Highest-Rated Movies about 'French Soldier'

Paths of Glory (1957), The Battle of Algiers (1966), La Grande Illusion (1937), Papillon (1973), Dunkirk (2017), Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie (1972), The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964), The Longest Day (1962) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best French Soldier movies.

#1. Paths of Glory (1957)

Storyline: The futility and irony of the war in the trenches in WWI is shown as a unit commander in the French army must deal with the mutiny of his men and a glory-seeking general after part of his force falls back under fire in an impossible attack.

Plot Keywords: trench warfare, world war one, court martial, death penalty, fear of death, french soldier, french army ...

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#2. The Battle of Algiers (1966)

Storyline: A film commissioned by the Algerian government that shows the Algerian revolution from both sides. The French foreign legion has left Vietnam in defeat and has something to prove. The Algerians are seeking independence. The two clash. The torture used by the French is contrasted with the Algerian's use of bombs in soda shops. A look at war as a nasty thing that harms and sullies everyone who participates in it.

Plot Keywords: underground fighting, resistance, algeria, poverty, murder of a police officer, hiding place, guerilla ...

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#3. La Grande Illusion (1937)

Storyline: During 1st WW, two French officers are captured. Captain De Boeldieu is an aristocrat while Lieutenant Marechal was a mechanic in civilian life. They meet other prisoners from various backgrounds, as Rosenthal, son of wealthy Jewish bankers. They are separated from Rosenthal before managing to escape. A few months later, they meet again in a fortress commanded by the aristocrat Van Rauffenstein. De Boeldieu strikes up a friendship with him but Marechal and Rosenthal still want to escape...

Plot Keywords: military, prison, class differences, cross dressing, world war one, anti war, prisoner of war ...

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#4. Papillon (1973)

Storyline: A semi-fictional account of Henri Charrière's time in the penal system in French Guyana - some of it spent on infamous Devil's Island - is presented. It's the early 1930s. Charrière - nicknamed Papillon because of his butterfly tattoo - and Louis Dega are two among many who have been convicted in the French judicial system, they now being transferred to French Guyana where they will serve their time, never to return to France even if they are ever released. A safe-cracker by criminal profession, Papillon is serving a life sentence for murdering a pimp, a crime for which he adamantly states he was framed. Dega is a wealthy counterfeiter, who expects his well-to-do wife eventually to get him released. On Papillon's initiative, Papillon and Dega enter into a business arrangement: Papillon will provide protection for Dega, while Dega will finance Papillon's escape attempt. As Papillon and Degas' time together lasts longer than either expects, their burgeoning friendship ends up being an ...

Plot Keywords: latin america, escape from prison, tough guy, cliff, atlantic ocean, banishment, exile ...

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#7. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)

Storyline: The lives of Geneviève Emery and Guy Foucher of Cherbourg, France are presented in 4 acts, in director Jacques Demy's fable of young love. The entire film is sung (It takes only a moment to get used to). This is really one of THE most gorgeous, unique films - the softly-hued pastels and vibrant solid (Eastman Colror) colours are used to help conversation, emotions and dramatise the story. Every time I've seen it with an audience, by the end, they're all sniffling, as tear falls. I'm willing to bet so will you. Watch this with someone special.

Plot Keywords: love, famous score, military draft, teenage girl, place name in title, separation, auto mechanic ...

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#8. The Longest Day (1962)

Storyline: In 1944, the U.S. Army and Allied forces plan a huge invasion landing in Normandy, France. Despite bad weather, General Dwight D. Eisenhower gives the okay and the Allies land at Normandy. General Norma Cota travels with his men onto Omaha Beach. With much effort, and lost life, they get off the beach, traveling deep into French territory. The German military, due to arrogance, ignorance and a sleeping Adolf Hitler, delay their response to the Allied landing, with crippling results.

Plot Keywords: world war two, year 1944, german soldier, dead soldier, parachute, firearm, wehrmacht ...

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#9. Port of Shadows (1938)

Storyline: Life's a rotten business, says Jean, a deserter who arrives at night in Le Havre, looking to leave the country. He lucks into civilian clothes, a little bit of money, a passport, and a dog, and he also meets Nelly, a 17-year-old who's grown up too fast. She's the object of lust of men: including a boyfriend Maurice, her putative protector Zabel, and Lucien, a local hood. Jean falls for her, faces down Lucien, and gives her courage to stand on her own feet. A ship is leaving for Venezuela; can at least one of them be on it, or is that just a dream?—<jhailey@hotmail.com>

Plot Keywords: port, harbor, french soldier, suicide, nightclub, murder, identity swap ...

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#10. Joyeux Noel (2005)

Storyline: In 1914, World War I, the bloodiest war ever at that time in human history, was well under way. However on Christmas Eve, numerous sections of the Western Front called an informal, and unauthorized, truce where the various front-line soldiers of the conflict peacefully met each other in No Man's Land to share a precious pause in the carnage with a fleeting brotherhood. This film dramatizes one such section as the French, Scottish and German sides partake in the unique event, even though they are aware that their superiors will not tolerate its occurrence.

Plot Keywords: soldier, christmas, world war one, soccer, trench, christmas eve, truce ...

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#11. A Very Long Engagement (2004)

Storyline: Five desperate French soldiers during The Battle of the Somme shoot themselves, either by accident or with purpose, in order to be invalided back home. Having been "caught" a court-martial convenes and determines punishment to be banishment to No Man's Land with the objective of having the Germans finish them off. In the process of telling this tale each man's life is briefly explored along with their next of kin as Methilde, fiancée to one of the men, tries to determine the circumstances of her lover's death. This task is not made any easier for her due to a bout with polio as a child. Along the way she discovers the heights and depths of the human soul.

Plot Keywords: delirium, deserter, crucifix, hand wound, self mutilation, gendarme, photographer ...

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#12. Broken Lullaby (1932)

Storyline: A young French soldier in World War I is overcome with guilt when he kills a German soldier who, like himself, is a musically gifted conscript, each having attended the same musical conservatory in France. The fact that the incident occurred in war does not assuage his guilt. He travels to Germany to meet the man's family.—Steve Owen <owensmi@juno.com>

Plot Keywords: secret, haunted by the past, friendship, father, doctor, conscience, confession ...

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#13. Frantz (2016)

Storyline: In 1919 Quedlinburg, Germany, a young woman named Anna is still mourning the death of her fiance, Frantz Hoffmeister, in the Great War while living with his equally devastated parents. One day, a mysterious Frenchman, Adrien Rivoire, comes to town both to pay his respects to Frantz's grave and to contact that soldier's parents. Although it is difficult for both sides with the bitterness of Germany's defeat, Adrian explains that he knew Frantz and gradually he wins Anna and the Hoffmeisters' hearts as he tries to connect with them. Unfortunately, Adrien and Anna discover the truth of his motives and things seem shattered for all. However, when Adrien leaves, Anna has her own struggles with the truth and her feelings until she sets out to find Adrien in France. With that, Anna has her own journey to make in more than one sense, even as they both realize that neither have easy answers to their complex personal conflicts with each other and the dead man linking them.

Plot Keywords: germany, world war one, post world war one, guilty conscience, black and white segues into color, hotel, poem ...

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#14. Westfront 1918 (1930)

Storyline: A group of German infantrymen of the First World War live out their lives in the trenches of France. They find brief entertainment and relief in a village behind the lines, but primarily terror fills their lives as the attacks on and from the French army ebb and flow. One of the men, Karl, goes home on leave only to discover the degradation forced on his family by wartime poverty. He returns to the lines in time to face an enormous attack by French tanks.—Jim Beaver <jumblejim@prodigy.net>

Plot Keywords: world war one, adulterous wife, steel helmet, german soldier, french soldier, comrade, infantry ...

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#15. We Were Soldiers (2002)

Storyline: A telling of the 1st Battalion, 7 Cavalry Regiment, 1st Calvary Division's battle against overwhelming odds in the Ia Drang valley of Vietnam in 1965. Seen through the eyes of the battalion's commander, Lieutenant Colonel Hal Moore (played by Mel Gibson), we see him take command of the battalion and its preparations to go into Vietnam. We also see how the French had, years earlier, been defeated in the same area. The battle was to be the first major engagement between U.S. and N.V.A. forces in South Vietnam, and showed the use of helicopters as mobility providers and assault support aircraft.

Plot Keywords: battle, soldier, vietnam war, helicopter, exploding body, gore, severed leg ...

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