based on true story
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…
Read MoreThe 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…
Read MoreBattle 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…
Read MoreAdolf Eichmann Case – two films
All clickable links in red Today, Israeli Intelligence’s reputation is in tatters, thanks to the “sudden” Gaza war. However, this was not so in the 1960s, 1970s and even 1980s, when there were many brilliant, “out of the box” operations and sudden mysterious deaths of Israel’s opponents that gave the Mossad a reputation for…
Read MoreThe Robert Hanssen Case – two films
All clickable links are in red Truth is always stranger than fiction. It is a cliché but like all good cliches it is also true. Otherwise, how do you explain that an FBI counter espionage agent, dedicated to catching Russian spies and Americans spying for Russians, was a Russian spy? For 22 years? The…
Read MoreSam Bahadur (2023) – Engaging yet…
Director: Meghana Gulzar Script: Meghana Gulzar. Bhavani Iyer. Shantanu Srivastava. Cast: Vicky Kaushal. Sanya Malhotra. Fatima Sana Sheikh Genre: Biography and War Drama Platform: Theatrical release Duration: 2 Hours 30 minutes A biography is always a difficult task for a filmmaker. What to show and what not to show. There is the trap…
Read MoreNapoleon (2023) – Grand yet underwhelming
Director: Ridley Scott Cast: Joaquin Phoenix. Vanessa Kirby. Rupert Everett. Tahar Rahim. Genre: Biography and War Drama Platform: Theatrical release Duration: 2 Hours 38 minutes Ridley Scott’s range of film subjects is enormous. His genres include almost all types of films. Some of his most famous films include Blade Runner and The Martian…
Read MoreWasp Network (2019) – Slow but stunning true story
Writer-Director: Oliver Assayas Cast: Penelope Cruz. Edgar Ramirez. Wagner Moura. Ana de Armas. Genre: True Spy story Platform: Netflix Duration: 2 Hours 8 minutes (All links in red are clickable links) Cuba’s and America’s history has been a very tortured one. When the USA refused to recognise Castro and his genuinely popular…
Read MorePippa (2003) – Disappointing
(All links in red are clickable links) Dir: Raja Menon Cast: Ishan Khatter. Mrunal Thakur. Priyanshu Painyuli. Abhinav Bhattacharjee. Genre: War Drama Platform: Amazon Prime There is a long disclaimer before the main movie about the film being “inspired by real events on which creative liberty has been taken”. Perhaps such disclaimers are…
Read MoreKillers of the Flower Moon (2023) – Superb drama
Dir: Martin Scorsese Cast: Robert de Niro. Leonardo di Caprio. Lily Gladstone. Nothing needs to be said about Martin Scorsese’s track record. In the guise of thrillers, period dramas or crime sagas, Scorsese always held a mirror to American society and, at times, presented the “zeitgeist” of that era. Almost all his films still…
Read MoreThe Iron Curtain (1946) – Cold War’s absorbing beginning
Dir: William Wellman Screenplay – Milton Krims – based on Igor Gouzenko’s story Cast: Dana Andrews. Gene Tierney Popular legends about spies -outside the Bond-MI-Bourne domain-are usually of a dedicated man, deep inside the enemy/ target country’s system, quietly collecting information for one’s own country. But sometimes, the simple soldier or the unimportant file…
Read MoreKhufiya (2023) – Slow, refreshing and engaging
Music and Director: Vishal Bhardwaj Screenplay – Vishal Bhardwaj, Rohan Narula – based on Amar Bhushan’s story Cast: Tabu, Ali Fazal, Wamiqa Gabbi, Azmeri Haque Badhon, Navnindra Behl, Ashish Vidyarthi (All links are in Blue) Using a mole, Heena Rehman, code-named Octopus (Azmeri Haque Badhon), an Indian operation to “neutralise” the Bangladeshi “Jihadi” defence…
Read MoreThe Angel – The UNBELIEVABLE Spy
Ever since its birth, on May 14, 1948, Israel has led a precarious existence and has never known peace with its neighbours. Nowhere was this desperation more apparent than in the 1973 October war, known as the Yom Kippur War, when Israel was attacked simultaneously by Egypt from the South and Syria from the North.…
Read MoreWAR SAILOR (KRIGSEILEREN) (2022) – TV Series (3 Parts) – Absorbing
In his six-volume autobiography, Winston Churchill said that the one thing that caused him maximum anxiety THROUGHOUT THE WAR was The Battle of the Atlantic. This was the battle by merchant ships, escorted by the British (and, after 1942, American) Navy, to bring supplies to Britain, to continue the war. These supplies came from…
Read MoreSobibor Escape – two films
One of the Third Reich’s most significant and darkest achievements was the efficient transport of “Untermenschen” to the gas chambers. Even with the tide turning in 1943 and the Russians pushing the Germans back to the Polish frontiers from where they started in June 1941, the gas chambers in Eastern Poland and Russia were busy.…
Read MoreThe Odessa File (1974) – Lost in adaptation
Director: Ronald Neame . Script: George Markstein (also an excellent spy fiction writer) Cast: Jon Voight, Maximilian Schell, Mary Tamm Israel has always considered itself to be facing existential threats from everywhere. Historically the state of Israel seemed at its most fragile from its declaration of independence in 1948 till the 1967 Seven-Day War.…
Read MoreTo End All Wars (2001) – From despair and anger to Forgiveness.
World War 2 usually has a one-sided, one-dimensional portrayal of the Allies. Very rarely are the enemies humanised – even if they are evil. Rarely do the onscreen sufferings translate into a personal, almost spiritual salvation for the person undergoing severe torture and terrible health, yet emerging victorious in spirit at the end of the…
Read MoreThe Day of the Jackal – 1974 – RIVETING (even now)
Fact: The OAS – The Organisation Armee Secrete (the Secret Armed Organisation), was composed of ex-French Army soldiers who opposed French President Charles de Gaulle’s policy of granting independence to Algeria as they considered it and its French population as French. The organization aimed to kill de Gaulle and bring Algeria back under French rule.…
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