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based on true story

The Wild Geese (1978) – Provocative yet engaging

Director:  Andrew V. McLaglen Cast: Richard Burton. Roger Moore. Richard Harris. Hardy Krüger. Stewart Granger Genre – War Movie (based on true stories) Time: 2 Hours, 14 minutes Platform: You Tube   Films about mercenaries are generally one dimensional. The (usually) “WHITE” mercenaries are bringing hope and light to the “DARK” continent of Africa, who…

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Amaran – 2024 – Well made

Genre: War + Love story Time: 2 Hours 49 minutes Platform: Netflix Writer Director: Rajkumar Periasamy Cast: Sivakarthikeyan. Sai Pallavi. Rahul Bose. Bhuvan Arora.   Generally speaking India sucks at making war movies – unless the film is filled with the usual masala of songs, dances , emotional dramas and so on. However the life…

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To Catch a King (1984) – Slow burn thriller

All Clickable links in Red   Genre – Spy + International Intrigue Time: 1 Hour 53 minutes Platform: You Tube (Free)   Director: Clive Donner Cast: Robert Jackson. Teri Garr. Horst Janson. John Standing. Barbara Parkins.   Facts:    Edward the VIII, King of England abdicated the throne as he was not allowed to marry a…

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The Six Triple Eight (2024) – Worthy war drama

Clickable links in red    Genre – WW2 Drama Time: 2 Hour 10 minutes Platform: Netflix Director: Tyler Perry Cast: Kerry Washington. Ebony Obsidian. Milauna Jackson   WW2 has millions of untold stories which are still being revealed. While the war was usually viewed through the lens of “Allied Good vs Axis Evil”, there are…

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East (2020) – Unique film on a forgotten war

  Genre – War Movie (based on true events) Time: 2 Hours 20 minutes Platform: Amazon Prime Language: Dutch         Historical background: World War 2 showed to the colonial subjects that their Colonial Masters were not a hundred feet tall and could be defeated. This was especially so in the Asian colonies,…

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IC814 – Gripping

ALL CLICKABLE LINKS IN RED     Genre – Drama (true story) Time: 6 episodes x 45 minutes Platform: Netflix Language: Hindi Director: Abhinav Sinha   On a monday morning in 2003, one of my colleagues came back  after watching a movie and joyfully said “I saw a great movie.” Zameen”. I went goggle eyed…

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The Assassination of Trotsky (1972) – Interesting

All clickable links in red  Director: Joseph Losey Genre: Spy Drama (True Story) Time: 1 Hour 38 minutes Platform: You Tube Cast: Richard Burton. Alain Delon. Romy Schneider.   French Superstar Alain Delon, personified French cool in his best period during the 1960s and 1970s, where he played a wide range of interesting roles that ranged…

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Danger Close (2019) – War is hell

All clickable links in red Genre – War Movie (true story) Time: 2 Hours Platform: Amazon Prime Director: Kriv Stenders. Platform : Amazon Prime   Whenever we think of the Vietnam War, the popular image is the American image, with helicopters ferrying troops, US air force combat planes blasting and napalming jungles and pictures of various…

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The Death of Stalin (2017) – Black comedy meets grim reality

  Clickable link in red Director: Armando Iannucci Genre: Black Comedy (true story) Time: 1 Hour 42 minutes Platform: Amazon Prime Cast: Steve Buscemi. Simon Russel Beale. Jeffrey Tambor. Michael Palin. Andrea Riseborough     Three men are in a Soviet Prison. They compare notes why they are there.   1st Man: I am here…

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Missing (1982) – Poignant and relevant

Director: Costa Gavras Genre: Drama – True Story Time: 1 Hour 57 minutes Platform: Amazon Prime (rent) Cast: Jack Lemmon. Sissy Spacek. John Shea.   After the Watergate scandal broke, there followed a series of disclosures about the American government that had the ordinary American , shaking his head in disbelief. The CIA had not…

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Die Gustloff (2008) – Slow but poignant

All clickable links in red    Director: Joseph Vilsmaer Genre: Drama – WW2 True Story Language : German Time: 1 Hour 41 minutes Platform: You Tube Free – with hard coded English subtitles Cast: Kai Wiesinger. Valeri Niehaus.  Heiner Lauterbach.   Which was the world’s biggest maritime disaster? With three movies on this topic, it…

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Pilecki’s report (2024) – Harrowing and tragic

  Genre – War Movie (true story) Time: 1 Hour, 58 minutes Platform: Netflix Director: Krzysztof Lukaszewicz Language: Polish   During WW2, every occupied country in Europe suffered untold horror and privations but none so more than Poland. It was the first to be occupied  by armed conflict (Austria and Czechoslovakia were occupied without a…

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Flags of our fathers (2006) – Superb retelling of war’s cost

All clickable links in red   Genre – War Movie (true story) Time: 2 Hours, 12 minutes Platform: Amazon Prime (on rent), You Tube Free     Every world event, be it social, political, technological, has a defining moment and defining image. The Berlin Wall being knocked down by ordinary people symbolized people power over…

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The Assets (2014) – Superb view of counter espionage

    All clickable links in red   Genre – Real-world Spying Time: 8 Hours – 8 x 50-minute episodes Platform: YouTube – free    When the Soviet Union passed into history in 1991, the Western Powers thought that all the nasty stuff that went with it also had gone into history, including the KGB,…

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Operation Valentine (2024) – Tolerable

All Clickable links in red    Genre – War Movie  Language – Hindi Time: 2 Hours, 10 minutes Platform: Theatrical release   Considering the recent disaster Fighter (review here) , I approached this movie with absolute trepidation. The first few minutes somewhat confirmed this would be a waste of time as all the familiar tropes…

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Norsk Hydro / Operation Gunnerside – three movies

All clickable links in red What would have happened if the Nazis had developed the Atom Bomb? The results are there for us to see in the superb alternate history TV series, The Man in the High Castle, which ran for four seasons from 2015 to 2019 (and is available on Amazon Prime). Though the…

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The Sea Wolves – 1980 – A charming true story  

All Clickable links in Red Genre – War Movie (true story) Language – English Time: 2 Hours  Platform: YouTube (Free)                    Throughout history, many nation have depended on goods carried by merchant ships trade for their daily survival. It is more accurate for island nations like Britain and Japan. Britain was almost strangled by…

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Battle of Stalingrad – Multiple films

 ALL CLICKABLE LINKS IN RED   The Battle of Stalingrad is considered – rightly – as one of the biggest Nazi Germany defeats and the turning points on the Eastern Front. It started in August 1942 and the last German troops surrendered on February 2, 1943. It proved once and for all that the Russians…

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