Another French film: Capitaine Conan
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Joyeux Noel
La Grande Illusion
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Here is another (Communist) Bulgarian classic. “On every kilometer…” is a two-season TV series that aired in the late 60s/early 70s. And unlike ‘The three reservists’ it has an actual budget and the filmmakers know what they are doing and the show is still remembered fondly to this day.
Season 1 is about the partisan origins of our main characters, including Major Nikola Deyanov (played by the legendary Stefan Danailov, RIP). His father, alongside his fellow communists are sentenced to death following the failed uprising 1923 (something B2W failed to tell you about). They are all crammed on a shipping vessel that is made to sink, killing everyone onboard, while their elderly mothers watch. Fear not though, my friends, for the brave communists are not afraid of death, as they even sing Stalin’s favorite song while dying.
Over the next several episodes, Major Deyanov travels all over Europe with his trusty companion Mitko The Bomb, helping communists along the way; until the finally returns to Bulgaria to liberate it from the fascist yoke. My great-grandma even makes a cameo in one of these episodes.
The season ends with the communist takeover of Bulgaria and happy times for all.
Season 2 begins with the end of WW2 and shows several Bulgarian officers who still harbor sympathies towards Germany. They even have one of these characters talk down to a German communist deserter that ‘Germany will never fall!’. So, you see, the communists were right to kill most of them after the war. (I told you the filmmakers actually knew what they were doing)
The later part of the season takes a more James Bond style, as Major Deyanov and company have to fight the ever increasing threat of US spies.
It even has the main villain from season 1 see the error of his ways. He returns to Bulgaria, after being coursed by US spies, and sees that the Police station he used to run his operations out of, has now been transformed to a school filled with happy children, ready to learn of the glories of Socialism and Communism. So moved is our main villain that he is even willing to stand trial rather than betray his country. “Unfortunately” he dies of a heart attack before he could face trial. Curses! One of the fascists did not face punishment for his crimes. That is why we need to make sure that the other descendants of fascists get punished well, comrades.
Episodes 1-10:
Episodes 11-20:
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You guys all gave awesome answers and I plan on checking out all of these at some point if I can. Now what’s some truly awful, inaccurate or poorly made WW2 movies? Hollywood included this time. This should be interesting
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Battle of the Bulge 1965 filmed in the Spanish desert. And historically a favorite punching bag. It makes a nice watch though and the main character who was inspired by Sepp Dietrich. The film version however thinks war crimes were bad as they raised morale. The real Dietrich slaughtered German speaking Belgian civilians and was a big fan of war crimes. This is one reason Dietrich never found a huge American supply of gas just to the right on his advance. (No one told him and his recon was lousy).
But as fiction it is a fun watch and the end is very satisfying ! (Yes I am partisan 
)
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As a proud Canadian (as most of you are probably aware by this point) the movie I’m recommending isn’t really a movie per se, but a docudrama. Storming Juno is about 2 hours, the first half is an hour focusing on 3 Canadian points of view on D-Day, while the second half is a regular documentary. I’m not sure where you can find it (YouTube fingers crossed) but if you can find it I would highly recommend for info on D-Day that’s not Omaha beach.
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From a historical standpoint, Jojo rabbit. Spoilers Berlin is not in ruins by the end of movie and the Americans enter berlin first.
From a movie perspective, masterpiece!
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I should check it out. I have a hilarious example. This is not actually a war movie but somehow the Battleship Yamoto will be floated again and getting a rocket engine. Pretty funny based on an anime series!
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Might add couple of other Finnish WW II movies (still fairly modern ones) but which are good (but in my opinion not great for various reasons), but still might be worth watching for those who are interested.
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Ambush (1999, in Finnish ‘Rukajärven tie’ ~ Road to Rukajärvi) - based on real events taking place in 1941 though unit size is much smaller and the Hollywoodish ‘end battle’ is only remotely based on real events. The bicycle unit’s flanking maneuver via small roads and even the survival of the man shot to shreds are however based on real actual events. This is in my opinion the most ‘traditional’ movie of the three listed in this group.
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Beyond the Front Line (2004, in Finnish ‘Etulinjan edessä’, in Swedish ‘Framom främsta linjen’) - is based on the diaries & war diaries of one of the Swedish speaking unit (JR 61 - 61st Infantry Regiment). Events take place in 1942-44. Shows trench warfare, raids between the opposing trench lines and so on. Story ends to the successful defense by the JR61 in 1944 blocking the narrows north of Viipuri fending of two Soviet divisions in the Battle of Tienhaara. This suffers from being crafted from the diaries & war diaries which left it a bit clunky - and also to some extend from the clear lack of money for making the effects (and getting extras) for the ‘end fight’.
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Tali-Ihantala 1944 (2007) - is a strange one. It is based on the actual events leading up to and including the Battle of Tali-Ihantala in 1944 starting from the beginning of the Soviet summer offensive of 1944. Fighting scenes are great on this one. The chronologically progressing story is ok too. HOWEVER… This thing does only have sort of a meta-plot. If you already know the events you can kind of follow it. It also does not have any actual main characters. Each segment kind of has some POV characters but that is about it. It is in my opinion great docudrama but absolutely awful movie.
Other Finnish movies more or less related to war but which do not concentrate solely on the actual fighting…
- Silence (2011, fi. Hiljaisuus) - docudrama about unit (mixed, men, women, even priest) whose task was to recover the dead and prepare them for the burial.
- Promise (2005, fi. Lupaus) - film about stories of three female volunteers with different fates.
- Abandoned houses, empty yards (2000, fi. Hylätyt talot, autiot pihat) - about fates of Karelian evacuees
- Wildeye (2015, fi. Kätilö ~ Midwife) - about a love story between a Finnish (Lapp) woman and a SS-officer against the Lapland War of 1944-45.
There are actually even more and i probably missed some. I guess you could add the Under the North Star (part II) to the list as some parts of it handle this a bit. And then there are the WW I (or the Finnish Civil War) movies or those discussing the fates of the Finns and others (including American immigrants) in the Soviet Karelia like the Eternal Road (fi. Ikitie).
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Taegukgi: The Brotherhood of War
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Love JoJo Rabbit! I don’t think it was set in Berlin though. I could be wrong. But sure there are historical inaccuracies, but I forgive them as that’s not the focus of the movie. That’s my opinion though. We can agree great movie though.
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Wait, is that a terrible movie or a good one?
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Yes that is what I meant. From a Historical standpoint, it is bad. Story wise, masterpiece!
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Essential, great story and action sequences.
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Yeahh - Yorki scenes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6CHCOjgjUo
“Our only friends are the Japanse, and they dont look very arian to me”
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I know… I reviving this a year later but… youtube in all it’s glory has removed the episodes. So… do you know where to find them now?
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For YouTube, there seems to have been a purge, though some episodes can still be found if you type in - На всеки километър -
There is a channel on Vbox7 (Bulgarian video site) that also has the entire season 1. Just follow the numbers on the video clip and you will be fine. Keep in mind, the final episode (titled Day One) is the only one not numbered:
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All US American 
flicks are foreign to me 
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Really liked this one. Very well done.
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The Ascent (1977) is an excellent if slightly overwrought anti-war drama by Larisa Shepitko, whose husband Elem Klimov directed the equally indelible Come and See. Tragically she died 2 years later in a car accident. Look out for Anatoly Solonitsyn as the nihilistic interrogator.
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