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The Tin Drum poster

Movies that feel likeThe Tin Drum (1979)

In 1924, Oskar Matzerath is born in the Free City of Danzig. At age three, he falls down a flight of stairs and stops growing. In 1939, World War II breaks out.

If you loved The Tin Drum, the closest films we have are Das Boot (1981), The Patriot (2000) and The Dirty Dozen (1967). All three share The Tin Drum's epic and bleak feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Flame & Citron (2008).

🍅 84% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.4 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Volker Schlöndorffcontemplativeepicbleakmelancholy
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If The Tin Drum hit the spot, these will too

Das Boot poster
Das Boot
1981 · dir. Wolfgang Petersen
🍅 98%★ 8.3drama · history · war

The same mix in both: stillness, then scale

A German submarine hunts allied ships during the Second World War, but it soon becomes the hunted. The crew tries to survive below the surface, while stretching both the boat and themselves to their limits.

The Patriot poster
The Patriot
2000 · dir. Roland Emmerich
🍅 61%★ 7.2drama · history · warParamount+

Both land bleakness and melancholy at once

The difference: 21 years apart, and the 2000s show

After proving himself on the field of battle in the French and Indian War, Benjamin Martin wants nothing more to do with such things, preferring the simple life of a farmer. But when his son Gabriel enlists in the army to defend their new nation, America, against the British, Benjamin reluctantly returns to his old life to protect his son.

The Dirty Dozen poster
The Dirty Dozen
1967 · dir. Robert Aldrich
🍅 82%★ 7.7action · adventure · war

Both are built on the same subject: nazi

The difference: Trades the stillness of The Tin Drum for an angle of its own

12 American military prisoners in World War II are ordered to infiltrate a well-guarded enemy château and kill the Nazi officers vacationing there. The soldiers, most of whom are facing death sentences for a variety of violent crimes, agree to the mission and the possible commuting of their sentences.

Stalingrad poster
Stalingrad
1993 · dir. Joseph Vilsmaier
★ 7.5drama · history · war

Both lean on stillness more than on drama

The difference: Takes it somewhere less melancholy than The Tin Drum does

A German Platoon is explored through the brutal fighting of the Battle of Stalingrad. After half of their number is wiped out and they're placed under the command of a sadistic captain, the platoon lieutenant leads his men to desert. The platoon members attempt escape from the city, now surrounded by the Soviet Army.

The Battle of Algiers poster
The Battle of Algiers
1966 · dir. Gillo Pontecorvo
🍅 99%★ 8.1drama · war · historyMax

History built on scale, twice over

Former petty criminal Ali la Pointe becomes a commander of the Algerian Front de Liberation Nationale, directing a guerilla insurgency against the colonial French occupation. Paratrooper commander Colonel Phillippe Mathieu, a veteran of World War II and the First Indochina War, is sent to Algeria to reinforce efforts to squelch the uprisings.

Braveheart poster
Braveheart
1995 · dir. Mel Gibson
🍅 74%★ 8.3drama · history · warParamount+

Bleak war, and it commits to that

Enraged at the slaughter of Murron, his new bride and childhood love, Scottish warrior William Wallace slays a platoon of the local English lord's soldiers. This leads the village to revolt and, eventually, the entire country to rise up against English rule.

Patton poster
Patton
1970 · dir. Franklin J. Schaffner
🍅 92%★ 7.9war · drama · history

Contemplative drama in both cases

"Patton" tells the tale of General George S. Patton, famous tank commander of World War II. The film begins with Patton's career in North Africa and progresses through the invasion of Germany and the fall of the Third Reich. Side plots also speak of Patton's numerous faults such his temper and habit towards insubordination.

Katyn poster
Katyn
2007 · dir. Andrzej Wajda
🍅 91%★ 7drama · history · war

History with a pulse of scale, in both cases

On September 1st, 1939, Nazi Germany invades Poland, unleashing World War II. On September 17th, the Soviet Red Army crosses the border. The Polish army, unable to fight on two fronts, is defeated. Thousands of Polish men, both military and government officials, are captured by the invaders. Their fate will only be known several years later.

9th Company poster
9th Company
2005 · dir. Fyodor Bondarchuk
🍅 69%★ 7.1war · drama · history

War built on bleakness, twice over

Russian army recruits complete training and take their posting in late 1980s Afghanistan, where the insurgents are slowly gaining the upper hand.

Where Eagles Dare poster
Where Eagles Dare
1968 · dir. Brian G. Hutton
🍅 84%★ 7.6adventure · war

The same preoccupation in both: germany

The difference: Sits closer to adventure than The Tin Drum does

World War II is raging, and an American general has been captured and is being held hostage in the Schloss Adler, a Bavarian castle that's nearly impossible to breach. It's up to a group of skilled Allied soldiers to liberate the general before it's too late.

Flame & Citron poster
Flame & Citron
2008 · dir. Ole Christian Madsen
🍅 86%★ 7.2drama · history · war

The same drama instincts

Gunman Flame and his partner Citron assassinate Nazi collaborators for the Danish resistance. Assigned targets by their Allies-connected leader, Aksel Winther, they relish the opportunity to begin targeting the Nazis themselves. When they begin to doubt the validity of their assignments, their morally complicated task becomes even more labyrinthine.

The Longest Day poster
The Longest Day
1962 · dir. Ken Annakin
🍅 83%★ 7.7war · drama · history

Both are history through and through

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"

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The best-reviewed films that share The Tin Drum’s defining feeling.