And now we present a treat for armchair generals, 11 best military documentaries on Netflix streaming in 2015.
Unfortunately, there’s a plenty of opportunities in human history for making of military documentaries. It is hard to find anything we humans do better than war. These documentaries focus on people who do the actual fighting, opposed to the politicians who send them to the trenches. From World War 1 to the Israeli-Arab war, from the field of Flanders to the snow-covered mountain peaks of Hindu Kush, they span the human history and our planet. Yet one thing remains the same. In every war, young people die.
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To rank 11 best military documentaries on Netflix streaming in 2015, we had to devise a system. Going simply by IMDb rating just wouldn’t cut it, although we did include it in our final ranking. We also scoured dozen of lists on most popular sites to get an accurate feel for public opinion. We mixed it all together and came up with a genuine Insider Monkey ranking. If you want to know more about the circumstances in which these films were made, you should check out some of the best History Channel documentaries on Netflix.
11. Tell Spring Not To Come This Year
Site score: 2, IMDb score: 3 Overall score: 5
Directed by Saeed Taji Farouky and Michael McEvoy
Year: 2015
In the wake of the US forces’ withdrawal from Afghanistan, ANA (Afghanistan National Army) is left to fend for itself against the renewed Taliban offensive. Tell Spring Not To Come This Year follows a grim story of one of ANA’s unit in Helmand province as it face the reality of fighting for the first time without the powerful US support. Unlike the American troops, who came over to Afghanistan for a tour and could always look forward to returning home, Afghani have nowhere to go. It is their home and the war is far from over. The victory in it isn’t secured by any means and this is their new reality, one which is very grim and demoralizing.
10. Navy Seals: Their Untold Story
Site score: 4, IMDb score: 2 Overall score: 6
Directed by Carol L. Fleisher
Year: 2014
U.S. Navy SEALs have become a synonym for top notch special forces. Their fame, already well established, skyrocketed after they managed to eliminate Osama Bin Laden. The film deals with their less known exploits which affected the world we live in ways previously unknown to most people. U.S. Navy SEALs (Sea, Air and Land) can trace their origin back to 1942 and a little-known unit called Amphibious Scouts and Raiders. Their task was to infiltrate enemy-held beaches and scout them prior to the main invasion force. One of their founding members was Phil H. Bucklew, later nicknamed Father of Naval Special Warfare. From their first action Operation Torch (Allied landing in North Africa in 1942) to War on Terror, this is Navy Seals: Their Untold Story.
9. Dirty Wars
Site score: 1, IMDb score: 6 Overall score: 7
Directed by Rick Rowley
Year: 2013
US Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) is one of the most powerful organizations on the planet. It is also one of the most secretive ones. Reporter Jeremy Scahill (the man who uncovered the Blackwater story) tries to uncover their action spread around the globe from Afghanistan to Somalia and Yemen. JSOC operatives do not appear on any official list of US government employees and it is highly unlikely that they will ever be called to testify in front of any commission, let alone in a courtroom. Yet, these are the people that wield enormous power and are authorized to “find, fix, and finish” any target that is given to them, regardless of its status or location, even the US citizens. Dirty Wars is a story about them.
8. Radio Bikini
Site score: 5, IMDb score: 3 Overall score: 8
Directed by Robert Stone
Year: 1988
Prior to 1946 and the Operation Crossroads, very few people have ever heard of Bikini Atoll, a group of 23 small islands in the middle of nowhere in the South Pacific. A part of Marshall Islands archipelago, Bikini was left alone for the most of its history. That all changed in 1946 when the US decided that it is a perfect spot for testing a new and terrifying weapon that has just helped end the bloodiest conflict in human history. In a series of tests, a total of 23 nuclear bombs were detonated between 1946 and 1958. The bottom of Bikini lagoon is covered with shipwrecks that were used as test subjects, including the battleship Arkansas and aircraft carrier Saratoga, as well as the former flagship of the Imperial Japanese Navy, battleship Nagato. But far more important than ships was the fate of inhabitants and US servicemen involved in the tests. Robert Stone tells us their story.
7. Above and Beyond
Site score: 7, IMDb score: 3 Overall score: 10
Directed by Roberta Grossman
Year: 2014
In 1948, newly established Israel was in dire straits. Surrounded by hostile Arab armies on all side, Israel was outnumbered and outgunned. Its Air force was especially fragile, consisting at the start of the war of only 10 planes, smuggled from Czechoslovakia. Responding to the call for help, volunteer pilots from the USA came to Israel to help their people defend their new homeland. Flying a ragtag collection of airplanes consisting of British, American, French and German machines, these pilots helped turn the tide and secure the existence of Israel. They were called Machal – volunteers from abroad – and they were among the first pilots of the Israeli Air Force.
6. Great War Diaries
Site score: 1, IMDb score:10 Overall score: 11
Directed by Jan Peter
Year: 2014
Premiered one hundred years after the guns of the World War 1 finally went silent, Great War Diaries tells us the story of people who had the misfortune to live during the bloodiest conflict humans have known at the time. It focuses on ordinary people and the way they saw the war and how it affected them. The series uses letters and documents, many of them previously unseen, to illustrate how the life went on during those years while millions died in trenches. It features 8 episodes and it is made in a collaboration between British, German, French and Dutch TV station. Great War Diaries is universally acclaimed as one of the best European TV programs ever made, which is why it is 6th on our list of 11 best military documentaries on Netflix streaming in 2015.
5. Beneath the Helmet
Site score: 3, IMDb score: 8 Overall score: 11
Directed by Wayne Kopping
Year: 2014
Beneath the Helmet is a different kind of coming of age story. When they turn 18, Israeli teenagers don’t prepare for college, life on campus, and endless parties like their American counterparts. Instead, they get drafted into the military. They will spend the next 3 years (two for girls) wearing a uniform and defending their country. This is a story of 5 youths who have been drafted into one of the most elite units in the Israeli army, the paratrooper brigade. These kids – and let’s face it, they have just finished highs school and kids they are – are faced with the harsh reality of military life as they try to understand their new role and grasp the higher purpose of their being in the army.
4. Restrepo
Site score: 7, IMDb score: 7 Overall score: 14
Directed by Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger
Year: 2010
In 2007, Korengal Valley of northeast Afghanistan was considered the deadliest place on Earth. Junger and Hetherington spent it with the American soldiers stationed in Combat Outpost (OP) Restrepo. Named so after the PFC Juan Sebastián Restrepo, a medic who was killed in action, OP Restrepo is a vital position on the front line of the Afghanistan war. The films show their everyday life, confined within the walls of their little compound, as well as frequent patrols into the surrounding areas, often under the enemy fire. The film was awarded Grand Jury Prize in 2010 Sundance film Festival, as well as the nomination for the 2010 Academy Award for Best Documentary.
3. Last Days in Vietnam
Site score: 11, IMDb score: 8 Overall score: 19
Directed by Rory Kennedy
Year: 2014
As the communist NVA draws closer to Saigon, the panic strikes the Vietnamese capital. In the chaos of evacuation, Americans are quickly abandoning the country in order to escape being captured by the North Vietnam Army. But they are faced with a dilemma. The orders are clear: only the American personnel is to be evacuated. That means leaving thousands of their allies at the mercy of approaching Ho Chi Minh’s troops. Obey the orders or do the right thing and risk treason charges? Featuring interviews with Henry Kissinger and Terry McNamara, among others, the film sheds some light on an episode in American history that many would wish forgotten.
2. Ken Burns: The Civil War
Site score:8, IMDb score:11 Overall score: 19
Directed by Ken Burns
Year: 1990
It took five years of production for Ken Burns and his team to boil down some 16,000 photographs, letters and other documents from Civil War into 10 hours of material, divided into 9 episodes. The series is praised as one of the best programs about the Civil War and it managed to reignite the interest for it with the American public, largely uninterested in it before the season aired. It also gave birth to “Ken Burns effect”, a technique where the camera pans and zooms at the photographs and other still imagery, widely used today. In 2015, 25 years after the premiere, the series was digitally remastered and brought to HD standard.
1. Ken Burns: The War
Site score: 10, IMDb score: 10 Overall score: 20
Directed by Ken Burns
Year: 2007
The top spot among 11 best military documentaries on Netflix streaming in 2015 goes to another Ken Burns masterpiece, The War. This time, Burns sets his scopes on World War Two and how it affected the residents of four “quintessentially American towns”, Luverne, Minnesota, Mobile, Alabama, Sacramento, California, and Waterbury, Connecticut. The series consists of 7 episodes, each dealing with a period of war and its consequences on the American citizens left at home. It was named one of the best TV series in 2007 by the Times.
