Movies Like City of Life and Death

If you liked City of Life and Death (2009), a drama and history movie directed by Lu Chuan, here are 20 movies with a similar feel, based on TMDB's recommendations. Each one links to its cast, trailer and where it's streaming.

1
The Flowers of War (2011)
★ 7.4/10Also drama and history
A Westerner finds refuge with a group of women in a church during Japan's rape of Nanking in 1937. Posing as a priest, he attempts to lead the women to safety.
2
Dead to Rights (2025)
★ 7.8/10Also war and drama
During the 1937 Nanjing Massacre, a postman poses as a photo developer, helping Japanese forces while secretly sheltering Chinese refugees. He later risks his life evacuating them and revealing evidence of the…
3
The Eight Hundred (2020)
★ 7/10Also war and history
In 1937, eight hundred Chinese soldiers fight under siege from a warehouse in the middle of the Shanghai battlefield, completely surrounded by the Japanese army.
4
The Children of Huang Shi (2008)
★ 6.7/10Also drama and war
About young British journalist, George Hogg, who with the assistance of a courageous Australian nurse, saves a group of orphaned children during the Japanese occupation of China in 1937.
5
Rescue at Dongji (2025)
★ 8.4/10Also drama and history
Inspired by the real life rescue of over 300 British soldiers in 1942, Dongji Rescue is a rousing, action-packed story of heroism on the high seas. When the Japanese warship Lisbon Maru is torpedoed off the coast of…
6
Flags of Our Fathers (2006)
★ 6.9/10Also war and drama
There were five Marines and one Navy Corpsman photographed raising the U.S. flag on Mt. Suribachi by Joe Rosenthal on February 23, 1945. This is the story of three of the six surviving servicemen - John 'Doc' Bradley…
7
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (2007)
★ 6.5/10Also drama and history
Beginning just after the bloody Sioux victory over General Custer at Little Big Horn, the story is told through two unique perspectives: Charles Eastman, a young, white-educated Sioux doctor held up as living proof of…
8
Hidden Blade (2023)
★ 6.3/10Also drama and history
Follows the story of underground workers who risked their lives to send intelligence and defend the motherland, set after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor when the Wang Jingwei regime declared war on Britain and the U.S.
9
First They Killed My Father (2017)
★ 7.4/10Also war and drama
A 5-year-old girl embarks on a harrowing quest for survival amid the sudden rise and terrifying reign of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia.
10
King Rat (1965)
★ 7.1/10Also drama and war
When Singapore surrendered to the Japanese in 1942, the Allied POWs, mostly British but including a few Americans, were incarcerated in Changi prison. Among the American prisoners is Cpl. King, a wheeler-dealer who has…
11
To End All Wars (2001)
★ 6.4/10Also drama and war
Based on a real-life story, this drama focuses on a small group of Allied soldiers in Burma who are held captive by the Japanese. Capt. Ernest Gordon, Lt. Jim Reardon and Maj. Ian Campbell are among the military…
12
The Battle at Lake Changjin (2021)
★ 6.4/10Also drama and war
Korean War, winter 1950. In the frozen and snowy area of Changjin Lake, a bloody battle is about to begin between the elite troops of the United States and China.
13
The Secrets We Keep (2020)
★ 6/10Also history and drama
In post-World War II America, a woman, rebuilding her life in the suburbs with her husband, kidnaps her neighbor and seeks vengeance for the heinous war crimes she believes he committed against her.
14
The Warlords (2007)
★ 6.8/10Also drama and history
The civil war in China has ruined many lives including General Pang's. A wounded General Pang is saved by a beautiful young woman along with two other men. Together they vow to eradicate the rebels.
15
Savior (1998)
★ 7.1/10Also history and drama
A hardened mercenary in the Foreign Legion begins to find his own humanity when confronted with atrocities during the fighting in Bosnia.
16
Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)
★ 7.5/10Also drama and war
The story of the battle of Iwo Jima between the United States and Imperial Japan during World War II, as told from the perspective of the Japanese who fought it.
17
The Last Samurai (2003)
★ 7.6/10Also drama and war
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…
18
Hotel Rwanda (2004)
★ 7.7/10Also drama and history
Inspired by true events, this film takes place in Rwanda in the 1990s when more than a million Tutsis were killed in a genocide that went mostly unnoticed by the rest of the world. Hotel owner Paul Rusesabagina houses…
19
Play Dirty (1969)
★ 6.3/10Also war and drama
During World War II in North Africa, a group of British commandos disguised as Italian soldiers must travel behind enemy lines and destroy a vital Nazi oil depot.
20
Pork Chop Hill (1959)
★ 6.7/10Also drama and history
Korean War, April 1953. Lieutenant Clemons, leader of the King company of the United States Infantry, is ordered to recapture Pork Chop Hill, occupied by a powerful Chinese Army force, while, just seventy miles away…