Entertainment
The Best Prisoner of War Movies
The best prisoner of war movies keep you on the edge of your seat. Most of them have some sort of historical basis, so they can be a little educational in addition to being intense. WWII POW movies are the most common, but others have been set amid different conflicts. There are Vietnam POW movies, as well as some set during the Civil War and the French Resistance. In this type of film, you will find a nice mix of true stories and historical fiction. Rescue Dawn is a great Christian Bale POW movie and it is based on a true story.
Use this list to vote for the top POW films of all time. If there's a prisoner of war movie that you think is among the greatest and isn't included here, add it to the list. Then check back to see how other users are ranking your choice.
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- Imprisoned during World War II in a German POW camp, a group of Allied soldiers are intent on breaking out, not only to escape, but also to draw Nazi forces away from battle to search for fugitives. ...more
- Jamie Graham (Christian Bale), a privileged English boy, is living in Shanghai when the Japanese invade and force all foreigners into prison camps. Jamie is captured with an American sailor named ...more
- As a boy, Louis "Louie" Zamperini is always in trouble, but with the help of his older brother, he turns his life around and channels his energy into running, later qualifying for the 1936 Olympics. ...more
- Adaptation of the Pierre Bouelle novel about POWs in Burma forced to build a bridge to aid the war effort of their Japanese captors. British and American officers plot to blow up the structure, but ...more
- One night in 1944 in a German POW camp housing American airmen, two prisoners try to escape the compound and are quickly discovered and shot dead. Among the remaining men, suspicion grows that one of ...more
- During the Vietnam War, Dieter Dengler (Christian Bale), a U.S. fighter pilot, is shot down over Laos and taken captive by enemy soldiers. Interned in a POW camp, Dengler and his fellow prisoners ...more
- The Colditz Story is a 1955 prisoner of war film starring John Mills and Eric Portman and directed by Guy Hamilton. It is based on the book written by Pat Reid, a British army officer who was ...more
- Escape from Sobibor is a 1987 British made-for-TV film which aired on CBS. It is the story of the mass escape from the extermination camp at Sobibor, the most successful uprising by Jewish prisoners ...more
- World War II story about Allied prisoners who stage a mass breakout from an Italian POW camp, commandeer a train and head towards the Swiss border. As the Italian war effort collapses, the escapees ...more
- In 1968, Michael (Robert De Niro), Nick (Christopher Walken) and Steven (John Savage), lifelong friends from a working-class Pennsylvania steel town, prepare to ship out overseas following Steven's ...more
- A group of foreign women -- including an educated British musician (Glenn Close), an Australian nurse (Cate Blanchett) and an American socialite (Julianna Margulies) -- leave Singapore during World ...more
- A Man Escaped or: The Wind Bloweth Where It Listeth is a 1956 French film directed by Robert Bresson. It is based on the memoirs of André Devigny, a member of the French Resistance held in Montluc ...more
- 13Screen adaptation of James Clavell's best-selling novel about a group of English, American and Australian prisoners in a Singapore POW camp during World War II. When an American officer bribes the ...more
- Denounced by his wife as a possible spy in 1939, Janusz (Jim Sturgess) finds himself in a remote Siberian labor camp. Faced with brutal conditions inside and out, Janusz is determined to escape. A ...more
- This drama, based on the book by Nevil Shute, focuses on Jean Paget (Virginia McKenna), a British office worker captured by the Japanese in Malaysia during World War II. Kept with other women ...more
- The Hanoi Hilton is a 1987 Vietnam War film which focuses on the experiences of American prisoners of war who were held in the infamous Hoa Lo Prison in Hanoi during the 1960s and 1970s and the story ...more
- In early 1945, as World War II is nearing its end, Gen. Douglas MacArthur selects Lt. Col. Henry Mucci (Benjamin Bratt) to command a bold rescue mission in the Philippines. There, in the city of ...more
- Based on a real-life story, this drama focuses on a small group of Allied soldiers in Burma who are held captive by the Japanese. Capt. Ernest Gordon (Ciaran McMenamin), Lt. Jim Reardon (Kiefer ...more
- 19
Land of Mine
- During World War II, British soldier Jack Celliers (David Bowie) is captured by Japanese forces and held in a prison camp by the honor-bound Capt. Yanoi (Ryuichi Sakamoto). Yanoi and gruff Sgt. Hara ...more
- Eric Lomax (Colin Firth), a former British army officer and POW, discovers that the Japanese interpreter who tortured him is still alive. He and his new wife (Nicole Kidman) set out to confront the ...more
- The head of a German POW camp, soccer enthusiast Karl von Steiner (Max von Sydow) organizes a match between Nazi players and their Allied captives. Orchestrated as a way to push the Third Reich ...more
- A group of French soldiers, including the patrician Captain de Boeldieu (Pierre Fresnay) and the working-class Lieutenant Maréchal (Jean Gabin), grapple with their own class differences after being ...more
- Based on a true story, this film follows Sergeant-Major Charles Coward (Dirk Bogarde), a brave British soldier captured by German forces during World War II. When he's thrown into a prisoner of war ...more
- In a World War II--era internment camp in Scotland, presiding officer Maj. Perry (Ian Hendry) suspects that the imprisoned Nazi soldiers he monitors are plotting a large-scale prison break. But after ...more
