Movies Like While at War (2019)

While at War is a 2019 drama, history, war film from Alejandro Amenábar with a MovieMagicScore of 7.1/10. Here are 20 similar films, ranked by real viewer ratings — starting with The Endless Trench and Painless.

Drama History War

The Endless Trench

2019

A small village in Huelva, Andalusia, Spain, 1936. Higinio and Rosa have been married only for a few months when the Civil War breaks out. Higinio, being afraid of possible reprisals from the rebel faction, decides to use a hole dug in his own house as a temporary hideout.

6.9

MagicScore

Painless

2012

While searching for a solution to his serious health condition, David, a renowned neurosurgeon, discovers a sinister secret hidden in the past.

6.2

MagicScore

Paper Birds

2010

At the end of the Spanish Civil War, the members of a group of vaudeville performers have been stripped of everything: all they have left is hunger and the instinct to survive. Day after day, agonizingly, lost and helpless between the victors and the vanquished, the musician Jorge, the ventriloquist Enrique, the couplet singer Rocío and the orphan Miguel search tirelessly for something to eat and a safe place to live.

6.6

MagicScore

The Devil's Backbone

2001

Spain, 1939. In the last days of the Spanish Civil War, the young Carlos arrives at the Santa Lucía orphanage, where he will make friends and enemies as he follows the quiet footsteps of a mysterious presence eager for revenge.

7.3

MagicScore

Mirror

1975

A dying man in his forties recalls his childhood, his mother, the war and personal moments that tell of and juxtapose pivotal moments in Soviet history with daily life.

7.9

MagicScore

The Photographer of Mauthausen

2018

Spanish photographer Francesc Boix, imprisoned in the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp, works in the SS Photographic Service. Between 1943 and 1945, he hides, with the help of other prisoners, thousands of negatives, with the purpose of showing the freed world the atrocities committed by the Nazis, exhaustively documented. He will be a key witness during the Nuremberg Trials.

7.0

MagicScore

Land and Freedom

1995

David Carr is a British Communist who is unemployed. In 1936, when the Spanish Civil War begins, he decides to fight for the Republican side, a coalition of liberals, communists and anarchists, so he joins the POUM militia and witnesses firsthand the betrayal of the Spanish revolution by Stalin's followers and Moscow's orders.

7.3

MagicScore

The (Silent) War

2019

Northern Spain, October 1944. Several groups of guerrilla fighters, former Republican soldiers exiled in France after the end of the Spanish Civil War, infiltrate the country in order to provoke a popular uprising against General Franco's dictatorship.

5.9

MagicScore

The Sleeping Voice

2011

Finished the Spanish Civil War in April 1939, in November 1940, while Spain is being crushed by the ruthless boot of dictator Franco, Pepita travels from rural Córdoba to Madrid to be near her sister Hortensia, who is seven months pregnant and imprisoned, haunted by the shadow of a death sentence.

6.7

MagicScore

#10

Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles

2019

Paris, 1930. Luis Buñuel is penniless after the scandal surrounding the release of his last movie. Sculptor Ramón Acín, a good friend, buys a lottery ticket and promises Buñuel that he will pay for his next movie if he wins the prize.

7.0

MagicScore

#11

The Silence of Others

2019

The story of the tortuous struggle against the silence of the victims of the dictatorship imposed by General Franco after the victory of the rebel side in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1975). In a democratic country, but still ideologically divided, the survivors seek justice as they organize the so-called “Argentinian lawsuit” and denounce the legally sanctioned pact of oblivion that intends to hide the crimes they were subjects of.

8.1

MagicScore

#12

Jokes & Cigarettes

2023

Barcelona, Spain, in the late sixties. Eugenio, a young jeweler who has fallen in love with Conchita, a singer, to the point of learning to play the guitar to accompany her in her performances, will first have to learn to overcome his stage fright.

7.1

MagicScore

#13

Land Without Bread

1933

An exploration —manipulated and staged— of life in Las Hurdes, in the province of Cáceres, in Extremadura, Spain, as it was in 1932. Insalubrity, misery and lack of opportunities provoke the emigration of young people and the solitude of those who remain in the desolation of one of the poorest and least developed Spanish regions at that time.

7.1

MagicScore

#14

For Whom the Bell Tolls

1943

Spain in the 1930s is the place to be for a man of action like Robert Jordan. There is a civil war going on and Jordan—who has joined up on the side that appeals most to idealists of that era—has been given a high-risk assignment up in the mountains. He awaits the right time to blow up a crucial bridge in order to halt the enemy's progress.

6.5

MagicScore

#15

The Tobacconist

2018

Vienna, 1937, on the eve of the annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany. The young and inexperienced Franz Huchel begins to learn about both the joys and hardships of life by working as an apprentice to the mutilated war veteran Otto Trsnjek in a small tobacco shop, where he meets the famous psychiatrist Sigmund Freud, a regular customer, who will become a valuable friend in times of chaos and uncertainty.

6.4

MagicScore

#16

The Chosen

2016

Spain, 1937. Ramón Mercader, a young communist combatant, is recruited and trained by the Soviet intelligence service to participate in a top secret mission ordered by the ruthless dictator Joseph Stalin: the assassination of his former political rival, Leon Trotsky, who is living in exile in Mexico.

5.8

MagicScore

#17

Butterfly

1999

The film centres on Moncho and his coming-of-age experience in Galicia in 1936. Moncho develops a close relationship with his teacher Don Gregorio who introduces the boy to different things in the world. While the story centres on Moncho's ordinary coming-of-age experiences, tensions related to the looming Spanish Civil War periodically interrupt Moncho's personal growth and daily life.

7.4

MagicScore

#18

Pereira Declares

1995

Lisbon, 1938. Mr. Pereira is the editor of the culture section of an evening paper. Although fascism is on the rise in Europe, like in nearby civil war Spain or even inside Portugal itself in the form of Salazar's regime, Pereira only concerns himself with writing bios and translating French novels. Things change after he hires a young writer as his assistant, getting to know also his girlfriend – both opponents to the regime – and reluctantly helps them when they begin to get in trouble for subversive activities. Eventually, he's forced to take a stand...

6.6

MagicScore

#19

The 13 Roses

2007

True story of thirteen totally normal young women that suffered harsh questioning and were put in prison under made up charges of helping the rebellion against Franco back in the 1940s. Despite of their innocence, the thirteen were soon executed without even a trace of evidence of any wrong doing.

6.5

MagicScore

#20

Hemingway & Gellhorn

2012

Writer Ernest Hemingway begins a romance with fellow scribe Martha Gellhorn.

6.1

MagicScore

Frequently asked

What are the best movies like While at War?

The top films similar to While at War by MovieMagicScore are The Endless Trench (6.9), Painless (6.2), Paper Birds (6.6). Each shares drama/history/war themes and is ranked by real viewer ratings, not critics or studios.

Is While at War worth watching?

While at War holds a MovieMagicScore of 7.1/10 from 296 viewer ratings, putting it among the better-reviewed titles in its genre.

What kind of movie is While at War?

While at War (2019) is a drama, history, war film directed by Alejandro Amenábar, starring Karra Elejalde, Eduard Fernández, Santi Prego.

Where can I find more recommendations like While at War?

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

Keep exploring

Movies like The Endless Trench Movies like Painless Movies like Paper Birds Movies like The Devil's Backbone Movies like Mirror Movies like The Photographer of Mauthausen

About movies like While at War

This ranked list pairs While at War (2019), a drama and history and war film from Alejandro Amenábar, with similar titles by genre, theme and cast overlap (fans of Karra Elejalde 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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