Movies like Return from the River Kwai

If you like "Return from the River Kwai" you are looking for independent film movies about / with world war, prisoners of war, prison, prison escape, prisoner, freedom and revolution themes of Drama and War genre shot in UK.
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Return from the River Kwai (1989)
 4.9
 1K
Return from the River Kwai (1989)
Genre: Drama, War
Country: UK
Duration: 101 min.
Story: A group of war prisoners has spilt blood, sweat and tears to construct a bridge over the river Kwai in Thailand. Just when the bridge is ready, an American bomber arrives and destroys it. Camp commander Tanaka wants to set an example and orders that some of the prisoners must be executed. Just in time major Harada arrives with orders that the healthiest prisoners must be transported to Japan by train and boat. A treacherous journey since the allied forces keep a close eye on railroads and practically own the seas.
Style: independent film
Plot: world war, prisoners of war, prison, prison escape, prisoner, freedom, revolution, struggle, military prison, revolutionary war, submarine, train, pow, british empire, british, japanese army, imperial japan, decapitation, british soldier, battles, rebellion, world war two, revolutionary, battle
Time: 1940s
Place: asia, thailand, japan, burma

Movie in categories

world war movies
1068
asia movies
2972
1940s movies
1894
prison movies
3922
prisoner movies
1755
freedom movies
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Most similar movies to Return from the River Kwai

The list contains related movies ordered by similarity. Recommendation engine sorted out realistic, serious, bleak and suspenseful films with plots about world war two, revolution, battles, rebellion, revolutionary, soldier and world war mostly in Drama, War and Action genres. Some movies like Return from the River Kwai: The Highest Honor (1982), The Longest Hundred Miles (1967), The Password Is Courage (1962), The Battle of the Last Panzer (1969), Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (1983). The matching attributes are highlighted in bold.
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The Highest Honor (1982)
Genre: Drama, War
Country: Australia, Japan
Duration: 144 min.
Story: On 11 September 1944, a squad of 23 Australian and British soldiers lead by Lieutanant-Colonel Ivan Lyon leave Fremantle bound for Indonesia as part of Operation Rimau, an attempted repeat of the highly-successful Operation Jaywick the previous year ...
Style: independent film
Plot: world war two, world war, humanist, decapitation, revisionist history, japanese occupation, harbor, ship, captain, cambridge university, british, atomic bomb ...
Time: 1940s
Place: singapore, indonesia, sydney australia, australia
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
The Longest Hundred Miles (1967)
Genre: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min.
Story: During the Japanese invasion of the Philippines, an assorted group of refugees, including an American soldier, an Army nurse, a priest and a group of local children, try to make their getaway aboard a rattletrap, creaky bus.
Plot: world war two, world war, prisoner, war hero, pursuit, little boy, little girl, nurse, soldier, truck, singing, priest ...
Time: year 1942, 1940s
Place: the philippines, southeast asia
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
The Great Escape II: The Untold Story (1988)
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 178 min.
Story: Allied prisoners tunnel out of a stalag, then return to avenge fellow escapees executed by the Nazis.
Plot: world war two, prison, revolutionary war, military prison, prisoner, freedom, revolution, struggle, prison escape, pow, escape, nazi ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
44%
The Password Is Courage (1962)
Genre: Comedy, Drama, War
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 116 min.
Story: A British officer, captured by the Germans, tries everything he can to escape. In the process, amongst many other adventures he gets awarded the Iron Cross !! Based on a true story.
Style: historical drama, sitcom
Plot: world war two, prisoner of war camp, prison escape, railway, resistance, prisoners of war, military prison, revolutionary war, world war, revolutionary, struggle, revolution ...
Time: 1940s
Place: poland, germany, vienna
⇓ similarity ⇓
40%
Movie in collections
The Battle of the Last Panzer (1969)
Genre: Drama, War
Country: Spain, Italy
Duration: 91 min.
Story: The film looks through the eyes of the German offense during World War II, specifically a German tank crew who, after losing a battle, struggle to get home.
Style: macaroni combat
Plot: world war two, tank, revolutionary war, world war, war, freedom, revolution, revolutionary, struggle, u.s. army, german soldier, bombing ...
Time: 1940s
⇓ similarity ⇓
39%
Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (1983)
Genre: Drama, War
Country: UK, New Zealand, Japan
Duration: 123 min.
Story: In 1942, British soldier Jack Celliers comes to a japanese prison camp. The camp is run by Yonoi, who has a firm belief in discipline, honour and glory. In his view, the allied prisoners are cowards when they chose to surrender instead of commiting ...
Style: disturbing, psychological, realistic, bleak, experimental ...
Plot: world war two, prison, pow, war crime, christmas, anti war, war, samurai, japanese occupation, imperial japan, prison escape, prisoner of war camp ...
Time: 1940s, year 1983, year 1936, 20th century, year 1946 ...
Place: asia, southeast asia, britain, japan, australia ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
37%
 7.5
 5K
King Rat (1965)
Genre: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 134 min.
Story: When Singapore surrendered to the Japanese in 1942 the Allied POWs, mostly British but including a few Americans, were incarcerated in Changi prison. This was a POW detention center like no other. There were no walls or barbed-wire fences for the ...
Style: black and white, realistic, bleak, sad, serious ...
Plot: world war two, prison, prisoner of war camp, world war, prisoners of war, military, friendship, bullying, great war, prisoner, prison life, british ...
Time: 1940s, year 1945
Place: japan, asia, singapore
⇓ similarity ⇓
34%
Code Name: Emerald (1985)
Genre: Action, Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min.
Story: In april 1944, an allied agent is sent to France in order to rescue an "overlord" captured by the Germans. (An "overlord" is one of the few men who knew the date and place of the "D" day). To achieve this goal, he will ...
Style: suspenseful, realistic, serious
Plot: world war two, world war, spy, revolutionary war, man on a mission, revolutionary, revolution, struggle, freedom, secret mission, espionage, secret agent ...
Time: 1940s, year 1985, year 1944, 20th century
Place: paris france, france, europe
⇓ similarity ⇓
30%
Movie in collections
The Burmese Harp (1985)
Genre: Drama, War
Country: Japan
Duration: 133 min.
Story: In the War's closing days, when a conscience-driven Japanese soldier fails to get his countrymen to surrender to overwhelming force, he adopts the lifestyle of a Buddhist monk.
Style: odd
Plot: world war two, bird, prisoner, british army, buddhism, japanese army, soldier, pow
Time: 1940s
Place: burma, japan
⇓ similarity ⇓
29%
Great Battle of the Japan Sea (1969)
Genre: Drama, History, War
Country: Japan
Duration: 128 min.
Story: Japan and Russia clash in what comes to be known as the Russo-Japanese War. An attempt by the Japanese fleet and army to take Port Arthur fails, and a Russian fleet bears down on the Sea of Japan. Admiral Heihachiro Togo sends his fleet to confront ...
Plot: russo japanese war, imperial japan, world war two, sea, medieval, revolutionary war, revolutionary, freedom, struggle, revolution, russian empire, russian history ...
Time: 1900s
Place: japan, tokyo, russia, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
29%
The Biggest Battle (1978)
Genre: War, Drama
Country: Italy, West Germany, Yugoslavia
Duration: 107 min.
Story: A story of how World War II affected the lives of a German family and an American family, both of whom had sons and fathers fighting in the war.
Style: macaroni combat, exciting, rough, bleak, realistic ...
Plot: world war two, world war, battles, nazi, revolutionary, freedom, revolution, combat, struggle, revolutionary war, soldier, computers and web ...
Time: 1940s, year 1978
Place: africa
⇓ similarity ⇓
29%
 5.0
 1K
Breakthrough (1979)
Genre: Drama, War
Country: West Germany
Duration: 111 min.
Story: Starting in late May 1944, during the German retreat on the Eastern Front, Captain Stransky (Helmut Griem) orders Sergeant Steiner (Richard Burton) to blow up a railway tunnel to prevent Russian forces from using it. Steiner's platoon fails in ...
Plot: world war two, eastern front, world war, nazi, military, revolutionary, revolution, struggle, ss, holocaust, freedom, revolutionary war ...
Time: 1940s, year 1979, year 1944, 20th century
Place: normandy, france, paris france
⇓ similarity ⇓
29%
 6.4
 4K
Tobruk (1967)
Genre: Drama, War
Country: USA, Spain
Duration: 107 min.
Story: In September 1942, the German Afrika Korps under Rommel have successfully pushed the Allies back into Egypt. A counter-attack is planned, for which the fuel dumps at Tobruk are a critical impediment. In order to aid the attack, a group of British ...
Style: spectacular, realistic, serious, tense, exciting ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: world war two, military, soldier, desert, war, world war, espionage, tank, prisoner, commando, secret mission, great war ...
Time: 1940s, year 1967, year 1942, 20th century
Place: africa, libya, egypt
⇓ similarity ⇓
28%
In Enemy Country (1968)
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 107 min.
Story: Wartime secret agents are on a mission to destroy a deadly new type of torpedo, hidden in a Nazi stronghold in France.
Plot: world war two, world war, nazi, revolutionary war, struggle, freedom, revolution, lonely, revolutionary, nazi germany, espionage, secret ...
Time: 1940s
Place: europe, france
⇓ similarity ⇓
28%
Prisoners of the Sun (1990)
Genre: Drama, War
Country: Australia, UK
Duration: 108 min.
Story: On an obscure Pacific Island just north of Australia, the Japanese Empire has operated a prisoner of war camp for Australian soldiers. At the close of World War II, the liberated POWs tell a gruesome tale of mass executions of over eight hundred ...
Style: cult classic, serious, realistic, suspenseful, bleak ...
Plot: world war two, courtroom drama, courtroom, prisoner of war camp, war crime, law, world war, prisoners of war, murder, island, against humanity, war ...
Time: 1940s, year 1945
Place: asia, indonesia, australia, japan
⇓ similarity ⇓
28%
 7.9
 15K
The Hill (1965)
Genre: Drama, War
Country: UK
Duration: 123 min.
Story: North Africa, World War II. British soldiers on the brink of collapse push beyond endurance to struggle up a brutal incline. It's not a military objective. It's The Hill, a manmade instrument of torture, a tower of sand seared by a ...
Style: black and white, tense, bleak, noir, retro ...
Audience: family friendly
Plot: world war two, prison, military, desert, brutality, prison escape, sadism, military prison, world war, great war, wartime, prisoner ...
Time: 1940s, year 1965, 20th century
Place: africa, libya, north africa
⇓ similarity ⇓
27%
For Those I Loved (1983)
Genre: Biography, Drama, War
Country: France, Canada, Hungary
Duration: 145 min.
Story: Polish Martin Gray (Michael York) recalls the Holocaust, New York prosperity, and losing his wife (Brigitte Fossey) and family.
Plot: holocaust, world war two, nazi, revolution, freedom, struggle, revolutionary, world war, revolutionary war, terror, immigration, army ...
Place: eastern europe, warsaw poland, europe, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
27%
Sharpe: The Legend (1997)
Genre: Drama, War
Country: UK
Duration: 90 min.
Story: Several years after the battle of Waterloo, a former soldier from Shoreditch sits in a London inn reminiscing about the brave and determined officer who took him to hell and back. The narrator is Rifleman Cooper, and the officer whose fame he ...
Plot: napoleonic wars, french revolution, revolutionary war, medieval, freedom, revolution, revolutionary, struggle, cannon, soldier, combat, british military ...
Time: 19th century, 1800s
⇓ similarity ⇓
26%
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japan movies
3136
pow movies
pow
382
british movies
2222
Weekend at Dunkirk (1964)
Genre: Drama, War
Country: France, Italy
Duration: 119 min.
Story: In June 1940, during the Dunkirk evacuation of Allied troops to England, French sergeant Julien Maillat and his men debate whether to evacuate to Britain or stay and fight the German troops that are closing-in from all directions. - from IMDB
Plot: world war two, french army, revolutionary war, wartime, submarine, kriegsmarine, revolutionary, freedom, struggle, revolution, war, car wreck ...
Time: year 1940
Place: france, dunkirk, english channel, flanders
⇓ similarity ⇓
26%
The Secret of Blood Island (1965)
Genre: Action, Drama, War
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 84 min.
Story: Based on the true story of a British secret agent, shot down over Malaya near to a Allied POW forced labour camp. There she is hidden, disguised as a youthful prisoner, until her escape can be effected. The costs of keeping her identity secret fall ...
Style: grindhouse
Plot: world war two, prisoner, bare chested male, secret, torture, prison, agent, jungle, concentration camp, pow
Time: 1940s
Place: asia
⇓ similarity ⇓
25%
Wallenberg: A Hero's Story (1985)
Genre: Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: USA, Yugoslavia
Duration: 200 min.
Story: The story of Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish diplomat responsible for saving thousands of lives from the Nazi Holocaust.
Plot: world war two, holocaust, world war, nazi, spy, revolutionary war, diplomacy, revolutionary, struggle, freedom, revolution, lifesaver ...
Time: 20th century
Place: germany
⇓ similarity ⇓
25%
 7.9
 190
The Heroes (1989)
Genre: Drama, War
Country: Australia
Duration: 208 min.
TV show
Story: Based on a true story, The Heroes follows one of the most extraordinary and heroic exploits of World War II. After months of rigorous training in the north of Australia, a team of 14 men, most barely out of their teens, set sail from Cairns on ...
Plot: world war two, revolutionary, revolution, struggle, freedom, revolutionary war, male nudity, naked in public, canoe, male objectification, heroism, behind enemy lines ...
Time: year 1943, 1940s
Place: japan
⇓ similarity ⇓
24%
 7.1
 3K
Overlord (1975)
Genre: Drama, History, War
Country: UK
Duration: 83 min.
Story: During the war a young lad is called up and, with an increasing sense of foreboding, undertakes his army training ready for D-day.
Style: black and white, political, surreal, psychedelic, mind bending ...
Plot: world war two, basic training, military, world war, d day, boot camp, soldier, politics, struggle, revolution, revolutionary, freedom ...
Time: 1940s, year 1975, 20th century
Place: britain, france, europe, normandy
⇓ similarity ⇓
24%
Movie in collections
 8.2
 3K
1971 (2007)
Genre: Action, Drama, War
Country: India
Duration: 136 min.
Story: Based on true facts, the film revolves around 6 brave soldiers who escape from the clutches of the Pakistan Army and risk death with honour and courage with sacrifice towards their journey home.
Style: patriotic, captivating, tense, psychological, suspense ...
Plot: soldier, freedom, escape, pow, patriot, military, army, courage, prisoner of war camp, prisoners of war, danger, military prison ...
Time: 70s, 20th century
Place: india, pakistan, kashmir
⇓ similarity ⇓
24%
 5.8
 643
The Blockhouse (1973)
Genre: Drama, War
Country: UK
Duration: 93 min.
Story: A group of Slave workers, drafted by the Nazis to help construct their coastal defenses in 1944 are trapped in an underground bunker when the Allies land at Normandy on D-Day. They find huge dtores of food but not enough candles. The slow dying of ...
Style: grindhouse, bleak, suspenseful, gloomy, serious ...
Plot: world war two, chess, world war, bunker, d day, survival, claustrophobia, battles, holocaust, wartime life, prison, war ...
Time: 1940s
Place: france
⇓ similarity ⇓
24%
The McKenzie Break (1970)
Genre: Action, Drama, War
Country: Ireland, UK
Duration: 108 min.
Story: A German U-Boat commander and 600 prisoners plan a daring escape from a PoW camp in Scotland.
Style: rough, suspenseful, realistic, serious, suspense ...
Plot: world war two, war, captivity, military, soldier, battles, british soldier, prison life, survival, nazi officer, gay soldier, wartime life ...
Time: 20th century, 1940s
Place: ireland, london, scotland
⇓ similarity ⇓
23%
The Tenth Man (1988)
Genre: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min.
Story: During World War 2 the Germans arrested people at random off the streets of Paris and in retaliation to sabotage by the resistance announced the execution of one in ten prisoners. Chosen as one of the victims, lawyer Chavel trades his place with ...
Style: noir, sentimental, gloomy, realistic, serious ...
Plot: world war two, nazi, revolution, freedom, struggle, revolutionary, machine gun, catholic, revolutionary war, law, switching roles, nazism ...
Time: 1940s, post world war two
Place: france, europe, paris france
⇓ similarity ⇓
23%
The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer (1961)
Genre: Drama, History, War
Country: Japan
Duration: 190 min.
Story: His ideals challenged by life as a conscript in war-time Japan's military, a pacifist faces ever greater tests in his fight for survival.
Style: existential, art house, poetic, realistic, serious ...
Plot: world war two, soldier, military, samurai, captivity, japanese army, sadness, road trip, revolution, time travel, existentialism, prison ...
Time: 1940s, 20th century, year 1961
Place: china, japan, asia
⇓ similarity ⇓
23%
Trial on the Road (1986)
Genre: Drama, War
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 96 min.
Story: A Russian POW joins the partisan guerrillas and proves his loyalty fighting the Nazis.
Style: political, black and white
Plot: world war two, great patriotic war, nazi, partisan, prisoners of war, prisoner, world war, underground, redemption, eastern front, collaborator, suspicion ...
Time: 1940s
Place: soviet union, russia
⇓ similarity ⇓
23%
Too Young the Hero (1988)
Genre: Biography, Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min.
Story: WWII drama.
Style: captivating, serious, realistic
Plot: world war two, youth, war, military, u.s. navy, revolutionary war, coming of age, revolutionary, freedom, struggle, revolution, ocean ...
Time: 20th century, 1940s
⇓ similarity ⇓
23%
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