Best Spanish war movies

Rescue Under Fire (2017)

The crew of a medical helicopter suffers an accident when helping a joint force of USA and United Nations troops under Spanish command division in Afghanistan. The Spanish army has only one night to organize the rescue of the crew and injured, but what seems routine turns into hell once they receive the order to rescue the helicopter as well. Things only get worse when during the night a huge a concentration of Talibans begin surround them.

May I Speak with the Enemy? (2024)

Madrid, 1936. Miguel Gila lives peacefully and happily with his grandparents in a humble attic. But the outbreak of the Civil War forces Miguel, along with his friend Pedro, to go to fight. There Gila survives misery, battles, firing squad and jail thanks to his humor. Because of this unique way of interpreting the world around him, Gila will become one of the most popular comedians in Spain and Latin America.

The Heifer (1985)

During the Spanish Civil War a platoon of mismatched Republican soldiers cross the front-line to steal the bull that the enemy is going to fight on the local holiday of the nearby village. In addition to ruining the Nationalist faction's celebration they want the animal in order to butcher it and feed their famished troops. They get caught in the process and have to go through a series of funny and pathetic incidents before they can get back to their side.

The Girl of Your Dreams (1998)

A company of Spanish movie makers leaves Franco's Spain and moves to Hitler's Germany to make a film in co-production. Soon some problems start to arise...

Ay, Carmela! (1990)

Paulino and Carmela are husband and wife, troubadours touring the countryside during the Spanish Civil War. They are Republicans, and with their mute assistant, Gustavete, they journey into rebel territory by mistake. They are arrested, fear a firing squad, and receive a reprieve from an Italian Fascist commander who loves the theatre. He arranges a performance for his troops, bargaining with Paulino to stage a burlesque of the republic in exchange for the actors' freedom. Will the fiery and patriotic Carmela consent?

The (Silent) War (2019)

Northern Spain, October 1944. Several groups of guerrilla fighters, former Republican soldiers exiled in France after the end of the Spanish Civil War, infiltrate the country in order to provoke a popular uprising against General Franco's dictatorship.

The Angel of Budapest (2011)

El ángel de Budapest (Angel of Budapest) is a Spanish 2011 television World War II-Holocaust miniseries based on the book "Un español frente al Holocausto" (A Spanish against the Holocaust) written by journalist and radio executive director Diego Carcedo. The plot focuses on Ángel Sanz Briz, a Spanish ambassador in Hungary during World War II who helped to save the lives of thousands of jews from the Holocaust by lodging them in Spanish safe houses in Budapest.

Year of Enlightment (1986)

April, 1940. Manolo, 16 years old, and Jesus, who is just 8, are taken by their older brother Pepe, a lieutenant in the Army, to a sanatorium for children suffering from tuberculosis, situated on the border with Portugal. Once in the sanatorium, Manolo, surrounded by boys all much younger than he is, feels a bit like the cock of the walk since the only other man around is the handyman Emilio who looks after the gardens and does whatever needs to be done about the place. His wife, Rafaela, is the cook. Manolo meets Irene, a falangist who runs the sanatorium, and the school teacher, Miss Transito, a crabby spinster. He has his first sexual experience, albeit as a voyeur, with his nurse Vicenta. When she has to leave, her place is taken by a girl from the village, Maria Jesus, with whom Manolo falls hopelessly in love. A relationship grows up between them which will mark them both for ever.

Warriors (2002)

Kosovo, winter 1999. KFOR forces perform their humanitarian task while trying to maintain a difficult neutrality between Kosovo Albanians and Serbs. A platoon of Spanish Army engineers becomes unwittingly caught up in the spiral of violence between the two sides.

In Praise of Older Women (1997)

In the turmoil of the Spanish Civil War, a young man comes of age sexually, through a string of relationships with a wide range of mature, older women.

The Sea (2000)

Childhood friends reunite later in life in Spanish tuberculosis sanitorium. Pressures of death all around combine with dark secrets of their past.

Red and Black (1942)

Since childhood, Luisa and Miguel have always been good friends; but several years later, as adults, when Spain faces the abyss of the Civil War (1936-1939), they support ideologically opposed camps.

A Time for Defiance (1998)

After the Spanish Civil War breaks out, the Prado Museum is being evacuated. One of the guards finds a painting by the master, Goya, and takes it to prevent damage to the work of art. In the interim, he meets a young lady with whom he falls in love. Assisted by her and her family members, the soldier attempts to save Goya's masterpiece intact amidst the war and violence.

Dragon Rapide (1986)

The two weeks leading up to the Spanish Civil War in 1936 are dramatized from many different locations in Spain, Morocco and London.

That Wasn't Me (2012)

Aquél no Era Yo [That Wasn't Me] is a 2012 Spanish short film directed by Esteban Crespo. It tells the story of Paul and Kaney. Two characters, an African child and a Spanish woman, who could have nothing in common, but will get to join their lives forever through a life-giving shot. Kaney is an African child soldier. He lives with many child soldiers and obeys the orders given by the man who has become like their father, the General of the Rebel Army. Paula is a Spanish aid worker who moved to Africa following her boyfriend, Juanjo, in order to bring help and to rescue the child soldiers who live there. In a border crossing point, Paula and Kaney meet each other and this will be the starting point of this dramatic story, full of fear, violence and redemption. The film was nominated for an Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film.

The Bombing of Germany (2013)

On September 1, 1939 the first day of World War II in Europe President Franklin D. Roosevelt appealed to the warring nations to under no circumstances undertake the bombardment from the air of civilian populations. Just six years later, British and American Allied forces had carried out a bombing campaign of unprecedented might over Germany s cities, claiming the lives of nearly half a million civilians. The Bombing of Germany examines the defining moments of the offensive that led the U.S. across a moral divide. Weaving together interviews with WWII pilots and historians, and stunning archival footage of the bombing and its aftermath, this AMERICAN EXPERIENCE film is a haunting reminder of the dilemma imposed by war's civilian casualties.

Living in Shadows (1949)

The creative and ambitious Carlos, a young Spanish film buff, manages to become a professional camera operator with time and effort, and is also blessed with the love of Anna, which he has longed for; but the outbreak of the Civil War in 1936 changes everything for both of them.

The Burning Cold (2023)

Winter of 1943. Andorra, a small country in the Pyrenees. In the tense calm of a borderland, where echoes of a nearby war reach the ears of the local inhabitants, Antonio and Sara, a young, married couple, are expecting their first child. No one knows exactly what is going on, nor what is being fought over, the priority is just to survive another day. When a family of Jews fleeing Nazi persecution arrives in the valley, the locals will find their lives disrupted and filled with a sense of fear and unease. Sara will have to face her own contradictions and decide whether to follow her head... or her conscience. The past, along with all the secrets that have remained buried under the snow for so many years, are about to surface. The burning cold has reached the mountains.

Comanche Territory (1997)

Spanish TV reporters covering the War in Bosnia. Based on true experience.

El santuario no se rinde (1949)

Maria Fuenterreal remembers the days of resistance in the sanctuary of the Virgen de la Cabeza. There she met Aracil, a man of extremist ideas who saved her from the enemy troops, and then Captain Cortes, who died in the final battle with most of the defenders. After the battle, Maria suffers a bout of amnesia and Aracil escapes.

Madrid (1987)

Hans, a German director, is in Madrid to film a television production about the capital and the Civil War, 50 years after it occurred. Accompanied by Lucía, his editor, and Goyo, his cinematographer, he films shots of the modern city, searching for spaces and people related to its past. At the same time, he views materials related to the past. In this search, Hans questions the point of his project, and disagrees with his producers until he discovers a project that he is passionate about.

Long Live the Free People (1939)

Spanish war propaganda documentary.

A Forbidden God (2013)

August 1936, the beginning of the Spanish Civil War. 51 members of the Claretian community of Barbastro (Huesca) are martyred, die for their faith. The film recounts the last weeks of his life, since they are held until they are finally shot. During that time, they perform various writings they talk about their situation, of his fellow captives, people who saw them. These writings have been the basic testimony used to narrate this real fact in film version.

The Heroes of the Siege of Saragossa (1905)

A short drama featuring three fictitious scenes of the Spanish War of Independence (1808-1814).

The Dark Night of the Soul (1989)

Pantheon filmmaker Carlos Saura bounced back from a handful of failures with 1989's La Noche Oscura (The Dark Night). Juan Diego stars as San Juan de la Cruz (St. John of the Cross), the legendary 16th-century poet-prophet. Galvanized into action by the spirit of Santa Teresa de Jesus, San Juan fought to install reforms in the Carmelite Order. Like many another visionary, he was regarded as a heretic, and promptly subjected to the most appalling of tortures. Writer-director Saura manages to draw several parallels between the religious persecution of the 1700s and the political despotism of Fascist Spain.

Réquiem por un campesino español (1985)

Hypocrisy and betrayal are the two dramatic pivots in this effective, emotionally gripping tragedy about the life and death of Paco (Antonio Banderas), a Spanish peasant who had been fighting against the feudal landowning system that kept farmers impoverished. Paco's life is told in flashbacks by a priest (Antonio Ferrandis) who is seen officiating at an anniversary mass attended by three wealthy landowners and no one else. The priest recalls Paco's baptism, his communion, his marriage ceremony and then his work for the peasants as he advocated and led them in a land-reform movement. The rest of the story will rest heavy on the priest's conscience, as he looks out at his empty church.

Follow the Legion! (1942)

In North Africa, in a detachment of the Spanish Legion, el Grajo, a brave veteran, and Mauro, who has just enlisted, become close friends. When an unfortunate circumstance results in the death of a man, suspicions fall on one of them.

Crebinsky (2011)

Torrential rains cause the swollen river, whose waters inundate a village. The current drags the cow Crebinsky and his brothers, who miraculously reappear alive in a place on the coast. Installed there at the foot of a lighthouse, which brings survive by sea. Isolated military conflicts, the brothers created their own world: a particular universe made of realism and fantasy.

Alhucemas (1948)

In 1922, Infantry Captain Fernando Salas, arriving from Madrid, joins, without much enthusiasm, a battalion ruled by Commander Almendro, a tough veteran of the African war who soon notices a clear lack of military vocation in the new recruit.

Legionario (2017)