Movies like Absent Without Leave
If you like "Absent Without Leave" you are looking for historical drama, tense and bleak movies about / with world war two, miscarriage, wartime, desertion, pregnancy, marriage and military themes of Drama, Romance and War genre shot in New Zealand or USA.
Find your next favorite and similar movies in two steps:
1. Identify all themes of interest from this film (block below).
2. Look for them in the presented list.
Absent Without Leave (1992)
81
Genre: Drama, Romance, War
Country: New Zealand, USA
Duration: 95 min.
Story:
In 1942 Wellington, Daisy Edwards, 16 and pregnant, relies totally on her just-wed husband, Ed, who is little older than she. Ed is suddenly drafted into the army and is to be sent overseas to battle while Daisy is sent to her father in Auckland. When Ed's leave is cancelled at the last minute he takes the dangerous decision to go absent without leave to be with Daisy on her journey home. As a deserter, Ed is hunted, captured and imprisoned. Life inside is bad enought without the worry of what is going on outside. The film is based upon a true story.
Style:
historical drama, tense, bleak, emotional, period piece, melancholic, suspenseful, romantic drama, noir, independent film ...
Plot:
world war two, miscarriage, wartime, desertion, pregnancy, marriage, military, love, fear, teenage pregnancy, sacrifice, young couple, realism, anxiety, imprisonment, ethical dilemma, escape, father daughter relationship, isolation, loyalty, gender roles, small town life, intimate, soldier, patriotism ...
Time:
1940s
Place:
new zealand
Movie in categories
Most similar movies to Absent Without Leave
The list contains related movies ordered by similarity. Recommendation engine sorted out tense, bleak, period piece and historical drama films with plots about world war two, survival, sacrifice, wartime, moral dilemma, soldier and resistance mostly in Drama, War and Romance genres. Some movies like Absent Without Leave: Faneflukt (1975), The Boys from St. Petri (1991), The Garden of Redemption (1997), Dresden (2006), Takita Tadimi Tandana (2025). The matching attributes are highlighted in bold.
Genre: Drama, Romance, War
Country: Norway
Duration: 97 min.
Story:
1941, Norway. The young kitchen maid Liv and the German officer Franz meet in the military camp where Liv works. They develop a friendship and decides to flee to Sweden.
Style:
historical drama, romantic drama, bleak, tension, melancholic ...
Audience:
adult
Plot:
world war two, desertion, escape, occupation, military camp, forbidden romance, german soldier, survival, danger, young lovers, cross cultural relations, escape plan ...
Time:
1940s
Similarity:
95%
Genre: Drama, War
Country: Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland
Duration: 111 min.
Story:
A group of school-mates form a resistance group in nazi-occupied Denmark.
Style:
historical drama, tense, period piece, bleak, suspenseful ...
Plot:
world war two, resistance, nazi occupation, children, political oppression, loss of innocence, coming of age, courage, moral ambiguity, underground movement, tragedy, escalation ...
Time:
1940s
Similarity:
72%
Genre: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min.
Story:
A priest struggles with his religious beliefs as he sees his countrymen murdered in Nazi occupied Italy and as he becomes attracted to a woman operating in the resistance.
Style:
bleak, period piece, historical drama, tense, suspense ...
Plot:
world war two, nazi occupation, conscience, redemption, religious conflict, moral dilemma, guilt, sacrifice, forbidden love, church, political persecution, moral ambiguity ...
Time:
1940s
Place:
italy
Similarity:
56%
Genre: Drama, Romance, War
Country: Germany
Duration: 176 min.
Story:
At a Dresden hospital in 1945, nurse Anna Mauth (Felicitas Woll) cares for badly injured British pilot Robert Newman (John Light), whom Anna believes to be a German deserter. As Allied forces close in, Anna grows close to Robert despite her ...
Style:
tense, captivating, serious, touching, period piece ...
Plot:
world war two, bombing, war, survival, military, moral dilemma, love affair, wartime life, behind enemy lines, fall in love, danger, military life ...
Time:
1940s
Place:
germany, europe
Similarity:
54%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: India
Duration: 107 min.
Story:
Days before his wedding, A man's life implodes, yet he stays silent. As secrets surface, financial and social pressures mount. Can their love survive?
Style:
tense, romantic drama, realistic, melancholic, suspenseful
Plot:
marriage, guilt, anxiety, domestic drama, commitment, moral dilemma, intimate, realism, middle class, isolation, betrayal, slice of life ...
Similarity:
53%
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:
tense, period piece, suspense, emotional, macaroni combat ...
Audience:
adult
Plot:
world war two, tank, soldier, survival, battles, german soldier, retreat, occupied france, battlefield, ambush, loss, cross cultural relations ...
Time:
1940s
Place:
normandy
Similarity:
52%
Genre: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 114 min.
Story:
The true story of George Tweed, an American sailor who became the only serviceman on the island of Guam to avoid capture by the Japanese during the early years of World War II.
Style:
period piece, tense, suspenseful, grim, educational ...
Plot:
world war two, biopic, survival, island, isolation, military, resilience, heroism, japanese occupation, loneliness, resistance, patriotism ...
Time:
1940s, year 1962
Place:
japan, minneapolis minnesota, pacific ocean, pearl harbor
Similarity:
52%
Genre: Drama, War
Country: Russia
Duration: 100 min.
Story:
Based on Valentin Rasputin's story of the same title. The winter of 1945. In a village on the Angara embankment the women wait the return of their husbands from the front. The young soldier Andrei Guskov, who fled from the hospital, returns as ...
Style:
psychological, bleak, exciting, serious, captivating ...
Plot:
world war two, deserter, pregnancy, dishonesty, life risking, village, loneliness, social misfits, love, winter, post war, moral dilemma ...
Place:
soviet union, siberia
Similarity:
51%
Genre: Drama, Romance, War
Country: Japan
Duration: 111 min.
Story:
Namiko Morita, who lived in Otaru, moved to this area with her husband, Yutaro, and opened the brewery "Morita Brewery". Eventually, they succeeded in this business and lived happily while raising three children. However, in August 1945, ...
Style:
disturbing, captivating, psychological, period piece, melancholic ...
Audience:
adult
Plot:
occupation, family bonds, family drama, world war two, wartime, social problems, wartime life, choice, moral dilemma, family business, family problems, japanese occupation ...
Place:
japan, hokkaido
Similarity:
48%
Genre: Action, Drama, War
Country: India
Duration: 126 min.
Story:
A love story played out against the backdrop of World War II.
Style:
historical drama, tense, bleak, melancholic, emotional ...
Plot:
world war two, village, rivalry, sacrifice, class struggle, forbidden love, soldier, battlefield, identity, revenge, bravery, patriotism ...
Time:
1940s
Place:
india, europe
Similarity:
48%
380
Genre: Drama, War
Country: France
Duration: 117 min.
Story:
During the Second World War, following an ambush carried out in a fort by German troops, Eugène, a French soldier, finds himself trapped underground. Now fighting for his survival, his destiny will play out alongside that of another survivor and ...
Style:
tense, captivating, thrilling, suspenseful, intense ...
Audience:
adult
Plot:
world war two, french soldier, soldier, ambush, survival, military, wound, battles, wartime, fight, war, trap ...
Time:
1940s
Place:
france
Similarity:
48%
Genre: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min.
Story:
Jack is the sole survivor of a Japanese attack on his squad at Guadalcanal. Because of his heroism and the fact that he is still alive, he becomes a Medal of Honor hero. He returns to train new recruits for the Marines and falls for a girl named ...
Style:
period piece, psychological, sentimental
Plot:
world war two, combat, medal of honor, military, heroism, duty, marines, sacrifice, battlefield, veteran, leadership, homecoming ...
Time:
1940s, year 1967, 1950s, year 1943
Similarity:
47%
Genre: Drama, Romance, War
Country: New Zealand
Duration: 96 min.
Story:
In the days following the D-Day invasion in Normandy, France, a British platoon leader named Saul (Gabriel Byrne) and his corporal (Paul Wyett) reach an isolated farmhouse and encounter a beautiful French girl named Belle (Marianne Basler). Love ...
Style:
realistic, serious, tense, emotional
Audience:
girls' night
Plot:
world war two, impossible love, soldier, love affair, war, love and romance, couples, unfulfilled love, wartime life, woman in danger, love, love triangle ...
Time:
20th century, 1940s
Place:
france, europe, normandy
Similarity:
45%
Genre: Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 109 min.
Story:
The incredible, untold true story of how a group of prisoners attempt a seemingly impossible escape from the first Nazi death camp in order to provide the first eyewitness account of the Holocaust.
Style:
historical drama, bleak, tense, intense, emotional ...
Plot:
holocaust, concentration camp, world war two, nazi germany, memories, prison escape, war crime, survival, resistance, biopic, sacrifice, forced labor ...
Time:
1940s
Place:
eastern europe
Similarity:
45%
166
Genre: Drama, War
Country: Norway, Sweden
Duration: 87 min.
Story:
Little Ida's mother is working for the Germans during WW2, and she is also having a relationship with a German SS-officer. Ida is experiencing the problems of having a mother who is involved with the enemy, without being old enough to ...
Style:
historical drama, period piece, melancholic, realistic, bleak ...
Plot:
world war two, mother daughter relationship, collaboration, family drama, loss of innocence, trauma, betrayal, guilt, intimate, identity, haunting, moral ambiguity ...
Time:
1940s
Similarity:
44%
Genre: Drama, Romance, War
Country: Italy, France
Duration: 84 min.
Story:
Summer 1943, Piedmont, Italy. Milton loves Fulvia who plays with his love: she only likes the depth of his thought and the letters he writes to her. One year later, Milton has joined the Resistance and fights beside other partisans. He learns during ...
Style:
art house, suspense, historical drama, disturbing, psychological ...
Plot:
world war two, unrequited love, resistance, partisan, family problems, love triangle, male female relationship, couple relations, wartime, war, relationship problems, political conflict ...
Time:
1940s
Similarity:
44%
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller, War
Country: Netherlands
Duration: 110 min.
Story:
During the second world war law student Hannie Schaft is a member of the Dutch resistance movement.
Style:
historical drama, bleak, tense, melancholic, suspenseful ...
Plot:
world war two, female protagonist, anti nazi, sacrifice, biopic, courage, heroism, underground movement, betrayal, war crime, realism, tragedy ...
Time:
1940s, year 1981
Place:
netherlands, amsterdam
Similarity:
42%
Genre: Drama, History, War
Country: Brazil, Italy, Portugal
Duration: 107 min.
Story:
During World War II, looking up the Mountain, in Italy, a Brazilian Expeditionary Force - FEB - mines weeping platoon is hit by a panic-attack that sets them running aimlessly right in the middle of 'no man's land'. Desperate cold and ...
Style:
tense, suspenseful
Plot:
world war two, survival, minefield, fear, sacrifice, moral ambiguity, anti war, desertion, moral dilemma, camaraderie, redemption, italian soldier ...
Time:
1940s
Place:
brazil
Similarity:
42%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama, War
Country: Russia
Duration: 110 min.
Story:
October 1941. Thousands of fascists troops are advancing on Kalinin to capture the city and therefore open a direct route to Moscow. There are two thousand people able to defend the city and they are without tanks or artillery. The only hope of ...
Style:
atmospheric, serious, rough, suspenseful, touching ...
Plot:
world war two, protection, fight, diversion, battles, eastern front, sabotage, danger, spy, society, resistance, siege ...
Time:
1940s
Place:
soviet union
Similarity:
42%
306
Genre: Drama, War
Country: Greece
Duration: 87 min.
Story:
Two stories set in northern Greece during World War II.
Style:
period piece, black and white, grim, bleak, psychological ...
Plot:
world war two, retreat, sacrifice, loss, tragedy, survival, desperation, battlefield, wounded, trauma, anti war, realism ...
Time:
1940s
Place:
greece
Similarity:
41%
Genre: Drama, War
Country: Slovakia
Duration: 98 min.
Story:
Soldier Jack deserts his unit and finds his wife Eva in isolated village in the mountains. She moved there to work in a factory unaware of the cruel owner Bar. Secret police arrives and it seems both Jack and Eva's time is up.
Style:
suspense, tense, tension, captivating, disturbing ...
Plot:
soldier, survival, danger, fear, oppression, secret police, world war two, military life, star crossed lovers, military officer, love affair, wartime ...
Similarity:
41%
Genre: Drama, Romance, War
Country: USA
Duration: 73 min.
Story:
In California, a young Caucasian girl and a Japanese-American boy defy local prejudices and secretly marry--on Dec. 7, 1941, minutes before Pearl Harbor is attacked.
Style:
historical drama, period piece, historical romance
Plot:
interracial marriage, world war two, racial injustice, racial discrimination, secret marriage, forbidden love, family conflict, family drama, young lovers, identity crisis, human rights, moral dilemma ...
Time:
1940s
Place:
pearl harbor
Similarity:
40%
Genre: Drama, Romance, War
Country: Yugoslavia
Duration: 86 min.
Story:
A film about an incident in the last war when a gypsy girl sacrifices herself for her lover, a partisan who has deserted.
Style:
tragic ending, poignant, bleak, emotional, intense ...
Plot:
world war two, desertion, sacrifice, gypsy, loss, partisan, female protagonist, loyalty, resistance movement, forbidden love, star crossed lovers, moral dilemma ...
Time:
80s, year 1941
Place:
former yugoslavia, serbia
Similarity:
39%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama, War
Country: Georgia
Duration: 60 min.
TV show
Story:
Story of ethnic Georgians fighting in the Red Army during the Soviet invasion of Kerch peninsula.
Style:
thought provoking, captivating, historical drama, bleak, emotional ...
Plot:
world war two, soldier, battles, heroism, military, fight, wartime, war, military life, showdown, red army, soviet army ...
Time:
1940s
Place:
georgia, soviet union
Similarity:
38%
Genre: Drama, History, War
Country: Georgia
Duration: 101 min.
Story:
Shindisi tells the story of the 2008 Russia-Georgia war through the fate of 17 Georgian soldiers who died during the Shindisi battle. The script was written by Irakli Solomanashvili based on real facts and the cast includes Georgian actors as well ...
Style:
tense, disturbing, thought provoking, suspense, captivating ...
Plot:
military, occupation, battles, heroism, land grab, hostile takeover, sacrifice, loss, wartime, soldier, aggression, russian soldier ...
Place:
georgia, caucasus
Similarity:
38%
Genre: Drama, War
Country: Italy
Duration: 118 min.
Story:
September the 8th 1943, Rome, that crucial day, the armistice, in the town many life change their way. Danilo escapes the fascist enlist, while Michele succeeded to leave his administration moving from Rome. On the way to come back Rome the two ...
Style:
historical drama, period piece, realistic, bleak, tense
Plot:
world war two, fascism, sabotage, heroism, resistance movement, sacrifice, nazi, occupation, courage, german occupation, bravery, tragedy ...
Time:
1940s
Place:
italy, rome italy
Similarity:
38%
Genre: Drama, War
Country: Russia
Duration: 50 min.
TV show
Story:
1941. Trying to escape from unhappy love, Pavel Zhilin, a first-year student, gets into the border guard shortly before the Nazi invasion. However, love overtakes him there: having survived the German offensive, Zhilin does everything possible to ...
Style:
captivating, suspense, emotional, dramatic, bleak ...
Plot:
love triangle, world war two, unrequited love, captivity, life is a bitch, family problems, war, military, relationships, unfulfilled love, wartime, soldier ...
Place:
soviet union, eastern europe
Similarity:
37%
Genre: War
Country: UK
Duration: 110 min.
Story:
A dwindling group of German soldiers battle to return to their lines on the harsh Eastern Front.
Style:
bleak, suspenseful, tense, serious, realistic ...
Plot:
world war two, eastern front, battles, soldier, frontline, german soldier, wehrmacht, survival, war, military, military service, wartime ...
Time:
year 1945, 1940s
Similarity:
36%
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: Poland
Duration: 102 min.
Story:
A true story about tragic love of the couple who found themselves at the different sides of the border in 1948.
Style:
poignant, historical drama, emotional, tragic ending, melancholic ...
Plot:
forbidden love, lake, post war, regret, memory, bittersweet, isolation, intimate, realism, nostalgia, small town life, identity crisis ...
Time:
1950s, 50s
Place:
balkan, macedonia, albania
Similarity:
35%
Genre: Drama, War
Country: Ukraine, Russia
Duration: 52 min.
TV show
Story:
The story is set during the World War II. Seven prisoners manage to escape from the penitentiary and hide in a small village forsaken of God and men. Soon after they respire, they face a new hardship - a German subversive group appears near the ...
Style:
tense, suspenseful, disturbing, suspense, grim ...
Plot:
patriotism, world war two, nazi occupation, redemption, resistance, moral transformation, wartime, great patriotic war, war, escaped prisoner, military, protector ...
Time:
1940s
Place:
soviet union
Similarity:
35%
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