Wartime movies and shows are known to carry some essential equipment: strong perspectives, insightful writing, standout action sequences, and deeply affecting performances. They unflinchingly depict war’s harsh realities, and also honor the real-life heroes who sacrificed for their countries.

Consider this list a kind of basic training in must-see military and wartime dramas. They’re each inspired by true events, and share stories from Germany, South Korea, India, Cambodia, Scotland, and the United States. No need to stand at attention while streaming — you can watch at ease. 

Operation Safed Sagar: The Highest Air Force Mission

In the summer of 1999, a high-stakes mission made history and altered the course of the Kargil War. Enter the Golden Arrows Squadron, the Indian Air Force’s youngest fighter pilots who defied impossible odds to become the world’s highest air operation. Informed by extensive research and filmed across operational bases, this gripping drama tells the stories of these brave flyers and captures the courage of a brotherhood that put everything at stake to defend their nation.

Operation Safed Sagar: The Highest Air Force Mission

6 Episodes   TV-MA   2026

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All Quiet on the Western Front

In 1917, the third year of World War I, 17-year-old Paul Bäumer (Felix Kammerer) enthusiastically joins the German army along with his friends — and against his parents’ wishes. But as soon as Paul is deployed to the front lines in northern France, his romantic notions of fighting for Germany are violently dispelled by the brutal reality of trench warfare. Edward Berger (Ballad of a Small Player) directs the four-time Oscar-winning adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque’s classic novel of the same name.

All Quiet on the Western Front

2h 28m   R   2022

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D.P.

Meet Private Ahn Jun-ho (Jung Hae-in) and Corporal Han Ho-yeol (Koo Kyo-hwan), a pair of soldiers in the Deserter Pursuit unit — which is charged with tracking down South Korean men who attempt to dodge required military service. The series collected acclaim for its unflinching look at the country’s mandatory military time, as its episodes move between slapstick and bleakness, absurdity and tragedy. It’s based on Kim Bo-tong’s webtoon D.P. Dog Days, which draws on Kim’s personal experiences as well as news stories of actual events.

D.P.

2 Seasons   TV-MA   2021

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Outlaw King

Travel all the way back to 14th-century Scotland with Chris Pine, as he portrays Robert the Bruce in this action-packed drama. Set during the Scottish Wars of Independence, the movie begins with his claiming of the crown and charts his leadership of a fierce uprising to win back the country's freedom from English rule. Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Florence Pugh, and Billy Howle are also in the sweeping epic, directed by David Mackenzie (Relay).

Outlaw King

2h 1m   R   2018

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Da 5 Bloods

Spike Lee (She’s Gotta Have It) directs this drama about four veterans — played by Delroy Lindo, Clarke Peters, Norm Lewis, and Isiah Whitlock, Jr. — who return to Vietnam to find the remains of their fallen Squad Leader (Chadwick Boseman) and the promise of buried treasure. While these characters aren’t direct portrayals of specific veterans, the film is based on the accounts of numerous real-life Black soldiers who fought in the Vietnam War, and includes actual photographs, archival footage, and statistics.

Da 5 Bloods

2h 35m   R   2020

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First They Killed My Father

Loung Ung was just five years old when the Khmer Rouge suddenly came to power in Cambodia and forced her family to leave their home in Phnom Penh. Captured and recruited as a child soldier while her siblings were sent to labor camps, she embarks on a harrowing quest to reunite with her family and survive the regime’s terrifying reign. Angelina Jolie (Maria) directs this Khmer-language adaptation of Ung’s 2000 memoir of the same name, starring Sreymoch Sareum as Loung.

First They Killed My Father

2h 16m   TV-MA   2017

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The Six Triple Eight

Delivering a three-year backlog of mail — totaling approximately 17 million pieces — to American soldiers fighting overseas during World War II sounds like an impossible task. Not only was the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion the sole Black Women's Army Corps unit stationed in Europe at the time, but these 855 women were also given just six months to complete this daunting task. Tyler Perry directs the depiction of the unique military contribution, starring Kerry Washington as the 6888th’s leader, Major Charity Adams.

The Six Triple Eight

2h 9m   PG-13   2024

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