World War II Movies - Asia/Pacific

Mini-Series

Locations: Guadalcanal, Peleliu, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, other

A 10-part mini-series from the creators of "Band of Brothers" telling the intertwined stories of three Marines during America's battle with the Japanese in the Pacific during World War II.

Location: Guadalcanal

The Thin Red Line tells the story of a group of men, an Army Rifle company called C-for-Charlie, who change, suffer, and make essential discoveries about themselves during the fierce battle of Guadalcanal. It follows their journey, from the surprise of an unopposed landing, through the bloody battles that follow.

Location: Iwo Jima

The story of the battle of Iwo Jima between the United States and Imperial Japan during World War II, as told from the perspective of the Japanese who fought it.

Locations: Iwo Jima, USA

The life stories of the six men who raised the flag at The Battle of Iwo Jima, a turning point in WWII.

A dramatization of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the series of American blunders that allowed it to happen.

A lifelong friendship between two ace fighter pilots becomes entangled in a love triangle with beautiful Naval nurse. But the rivalry between the friends-turned-foes is immediately put on hold when they find themselves at the center of Japan's devastating attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.

WWII American Army Medic Desmond T. Doss, who served during the Battle of Okinawa, refuses to kill people and becomes the first Conscientious Objector in American history to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.

German title: Schlacht um Midway

The film chronicles the Battle of Midway, a turning point in World War II in the Pacific. The Imperial Japanese Navy had been undefeated until that time and out-numbered the American naval forces by four to one.

German title: Codename Fox - Die letzte Schlacht im Pazifik

Years: July 1944 - December 1945
Location: Saipan

During the end of World War 2, a group of Japanese soldiers fight on after US forces capture most of the island of Saipan. They refuse to surrender and continue to resist after the Emperor surrenders.

German title: Du warst unser Kamerad

Location: Iwo Jima

The movie follows a group of United States Marines from training to the Battle of Iwo Jima.

Location: Guadalcanal

Concentrating on the personal lives of those involved, a war correspondent takes us through the preparations, landing and initial campaign on Guadalcanal.

German titles: U 23 – Tödliche Tiefen, U 23 – Haie im Pazifik

A U.S. sub commander, obsessed with sinking a certain Japanese ship, butts heads with his first officer and crew.

An American submarine crew led by Captain Cassidy (Grant) sets off on a secret mission that hasn't been attempted before: a team of spies is to be taken straight to Tokyo, Japan to prepare for the first Allied air raid on the city.

A submarine commander is forced to blow up a Japanese ship with prisoners.

German title: Okinawa - The Last Battle

Year: 1945, (2009)

Comedy about a submarine commander who finds himself stuck with a decrepit (and pink) sub, a con-man executive officer and a group of army nurses.

The crew of an Air Force bomber arrives in Pearl Harbor in the aftermath of the Japanese attack and is sent on to Manila to help with the defense of the Philippines.

In the wake of Pearl Harbor, a young lieutenant leaves his expectant wife to volunteer for a secret bombing mission which will take the war to the Japanese homeland.

Year: 1943

About Japanese kamikaze pilots.

German title: Die Brücke am Kwai

The film deals with the situation of British prisoners of war during World War II who are ordered to build a bridge to accommodate the Burma-Siam railway.

Years: 1944-45
Location: Cabanatuan (Philippines)

Taking place towards the end of WWII, 500 American Soldiers have been entrapped in a camp for 3 years. Beginning to give up hope they will ever be rescued, a group of Rangers goes on a dangerous mission to try and save them.

A fast-taking wheeler-dealer corporal in a Malaysian POW camp during WWII uses bribery and larceny to take de facto control of the camp from his senior officers.

Location: Burma

A true story about four Allied POW's who endure harsh treatment from their Japanese captors during World War II while being forced to build a railroad through the Burmese jungle. Ultimately they find true freedom by forgiving their enemies.

A chronicle of the life of Louis Zamperini, an Olympic runner who was taken prisoner by Japanese forces during World War II.

Location: Sumatra

Based on true incidents, this drama recounts the experiences of a group of European, Australian, and American women who are captured by the Japanese during World War II after their ship is sunk while fleeing Singapore.

Years: 1980+ (plot 1), 1942+ (plot 2)
Location: Singapore, Malay Peninsula (plot 2)

A British officer is captured by the Japanese in Singapore and sent to a Japanese POW camp where he is forced to work on the Thai-Burma Railway north of the Malay Peninsula. Many years after the war he is still suffering the psychological trauma of his wartime experiences...

Year: 1942
Location: Java

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, honor and glory. In his view, the allied prisoners are cowards when they chose to surrender instead of committing suicide. One of the prisoners, interpreter John Lawrence, tries to explain the Japanese way of thinking, but is considered a traitor.

Years: 1940-44
Location: Borneo

The true story of Agnes Newton Keith's imprisonment in several Japanese prisoner-of-war camps from 1941 to the end of WWII. Separated from her husband and with a young son to care for she has many difficulties to face.

Year: 1942
Location: Papua New Guinea

A bitter battle is fought between Australian and Japanese soldiers along the Kokoda trail in New Guinea.

Year: 1944

Joe Enders is a gung-ho Marine assigned to protect a "windtalker", one of several Navajo Indians who were used to relay messages during World War II because their spoken language was indecipherable to Japanese code breakers.

Year: 1941
Location: Hawaii

The movie deals with the tribulations of three soldiers stationed on Hawaii in the months leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor.

A dramatized account of the role of the American PT Boats in the defense of the Philippines in World War II.

When a US Naval captain shows signs of mental instability that jeopardizes the ship, the first officer relieves him of command and faces court martial for mutiny.

A naval officer reprimanded after Pearl Harbor is later promoted to rear admiral and gets a second chance to prove himself against the Japanese.

Year: 1944
Location: an island in the South Pacific

The story of two people, a nun and a U.S. Marine Corporal, stranded on a Japanese-occupied island in the Pacific Ocean.

Year: 1945(?)
Location: Pacific Ocean

Comedy-drama about life on the US Navy cargo ship 'Reluctant' in the rear areas of the Pacific theater of operations in World War II. The Reluctant is as far from the action as possible while still being in the war.

Location: Burma

Cut off by the Japanese advance into Burma, Captain Langford and his exhausted British troops take over an enemy-held jungle village...

A company of Marines races against the clock to find a Japanese rocket base.

The grisly events leading to the first attack with a nuclear weapon.

About the atomic bombing on Hiroshima from the perspective of a little Japanese boy.

Year: 1937

About a young British journalist who with the assistance of a courageous Australian nurse, saves a group of orphaned children during the Japanese occupation of China in 1937.

Years: 1941-45

An aristocratic British youth is seperated from his family at the start of World War II after the Japanese Army invades British controlled areas of China. Reduced to living on the street and fighting for food, the youth is eventually interned in a Japanese POW camp for British civilians.

Years: 1937-38
Location: Nanking

The movie tells the true story of John Rabe, a German businessman who rescued more than 200,000 civilians during the "Nanking Massacre" in China.

Years: 1937-38
Location: Nanking

The film is a dramatized story of the Nanking Massacre. It follows the fate of several fictional and non-fictional characters, a Chinese soldier struggling to survive the horror, a Japanese soldier trying to live through the killing, a German businessman working very hard to protect more lives with two assistants, a doctor and a woman school teacher.

Year: 1937
Location: Nanking

A Westerner finds refuge with a group of women in a church during Japan's raid of Nanking in 1937. Posing as a priest, he attempts to lead the women to safety.

An espionage thriller set in WWII-era Shanghai, in which a young woman, gets swept up in a dangerous game of emotional intrigue with a powerful political figure, Mr. Yee.

Set in 1930s Shanghai, where a blind American diplomat develops a curious relationship with a young Russian refugee who works odd - and sometimes illicit - jobs to support members of her dead husband's aristocratic family.

This film is based on the true story of Gladys Aylward, a tenacious British maid, who became a missionary in China during the tumultuous years leading up to World War II.

German title: Prisoners of War

Years: 1938-1945

Locations/conflicts: Soviet–Japanese border conflicts,
World War II eastern and western front

Inspired by a true story. Jun Shik works for Tatsuo's grandfather's farm while Korea is colonized by Japan, but he has a dream to participate in Tokyo Olympics as a marathon runner. Tatsuo also aims to become a marathon runner, so the two are in rivalry. But war breaks out and they both are forced to enlist in the army and go their way from Asia to western Europe.