 'Wardaddy' Collier commands a tank and survives a German attack with his veteran crew composed of Boyd 'Bible' Swan, Trini 'Gordo' Garcia and Grady 'Coon-Ass' Travis. He receives a rookie soldier Norman Ellison as the substitute for his deceased …gunner and he tries to harden the youth along the way. This is why Fury (2014) is one of the best movies like The Pianist (2002). (Read More)
Story: | tank, nazi soldier, ss, bloody body of child, war crime, prisoner of war, mass murder, child murder, shot in the forehead, execution, no opening credits, massacre, survival, shot in the head, corpse, world war two, fire, murder, blood, violence |
In World War II, the fall of Stalingrad will mean the collapse of the whole country. The Germans and Russians are fighting over every block, leaving only ruins behind. The Russian sniper Vassili Zaitsev stalks the Germans, taking them out one by one, thus hurting the morale of the German troops. The… political officer Danilov leads him on, publishing his efforts to give his countrymen some hope. But Vassili eventually start to feel that he can not live up to the expectations on him. He and Danilov fall in love with the same girl, Tanya, a female soldier. From Germany comes the master sniper Konig to put an end to the extraordinary skilled Russian sniper. (Read More)
Locations: | hospital |
Characters: | jewish |
Period: | 1940s |
Story: | pretending to be dead, nazi uniform, red army, ruins, resistance, tank, shot in the forehead, execution, massacre, shot in the head, corpse, world war two, fire, based on true story, violence, murder, blood |
In April of 1945, Germany stands at the brink of defeat with the Soviet Armies closing in from the west and south. In Berlin, capital of the Third Reich, Adolf Hitler proclaims that Germany will still achieve victory and orders his Generals and advisers to fight to the last man. "Downfall" explores …these final days of the Reich, where senior German leaders (such as Himmler and Goring) began defecting from their beloved Fuhrer, in an effort to save their own lives, while still others (Joseph Goebbels) pledge to die with Hitler. Hitler, himself, degenerates into a paranoid shell of a man, full of optimism one moment and suicidal depression the next. When the end finally does comes, and Hitler lies dead by his own hand, what is left of his military must find a way to end the killing that is the Battle of Berlin, and lay down their arms in surrender. (Read More)
Locations: | hospital |
Characters: | jewish |
Period: | 1940s |
Story: | death of a child, nazi soldier, nazi uniform, red army, ss, dead children, war crime, anti semitism, suffering, mass murder, tank, holocaust, shot in the forehead, execution, survival, shot in the head, corpse, world war two, fire, murder, blood, violence |
The Counterfeiters is the true story of the largest counterfeiting operation in history, set up by the Nazis in 1936. Salomon "Sally" Sorowitsch is the king of counterfeiters. He lives a mischievous life of cards, booze, and women in Berlin during the Nazi-era. Suddenly his luck runs dry when arrest…ed by Superintendent Friedrich Herzog. Immediately thrown into the Mauthausen concentration camp, Salomon exhibits exceptional skills there and is soon transferred to the upgraded camp of Sachsenhausen. Upon his arrival, he once again comes face to face with Herzog, who is there on a secret mission. Hand-picked for his unique skill, Salomon and a group of professionals are forced to produce fake foreign currency under the program Operation Bernhard. The team, which also includes detainee Adolf Burger, is given luxury barracks for their assistance. But while Salomon attempts to weaken the economy of Germany's allied opponents, Adolf refuses to use his skills for Nazi profit and would like to do something to stop Operation Bernhard's aid to the war effort. Faced with a moral dilemma, Salomon must decide whether his actions, which could prolong the war and risk the lives of fellow prisoners, are ultimately the right ones. (Read More)
Themes: | starvation, humiliation |
Characters: | jewish |
Period: | 1930s, 1940s |
Story: | warsaw poland, gestapo, ss, contraband, war crime, hunger, anti semitism, holocaust, survival, shot in the head, world war two, based on true story, murder, blood, violence |
In Nazi Germany during World War II, as the tide turned in favor of The Allies, a cadre of senior German officers and politicians desperately plot to topple the Nazi regime before the nation is crushed in a near-inevitable defeat. To this end, Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, an Army officer convince…d he must save Germany from Hitler, is recruited to mastermind a real plan. To do so, he arranges for the internal emergency measure, Operation: Valkyrie, to be changed to enable his fellows to seize control of Berlin after the assassination of the Fuhrer. However, even as the plan is put into action, a combination of bad luck and human failings conspire on their own to create a tragedy that would prolong the greater one gripping Europe. (Read More)
Locations: | hospital |
Period: | 1940s |
Story: | panzer, tinnitus, nazi soldier, nazi uniform, gestapo, ss, resistance, tank, execution, no opening credits, shot in the head, world war two, based on true story, violence, blood, murder |
In 1950, in South Korea, shoe-shiner Jin-tae Lee and his 18-year-old old student brother, Jin-seok Lee, form a poor but happy family with their mother, Jin-tae's fiance Young-shin Kim, and her young sisters. Jin-tae and his mother are tough workers, who sacrifice themselves to send Jin-seok to the u…niversity. When North Korea invades the South, the family escapes to a relative's house in the country, but along their journey, Jin-seok is forced to join the army to fight in the front, and Jin-tae enlists too to protect his young brother. The commander promises Jin-tae that if he gets a medal he would release his brother, and Jin-tae becomes the braver soldier in the company. Along the bloody war between brothers, the relationship of Jin-seok with his older brother deteriorates leading to a dramatic and tragic end. This is why Taegukgi Hwinalrimyeo (2004) is one of the best movies like The Pianist (2002). (Read More)
Story: | pyre, bloody body of a child, atrocity, loss of brother, flamethrower, prisoner of war, tank, shot in the forehead, execution, massacre, shot in the head, corpse, based on true story, murder, blood, violence |
Hunger follows life in the Maze Prison, Northern Ireland with an interpretation of the highly emotive events surrounding the 1981 IRA Hunger Strike, led by Bobby Sands. With an epic eye for detail, the film provides a timely exploration of what happens when body and mind are pushed to the uttermost …limit. (Read More)
Themes: | starvation, humiliation |
Locations: | bathtub |
Story: | contraband, hunger, suffering, police brutality, execution, shot in the head, murder, blood, violence |
Opening with the Allied invasion of Normandy on 6 June 1944, members of the 2nd Ranger Battalion under Cpt. Miller fight ashore to secure a beachhead. Amidst the fighting, two brothers are killed in action. Earlier in New Guinea, a third brother is KIA. Their mother, Mrs. Ryan, is to receive all thr…ee of the grave telegrams on the same day. The United States Army Chief of Staff, George C. Marshall, is given an opportunity to alleviate some of her grief when he learns of a fourth brother, Private James Ryan, and decides to send out 8 men (Cpt. Miller and select members from 2nd Rangers) to find him and bring him back home to his mother... (Read More)
Characters: | jewish |
Period: | 1940s |
Story: | desaturated colors, budding friendship, tinnitus, second chance, molotov cocktail, ruins, loss of brother, war crime, flamethrower, prisoner of war, anti semitism, tank, mistaken identity, shot in the forehead, no opening credits, world war two, based on true story, violence, murder |
Caesar and his apes are forced into a deadly conflict with an army of humans led by a ruthless Colonel. After the apes suffer unimaginable losses, Caesar wrestles with his darker instincts and begins his own mythic quest to avenge his kind. As the journey finally brings them face to face, Caesar and… the Colonel are pitted against each other in an epic battle that will determine the fate of both their species and the future of the planet. (Read More)
Themes: | starvation |
Story: | wall, grenade launcher, loss of brother, prisoner of war, assault rifle, whipping, loss of mother, tank, no opening credits, massacre, survival, shot in the head, corpse, fire, violence, murder, blood |
In 1930s Italy, a carefree Jewish book keeper named Guido starts a fairy tale life by courting and marrying a lovely woman from a nearby city. Guido and his wife have a son and live happily together until the occupation of Italy by German forces. In an attempt to hold his family together and help hi…s son survive the horrors of a Jewish Concentration Camp, Guido imagines that the Holocaust is a game and that the grand prize for winning is a tank. (Read More)
Locations: | restaurant |
Characters: | jewish |
Period: | 1930s, 1940s |
Story: | tank, pogrom, nazi occupation, ss, resistance, holocaust, world war two |
This urban nightmare chronicles several days in the life of Caine Lawson, following his high-school graduation, as he attempts to escape his violent existence in the projects of Watts, CA. This is why Menace II Society (1993) is one of the best movies like The Pianist (2002).
Themes: | humiliation |
Locations: | hospital |
Story: | ghetto, loss of mother, police brutality, loss of father, execution, no opening credits, survival, shot in the head, cult film, violence, blood, murder |
ANTHROPOID is based on the extraordinary true story of Operation Anthropoid, the World War II mission to assassinate SS General Reinhard Heydrich. The Reich's third in command after Hitler and Himmler, Heydrich was the main architect behind the Final Solution and the leader of occupying Nazi forces …in Czechoslovakia whose reign of terror prompted self-exiled Czech and Slovak soldiers (played by Cillian Murphy and Jamie Dornan) to hatch a top-secret mission that would change the face of Europe forever.i (Read More)
Locations: | restaurant |
Characters: | musician |
Period: | 1940s |
Story: | gestapo, nazi occupation, hiding place, ss, resistance, loss of mother, no opening credits, massacre, world war two, based on true story, violence, blood |
During the Russian Revolution, Yuri Zhivago, is a young doctor who has been raised by his aunt and uncle following his father's suicide. Yuri falls in love with beautiful Lara Guishar, who has been having an affair with her mother's lover, Victor Komarovsky, an unscrupulous businessman. Yuri, howeve…r, ends up marrying his cousin, Tonya. But when he and Lara meet again years later, the spark of love reignites. (Read More)
Themes: | starvation |
Locations: | restaurant |
Period: | 1930s, 1940s |
Story: | surviving, separation from family, freight train, red army, deportation, loss of brother, loss of mother, mistaken identity, massacre, concert, murder |
As a child piano prodigy, 'David Helfgott' (qv)'s musical ambitions generate friction with his overbearing father, Peter. When Helfgott travels to London on a musical scholarship, his career as a pianist blossoms. However, the pressures of his newfound fame, coupled with the echoes of his tumultuous… childhood, conspire to bring Helfgott's latent schizophrenia boiling to the surface, and he spends years in and out of various mental institutions. (Read More)
Locations: | bathtub, restaurant |
Characters: | jewish, musician |
Story: | pianist, piano concerto, piano, concert |
Young Bruno lives a wealthy lifestyle in prewar Germany along with his mother, elder sister, and SS Commandant father. The family relocates to the countryside where his father is assigned to take command a prison camp. A few days later, Bruno befriends another youth, strangely dressed in striped paj…amas, named Shmuel who lives behind an electrified fence. Bruno will soon find out that he is not permitted to befriend his new friend as he is a Jew, and that the neighboring yard is actually a prison camp for Jews awaiting extermination. (Read More)
Themes: | starvation |
Characters: | jewish |
Period: | 1940s |
Story: | ss, pogrom, deportation, anti semitism, holocaust, execution, world war two |
Rural Australia in the late nineteenth century: Capt. Stanley and his men capture two of the three Burns brothers, Charlie and Mike. Their gang is held responsible for attacking the Hopkins farm, raping pregnant Mrs. Hopkins and murdering the whole family. Arthur Burns, the eldest brother and the ga…ng's mastermind, remains on the loose and has retreated to a mountain hideout. Capt. Stanley's proposition to Charlie is to gain pardon and - more importantly - save his beloved younger brother Mike from the gallows by finding and killing Arthur within nine days. This is why The Proposition (2005) is one of the best movies like The Pianist (2002). (Read More)
Locations: | bathtub |
Story: | dead boy, genocide, whipping, police brutality, shot in the forehead, execution, massacre, shot in the head, corpse, fire, cult film, violence, murder, blood |
On New Year's Eve, inside a police station that's about to be closed for good, officer Jake Roenick must cobble together a force made up cops and criminals to save themselves from a mob looking to kill mobster Marion Bishop.
Story: | molotov cocktail, police brutality, shot in the forehead, execution, no opening credits, massacre, survival, shot in the head, fire, violence, murder, blood |
Two days in the life of Saul Auslander, Hungarian prisoner working as a member of the Sonderkommando at one of the Auschwitz Crematoriums who, to bury the corpse of a boy he takes for his son, tries to carry out his impossible deed: salvage the body and find a rabbi to bury it. While the Sonderkomma…ndo is to be liquidated at any moment, Saul turns away of the living and their plans of rebellion to save the remains of a son he never took care of when he was still alive. (Read More)
Characters: | jewish |
Period: | 1940s |
Story: | shoah, atrocity, dead boy, prisoner of war, anti semitism, mass murder, execution, corpse, world war two, fire, blood, murder, violence |
In an airport waiting room, a man in a wheelchair tells a stranger a story about a fixed horse race in 1979 that resulted in a family's deaths. In Manhattan, two bookies and the son of a Mob boss die. A young man just out of the shower answers the door to a neighbor woman and explains that he's visi…ting, has had a bad week, including being mugged, and doesn't know where his pal, who lives there, is. The neighbor is chatty; she's a coroner. Two thugs arrive and, believing the visitor to be the guy who lives there, take him to see the boss with the dead son, who tells him to kill the son of his Mob rival. Mistaken identity? What connects the threads? Cops are watching. (Read More)
Locations: | wheelchair |
Story: | faked death, loss of mother, police brutality, loss of father, mistaken identity, shot in the forehead, shot in the head, corpse, cult film, murder, violence, blood |
Turk and Rooster, two aging NYPD detectives and longtime partners, are hunting a serial killer who is murdering sociopathic criminals. They both have personal issues, and when they start working with a younger investigative team, Perez and Riley, tensions between the two teams is inevitable, especia…lly since Turk is now living with Perez's ex-girlfriend, also a homicide detective. (Read More)
Story: | bloody body of child, assault rifle, child murder, police brutality, shot in the forehead, execution, shot in the head, corpse, blood, murder |
A young British soldier is accidentally abandoned by his unit following a terrifying riot on the streets of Belfast in 1971. Unable to tell friend from foe, the raw recruit must survive the night alone and find his way to safety through a disorienting, alien and deadly landscape. This is why '71 (20…14) is one of the best movies like The Pianist (2002). (Read More)
Story: | molotov cocktail, assault rifle, police brutality, no opening credits, survival, shot in the head, corpse, fire, murder, violence, blood |
Libya, 2012. At an unofficial CIA base in Benghazi a group of ex-military contractors are providing security. In the aftermath of Gaddafi's downfall a power vacuum exists and the climate is volatile. Military weapons are freely available. The US Ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens, makes a visit to t…he area, staying in a compound near the CIA base. On the night of 11 September, 2012, the Ambassador's compound is attacked by hordes of heavily armed locals. The only forces willing and able to defend it are six CIA contractors. (Read More)
Locations: | rooftop, restaurant |
Story: | molotov cocktail, grenade launcher, assault rifle, shot in the forehead, no opening credits, massacre, survival, shot in the head, corpse, fire, based on true story, violence, murder, blood |
Seven Australian teenage friends from a small town go on a camping trip to be with nature. During their trip, they see military aircraft fly overhead. What they didn't know was their country was being invaded by another country. Returning home, they discover that they are at war. With no training, t…hey band together to fight the enemy. (Read More)
Locations: | restaurant |
Story: | resistance, tank, shot in the forehead, no opening credits, survival, piano, shot in the head, corpse, violence, murder, blood |
Epic tale of a group of Jewish gangsters in New York, from childhood, through their glory years during prohibition, and their meeting again 35 years later.
Locations: | rooftop, restaurant, hospital |
Characters: | jewish |
Period: | 1930s |
Story: | faked death, child murder, shot in the head, fire, cult film, violence, blood, murder |
In 140 AD, twenty years after the unexplained disappearance of the entire Ninth Legion in the mountains of Scotland, young centurion Marcus Aquila (Tatum) arrives from Rome to solve the mystery and restore the reputation of his father, the commander of the Ninth. Accompanied only by his British slav…e Esca (Bell), Marcus sets out across Hadrian's Wall into the uncharted highlands of Caledonia - to confront its savage tribes, make peace with his father's memory, and retrieve the lost legion's golden emblem, the Eagle of the Ninth. (Read More)
Story: | wall, boy killed, child killed, bloody body of child, dead boy, child murder, loss of father, no opening credits, massacre, blood |
Poland, 1962. Anna, an orphan brought up by nuns in the convent, is a novice. She has to see Wanda, the only living relative, before she takes her vows. Wanda tells Anna about her Jewish roots. Both women start a journey not only to find their family's tragic story, but to see who they really are an…d where they belong. They question what they used to believe in. This is why Ida (2013) is one of the best movies like The Pianist (2002). (Read More)
Locations: | bathtub, hospital |
Characters: | jewish, musician |
Story: | poland, nazi occupation, anti semitism, suffering, world war two, murder |
It is 1776 in colonial South Carolina. Benjamin Martin, a French-Indian war hero who is haunted by his past, now wants nothing more than to live peacefully on his small plantation, and wants no part of a war with the most powerful nation in the world, Great Britain. Meanwhile, his two eldest sons, G…abriel and Thomas, can't wait to enlist in the newly formed "Continental Army." When South Carolina decides to join the rebellion against England, Gabriel immediately signs up to fight...without his father's permission. But when Colonel William Tavington, British dragoon, infamous for his brutal tactics, comes and burns the Martin Plantation to the ground, tragedy strikes. Benjamin quickly finds himself torn between protecting his family, and seeking revenge along with being a part of the birth of a new, young, and ambitious nation. (Read More)
Story: | child knocked unconscious, boy killed, pretending to be dead, child killed, bloody body of child, dead children, ruins, loss of brother, dead boy, child murder, massacre, fire, based on true story, murder, blood, violence |
Late one night, a beautiful and well-dressed young woman, Grace, arrives in the mountainous old mining town of Dogville as a fugitive; following the sound of gunshots in the distance which have been heard by Tom, the self-appointed moral spokesman for the town. Persuaded by Tom, the town agree to hi…de Grace, and in return she freely helps the locals. However, when the Sheriff from a neighbouring town posts a Missing notice, advertising a reward for revealing her whereabouts, the townsfolk require a better deal from Grace, in return for their silence; and when the Sheriff returns some weeks later with a Wanted poster, even though the citizens know her to be innocent of the false charges against her, the town's sense of goodness takes a sinister turn and the price of Grace's freedom becomes a workload and treatment akin to that of a slave. But Grace has a deadly secret that the townsfolk will eventually encounter. (Read More)
Locations: | wheelchair |
Characters: | musician |
Period: | 1930s |
Story: | penknife, dead children, suffering, mass murder, child murder, whipping, massacre, shot in the head, corpse, fire, cult film, blood, murder |
Locations: | rooftop |
Story: | separation from family, resistance, whipping, execution, no opening credits, shot in the head, corpse, fire, violence, murder, blood |
The island of Iwo Jima stands between the American military force and the home islands of Japan. Therefore the Imperial Japanese Army is desperate to prevent it from falling into American hands and providing a launching point for an invasion of Japan. General Tadamichi Kuribayashi is given command o…f the forces on the island and sets out to prepare for the imminent attack. General Kuribayashi, however, does not favor the rigid traditional approach recommended by his subordinates, and resentment and resistance fester among his staff. In the lower echelons, a young soldier, Saigo, a poor baker in civilian life, strives with his friends to survive the harsh regime of the Japanese army itself, all the while knowing that a fierce battle looms. When the American invasion begins, both Kuribayashi and Saigo find strength, honor, courage, and horrors beyond imagination. (Read More)
Period: | 1940s |
Story: | flamethrower, prisoner of war, resistance, whipping, tank, no opening credits, survival, shot in the head, world war two, fire, murder, violence, blood |
In German-occupied France, young Jewish refugee Shosanna Dreyfus witnesses the slaughter of her family by Colonel Hans Landa. Narrowly escaping with her life, she plots her revenge several years later when German war hero Fredrick Zoller takes a rapid interest in her and arranges an illustrious movi…e premiere at the theater she now runs. With the promise of every major Nazi officer in attendance, the event catches the attention of the "Basterds", a group of Jewish-American guerrilla soldiers led by the ruthless Lt. Aldo Raine. As the relentless executioners advance and the conspiring young girl's plans are set in motion, their paths will cross for a fateful evening that will shake the very annals of history. This is why Inglourious Basterds (2009) is one of the best movies like The Pianist (2002). (Read More)
Locations: | restaurant |
Characters: | jewish |
Period: | 1940s |
Story: | jewish resistance, hiding jews, hiding place, ss, thrown through a window, anti semitism, whipping, holocaust, massacre, corpse, world war two, fire, cult film, murder, blood, violence |
1994. In Rwanda, the classification of the native population into Hutus and Tutsis, arbitrarily done by the colonial Belgians, is now ingrained within Rwandan mentality despite the Rwandan independence. Despite the Belgians having placed the Tutsis in a higher position during the Belgian rule, they …have placed the majority Hutus in power after independence. 'Paul Rusesabagina' (qv), a Hutu married to a Tutsi, Tatiana Rusesabagina, is the House Manager of the Hotel Des Milles Collines in Kigali. The Milles Collines, owned by Sabena (the national airline of Belgium), is a four-star hotel catering primarily to wealthy white westerners. Paul, who knows how to work the system to run the hotel effectively for its guests and for Sabena, is proud that most of the Caucasians who he meets in this professional capacity treat him with respect. After a specific incident, the relative calm between the Tutsi guerrillas and government-backed Hutu militia takes a turn. Paul's thought that the native population as a whole who are not directly involved in the conflict will be protected as the UN peacekeeping forces and thus the world is watching doesn't happen as the western world largely evacuates from Rwanda and abandons the natives. Such begins what will become a genocide of the Tutsi population. Paul, who is able to get his immediate family to the hotel which is still largely seen as a place of sanctuary, will have to use the considerable skills he has used to run the hotel as well as he has instead to keep himself, his family and any others taking refuge at the hotel alive, whether they be Hutu or Tutsi. Meanwhile, Colonel Oliver, a Canadian heading the UN peacekeeping forces, and Pat Archer with the Red Cross do what they can to assist Paul and to get people to safety first to the hotel then out of the country, while field journalists, like photographer Jack Daglish, try to bring the genocide back into the global media to have the world once again care about what is going on. (Read More)
Locations: | rooftop |
Story: | motivational, atrocity, war crime, genocide, mass murder, child murder, pianist, massacre, piano, corpse, fire, based on true story, murder, blood, violence |
In the middle of World War II, in turbulent 1942, a plane flies over Morocco and drops a Royal Canadian Air Force paratrooper who comes in to land on a drop zone, somewhere in the desert dunes outside Casablanca. Just in time before anyone notices him, the fearless Wing Commander Max Vatan gets in a… car and heads to the town with orders to meet Parisian Marianne Beausejour, a skillful member of the French Resistance. On a mission to assassinate the German Ambassador in Casablanca, the two operatives must convince every one of their true feelings as a married couple, while in the background, they need to make the necessary preparations for the critical soiree. Without delay, after the success of this suicide mission, Max and Marianne flee together to England with plans on marrying and making a family, regardless of the war. Instead, heavy clouds of distrust and suspicion threaten their relationship, when Max receives a call from the Secret Service Division to inform him that his beloved wife is actually an impostor. In disbelief, with a terrible task in his hands and crushed under a devastating dilemma, Max must find the courage to seek for answers in the perilous streets of bombarded London, regardless of the outcome. In the end, amid duty and love, who shall live and who shall die? (Read More)
Locations: | rooftop, wheelchair, restaurant, hospital |
Period: | 1940s |
Story: | resistance, loss of mother, tank, shot in the forehead, no opening credits, massacre, piano, shot in the head, world war two, fire, violence, blood, murder |
Four adopted brothers come to avenge their mother's death in what appears to be a random killing in a grocery store robbery. However, the boys' investigation of the death reveals more nefarious activities involving the one brother's business dealings with a notorious local hoodlum. Two cops who are …trying to solve the case may also not be what they seem. (Read More)
Themes: | humiliation |
Locations: | restaurant |
Characters: | musician |
Story: | loss of brother, loss of mother, police brutality, execution, shot in the head, cult film, violence, murder |
The true story of Operation Market Garden, the Allies attempt, in September 1944, to hasten the end of WW2 by driving through Belgium and Holland into Germany. The idea was for US airborne divisions to take the towns of Eindhoven and Nijmegen and a British airborne division, reinforced by a Polish a…irborne brigade, to take the town of Arnhem. They would be reinforced, in due course and in turn, by the British XXX Corps, land-based and driving up from the British lines in the south. The key to the operation was the bridges, as if the Germans held or blew them, the paratroopers could not be relieved. Faulty intelligence, Allied high command hubris and stubborn German resistance would ensure that Arnhem was a bridge too far. (Read More)
Period: | 1940s |
Story: | panzer, nazi soldier, nazi uniform, ss, war crime, resistance, tank, world war two, cult film, violence, murder, blood |
In a futuristic world, a strict regime has eliminated war by suppressing emotions: books, art and music are strictly forbidden and feeling is a crime punishable by death. Cleric John Preston (Bale) is a top ranking government agent responsible for destroying those who resist the rules. When he misse…s a dose of Prozium, a mind-altering drug that hinders emotion, Preston, who has been trained to enforce the strict laws of the new regime, suddenly becomes the only person capable of overthrowing it. This is why Equilibrium (2002) is one of the best movies like The Pianist (2002). (Read More)
Story: | underground resistance, contraband, ruins, existentialism, resistance, shot in the forehead, execution, massacre, shot in the head, corpse, fire, cult film, violence, blood, murder |
In a dystopian near future, humanity has been ravaged by a mysterious fungal disease. The afflicted are robbed of all free will and turned into flesh-eating 'hungries'. Humankind's only hope is a small group of hybrid children who crave human flesh but retain the ability to think and feel. The child…ren go to school at an army base in rural Britain, where they're subjected to cruel experiments by Dr. Caroline Caldwell (Glenn Close). School teacher Helen Justineau (Gemma Arterton) grows particularly close to an exceptional girl named Melanie (Sennia Nanua), thus forming a special bond. But when the base is invaded, the trio escape with the assistance of Sgt. Eddie Parks (Paddy Considine) and embark on a perilous journey of survival, during which Melanie must come to terms with who she is. (Read More)
Locations: | rooftop, wheelchair, hospital |
Story: | existentialism, assault rifle, tank, shot in the forehead, no opening credits, massacre, survival, shot in the head, corpse, fire, murder, violence, blood |
"The Believer" explores a Jewish student's private journey to understand the meaning of Judaism in his life. Set in New York City, the Plot follows a morally confused young adult struggling with the conflict between his beliefs and his heritage. "The Believer" examines themes of religion, family, an…d self-loathing. It is a psychological examination into the forces of intolerance, both on the individual and society as a whole. (Read More)
Locations: | restaurant |
Characters: | jewish |
Story: | war crime, anti semitism, suffering, holocaust, survival, world war two, based on true story, murder, violence, blood |
Based on the true story of the greatest treasure hunt in history, The Monuments Men is an action drama focusing on an unlikely World War II platoon, tasked by FDR with going into Germany to rescue artistic masterpieces from Nazi thieves and returning them to their rightful owners. It would be an imp…ossible mission: with the art trapped behind enemy lines, and with the German army under orders to destroy everything as the Reich fell, how could these guys - seven museum directors, curators, and art historians, all more familiar with Michelangelo than the M-1 - possibly hope to succeed? But as the Monuments Men, as they were called, found themselves in a race against time to avoid the destruction of 1000 years of culture, they would risk their lives to protect and defend mankind's greatest achievements. (Read More)
Locations: | restaurant |
Period: | 1940s |
Story: | nazi soldier, nazi uniform, red army, ss, flamethrower, resistance, tank, no opening credits, corpse, world war two, fire, based on true story, blood, murder |
In 1944, upper class boy Julien Quentin and his brother Francois travel to Catholic boarding school in the countryside after vacations. Julien is a leader and good student and when the new student Jean Bonnet arrives in the school, they have friction in their relationship. However, Julien learns to …respect Jean and discovers that he is Jewish and the priests are hiding him from the Nazis. They become best friends and Julien keeps the secret. When the priest Jean discovers that the servant Joseph is stealing supplies from the school to sell in the black market, he fires the youth. Sooner the Gestapo arrives at school to investigate the students and the priests that run and work in the boarding school. (Read More)
Themes: | starvation |
Locations: | bathtub, restaurant |
Characters: | jewish |
Period: | 1940s |
Story: | gestapo, nazi occupation, bread, attic, resistance, anti semitism, pianist, piano, world war two, blood |
In 1937 China, during the second Sino-Japanese war, a mortician, John ('Christian Bale' (qv)) arrives at a Catholic church in Nanjing to prepare a priest for burial. Upon arrival he finds himself the lone adult among a group of convent girl students and prostitutes from a nearby brothel. When he fin…ds himself in the unwanted position of protector of both groups from the horrors of the invading Japanese army, he discovers the meaning of sacrifice and honor. This is why Jin Ling Shi San Chai (2011) is one of the best movies like The Pianist (2002). (Read More)
Themes: | humiliation |
Story: | atrocity, dead children, bread, war crime, suffering, tank, massacre, survival, shot in the head, corpse, world war two, based on true story, blood, murder |
Boston, 1926. The '20s are roaring. Liquor is flowing, bullets are flying, and one man sets out to make his mark on the world. Prohibition has given rise to an endless network of underground distilleries, speakeasies, gangsters, and corrupt cops. Joe Coughlin, the youngest son of a prominent Boston …police captain, has long since turned his back on his strict and proper upbringing. Now having graduated from a childhood of petty theft to a career in the pay of the city's most fearsome mobsters, Joe enjoys the spoils, thrills, and notoriety of being an outlaw. But life on the dark side carries a heavy price. In a time when ruthless men of ambition, armed with cash, illegal booze, and guns, battle for control, no one-neither family nor friend, enemy nor lover-can be trusted. Beyond money and power, even the threat of prison, one fate seems most likely for men like Joe: an early death. But until that day, he and his friends are determined to live life to the hilt. Joe embarks on a dizzying journey up the ladder of organized crime that takes him from the flash of Jazz Age Boston to the sensual shimmer of Tampa's Latin Quarter to the sizzling streets of Cuba. Live by Night is a riveting epic layered with a diverse cast of loyal friends and callous enemies, tough rumrunners and sultry femmes fatales, Bible-quoting evangelists and cruel Klansmen, all battling for survival and their piece of the American dream. At once a sweeping love story and a compelling saga of revenge, it is a spellbinding tour de force of betrayal and redemption, music and murder, that brings fully to life a bygone era when sin was cause for celebration and vice was a national virtue. (Read More)
Locations: | restaurant, hospital |
Period: | 1930s |
Story: | loss of sister, molotov cocktail, faked death, loss of mother, whipping, loss of father, shot in the forehead, no opening credits, massacre, survival, shot in the head, corpse, fire, murder, violence, blood |
In 1920, rural Ireland is the vicious battlefield of republican rebels against the British security forces and Irish Unionist population who oppose them, a recipe for mutual cruelty. Medical graduate Damien O'Donovan always gave priority to his socialist ideals and simply helping people in need. Jus…t when he's leaving Ireland to work in a highly reputed London hospital, witnessing gross abuse of commoners changes his mind. he returns and joins the local IRA brigade, commanded by his brother Teddy, and adopts the merciless logic of civil war, while Teddy mellows by experiencing first-hand endless suffering. When IRA leaders negotiate an autonomous Free State under the British crown, Teddy defends the pragmatic best possible deal at this stage. Damien however joins the large seceding faction which holds nothing less than a socialist republic will do. The result is another civil war, bloodily opposing former Irish comrades in arms, even the brothers. (Read More)
Themes: | starvation |
Locations: | hospital |
Story: | dead boy, resistance, suffering, pianist, execution, massacre, piano, shot in the head, fire, violence, blood, murder |
Nazi-Fascist Northern Italy, 1943-44. Four senior members of government, aided by henchmen and Nazi soldiers, kidnap a group of young men and women. They hold them for 120 days, subjecting them to all manner of torture, perversion and degradation.
Period: | 1940s |
Story: | suffering, whipping, loss of mother, execution, piano, shot in the head, world war two, cult film, murder, violence, blood |
It's a post-apocalyptic world, several years after whatever the cataclysmic event, which has in turn caused frequent quakes as further potential hazards. The world is gray and getting quickly grayer as more and more things die off. A man and his pre-teen son, who was born after the apocalypse, are c…urrently on the road, their plan to walk to the coast and head south where the man hopes there will be a more hospitable environment in which to live. The man has taught his son that they are the "good people" who have fire in their hearts, which in combination largely means that they will not resort to cannibalism to survive. The man owns a pistol with two bullets remaining, which he will use for murder/suicide of him and his son if he feels that that is a better fate for them than life in the alternative. Food and fuel are for what everyone is looking. The man has taught his son to be suspect of everyone that they may meet, these strangers who, out of desperation, may not only try to steal what they have managed to scavenge for their own survival, but may kill them as food. Although life with his father in this world is all the boy has known, he may come to his own thoughts as to what it means holistically to be one of the good or one of the bad. Meanwhile, the man occasionally has thoughts to happier times with his wife/the boy's mother before the apocalypse, as well as not as happy times with her after the apocalypse and the reason she is no longer with them. (Read More)
Themes: | starvation |
Locations: | bathtub |
Story: | hunger, suffering, pianist, survival, piano, shot in the head, corpse, fire, murder, blood, violence |