During the brutal siege of Leningrad in the Second World War, musicians are able to stage a public performance of the Seventh Symphony by Dmitry Shostakovich.
William H. Thompson plays a likeable old lighthouse keeper who must contend with his less likeable fellow villagers. One of Thompson's acts of kindness is to bless the "scandalous" romance between hero and heroine.
Before leaving Pillkallen in East Prussia for Berlin, Schnirpel hides the money he is saving for his daughter Marie in the cushions of his sofa. In his absence, Marie and her fiancé Karl stumble upon the savings. Karl takes the money to keep it safe and is soon drafted into the military when World War I breaks out.
The Supermarine Spitfire - one of the most legendary aircraft of World War Two. Before World War Two the Germans had boasted that the Messerschmitt ME109 was the world's fastest fighter, but the Supermarine company set out to prove them wrong. Designed by R. J. Mitchell, the Spitfire was poised to replace the Bristol Bulldog fighter. Coupled with the development of the Merlin engine by Rolls Royce, the first Spitfire was delivered to the Royal Air Force in 1938. It was only the advent of jet powered planes that made the Spitfire obsolete, but it remains an iconic statement of design and engineering.
Australia, 1943. On leave from the front, Donald makes one last attempt to save his brother from the life their father has unwittingly prepared for him.
On June 6, 1944, supported by an immense naval armada, Allied troops, including the First Canadian Army, led by General Harry Crerar, launch an amphibious invasion of Normandy, France. Facing a fierce resistance by Nazi forces, the Allied armies establish a beachhead on the Normandy coast. Seeking redemption after their earlier rout at the Dieppe raid in 1942, the Canadians are able to gain control of Juno Beach. Before regrouping for an advance into France, Allied troops are replenished by transport of war materiél and reinforcements. The Canadian contingent is tasked with an attack on Caen, France, held by the German 7th Army.
The lieutenant Suvorov and his small group of soldiers come to an abandoned village where only few people are left, and among them there is a schoolteacher with children. Suvorov is quite sure that the front line soon will be here. The lieutenant and his soldiers stay in the village and start their first fight with Nazis, giving time the others to leave…
This unflinching examination of the war in Iraq follows soldiers from the elite 101st Airborne Division for 14 months, from stateside preparations to their deployment in Iraq and back home again. Throughout, soldiers speak candidly about their experience in the military and demonstrate the powerful bond established as they struggle to stay alive.
800 Chinese soldiers guard the important warehouse district against the invading Japanese Army. Re-imagination of a famous (bordering on legendary) episode from the battle of Shanghai: 800 soldiers of the 88th regiment against what feels like the whole of Japan’s Imperial Army - think Thermopylae, Chinese version. A splendid, visually amazing gem which, in its own way, is also a last stand: of silent cinema, Shanghai style. (iffr)
A wounded Greek partisan is helped by Albanian partisans and hidden in the house of an old woman, but his life is still in danger due to the presence of Nazis.
In the year 1965, Louisa, a young housewife, finds herself fighting for her husband's love against his preoccupation with the Vietnam War and his wish to become a military hero. To deter her husband from leaving, Louisa desperately tries to remind him of the excitement of their early marriage. As Louisa reaches for what she thinks she wants, she discovers that what she needs is to be independent, albeit alone.