The Sea Knows

Casablanca

January 1943 •English

In Casablanca, Morocco in December 1941, a cynical American expatriate meets a former lover, with unforeseen complications.

Freaks Out

October 2021 •Italian

Four super-powered circus freaks find themselves trapped in war-torn Rome after their foster father is captured by the Nazis.

The Cake Tree in the Ruins

August 2006 •Japanese

War drama based on a short story by Akiyuki Nosaka.

The Tin Drum

May 1979 •German

Oskar Matzerath is a very unusual boy. Refusing to leave the womb until promised a tin drum by his mother, Agnes, Oskar is reluctant to enter a world he sees as filled with hypocrisy and injustice, and vows on his third birthday to never grow up. Miraculously, he gets his wish. As the Nazis rise to power in Danzig, Oskar wills himself to remain a child, beating his tin drum incessantly and screaming in protest at the chaos surrounding him.

The Marriage of Maria Braun

March 1979 •German

Maria marries a young soldier in the last days of World War II, only for him to go missing in the war. She must rely on her beauty and ambition to navigate the difficult post-war years alone.

Pearl Harbor

May 2001 •English

The lifelong friendship between Rafe McCawley and Danny Walker is put to the ultimate test when the two ace fighter pilots become entangled in a love triangle with beautiful Naval nurse Evelyn Johnson. But the rivalry between the friends-turned-foes is immediately put on hold when they find themselves at the center of Japan's devastating attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.

The Last Emperor

October 1987 •English

A dramatic history of Pu Yi, the last of the Emperors of China, from his lofty birth and brief reign in the Forbidden City, the object of worship by half a billion people; through his abdication, his decline and dissolute lifestyle; his exploitation by the invading Japanese, and finally to his obscure existence as just another peasant worker in the People's Republic.

Chosen

August 2016 •English

An unassuming young lawyer leads a fight against the Nazis near the end of the Second World War.

Les rafles d'août 1942 en zone libre, un crime de l'État Français

September 2009 •French

Les juifs d'Afrique du Nord pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale

May 2014 •French

Le Miracle du silence

January 2010 •French

Drancy 1941–1944, the Internment Camp Next Door

October 2012 •French

The untold story of a world-renowned place of remembrance of the Holocaust in France, the internment camp of Drancy, which was the central transit for the near totality of the 76 000 deported Jews of France during World War II.

Le sauvetage des enfants juifs, 1938-1945

February 2012 •French

Ils étaient juifs et résistants

March 2015 •French

Heaven on Earth

May 1970 •Polish

Polish sappers try to prevent Wehrwolf soldiers from blowing up a chemical factory.

Operation Petticoat

December 1959 •English

A World War II submarine commander finds himself stuck with a damaged sub, a con-man executive officer, and a group of army nurses.

Long Live the Republic

November 1965 •Czech

Oldrich is the runt of his village, beaten by his father, bullied by the other boys. But he has imagination on his side, and a wiry toughness they can’t defeat. The village is in turmoil, because the Nazi occupiers have just retreated and the Red Army is advancing. Oldrich dodges amid the mayhem and panic, taking his share of blows but always managing to stay one step ahead. Beautifully shot and darkly ironic, Karel Kachyna’s forgotten masterpiece jumbles reality, memory and fantasy to capture the intensity and confusion of childhood in a war zone.

Joy Division

November 2006 •English

A teenage orphan fights against the Red Army at the end of WWII and in the aftermath is 'adopted' by a Commissar. Years later he is sent to London during the Cold war to work for the KGB, where he questions his life.

Franz + Polina

June 2006 •Russian

A sad story of love between German soldier Franz and Russian girl Polina.

The Blanket

September 2022 •Finnish

Ten-year-old Marja is sent to fetch milk for her baby brother. On the way there are things even more dangerous than the thin ice.