Purple Heart Diary

Parer's War

April 2014 •English

Parer's War is the true story of World War II frontline cameraman, Damien Parer, whose work won Australia’s first Oscar. His desperate efforts to return to the battlefield to capture what he believed was the ‘truth’ of war were thwarted by his own government. Caught between two worlds, his own personal demons almost cost him the woman he loved.

The Dream

July 1966 •

In the whirlpool of WW2, two peaceful towns that have already tasted peace are once again attacked by the Germans. Casualties are high, but the dream of a boy and a girl about their liberated towns cannot be destroyed.

Čtyři na sněhu

January 1982 •Czech

Back Home

October 2001 •English

The war in Europe is over, but the one at home has only just begun. The Second World War is ending and throughout Britain, evacuees are returning home to their families - but not the families they remember. Like so many other women, Peggy’s life has been transformed by the war. Living and working with good friends, she is happier than she has been for years. Yet Peggy’s life is not the only one changed by the war. Her daughter, Rusty, has just returned from the U.S., where she has been living as an evacuee for the last five years. After so long abroad, her home in England has become unrecognizable. Just as Peggy begins to restore normal family bonds, her husband returns from the war, damaged and desperate to make everything as it was before. Adapted from the novel by Michelle Magorian, author of Goodnight, Mister Tom, Back Home is the story of a family who struggle to make sense of their new lives in a world irrevocably altered by the far-reaching effects of war.

Mosquito Squadron

August 1969 •English

England, World War II. Quint Munroe, RAF officer and new leader of a Mosquito squadron, is tasked with destroying a secret Nazi base in France while trying to overcome the disappearance of a brother-in-arms.

Our Rhineland

January 2011 •English

In 1937, under the Third Reich, Germans of mixed race were located, identified and admitted into clinics. Hundreds were rendered sterile. Two sisters fought back.

Drei Tage im April

April 1995 •German

Furtuna

February 1959 •Albanian

Story depicting the national liberation struggle of the Albanian people against the Italian and German invaders during World War II.

Jahrgang 21

February 1958 •German

Film by Václav Gajer.

Attack

September 1956 •English

Battle of the Bulge, World War II, 1944. Lieutenant Costa, an infantry company officer who must establish artillery observation posts in a strategic area, has serious doubts about Captain Cooney's leadership ability.

Battleground

November 1949 •English

Members of the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division are fighting for their country amidst the rugged terrain of Bastogne, Belgium, in December 1944. Holley and his American compatriots have already seen one of their own, Roderigues, perish under enemy fire. The men try to rebuff another series of Nazi attacks, but what they really need is a change in the weather. Without clear skies, they'll never get the air support they need.

The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler

April 2009 •English

Irena Sendler is a Catholic social worker who has sympathized with the Jews since her childhood, when her physician father died of typhus contracted while treating poor Jewish patients. When she initially proposes saving Jewish children from the Warsaw Ghetto, her idea is met with skepticism by fellow workers, her parish priest, and even her own mother Janina.

Wall of Silence

January 1994 •German

In the small town of Rechnitz a terrible crime against humanity was performed during the holocaust. Until now, no-one dares to talk about it.

The Burmese Harp

January 1956 •Japanese

In Burma during the closing days of WWII, a Japanese soldier separated from his unit disguises himself as a Buddhist monk to escape imprisonment as a POW.

Taxi for Tobruk

May 1961 •French

During World War II, French Commandos join forces with a German officer in order to survive the African desert.

Fires on the Plain

November 1959 •Japanese

In the closing days of WWII, a Japanese soldier afflicted with tuberculosis is abandoned by his company and left to wander the Philippine island of Leyte.

The Message

September 2009 •Chinese

After a series of assassinations in Nanking, a Japanese spy master gathers a group of suspects in a mansion, then a tense cat-and-mouse game erupts as the Chinese agent tries to keep his or her identity a secret.

The Secret of Santa Vittoria

January 1970 •English

During World War II, Italian villagers hide their wine from the German army.

MacArthur

July 1977 •English

The film portrays MacArthur's life from 1942, before the Battle of Bataan, to 1952, the time after he had been removed from his Korean War command by President Truman for insubordination, and is recounted in flashback as he visits West Point.

Ike: Countdown to D-Day

May 2004 •English

The story of the senior-level preparations for the D-Day invasion on June 6, 1944 from the time of Dwight D. Eisenhower's appointment as the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, to the establishment of the beachhead in Normandy.