10 Best R-Rated World War II Movies, Ranked

War movies are known for being violent and brutally realistic — it sort of comes with the territory; war isn’t all sunshine and rainbows, after all. But some war movies like to be accessible to a wider variety of audiences, such as Dunkirk, which received a PG-13 rating, allowing teens and adults alike to experience its pulse-pounding action. On the other hand, other movies prefer to depict their violence with astounding realism, leading to an R-rating.

Many of these war movies are, of course, set during the deadliest conflict in human history: World War II. The war raged for six years, so there’s definitely no shortage of stories to tell. These are the best R-rated World War II movies, which have earned their ratings on account of their foul language, sexual themes, or, in most cases, their graphic and harrowing depictions of horror and violence.

10 ‘Hacksaw Ridge’ (2016)

Directed by Mel Gibson

Hacksaw Ridge details the life of Desmond Doss (Andrew Garfield), an American soldier who was a conscientious objector, meaning he chose not to touch a weapon or kill anybody during wartime. Instead, he served as a combat medic, preferring to restore life instead of take it. Much of the movie is about the Battle of Okinawa, during which Doss saved the lives of roughly 75 wounded soldiers, both American and Japanese, working for 12 hours through the night, all on his own. For this outstanding accomplishment, Doss was awarded the Medal of Honor and was the first of only three conscientious objectors to ever receive this highly-coveted award.

Like in many R-rated war films, Hacksaw Ridge isn’t particularly raunchy; it just contains a lot of foul language and graphic violence, which is shown in detail, given how Doss was a medic and had to deal with some pretty visceral wounds. Regardless, Hacksaw Ridge is a superb movie about standing up for one’s beliefs and helping as many people as possible, regardless of what side they are on. Desmond Doss is a true hero, and this movie was a brilliant way to honor his legacy.

9 ‘The Thin Red Line’ (1998)

Directed by Terrence Malick

The Thin Red Line takes place during the Guadalcanal Campaign, a small part of the Pacific Theatre of World War II. In what is now the Solomon Islands, American soldiers face off against their Japanese adversaries for control of the island of Guadalcanal and the airbase it contains. This one got its R-rating in a way that is to be expected — through lots of swearing and savagery, in which soldiers are tossed about like rag dolls and ripped apart.

It may not be the best World War II movie ever made, but The Thin Red Line definitely ranks up there as being among the greats. It shines the spotlight on an area of the war that is often overshadowed by other, more famous battles and acknowledges the sacrifice of the brave individuals who died there, so far from home. The Thin Red Line deserves its rating and its place as among the best World War II movies.

8 ‘Inglourious Basterds’ (2009)

Directed by Quentin Tarantino

Director Quentin Tarantino is sort of known for including violence in his movies, and Inglourious Basterds is definitely not exception to this trend. The alternate history film follows a group of misfit soldiers who are put together into a single task force with orders to assassinate Nazi leader Adolf Hitler (Martin Wuttke). It’s primarily an action film rather than a typical war movie, which leaves plenty of room for some brutally realistic scenes of violence.

It’s a little kooky and fun with its speculation and suspended sense of real history, but that doesn’t make it any less credible or entertaining. Inglourious Basterds is a shining example of alternate history done right, providing audiences with a new, speculative tale about camaraderie, the greater good, and tolerance, showcasing the great areas of war and the bond between brothers in arms.

7 ‘Downfall’ (2004)

Directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel

Downfall is a German movie that follows the final days of Nazi dictator, Adolf Hitler, played by Bruno Ganz. The actor perfectly captures the inner rage, hatred, and paranoia that Hitler was infamous for, resulting in quite a scary yet moving performance. There’s really not a lot of foul language in this film and almost no sexual content whatsoever, so how did it end up rated R?

Well, like other war films of similar ratings, it’s due to graphic violence. Much of the violence featured actually takes place off-screen and is sort of implied rather than witnessed. But when it is shown, oh boy. Most times, it’s just the aftermath that is depicted, but it’s still truly brutal, with many nasty injuries shown front and center, ranging anywhere from disembowelment to amputation. Still, Dowfall is a necessary movie to understand the most evil person in history and why his rise to power and killing spree should never, ever happen again.

6 ‘Letters From Iwo Jima’ (2006)

Directed by Clint Eastwood

Letters From Iwo Jima might be an American-made movie, but it’s filmed almost entirely in Japanese, with the cast consisting of Japanese actors. It takes place during the Battle of Iwo Jima, as Japanese soldiers batten down the hatches and dig into their trenches to stop the American advance. The movie does an excellent job depicting the stories of the average soldier in the Japanese Empire, detailing their occupations before the war and their families back at home.

It’s not every day that a war movie shows the losing side of the battle and lends a sympathetic ear to a fallen enemy, but this is what makes Letters From Iwo Jima so brilliant. It challenges the hero-villain narrative and blurs the line between good and bad, accentuated by some horrifyingly disturbing moments and bloody firefights. This is a movie that no World War II enthusiast should miss, as it does a good job of showing how soldiers aren’t just cogs in the machine: they’re living, breathing people who all have their own stories.

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5 ‘Das Boot’ (1981)

Directed by Wolfgang Petersen

Das Boot is a movie that was commended for its realistic portrayals of life on a German U-boat during the Second World War, along with all of the chaos and claustrophobia that it entails. Much of the action comes from the U-boat attacking Allied vessels and being attacked, in turn, so there is some violence, but a lot of it is pretty tame… except when it isn’t.

Some of the movie’s most brutal scenes involve gruesome injuries suffered by the firepower of the machines surrounding the protagonists, with there being a lot of profanity as the vice begins to close around them. Das Boot is not a movie to be taken lightly, for it has no trouble showing how unglamorous war really was and still is, with there being very little in the way of redemption, heroism, or happy endings.

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4 ‘Saving Private Ryan’ (1998)

Directed by Steven Spielberg

Saving Private Ryan wastes no time in showing the audience exactly why it earned its R-rating. The movie opens during the landings at Omaha Beach on D-Day, where the fighting was fiercest. There’s really no limit to what sort of injury was shown. Body parts and guts are tossed all over the place, and the entire beach is painted red by all the blood. It was actually so gruesomely realistic that a hotline had to be set up for traumatized veterans who were seeing the movie.

This movie shows carnage on a scale that cinema had never seen before, which really strikes a chord, especially knowing that it probably wasn’t exaggerated at all. The violence is so brutal and intense that there was never any way this movie would have gotten anything less than an R-rating. Yet, Saving Private Ryan remains one of the finest war movies ever made and emphasizes the importance of heroism and sacrifice during war.

3 ‘The Pianist’ (2002)

Directed by Roman Polanski

The Pianist takes place in occupied Poland in throughout World War II, and centres on the life of the real piano player known as Władysław Szpilman (Adrien Brody). Szpilman is Jewish, so when the Germans come knocking, he knows he will not be treated kindly in what would later become known as the Holocaust. Even though the primary focus is on the genocide, the Holocaust is so intertwined with the Second World War that it’s hard to imagine one without thinking of the other.

Szpilman suffers unimaginable tragedy at the hands of the Third Reich, with the targeted attacks of the Nazis being a looming presence throughout. These attacks and killings are so frighteningly realistic that there was never any room for anything less than an R-rating. It’s about the Holocaust, after all, so audiences could already imagine that the visuals in the movie were going to be anything but pretty,

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2 ‘Oppenheimer’ (2023)

Directed by Christopher Nolan

Oppenheimer is the 2023 biopic that took audiences by storm, securing many Oscar wins and nominations. This biographical drama stars Cillian Murphy as American scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer, who led the charge during the invention of the world’s first atomic bomb in the waning days of World War II. Because Oppenheimer didn’t really see any combat during the war, the film is far from violent. Instead, the R-rating is derived from sexuality and nudity, neither of which are censored or covered up.

It’s debatable whether this sort of thing was really necessary in the end or not, but what is indisputable is that the movie was phenomenal, expertly showing how Oppenheimer was a man plagued by guilt with his invention and who was more complicated than many people realize. Ultimately, Oppenheimer grapples with the consequences of one’s actions and the morality of creating something that can end thousands of lives in the blink of an eye, and it executes these concepts flawlessly.

1 ‘Schindler’s List’ (1993)

Directed by Steven Spielberg

Schindler’s List is one of the greatest movies of all time and, like The Pianist, is more of a Holocaust movie than a World War II film. However, with how closely related both of these events are, it can be considered part of either genre, really. The movie follows a member of the Nazi Party who used his factory to employ Jewish members, thus sparing them from the horrors of the camps.

This film shows exactly why the Holocaust was so horrible and should never, ever happen again. It’s easy to hear about the genocide, but it’s kind of hard to grasp the scope of it because it was so much worse than anything most people can even imagine. Schindler’s List leaves nothing to the imagination, with its harrowing scenes oozing misery and an overall aura of death, painting a grim picture of human history that many may not want to (but should) explore.

NEXT: The 10 Best War Movies of the Last 25 Years, Ranked