Movies Like Why We Fight (2005)

Why We Fight is a 2005 documentary, history film from Eugene Jarecki with a MovieMagicScore of 7.5/10. Here are 20 similar films, ranked by real viewer ratings — starting with 5 Days of War and Hearts and Minds.

Documentary History

5 Days of War

2011

An American journalist and his cameraman are caught in the combat zone during the first Russian airstrikes against Georgia. Rescuing Tatia, a young Georgian schoolteacher separated from her family during the attack, the two reporters agree to help reunite her with her family in exchange for serving as their interpreter. As the three attempt to escape to safety, they witness--and document--the devastation from the full-scale crossfire and cold-blooded murder of innocent civilians.

5.6

MagicScore

Hearts and Minds

1974

Many times during his presidency, Lyndon B. Johnson said that ultimate victory in the Vietnam War depended upon the U.S. military winning the "hearts and minds" of the Vietnamese people. Filmmaker Peter Davis uses Johnson's phrase in an ironic context in this anti-war documentary, filmed and released while the Vietnam War was still under way, juxtaposing interviews with military figures like U.S. Army Chief of Staff William C. Westmoreland with shocking scenes of violence and brutality.

7.6

MagicScore

Taking Chance

2009

Lt. Col. Michael Strobl, a volunteer military escort accompanies the body of Lance Cpl. Chance Phelps to his hometown in Wyoming.

7.2

MagicScore

The Great Raid

2005

As World War II rages, the elite Sixth Ranger Battalion is given a mission of heroic proportions: push 30 miles behind enemy lines and liberate over 500 American prisoners of war.

6.5

MagicScore

Uncommon Valor

1983

A group of Vietnam War veterans re-unite to rescue one of their own left behind and taken prisoner by the Vietnamese.

6.2

MagicScore

City of Life and Death

2009

In 1937, during the height of the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Imperial Japanese Army has just captured Nanjing, then-capital of the Republic of China. What followed was known as the Nanking Massacre, or the Rape of Nanking, a six week period wherein tens of thousands of Chinese soldiers and civilians were killed.

7.4

MagicScore

The Rock

1996

When vengeful General Francis X. Hummel seizes control of Alcatraz Island and threatens to launch missiles loaded with deadly chemical weapons into San Francisco, only a young FBI chemical weapons expert and notorious Federal prisoner have the skills to penetrate the impregnable island fortress and take him down.

7.1

MagicScore

The Hunting Party

2007

A young journalist, an experienced cameraman and a discredited reporter find their bold plan to capture Bosnia's top war criminal quickly spiraling out of control when a UN representative mistakes them for a CIA hit squad.

6.5

MagicScore

The A-Team

2010

A man who loves when a plan comes together, Col. Hannibal Smith leads a close-knit team of elite operatives and Iraq War veterans. Framed for a crime they didn't commit, Smith and his men, Capt. H.M. ‘Howling Mad’ Murdock , Sgt. Bosco ‘B.A.’ Baracus, and Lt. Templeton ‘Faceman’ Peck, break out and go rogue, using their special talents to clear their names and find the perpetrator. Hot on their trail is Capt. Charissa Sosa, who was once involved with a member of Smith's team and has sworn to capture them, no matter what it takes.

6.4

MagicScore

#10

Cherry

2021

Cherry drifts from college dropout to army medic in Iraq—anchored only by his one true love, Emily. But after returning from the war with PTSD, his life spirals into drugs and crime as he struggles to find his place in the world.

7.3

MagicScore

#11

Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence

1983

Island of Java, 1942, during World War II. British Major Jack Celliers arrives at a Japanese prison camp, run by the strict Captain Yonoi. Colonel John Lawrence, who has a profound knowledge of Japanese culture, and Sergeant Hara, brutal and simpleton, will witness the struggle of wills between two men from very different backgrounds who are tragically destined to clash.

7.3

MagicScore

#12

Andersonville

1996

This lengthy docudrama records the harrowing conditions at the Confederacy's most notorious prisoner-of-war camp. The drama unfolds through the eyes of a company of Union soldiers captured at the Battle of Cold Harbor, VA, in June 1864, and shipped to the camp in southern Georgia. A private, Josiah Day, and his sergeant try to hold their company together in the face of squalid living conditions, inhumane punishments, and a gang of predatory fellow prisoners called the Raiders.

6.4

MagicScore

#13

Men Behind the Sun

1988

The film is a graphic depiction of the war atrocities committed by the Japanese at Unit 731, the secret biological weapons experimentation unit of the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. The film details the various cruel medical experiments Unit 731 inflicted upon the Chinese and Soviet prisoners at the tail-end of the war.

6.2

MagicScore

#14

Mrs. Miniver

1942

Middle-class housewife Kay Miniver deals with petty problems. She and her husband Clem watch her Oxford-educated son Vin court Carol Beldon, the charming granddaughter of the local nobility as represented by Lady Beldon. Then the war comes and Vin joins the RAF.

7.1

MagicScore

#15

Rescue Dawn

2007

A US Fighter pilot's epic struggle of survival after being shot down on a mission over Laos during the Vietnam War.

7.0

MagicScore

#16

Slaughterhouse-Five

1972

Billy Pilgrim, a veteran of the Second World War, finds himself mysteriously detached from time, so that he is able to travel, without being able to help it, from the days of his childhood to those of his peculiar life on a distant planet called Tralfamadore, passing through his bitter experience as a prisoner of war in the German city of Dresden, over which looms the inevitable shadow of an unspeakable tragedy.

6.5

MagicScore

#17

The Last Samurai

2003

Nathan Algren is an American hired to instruct the Japanese army in the ways of modern warfare, which finds him learning to respect the samurai and the honorable principles that rule them. Pressed to destroy the samurai's way of life in the name of modernization and open trade, Algren decides to become an ultimate warrior himself and to fight for their right to exist.

7.6

MagicScore

#18

Rolling Thunder

1977

A Vietnam veteran, Charles Rane, returns home after years in a POW camp and is treated as a hero. He has a hard time adjusting, and things go badly. A movie about the walking dead, before that meant just flesh-eating zombies.

6.8

MagicScore

#19

Rambo: First Blood Part II

1985

John Rambo is released from prison by the government for a top-secret covert mission to the last place on Earth he'd want to return - the jungles of Vietnam.

6.7

MagicScore

#20

Missing in Action

1984

American servicemen are still being held captive in Vietnam and it's up to one man to bring them home in this blistering, fast-paced action/adventure starring martial arts superstar Chuck Norris. Following a daring escape from a Vietnamese POW camp, Special Forces Colonel James Braddock (Norris) is on a mission to locate and save remaining MIAs.

5.8

MagicScore

Frequently asked

What are the best movies like Why We Fight?

The top films similar to Why We Fight by MovieMagicScore are 5 Days of War (5.6), Hearts and Minds (7.6), Taking Chance (7.2). Each shares documentary/history themes and is ranked by real viewer ratings, not critics or studios.

Is Why We Fight worth watching?

Why We Fight holds a MovieMagicScore of 7.5/10 from 115 viewer ratings, putting it among the better-reviewed titles in its genre.

What kind of movie is Why We Fight?

Why We Fight (2005) is a documentary, history film directed by Eugene Jarecki, starring Chalmers Johnson, Joseph Cirincione, Gore Vidal.

Where can I find more recommendations like Why We Fight?

Browse the full ranked list above, or explore more documentary recommendations on MovieMagicScore, where every list is ordered by genuine viewer ratings.

Keep exploring

Movies like 5 Days of War Movies like Hearts and Minds Movies like Taking Chance Movies like The Great Raid Movies like Uncommon Valor Movies like City of Life and Death

About movies like Why We Fight

This ranked list pairs Why We Fight (2005), a documentary and history film from Eugene Jarecki, with similar titles by genre, theme and cast overlap (fans of Chalmers Johnson take note). Unlike critic-driven sites, every position here is ordered by MovieMagicScore — a rating built only from real viewers, with no studio marketing or paid placement. Scores update as more people rate, so the list stays current.

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