The Battleship on the Ground

Das Boot

September 1981 •German

A German submarine hunts allied ships during the Second World War, but it soon becomes the hunted. The crew tries to survive below the surface, while stretching both the boat and themselves to their limits.

Downfall

September 2004 •German

In April of 1945, Germany stands at the brink of defeat with the Russian Army closing in from the east and the Allied Expeditionary Force attacking from the west. 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. When the end finally does come, 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.

Timber Front

January 1940 •English

This black-and-white archival film outlines the importance of Canada's forests in the national war effort during the Second World War.

Soldier of Orange

September 1977 •Dutch

The lives of Erik Lanshof and five of his closest friends take different paths when the German army invades the Netherlands in 1940: fight and resistance, fear and resignation, collaboration and high treason.

Jean Moulin, une affaire française

January 2003 •French

Drama set in the Second World War, focused on Jean Moulin, hero, martyr and symbol of the French resistance and the patriotism during the dark years of Nazi occupation.

Cameramen at War

January 1943 •English

A tribute to the cameramen of the newsreel companies and the service film units, in the form of a compilation of film of the cameramen themselves, their training and some of their most dramatic film.

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.

Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence

May 1983 •Japanese

Island of Java, 1942, during World War II. British Major Jack Celliers arrives at a Japanese prison camp, run by the strict Captain Yonoi. Colonel John Lawrence, who has a profound knowledge of Japanese culture, and Sergeant Hara, brutal and simpleton, will witness the struggle of wills between two men from very different backgrounds who are tragically destined to clash.

Windtalkers

June 2002 •English

Joe Enders is a gung-ho Marine assigned to protect a "windtalker" - one of several Navajo Indians who were used to relay messages during World War II because their spoken language was indecipherable to Japanese code breakers.

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

May 2008 •English

When his family moves from their home in Berlin to a strange new house in Poland, young Bruno befriends Shmuel, a boy who lives on the other side of the fence where everyone seems to be wearing striped pajamas. Unaware of Shmuel's fate as a Jewish prisoner or the role his own Nazi father plays in his imprisonment, Bruno embarks on a dangerous journey inside the camp's walls.

De Bevrijding van Den Haag

January 2010 •Dutch

A Hole In The Head

March 2017 •Czech

A pig farm in Lety, South Bohemia would make an ideal monument to collaboration and indifference, says writer and journalist Markus Pape. Most of those appearing in this documentary filmed in Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland, France, Germany and Croatia have personal experience of the indifference to the genocide of the Roma. Many of them experienced the Holocaust as children, and their distorted memories have earned them distrust and ridicule. Continuing racism and anti-Roma sentiment is illustrated among other matters by how contemporary society looks after the locations where the murders occurred. However, this documentary film essay focuses mainly on the survivors, who share with viewers their indelible traumas, their "hole in the head".

Operation Cross Eagles

January 1968 •English

War - In this thrilling war drama set in Yugoslavia during WWII, a small band of courageous commandoes are sent to kidnap an important German commander in exchange for an American general being held in a German fortress. "Operation Cross Eagles" is a story of suspense and intrigue that will have you on the edge of your seat one moment and blast you back the next. - Richard Conte, Rory Calhoun, Aili King

Valkyrie

December 2008 •English

Wounded in Africa during World War II, Nazi Col. Claus von Stauffenberg returns to his native Germany and joins the Resistance in a daring plan to create a shadow government and assassinate Adolf Hitler. When events unfold so that he becomes a central player, he finds himself tasked with both leading the coup and personally killing the Führer.

Das Tal der sieben Monde

February 1967 •German

Based on the novel of the same name by Harry Turk. 1944. In occupied Poland, a railway line is being built to transport lead ore to Germany. The Valley of Seven Moons is restless, with construction materials disappearing and people vanishing. The occupiers feel uneasy on foreign soil. Despite increased security, partisans carry out one act of sabotage after another, hindering construction in every way possible. The German Rudek and the Jewish girl Martina, who at first stand aside from any struggle, join the partisan detachment.

Pope Pius XII and the Holocaust

October 2024 •German

A portrait of Pope Pius XII (1876-1958), head of the Catholic Church from 1939 until his death, who, during World War II, and while European Jews were being exterminated by the Nazis, was accused of keeping a disconcerting and shameful silence.

V hodine dvanástej

August 1959 •Slovak

Nazi soldiers committed atrocities even when sober – and if they got drunk, they did even worse. The inhabitants of a Slovak village during the national uprising learn this when they have to accept an arrogant Hitlerite guard. When two soldiers go missing, the unit commander threatens to have five hostages executed for each of them as a warning. And he refuses to change his order, even when it turns out that drunkenness is to blame for the unfortunate incident. But the villagers get justifiably angry and take up arms.

Ako sa Vinco zaťal

January 1977 •Slovak

An unconventionally seen story from the period of the Slovak National Uprising will especially interest you with the character of the village lad and brawler Vince Kucek, played by Ivan Romančík. Hours and hours spent in the pub, riots with friends, scenes of jealousy towards his old rival Petr Chuťek, now a partisan commander, hostile memories of the strict teacher Machoň – all this fills the seemingly carefree days of the self-confident farmer, father of two small children, husband of the faithful, devoted Eva. However, the situation in the village is getting worse. Some of the men go to fight in the mountains, but the stubborn Kucek refuses to go with them.

My Führer

January 2007 •German

Hitler no longer believes in himself, and can barely see himself as an equal to even his sheep dog. But to seize the helm of the war he would have to create one of his famous fiery speeches to mobilize the masses. Goebbels therefore brings a Jewish acting teacher Grünbaum and his family from the camps in order to train the leader in rhetoric. Grünbaum is torn, but starts Hitler in his therapy ...

Underground

May 1995 •Serbian

A group of Serbian socialists prepares for the war in a surreal underground filled by parties, tragedies, love and hate.