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Paths of Glory poster

Movies that feel likePaths of Glory (1957)

A commanding officer defends three scapegoats on trial for a failed offensive that occurred within the French Army in 1916.

If you loved Paths of Glory, the closest films we have are All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), Lifeboat (1944) and Shame (1968). All three share Paths of Glory's bleak and contemplative feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is A War (2015).

πŸ… 96% Rotten Tomatoesβ˜… 8.4 IMDb β†—TMDB β†—dir. Stanley Kubrickbleakcontemplative
11 of 12 streaming nowNetflix Β· HBO Max Β· Criterion Channel

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If Paths of Glory hit the spot, these will too

All Quiet on the Western Front poster
All Quiet on the Western Front
1930 Β· dir. Lewis Milestone
πŸ… 98%β˜… 8.1drama Β· war

Common ground in both: army and germany

The difference: Made in the 1930s, in a different era of the craft

When a group of idealistic young men join the German Army during the Great War, they are assigned to the Western Front, where their patriotism is destroyed by the harsh realities of combat.

Lifeboat poster
Lifeboat
1944 Β· dir. Alfred Hitchcock
πŸ… 90%β˜… 7.6war Β· drama

Both keep coming back to the same thing: black and white

During World War II, a small group of survivors is stranded in a lifeboat together after the ship they were traveling on is destroyed by a German U-boat.

Shame poster
Shame
1968 Β· dir. Ingmar Bergman
πŸ… 67%β˜… 8war Β· drama

Bleak and contemplative in the same breath

The difference: The critics' underdog of the pair

In the midst of a civil war, a pair of former violinists in a tempestuous marriage oversee a farm on a rural island. In spite of their best efforts to escape their homeland, the war impinges on every aspect of their lives.

Rome, Open City poster
Rome, Open City
1945 Β· dir. Roberto Rossellini
πŸ… 100%β˜… 8drama Β· warMax

War with a pulse of bleakness, in both cases

During the Nazi occupation of 1944 Rome, Resistance leader Giorgio Manfredi is pursued by the Nazis as he seeks refuge and a means of escape.

Paisan poster
Paisan
1946 Β· dir. Roberto Rossellini
πŸ… 100%β˜… 7.6drama Β· warMax

Drama built on stillness, twice over

Six stories unfold in various regions, from Sicily to the northern Po Valley as American military personnel interact with a variety of Italian locals over eighteen months in the push north during the Italian Campaign of WWII as German forces retreat.

Apocalypse Now poster
Apocalypse Now
1979 Β· dir. Francis Ford Coppola
πŸ… 91%β˜… 8.4drama Β· warParamount+

Common ground: army

At the height of the Vietnam war, Captain Benjamin Willard is sent on a dangerous mission that, officially, "does not exist, nor will it ever exist." His goal is to locate - and eliminate - a mysterious Green Beret Colonel named Walter Kurtz, who has been leading his personal army on illegal guerrilla missions into enemy territory.

A War poster
A War
2015 Β· dir. Tobias Lindholm
πŸ… 90%β˜… 7drama Β· war

Bleak war, and it commits to that

Company commander Claus Michael Pedersen and his men are stationed in Helmand, Afghanistan. Meanwhile back in Denmark, with a husband at war and three children missing their father, everyday life is a struggle for Claus' wife Maria. During a routine mission, the soldiers are caught in heavy Taliban crossfire. In order to save his men, Claus makes a decision that ultimately sees him return to Denmark accused of a war crime.

The Guns of Navarone poster
The Guns of Navarone
1961 Β· dir. J. Lee Thompson
πŸ… 92%β˜… 7.5adventure Β· drama Β· warNetflix

Both lean on stillness more than on drama

The difference: Sits closer to adventure than Paths of Glory does

A team of allied saboteurs are assigned an impossible mission: infiltrate an impregnable Nazi-held island and destroy the two enormous long-range field guns that prevent the rescue of 2,000 trapped British soldiers.

The Longest Day poster
The Longest Day
1962 Β· dir. Ken Annakin
πŸ… 83%β˜… 7.7war Β· drama Β· history

Both are built on the same subject: soldier

The retelling of June 6, 1944, from the perspectives of the Germans, US, British, Canadians, and the Free French. Marshall Erwin Rommel, touring the defenses being established as part of the Reich's Atlantic Wall, notes to his officers that when the Allied invasion comes they must be stopped on the beach. "For the Allies as well as the Germans, it will be the longest day"

All Quiet on the Western Front poster
All Quiet on the Western Front
2022 Β· dir. Edward Berger
πŸ… 90%β˜… 7.8war Β· dramaNetflix

The same preoccupation in both: world war i

Paul Baumer and his friends Albert and Muller, egged on by romantic dreams of heroism, voluntarily enlist in the German army. Full of excitement and patriotic fervour, the boys enthusiastically march into a war they believe in. But once on the Western Front, they discover the soul-destroying horror of World War I.

Grand Illusion poster
Grand Illusion
1937 Β· dir. Jean Renoir
πŸ… 97%β˜… 8drama Β· history Β· war

One thread runs through both: france

A group of French soldiers, including the patrician Captain de Boeldieu and the working-class Lieutenant MarΓ©chal, grapple with their own class differences after being captured and held in a World War I German prison camp. When the men are transferred to a high-security fortress, they must concoct a plan to escape beneath the watchful eye of aristocratic German officer von Rauffenstein, who has formed an unexpected bond with de Boeldieu.

Fail Safe poster
Fail Safe
1964 Β· dir. Sidney Lumet
πŸ… 93%β˜… 8thriller Β· drama Β· war

Common ground: general

Because of a technical defect an American bomber team mistakenly orders the destruction of Moscow. The President of the United States has but little time to prevent an atomic catastrophe from occurring.

In the mood for more bleak?

all bleak movies β†’

The best-reviewed films that share Paths of Glory’s defining feeling.