Poet Siegfried Sassoon survived the horrors of fighting in the First World War and was decorated for his bravery, but became a vocal critic of the government's continuation of the war when he returned from service. Adored by members of the aristocracy as well as stars of London's literary and stage world, he embarked on affairs with several men as he attempted to come to terms with his homosexuality.
During the Russian war with Afghanistan in the 1980s, journalist Charlie Palmer and medic Victor Davis arrive at a P.O.W. camp near the Afghanistan/Pakistan border in order to document the sub-human conditions which the prisoners are forced to endure. During their visit, the prisoners seize control of the camp and begin to enact a series of terrible and bloody punishments on their captors. Held as hostages, Palmer and Davis are forced to witness acts of barbarity unlike any they have ever seen before.
With a sudden attack by the Japanese, British Major-General Maltby and his top officers struggle with the decision to either fight to the death or offer a humiliating surrender of the British Colony of Hong Kong.
Firmly believing her own life is no more precious than the lives of the innocent people being persecuted, with the help of a few friends, Diana embarks on a perilous campaign of rescuing more than 10,000 children from the Ustasha camps in Nazi-occupied Croatia.
Armed with dreams that extend beyond their block, Luis and Ronald, two best friends from Los Angeles, videotape their last 36 hours before shipping off to Afghanistan. One hundred days before Obama's inauguration, these young men have joined the Marines together to face the obstacles and circumstances that seem to overwhelm their passage into manhood. Luis wants to be a filmmaker and Ronald wants to travel the world and raise a family. Through the lens of Luis's video camera, they capture their friends, family members and places they call home - to remember who they are and where they come from. In their darkest hour, they turn on the video camera for the last time and document the final moments of their journey home. They soon realize that their dreams and promises of a new life mean nothing in a place called War.
The transformations of the daily life of the Algerian people during the destructive French occupation, then during the war of liberation. While military repression is in full swing, a peasant woman finds herself alone in her mountain home when her only son is kidnapped by French soldiers shortly after her husband's death during a raid. One day, seeing a dead chicken, which she considers a bad omen, she decides to leave home and embarks on a painful journey through the mountains. Accompanied by a couple of chickens, she moves from one detention camp to another in a desperate search for her missing son. The film is inspired by the events experienced by the director's family.
The outbreak of World War I places Scots officer Geoffrey Richter-Douglas in an uncomfortable position. Although his allegiance is to Britain, his mother was from an aristocratic Bavarian family, and he spent his summers in Germany as a child. When Geoffrey is approached by a German spy who offers him a chance to defect, he reports the incident to his superiors, but instead of arresting the spy they suggest that he accept her offer--and become an Allied agent. In Germany, among old friends, Geoffrey discovers that loyalty is more complicated than he expected, especially when he finds himself aboard the maiden voyage of a powerful new prototype Zeppelin, headed for Scotland on a secret mission that could decide the outcome of the war.
This claymation short film uses a real interview for dialogue. Bill Perry relates stories about his youth, his tilted house, and adventures during WWII in Bristol, England during the blitz. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive.
In World War II, the commanding officer of a sub, against his will takes on board two Western diplomats, to take them to the Canaries and arrange an armistice. When they get there, peace has been declared, but the sub's crew don't know as their radio has failed. They send their passengers ashore and go out to face a final battle...
The final entry in a trilogy of films produced for the U.S. government by John Huston. Some returning combat veterans suffer scars that are more psychological than physical. This film follows patients and staff during their treatment. It deals with what would now be called PTSD, but at the time was categorised as psychoneurosis or shell-shock. Government officials deemed this 1946 film counterproductive to postwar efforts; it was not shown publicly until 1981.
The first batch of flight control officer candidates, full of yearning for the sky, are assembled at the 101st Air Regiment base. Nakata, Sato, and the other cadets undergo intensive training under Captain Kotani, a famous pilot, but gradually begin to resent his strict leadership. A youthful story that vividly portrays the young pilots of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force who place their hopes in the sky. Japan's first full-length film about jet aviation, it was shot on location at the Hamamatsu Air Self-Defense Force Base over an extended period of time, with dozens of jets being mobilized for the filming.
The truth about the Auschwitz death camp was one of the most closely guarded secrets of the Third Reich. Prisoners who tried to escape were killed in public as an example to other inmates. Very few ever made it out alive. Escape From Auschwitz tells the incredible story of two young Slovak Jews, Rudolph Vrba and Alfred Wetzler, who managed to escape, determined to tell the world about the atrocities being committed by the Nazis at the camp, which resulted in the saving of thousands of lives.
An American prisoner, hidden by some Umbrian farmers, meets, drunk, with a German soldier who is also drunk. The two believe that the war is over and embrace each other emotionally. But it is not so and soon the cannon will thunder. Uncle Tigna, who was hiding the prisoner and two of his companions, will fall victim to the Nazis.
Willie, a young Confederate soldier, joins forces with the bold and boisterous Lt. John Singleton Mosby and his notorious band of Civil War raiders. Befriended by a Yankee and aided by his beautiful cousin Oralee, Willie learns the power of love and war as he attempts dangerous scouting missions across the Virginia countryside. Infiltrating a Union brigade and capturing an enemy General are just two of the challenges Willie courageously faces in the early days of the War Between the States.
A documentary that uses dramatizations based on fact to tell the story of Canadian air crew in Canadian bomber squadrons under British command during World War II. Posits Royal Air Force Bomber Command "deliberately hid the truth" about RAF bomber crew survival rates, concealed plans about deliberately annihilating civilians, and betrayed the trust of Canadian military airmen. Part of "The Valour and the Horror" mini-series.