Hey! Get Out of My Country, Ten Great Films Set in Europe During the Nazi Occupation

The Train

I recently noted that among my favorite films of all time are several that take place in Nazi-occupied Europe during World War II. It’s not altogether surprising as there are so many excellent films that have been made about the war starting from while it was being fought through today — some eighty years later. Nazis themselves are cinematic being ready-made villains that everyone (well, almost) can root against. Occupation by an invading force is always fodder for films. The tension, the fear, the utter outlandishness of it all are all in place. Bravery and resourcefulness will be called upon while collaborators will be ever present. Lives and the future of one's homeland are at stake. Most of the stories told are true (who needs to fictionalize such escapades?) or based on actual events. Here are my ten favorite such films.  They come from varying times with the first made in 1942 and the last in 2009. There are four French films and one each from Italy and Czechoslovakia. There are nine different directors and among them are some of filmdom's best. Three of the films are in my top 100, four others just outside of it and three more I much admire.

Army of Shadows (1969) Melville. The best and most realistic fictional cinematic look at the French resistance ever made. Grim, cold bleak days with brave men and women going about life or death tasks with all the verve of accountants. There are no romances, no dashing figures, it’s too real to play to the audience like that. Collaborators are dealt with coldly and efficiently, lives are of far less importance than the cause. It is both a difficult film to watch and utterly compelling. 

Le Silence de la Mer (1949) Melville.  This is more about the occupation of a single house as a French family must endure a German officer who is billeted in their bucolic home. The family is cold to the intruder who seems a decent sort (well, aside from being a Nazi). He is a former composer whose very essence seems at odds with the uniform he wears. It’s a fascinating look at another of the many costs of war.

The Train (1964) Frankenheimer. Burt Lancaster saves precious works of art from the Nazis. While there is action aplenty, this is many respects a somber film. Lancaster plays a resistance fighter who also happens to work for the railroad. He leads an effort to thwart Nazi plans to take some of France’s most precious works of art out of the country as the allies close in. Christopher Plummer and Jeanne Moreau co-star.

The Pianist (2002) Polanski. Adrien Brody gave an Oscar-winning performance as Władysław Szpilman, the great classical pianist who somehow survived Nazi occupation and the holocaust in the Warsaw ghetto. By turns depressing and inspiring, the Pianist drew some of its inspiration from director Roman Polanski’s own experiences in the ghetto.

Au Revoir Les Enfants (1987) Malle. For me one of the great films of all-time. Beautiful and heart-breaking. Julien is a tween student at a catholic boarding school who befriends a new student named Jean. Gradually Julien figures out that there is something different about his new friend, he’s a Jew. Indeed he is one of several hiding out in the school with the aid of the priest and headmaster. It’s a wonderful story of adolescent boys negotiating relationships; only in their case the Nazi occupiers form the backdrop to the story and ultimately bring it tragedy.

The Last Metro (1980) Truffaut. The story of a theater in the Montmartre section of Paris from early in the occupation through the end of the war. Catherine Deneuve and Gérard Depardieu star. The theater owner successfully defies the Nazis, fights censorship and shortages to maintain cultural integrity. The Last Metro was an awards season smash and deservedly so. As Vincent Canby of the New York Times wrote, “a dazzlingly subversive work.”

Inglorious Basterds

Inglorious Basterds (2009) Tarantino. Quentin Tarantino’s fantasy alternate history of Jewish-American commandos going behind enemy lines to wreak havoc among the enemy. “We in the killin' Nazi business. And cousin, business is a-boomin’” says their leader Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt). They ultimately go on a mission to kill the Nazi leadership — including Hitler — who are all in Paris. Shosanna Dreyfus owns the theater where they’ll be convening and as a Jew whose family was killed by the Nazis, she has similar inclinations. It's all makes for a magnificent movie. Christoph Waltz gives an iconic performance as the famed Jew hunter.

Closely Watched Trains (1966) Menzel. This is more the story of a young man coming of age as he embarks on a career in a cushy job as a train dispatcher. He also discovers love but finds the act of making love a challenge. Trains is perhaps the best known of the Czech New Wave. Nazis play a very small role in the film but as was the case in occupied Europe, their presence is constant and unpleasant backdrop to life. They end up being crucial to the denouement.

Rome: Open City (1945) Rossellini. The forerunner of the neorealism movement, Open City began filming only months after the Nazis fled Rome and as the war in Europe still raged. The war-ravaged streets of Rome provided the sets, which, along with the many non-actors appearing gives the film a documentary feel. This is a real, raw, heart-breaking look at the effect of Nazi occupation and the heroic individuals who defied it. Among the protagonists is the priest Don Pietro Pellegrini (played by comic actor Aldo Fabrizi in a masterstroke of casting) a real figure. His story is at the heart of Open City. The brilliant Anna Magnani also stars.

To Be or Not to Be (1942) Lubitsch. We close with lighter fare. The one comedy on the list and it’s an exceptional one. How can it miss under the direction of Ernst Lubitsch with Jack Benny and Carole Lombard starring? As one would expect there are laughs aplenty but they are somewhat muted by the reality of the setting being Nazi-occupied Warsaw. Benny and Lombard play a married couple who are part of an acting troupe. They use their dramatic skills to stymie Nazi efforts to root out the resistance movement. Amazing that it was made during the war.