Movies Like Rail of the Star - A True Story of Children and War

If you liked Rail of the Star - A True Story of Children and War (1993), a animation and drama movie directed by Satoru Namekawa and Toshio Hirata, 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
In This Corner of the World (2016)
★ 7.9/10Also animation and drama
Japan, 1943, during World War II. Young Suzu leaves her village near Hiroshima to marry and live with her in-laws in Kure, a military harbor. Her creativity to overcome deprivation quickly makes her indispensable at…
2
Giovanni's Island (2014)
★ 7.5/10Also animation and drama
In the aftermath of the most devastating conflict mankind had ever experienced, the tiny island of Shikotan became part of the Sakhalin Oblast... and on the unhealed border in this remote corner of the world…
3
Code Geass: Akito the Exiled 1: The Wyvern Arrives (2012)
★ 6.2/10Also animation and war
The side story takes place in 2017 a.t.b., between the rise of the “Black Knights” organization and the return of the supposedly "dead" Zero. The setting is in Europe, where the European Union (E.U.) allied nations are…
4
Emperor (2012)
★ 6.2/10Also drama and history
As the Japanese surrender at the end of WWII, Gen. Fellers is tasked with deciding if Emperor Hirohito will be hanged as a war criminal. Influencing his ruling is his quest to find Aya, an exchange student he met years…
5
Sgt. Stubby: An American Hero (2018)
★ 7.9/10Also animation and history
The true story of the most decorated dog in American military history - Sgt. Stubby - and the enduring bonds he forged with his brothers-in-arms in the trenches of World War I.
6
When the Wind Blows (1986)
★ 7.5/10Also animation and war
With the help of government-issued pamphlets, an elderly British couple build a shelter and prepare for an impending nuclear attack, unaware that times and the nature of war have changed from their romantic memories of…
7
The Last Rifleman (2023)
★ 6.7/10Also drama and history
A WWII veteran escapes his care home in Northern Ireland and embarks on an arduous but inspirational journey to France to attend the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings, finding the courage to face the ghosts of his…
8
The One That Got Away (1957)
★ 6.8/10Also war and drama
Based on the true story of Oberleutnant Franz von Werra, the only German prisoner of war captured in Britain to escape back to Germany during the Second World War.
9
The Colditz Story (1955)
★ 6.8/10Also war and drama
The Germans believed that no man could escape from Colditz Castle, set as it was in the heart of the Reich, 400 miles from any neutral frontier. This film, based on Pat Reid's epic novel, tells the story of how the…
10
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
★ 7.8/10Also drama and history
The classic story of English POWs in Burma forced to build a bridge to aid the war effort of their Japanese captors. British and American intelligence officers conspire to blow up the structure, but Col. Nicholson, the…
11
Empire of the Sun (1987)
★ 7.5/10Also drama and history
Jamie Graham, a privileged English boy, is living in Shanghai when the Japanese invade and force all foreigners into prison camps. Jamie is captured with an American sailor, who looks out for him while they are in the…
12
Waiting for Anya (2020)
★ 6.3/10Also drama and war
During the harrows of WWII, Jo, a young shepherd along with the help of the widow Horcada, helps to smuggle Jewish children across the border from southern France into Spain.
13
The Boy and the Heron (2023)
★ 7.4/10Also animation and drama
While the Second World War rages, the teenage Mahito, haunted by his mother's tragic death, is relocated from Tokyo to the serene rural home of his new stepmother Natsuko, a woman who bears a striking resemblance to…
14
Sergeant York (1941)
★ 7.2/10Also war and drama
Alvin York a hillbilly sharpshooter transforms himself from ruffian to religious pacifist. He is then called to serve his country and despite deep religious and moral objections to fighting becomes one of the most…
15
The Eternal Zero (2013)
★ 7/10Also war and drama
A brother and sister learn their biological grandfather was a kamikaze pilot who died during World War II. During their research into his life, they get conflicting accounts from his former comrades about his character…
16
Battleground (1949)
★ 6.7/10Also drama and war
Members of the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division are fighting for their country amidst the rugged terrain of Bastogne, Belgium, in December 1944. Holley and his American compatriots have already seen one of their…
17
11 Rebels (2024)
★ 6.9/10Also drama and history
When the brutal Boshin War breaks out in Japan, a group of inmates on death row unite to defend a fortress against the Imperial army.
18
Ethel & Ernest (2016)
★ 7.5/10Also animation and drama
This hand drawn animated film, based on the award winning graphic novel by Raymond Briggs, is an intimate and affectionate depiction of the life and times of his parents, two ordinary Londoners living through…
19
The Guns of Navarone (1961)
★ 7.3/10Also drama and war
A team of allied saboteurs are assigned an impossible mission: infiltrate an impregnable Nazi-held island and destroy the two enormous long-range field guns that prevent the rescue of 2,000 trapped British soldiers.
20
Pokémon the Movie: White - Victini and Zekrom (2011)
★ 6.5/10Also animation and drama
The Kingdom of the People of the Earth once ruled over the land, but now all that remains is the Sword of the Earth. in the city of Eindoak. Satoshi, Iris, and Dent arrive in Eindoak during a harvest festival's Pokémon…