May 9 comes, the great Victory Day of the Soviet people and their allies over Nazi Germany. Many films have been made about this landmark event, and most of them date back to the times of the USSR.
Having studied the rating of Kinopoisk, we selected the top 10 best films about the Great Patriotic War. They instill patriotism in the younger generation and remind generations already grown up about the feat that our fathers and grandfathers performed.
10. The Living and the Dead (1963)
Kinopoisk rating - 8.22
IMDb Rating - 7.50
The drama filmed based on the eponymous trilogy by Konstantin Simonov opens the rating of the best films about the Great Patriotic War. Journalist Ivan Sintsov, whom the news of the start of the war finds on vacation, is witnessing the painful events of 1941. The Soviet army retreats, suffers heavy losses and Sintsov sees how the war divides people not on a national or political basis, but on the living and the dead.
9. In war as in war (1968)
Kinopoisk rating - 8.22
IMDb Rating - 8.0
Come on, Maleshkin! Well done, Maleshkin! Click Maleshkin! These phrases are immediately remembered when it comes to the film "In War as Not War." In the center of events is the crew of a self-propelled gun mount, with their everyday and fighting lives. There is a place in it for ordinary feats, and humor, and songs. And even if this film, which contains only a few days of the war, is an fiction, you believe its heroes. For this, first of all, it is worth thanks to such actors as Mikhail Kononov, Mikhail Gluzsky, Oleg Borisov and Victor Pavlov.
8. Father of a soldier (1964)
Kinopoisk rating - 8.23
IMDb Rating - 8.70
An elderly Georgian Georgy Makharashvili goes to the hospital to see his wounded son. It would seem a simple story. However, Sergo Zakariadze’s magnificent acting, the kindness, courage and wisdom of his character make the film “Father of the Soldier” one of the masterpieces of the selection of films about the war. Makharashvili walks with Soviet troops all the way to Berlin, taking care of his military comrades and hoping to see his son alive.
7. Ballad of a soldier (1959)
Movie Search Rating - 8.24
IMDb Rating - 8.10
The young soldier Alexei Skvortsov accomplishes a feat - he knocks out two German tanks. For this, the command lets the young fighter go home so that he can see his mother. On the way, the good and naive Alyosha meets different people, good and bad, and finds a girl whom she falls in love with.
One of the best films about the Great Patriotic War shows the audience life "in the backwoods", with small dramas of individuals, whose characters are deeply and thoroughly worked out. And all of them are united by one big drama - war.
6. Cranes fly (1957)
Search Rating - 8.29
IMDb Rating - 8.30
This film is not about the horrors of war, but about the fate of two loving people who were separated by the war. The tragic events became a test of endurance and spiritual qualities of the main characters.
The movie Cranes Flying was awarded the Golden Palm Branch at the Cannes Film Festival and was very popular among French viewers.
5. The fate of man (1959)
Movie Search Rating - 8.36
IMDb Rating - 8.10
It is difficult to remain a good and right person, having gone through terrible hardships in a concentration camp, having lost his family and home. However, the hero of the film manages to maintain courage and resilience, despite all the trials. And the front-line soldier finds a new meaning in life in the boy Van, whom the war left an orphan.
4. They fought for their homeland (1975)
Movie Search Rating - 8.37
IMDb Rating - 8.10
Someone Yuri Nikulin was remembered as a "solar clown", Vyacheslav Tikhonov - as an intellectual reconnaissance, and Vasily Shukshin as a driver Pashka Kolokolnikov. But they also had other roles - much darker, more strict, such as one of the best films about the Second World War. The plot of the film tells about the feat of soldiers who defended the approaches to Stalingrad. Each of the heroes shown in "They Fought for the Homeland" is allowed to fully reveal themselves. Their dialogues are not filled with pathos, characteristic of Western films about the war. The main advantage of the film, based on the novel by Mikhail Sholokhov, is the acting. Thanks to her, "They Fought for the Motherland" remains one of the favorite military films of Russians.
3. Officers (1971)
Movie Search Rating - 8.45
IMDb Rating - 7.80
After watching this film, in which two handsome actors starred - George Yumatov and Vasily Lanovoi - Soviet boys dreamed of becoming military. After all, there is such a profession - to defend the homeland.
The main characters will go a long way - from battles with the Basmachi in the 20s of the twentieth century to the Great Patriotic War, they also know the death of friends and love. “Officers” is an example of true male friendship and the most sincere human relations captured on film.
2. And the dawns here are quiet (1972)
Movie Search Rating - 8.50
IMDb Rating - 8.30
In second place in the list of the best films about the war of 1941-45. is a military drama. It tells about the courage of ordinary Soviet anti-aircraft gunners, who were opposed by trained German paratroopers. This is a movie that clearly shows how terrible and unjust a war can be, and how Soviet people were ready to wipe fascism off the face of the earth at the cost of their lives.
1. Only “old men” go into battle (1973)
Movie Search Rating - 8.71
IMDb Rating - 8.50
The second squadron of Captain Titarenko is the most “singing” in his aviation regiment. And she fights with the enemy even better than she sings songs. And between the air battles, the fighters have a place for jokes and for love experiences. After all, the war will not last forever, forever - only music.
The heroes of this film are so colorful that they cut into memory from the first minute of viewing. Together with them, viewers of all ages will both laugh and cry, perceiving the "old people" and the "yellowhorns" as their own friends. And the song "Darkie" became the hallmark of this movie.
You may be outraged: why didn’t the beloved “17 Moments of Spring” be included in the list of the best films about World War II? The fact is that this is not a separate film, but a series.
