Best South American war movies
A curated collection of popular war movies from South America.
Mosquito (2020)
Mosquito (2020)
Dreaming of great adventures and of standing up for his homeland, a young Portuguese man enlists in the army during World War I and is sent to the front line in Mozambique, Africa. Left behind by his platoon, he sets out on a grueling trek across the mystic Makua native land, walking for over a thousand kilometers, in search of his dream.
Não Permita Deus Que Eu Morra Sem Que Volte Para Lá (2011)
Não Permita Deus Que Eu Morra Sem Que Volte Para Lá (2011)
Dálvaro José de Oliveira survived the German attack that sank two Brazilian ships in 1942.
Alias Maria (2015)
Alias Maria (2015)
A vision of Colombia's inhuman armed conflict, seen through the eyes of a young - and pregnant - girl soldier.
Time Out (1998)
Time Out (1998)
The whimsical and joyous parade of ridiculous events satirize the war that rages in Colombia right now and exposes the real spirit of those who inhabit such a beautiful country.
The Debt (1988)
The Debt (1988)
The drama tells the story of an Argentine elementary-school teacher sent by the government to a rural hamlet located in the northwestern province of Jujuy. It shows how he touches the lives of the villagers, especially the young and impressionable boy Verónico, whose mother died and father left to seek work when he was an infant. The film is based on a non-fiction book written by Fortunato Ramos, a rural teacher in northwest Argentina, that discusses his teaching experiences.
Chaco (2020)
Chaco (2020)
In 1934, Bolivia is at war with Paraguay. Liborio and Ticona and other Bolivian indigenous soldiers are lost in the hell of the Chaco, under the commandment of German Captain Kundt. They're looking for the Paraguayan enemy that they haven't seen for months, and that they will never find. They leave together in a search that will make them realize, progressively, the destiny they have been pushed into and the inevitable condition of a defeated troop. They're walking like shadows, wandering forever in the middle of dust and silence.
Netto Perde Sua Alma (2002)
Netto Perde Sua Alma (2002)
The story of a man who invented a country.
O'Higgins: Live To Earn His Name (2007)
O'Higgins: Live To Earn His Name (2007)
Héroes: O'Higgins is part of a Chilean television film series produced by Channel 13 that is one of most ambitious projects intended to commemorate historical events that culminated with the Chilean independence.
For All - O Trampolim da Vitória (1998)
For All - O Trampolim da Vitória (1998)
1943, World War II. The northeastern coast of Brazil is an strategic region for the Allies. Giancarlo, an Italian immigrant married to a Brazilian woman, lives nearby the Parnamirin Field, the largest military base built by the USA outside of their territory. In this new base, Brazilian recruits who speak English suddenly find themselves reaching privileged positions.
Concert for the Battle of El Tala (2021)
Concert for the Battle of El Tala (2021)
This is a film with music. Or about the music and texts that accompany, in a poetic way, a decisive battle between Unitarian and Federalists. The vicissitudes of the birth of a nation based on the play written by Mariano Llinás and Gabriel Chwojnik, whose images achieve some hypnotic strength.
Invasion (2014)
Invasion (2014)
INVASION is a documentary about the collective memory of a country. The invasion of Panama by the U.S in 1989 serves as an excuse to explore how a people remember, transform, and often forget their past in order to re-define their identity and become who they are today.
Oedipus Mayor (1996)
Oedipus Mayor (1996)
Edipo, is appointed mayor of a town plunged in misery and violence. His first mission is to discover and punish the murderers of Layo, a well-known potentate of the region. His investigation is directed towards all the armed factions that exist in Colombia.
The Lost Republic II (1986)
The Lost Republic II (1986)
A history of Argentina's last military dictatorship (1976-1983). After "La Republica Perdida" was made, which covered 1930 to 1976, there was an important part of Argentina's history yet to be told, which was too recent to be covered by the first documentary. The first movie was made at the end of the last dictatorship. This second documentary covers this last dictatorship from 1976 to 1983.
The Gaucho War (1942)
The Gaucho War (1942)
The story of the irregular forces on the north of Argentina, fighting against the Spanish Crown for the independence.
Open Wound (2013)
Open Wound (2013)
Jorge, a young Ecuadorian, is unexpectedly in the middle of the jungle as an inexperienced soldier. At first, Jorge is confident that military experience makes you a recognized and respected man. But he finds out that the reality is very different; as the private may face neglect, hunger, death and nature, especially human nature. Captive in an enemy camp, Jorge must discover who he has become as he recovers from his injuries and struggles to escape with his fellow prisoner Hugo or stay there under the care of the Peruvian nurse Dolores. Difficult decisions ... beyond the target and border that divides them are abound.
The Last Indian Attack (1918)
The Last Indian Attack (1918)
The movie dramatizes the last Indian uprising in Argentina, which happened in the north of the country, in the Chaco region, in the early 1900s.
Los Actores del Conflicto (2008)
Los Actores del Conflicto (2008)
Three street mimes pretend to be guerrilla fighters who want to rejoin society thus obtaining permission from the government to go into exile in Spain in exchange for demobilizing...
The Last Post (2001)
The Last Post (2001)
October 1982: War is waged between Britain and Argentina over the Falkland Islands. A British soldier stumbles upon an Argentinean soldier. They share a few minutes of uneasy respite before national hostilities re-emerge.
Argentine Soldier Only Known by God (2017)
Argentine Soldier Only Known by God (2017)
The story is centered on the human drama of three young people from a small town in Traslasierra, Córdoba, who from very different ideological places, are forever transformed by the war in Malvinas Argentinas (Falkland Islands).
Brave New Land (2000)
Brave New Land (2000)
Diogo is a cartographer and artist who is encharged to set the new frontiers of Portuguese Colonies in South America. When he reaches the center of the continent, finds apparently nothing but wilderness and ‘uncivilized’ natives with strange ways of living. But Captain Pedro, the rude scout who guides him through the jungle, involves Diogo in an involuntary act of violence which will tie him in an unusual way to that far away country. At the same time, the Portuguese colonists are trying to make peace with Guaicuru Indians (one of the few natives with horse-riding abilities). But peace doesn’t ever have a low price.
Anahy de las Misiones (1997)
Anahy de las Misiones (1997)
Told by gauchos from Brazil, Argentina and Uruguai, the legend says that Anahy de las Missiones wandered around the Plata Basin during the time of Cisplatina War (1825-1828), stealing the dead.
Zombie Dawn (2012)
Zombie Dawn (2012)
2006, a mysterious mining accident in a remote territory unleashes an unspeakable horror that creates a zombie horde with an appetite for human flesh. It decimates large portions of the country. The only course of action is to rapidly enclose the infected areas and seal them off from the rest of the remaining, living population. NOW. 15 years later the tattered remains of the government and the mining corporation responsible where the initial event took place commit themselves to finding out what may have happened at the mining complex. The solution is to send in a group of mercenaries and scientists into the quarantined zone to find answers.
The Children of the War (1984)
The Children of the War (1984)
Based on the lives of four boys, all of different social classes and psychological makeup, this film tries to reflect through them the political history of Argentina during the years leading up to the Malvinas War.
Historias Breves I: Guarisove, los olvidados (1995)
Historias Breves I: Guarisove, los olvidados (1995)
A group of soldiers who naively went to fight in the Falklands War remains forgotten in those desolate lands a month after the end of the conflict.
Rule Britannia (1996)
Rule Britannia (1996)
A detailed account of each of the details of the Malvinas War based on interviews, dramatic scenes, maps and other elements of historical roots without ignoring the historical antecedents from the 18th century that ended in this confrontation.
Guerra do Paraguay (2016)
Guerra do Paraguay (2016)
A soldier coming home after the Paraguay War meets a theater group. A shock between war and art.
Poor Butterfly (1986)
Poor Butterfly (1986)
A turbulent era in Argentine politics is highlighted in this well-wrought drama, set in Buenos Aires at the end of 1945, about Clara (Graciela Borges), a young, half-Jewish woman awakening to the reasons behind the political conflicts of her time and place. Clara's father was a Communist who fought the Nazis in Argentina and possessed a list of the top Nazi exiles and their contacts. Through a former lover, Clara -- a successful broadcast journalist -- begins to see her Jewish roots (and the leftists) in a whole new light. Meanwhile, the political storms sweeping through Argentina are setting the stage for the Peronist government to come.
Gracias Gauchito (2018)
Gracias Gauchito (2018)
The legend of the life of Antonio 'Gauchito' Gil and the construction of the myth are axes of this story. 40 years after his death, an old man goes through the towns telling the legend of the pagan saint. He tells the story of his miracles and the exploits of the Gaucho, who knew how to do justice in times of war.