These films cover centuries of conflict in stark, vivid detail.

The 15 best war movies streaming on HBO Max right now

These films cover centuries of conflict in stark, vivid detail.

November 2, 2025 11:00 a.m. ET

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'Casablanca,' 'War and Peace,' and 'The Tuskegee Airmen'. Credit:

Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty; Courtesy Everett Collection (2)

Great war movies not only depict the horrors of the battlefield, but also the psychological trauma of those who participate.

Of course, the films aren’t all violence and brutality: Ernst Lubitsch used World War II to make one of the great comedies of the era, while *Casablanca *avoided the battlefield altogether while giving us one of the most morally piercing commentaries on the same conflict.

Stretching from guerrilla warfare in the Algerian War to the Iraq War and beyond, ** has compiled the best war movies streaming on HBO Max right now.

49th Parallel (1941)

Ramond Massey in '49th Parallel,' also known as 'The Invaders'.

Mary Evans/AF Archive/Everett Collection

After a German U-boat sinks a Canadian freighter in the early months of World War II, a raiding party comes ashore to secure supplies… only for the U-boat to get sunk in their absence. Left to their own devices, the Germans make their way across Canada, hoping to return to Germany without being identified and either imprisoned or killed. But their tendency to fall back on the talking points of the Führer proves troublesome.

Originally made as a propaganda film by Great Britain in hopes of swaying then-neutral America into entering World War II, the end result was so well-received, it earned three Oscar nominations, including one win.

Where to watch *49th Parallel*: HBO Max

**Director:** Michael Powell

**Cast:** Leslie Howard, Laurence Olivier, Anton Walbrook, Raymond Massey, Glynis Johns, Eric Portman

Ashes and Diamonds (1958)

Zbigniew Cybulski and Ewa Krzyzewska in 'Ashes and Diamonds'.

Laski Diffusion/Getty

Set just before the end of World War II, the film kicks off with an attempted assassination that goes wrong when the would-be assassins — Maciek, Andrzej, and Drewnowski — discover they’ve killed two innocent people instead of their intended target. Later, Maciek and Andrzej embark on the task a second time, but while seeking their target, Maciek meets and falls for a barmaid, prompting him to reconsider just how devoted he is to the cause.

Part of a loose trilogy of war-themed films from director Andrzej Wajda, *Ashes and Diamonds* was a critical and commercial success around the world.

Where to watch *Ashes and Diamonds*: HBO Max

**Director:** Andrzej Wajda

**Cast:** Zbigniew Cybulski, Ewa Krzyżewska, Wacław Zastrzeżyński, Adam Pawlikowski, Bogumił Kobiela

Au Revoir Les Enfants (1987)

Raphael Fejto and Gaspard Manesse in 'Au Revoir Les Enfants'.

Mary Evans/MK2/Ronald Grant/Everett Collection

By the time viewers hear this film’s title — which translates to* Goodbye, Children* — uttered aloud, they may well be in tears. Set during the winter of 1943-44, the film begins as the story of Julien Quentin, who attends a boarding school in occupied France, but changes when the headmaster, Pere Jean, introduces the class to three new students.

In short order, Julien discovers the three are Jewish children who’ve been granted secret asylum by Jean. The film tracks Julien’s burgeoning awareness of anti-Semitism and how it can affect even people his age. Inspired by director Louis Malle’s own life, it’s a sad, beautiful film.

Where to watch *Au Revoir Les Enfants*: HBO Max

**Director:** Louis Malle

**Cast:** Gaspard Manesse, Raphael Fejto, Philippe Morier-Genoud, Francine Racette, Francois Berleand, Irene Jacob

The Battle of Algiers (1966)

Mohamed Ben Kassen in 'The Battle of Algiers'.

Courtesy Everett Collection

After kicking off with Algerian revolutionary Ali la Pointe being surrounded by the French Army, this film flashes back to tell the tale of the Algerian War of Independence, namely the portion between November 1954 and December 1957, taking viewers through the events that brought Ali to this point.

Filmed on location in black-and-white with a style intended to emulate a documentary, *The Battle of Algiers* is filled predominantly with non-actors who lived through the actual events. The result is a stark look at war that earned the Golden Lion in Venice and remains one of the most influential films ever made.

Where to watch *The Battle of Algiers*: HBO Max

**Director:** Gillo Pontecorvo

**Cast:** Brahim Hadjadj, Jean Martin, Saadi Yacef, Tommaso Neri, Samia Kerbash, Ugo Paletti, Fusia El Kader

Casablanca (1942)

Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman in 'Casablanca'.

Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty

What can you say about one of the most famous films of all time? Humphrey Bogart stars as Rick Blaine, a cynical American expatriate who owns a nightclub in Casablanca and claims to be politically neutral. That neutrality begins to waver slightly, however, when his former flame Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) arrives with her husband, Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid), who’s committed to the Resistance. They’re seeking letters of transit that Rick has in his possession, which would allow the couple to make their way to safe territory together.

This may be a classic wartime movie, but it’s also one of the greatest love stories ever told.

Where to watch *Casablanca*: HBO Max

**EW grade:** A (read the review)

**Director:** Michael Curtiz

**Cast:** Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre

Civil War (2024)

Kirsten Dunst in 'Civil War'.

This is one of the more terrifying films on this list, taking place in a dystopian near-future that feels a little closer to reality with each passing day. In *Civil War*’s America, the federal government — led by a third-term president — has become authoritarian, resulting in secessionist movements that have split the country apart. In the midst of the conflict, journalists from *Reuters* and *The New York Times *make a dangerous journey from New York to Virginia and, eventually, D.C.

Truth be told, it may actually be too traumatic for some people to watch, given the current political climate, but (as with many of these other films) that’s why it *should* be watched.

Where to watch *Civil War*: HBO Max

**Director:** Alex Garland

**Cast:** Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, Cailee Spaeny, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Sonoya Mizuno, Nick Offerman

Conspiracy (2001)

Stanley Tucci and Kenneth Branagh in 'Conspiracy'.

Courtesy Everett Collection

This HBO film concerns the infamous 1942 meeting in which Reich security chief Reinhard Heydrich (Kenneth Branagh) details how the forced emigration of the Jewish population will shift to “evacuation.”

Over the course of the meeting, the participants gradually realize that “evacuation” actually means “genocide,” and that realization… does not change anything. It’s an all-talk, no-action film — indeed, a psychological drama in the truest sense, specifically diving into the Nazi mindset. It's also a film you can’t and shouldn’t look away from.

Where to watch *Conspiracy*: HBO Max

**Director:** Frank Pierson

**Cast:** Kenneth Branagh, Stanley Tucci, Colin Firth, Ian McNeice, Kevin McNally, David Threlfall

The Four Feathers (1939)

John Clements, C. Aubrey Smith and June Duprez in 'The Four Feathers'.

United Artists/Getty

Set in 1895, *The Four Feathers* is perhaps the definitive treatise on how a soldier can be transformed from coward to hero via the power of camaraderie. This film is one of several adaptations of A.E.W. Mason’s novel, but it’s generally considered the best of the bunch, even if — unlike the 2002 version — it *doesn’t* star Heath Ledger as Lt. Harry Faversham, i.e., the coward in question.

Here, John Clements plays Faversham, who resigns his Army commission for fear he might lose it in battle, only to redeem himself by making his way to the front and surreptitiously saving his friend, Capt. John Durrance (Ralph Richardson).

Where to watch *The Four Feathers*: HBO Max

**Director:** Zoltan Korda

**Cast**: John Clements, Ralph Richardson, C. Aubrey Smith, June Duprez, Allan Jeaves, Jack Allen, Donald Gray

Overlord (1975)

What started as a documentary about the Overlord Embroidery, a famous narrative artwork that depicts the D-Day Landings and Battle of Normandy, turned into a film that blends archival World War II footage with the story of Thomas Beddows, a British everyman called into service. Following the naïve Beddows from training to his journey to France and — spoiler alert — his eventual death on D-Day, the film comes so close to matching real footage that it can be disconcerting.

Then again, that’s why it’s such an effective film: Because of its infusion of reality, it often feels significantly less fictional than other war movies.

Where to watch *Overlord*: HBO Max

**Director:** Stuart Cooper

**Cast:** Brian Stirner, Davyd Harries, Nicholas Ball, John Franklyn-Robbins, Stella Tanner, David Warner

To Be or Not to Be (1942)

Jack Benny and Carole Lombard in 'To Be or Not to Be'.

Courtesy Everett Collection

In this profound wartime comedy, Jack Benny and Carole Lombard star as Joseph and Maria Tura, a Polish husband-and-wife acting team starring in a production of *Hamlet* while also preparing a Nazi-satirizing new play. Germany’s invasion of Poland sets up a series of events that finds the acting troupe joining the underground resistance, which eventually involves one of the actors having to dress up as Hitler.

No, it probably doesn’t *sound* funny, and there’s certainly plenty of action and drama as well, but it’s genuinely one of the funniest movies ever produced in America, and one of director Ernst Lubitsch’s crowning achievements.

Where to watch *To Be or Not to Be*: HBO Max

**Director:** Ernst Lubitsch

**Cast:** Carole Lombard, Jack Benny, Robert Stack, Felix Bressart, Lionel Atwill, Stanley Ridges, Sig Ruman

The Tuskegee Airmen (1995)

Laurence Fishburne in 'The Tuskegee Airmen'.

Courtesy Everett Collection

The Tuskegee Airmen were a unit made up of the first African-American combat pilots in the U.S. Army Air Corps — so nicknamed because they got their flight training in Tuskegee, Ala. In this star-studded dramatization, the racism of the era comes shining through, including a congressional hearing scene that features some particularly horrifying, misguided claims.

It’s an amazing story of individuals who refused to let anyone else’s misguided beliefs about their race stop them from fighting for their country.

Where to watch *The Tuskegee Airmen*: HBO Max

**Director:** Robert Markowitz

**Cast:** Laurence Fishburne, Allen Payne, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Courtney B. Vance, Andre Braugher, Christopher McDonald, Daniel Hugh Kelly, Mekhi Phifer, John Lithgow, Cuba Gooding Jr.

War and Peace (1965–1967)

Vladislav Strzhelchik as Napoleon in 'War and Peace'.

Courtesy Everett Collection

Set aside a substantial chunk of time to make your way through this epic adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s classic novel: It’s a four-part saga with a total run time of 7 hours and 11 minutes. Mind you, it’s covering a 15-year period and based on a 1,225-page book, so all things considered, it’s really not that long at all.

Blending the stories of several aristocratic families as they make their way through the Napoleonic wars, it’s filled with bloody battles and considerable drama — love, death, loss — between the titular bookends. It was the most expensive Soviet film ever made, and you can see every dollar spent on the screen.

Where to watch *War and Peace*: HBO Max

**Director:** Sergei Bondarchuk

**Cast:** Sergei Bondarchuk, Ludmilla Savelyeva, Vyacheslav Tikhonov, Boris Zakhava, Anatoly Ktorov, Antonina Shuranova

Warfare (2025)

The ensemble of Alex Garland's 'Warfare'.

Murray Close/A24

Alex Garland brought on a co-director for *Warfare,* Ray Mendoza, whose experiences in Iraq inspired the film. We see, in brutal detail, a Marine operation that took place after the Battle of Ramadi in 2006, involving a platoon of Navy SEALs who get surrounded and have to fight their way out.

Offering as realistic a look at the horror of modern combat as anything in recent years, the film earned comparisons to both *Saving Private Ryan *and *All Quiet on the Western Front*. EW called it “a remarkable cinematic achievement operating at a profoundly compelling level” while also acknowledging it’s an agonizing watch. That’s war for you.

Where to watch *Warfare*: HBO Max

**Director:** Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza

**Cast:** D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Will Poulter, Cosmo Jarvis, Kit Connor, Finn Bennett, Joseph Quinn, Charles Melton, Michael Gandolfini

Westfront 1918 (1930)

'Westfront 1918,' legendary director G.W. Pabst's first 'talkie'.

Courtesy Everett Collection

Based on the novel *Vier von der Infanterie*, this story of German infantrymen in the trenches during World War I bears an understandable resemblance to *All Quiet on the Western Front* since, well, it *also* takes place on the Western Front during WWI. This is one of the darker war movies of the era, if not all time, providing an extremely bleak look at the cost of combat and, very specifically, the psychological damage.

Needless to say, it was soon banned and is now infamous for being denounced by none other than Joseph Goebbels. Is there any more profound badge of honor for a filmmaker?

Where to watch *Westfront 1918*: HBO Max

**Director:** G.W. Pabst

**Cast:** Fritz Kampers, Gustav Diessl, Claus Clausen, Hans-Joachim Moebis, Jackie Monnier, Carl Ballhaus

The Zone of Interest (2023)

The Höss family parties in the shadow of Auschwitz in 'The Zone of Interest'.

This positively chilling WWII story takes a life of domesticity and reveals the horror hidden beneath… or, more accurately, right next door. The family in question belongs to Rudolf Höss, commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp, located right next to his perfect home. There’s a garden for his wife, a river for his kids to swim in, and, yes, a crematorium around the corner.

Based on Martin Amis’ novel, *The Zone of Interest* is a difficult watch, but as EW’s review put it, the film is “a stark reminder of our complicity and the capacity for great evil in the most mundane of circumstances.”

Where to watch *The Zone of Interest*: HBO Max

**EW grade:** A- (read the review)

**Director:** Jonathan Glazer

**Cast:** Christian Friedel, Sandra Hüller, Johann Karthaus, Luis Noah Witte, Nele Ahrensmeier, Lilli Falk

Original Article on Source

Source: “EW Movies”