Kids in Turmoil
Movies about kids in war times or facing extraordinary hardships.
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- DirectorLola DoillonStarsLéonie SouchaudFantine HarduinJuliane LepoureauFanny and her sisters attempt to escape Nazi occupied France but many dangers are ahead of them.
- DirectorPaul FeigStarsBen TibberJim CaviezelJoan PlowrightA twelve-year-old boy escapes from a Bulgarian Communist concentration camp and sets out on a journey to reach Denmark.
- DirectorMartin KoolhovenStarsMartijn LakemeierJamie Campbell BowerYorick van WageningenIn German-occupied Netherlands, a teenage boy gets involved in the Dutch resistance after coming to the aid of a wounded RAF pilot.
- DirectorCate ShortlandStarsSaskia RosendahlKai-Peter MalinaNele TrebsAs the Allies sweep across Germany, Lore leads her siblings on a journey that exposes them to the truth of their parents' beliefs. An encounter with a mysterious refugee forces Lore to rely on a person she has always been taught to hate.
- DirectorTaika WaititiStarsRoman Griffin DavisThomasin McKenzieScarlett JohanssonA young German boy in the Hitler Youth whose hero and imaginary friend is the country's dictator is shocked to discover that his mother is hiding a Jewish girl in their home.tin
- DirectorGilles Paquet-BrennerStarsKristin Scott ThomasMélusine MayanceNiels ArestrupIn modern-day Paris, a journalist finds her life becoming entwined with a young girl whose family was torn apart during the notorious Vel' d'Hiv Roundup in 1942.
- DirectorLouis MalleStarsGaspard ManesseRaphael FejtöFrancine RacetteA French boarding school run by priests seems to be a haven from World War II until a new student arrives. Occupying the next bed in the dormitory to the top student in his class, the two young boys begin to form a bond.
- DirectorRoberto BenigniStarsRoberto BenigniNicoletta BraschiGiorgio CantariniWhen an open-minded Jewish waiter and his son become victims of the Holocaust, he uses a perfect mixture of will, humor and imagination to protect his son from the dangers around their camp.
- DirectorBrian PercivalStarsSophie NélisseGeoffrey RushEmily WatsonWhile subjected to the horrors of World War II Germany, young Liesel finds solace by stealing books and sharing them with others. In the basement of her home, a Jewish refugee is being protected by her adoptive parents.
- DirectorVáclav MarhoulStarsPetr KotlárNina SunevicAlla SokolovaA young Jewish boy somewhere in Eastern Europe seeks refuge during World War II where he encounters many different characters.
- DirectorRobert WiseStarsJulie AndrewsChristopher PlummerEleanor ParkerA young novice is sent by her convent in 1930s Austria to become a governess to the seven children of a widowed naval officer.
- DirectorPepe DanquartStarsAndrzej TkaczKamil TkaczElisabeth Duda8-year-old Srulik flees from the Warsaw ghetto in 1942 and attempts to survive, at first alone in the forest, and then on a farm as a Christian orphan named Jurek. Throughout his ordeal, he is in danger of losing his Jewish identity. Based on the bestseller by Uri Orlev.
- DirectorBille AugustStarsPelle HvenegaardMax von SydowErik PaaskeWhen his wife dies, Lasse takes his 12-year-old son, Pelle, from their home in Sweden to Denmark in search of a better life.Not about war, but extraordinary, heart crushing hardship
- DirectorSøren Kragh-JacobsenStarsPatrick BerginJordan KiziukJack WardenDuring World War II a Jewish boy is left on his own for months in a ruined house in the Warsaw Ghetto, where he must learn all the tricks of survival under constantly life-threatening conditions.
- DirectorChristian SchwochowStarsUlrich NoethenTobias MorettiLevi EisenblätterSiggi is in prison during the post-war period and tasked to write an essay. He remembers that his father was supposed to ban his profession from a friend who was a painter and Siggi was supposed to help him but he rebelled.
- DirectorVincent ParonnaudMarjane SatrapiStarsChiara MastroianniCatherine DeneuveGena RowlandsA precocious and outspoken Iranian girl grows up during the Islamic Revolution.
- DirectorMarc ForsterStarsKhalid AbdallaAhmad Khan MahmoodzadaAtossa LeoniAfter spending years in California, Amir returns to his homeland in Afghanistan to help his old friend Hassan, whose son is in trouble.
- DirectorMartin ZandvlietStarsRoland MøllerLouis HofmannJoel BasmanIn post-World War II Denmark, a group of young German POWs are forced to clear a beach of thousands of land mines under the watch of a Danish Sergeant who slowly learns to appreciate their plight.
- DirectorKenneth BranaghStarsJude HillLewis McAskieCaitríona BalfeA young boy and his working-class Belfast family experience the tumultuous late 1960s.
- DirectorPhillip NoyceStarsEverlyn SampiTianna SansburyKenneth BranaghIn 1931, three half-white, half-Aboriginal girls escape after being plucked from their houses to be trained as domestic staff, and set off on a journey across the Outback.Not about war but the harsh treatment of aborigine children
- DirectorMatej MinacStarsBen AbelesDenisa AugustinovaMartin BandzakThe nearly forgotten story of Nicholas Winton, who organized the rescue of 669 children just before the outbreak of WWII.
- DirectorMark HermanStarsAsa ButterfieldDavid ThewlisRupert FriendThrough the innocent eyes of Bruno, the eight-year-old son of the commandant at a German concentration camp, a forbidden friendship with a Jewish boy on the other side of the camp fence has startling and unexpected consequences.
- DirectorVolker SchlöndorffStarsDavid BennentMario AdorfAngela WinklerIn 1924, Oskar Matzerath is born in the Free City of Danzig. At age three, he falls down a flight of stairs and stops growing. In 1939, World War II breaks out.
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsChristian BaleJohn MalkovichMiranda RichardsonA young English boy struggles to survive under Japanese occupation of China during World War II.
- DirectorAgnieszka HollandStarsSolomon PerelMarco HofschneiderRené HofschneiderA boy in Nazi Germany, trying to conceal that he is Jewish, joins the Hitler Youth.
- StarsBlair BrownA ten year old Jewish girl, Annemarie and her friend Ellen wonder about life before the war, their life is all about school, shortage of food and the Nazi soldiers storming the town. The Jews of Denmark are relocated and Ellen moves in with Annemarie's family. Annemarie then has to go on a dangerous mission to save Ellen.
- DirectorChristian DuguayStarsDorian Le ClechBatyste FleurialPatrick BruelIn occupied France, Maurice and Joseph, two young Jewish brothers left to their own devices demonstrate an incredible amount of cleverness, courage, and ingenuity to escape the enemy invasion and to try to reunite their family once again.
- DirectorJuraj HerzStarsMark WaschkeKarel RodenBen BeckerA mill owner in the Sudetenland and his family's lives are changed as Europe heats up in 1938.
- DirectorLajos KoltaiStarsMarcell NagyBéla DóraBálint Péntek14-year-old György's life is torn apart in WWII Hungary, as he is deported first to Auschwitz and then to Buchenwald, where he is forced to become a man in the midst of hatred, and what it really means to be Jewish.
- DirectorMark SchmidtStarsJonas ArmstrongBen KingsleyHannah TointonA young man, separated from his family in World War II, disguises himself as a Nazi S.S. Officer and uncovers more than just his family whereabouts.
- DirectorBen CooksonStarsNoah SchnappThomas KretschmannFrederick SchmidtDuring 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.
- DirectorSteven OrittStarsZuzanna SurowyKonrad CichonPawel KrólikowskiSara is a a 13 year-old Polish Jew who finds refuge and is taken in by a farmer and his wife. She soon discovers the dark secrets of her employers' marriage, compounding the greatest secret she must strive to protect, her true identity.
- DirectorDenis MallevalStarsFlore BonaventuraMacha MérilLouise HerreroFrance 1943. Two pretty and different girls, Alice and Lisette, 17, are torn from their families by the Germans and, along with many other Alsatians, sent to labor in Germany.
- DirectorGiorgio DirittiStarsGreta Zuccheri MontanariClaudio CasadioAlba RohrwacherIn the winter of 1943 a young girl named Martina stays silent following the death of her brother several years before. Her mother's pregnancy gives her hope, but as her brother is born the Nazis begin rounding up civilians.
- DirectorPeter MullanStarsEileen WalshDorothy DuffyNora-Jane NooneThree young Irish women struggle to maintain their spirits while they endure dehumanizing abuse as inmates of a Magdalene Sisters Asylum.Not war but systemic abuse of young girls
- DirectorAlan ParkerStarsEmily WatsonRobert CarlyleJoe BreenAn Irish Catholic family returns to 1930s Limerick after a child's death in America. The unemployed I.R.A. veteran father struggles with poverty, prejudice and alcoholism as the family endures harsh slum conditions.Poverty
- DirectorScott HicksStarsEthan HawkeMax von SydowYûki KudôA Japanese-American fisherman is accused of killing his neighbor at sea. In the 1950s, race figures into the trial. So does reporter Ishmael.
- DirectorLukas MoodyssonStarsOksana AkinshinaArtyom BogucharskiyPavel PonomaryovSixteen-year-old Lilja and her only friend, the young boy Volodja, live in Russia, fantasizing about a better life. One day, Lilja falls in love with Andrej, who is going to Sweden, and invites Lilja to come along and start a new life.Human trafficking
- DirectorRudolf van den BergStarsJeroen SpitzenbergerKarl MarkovicsNyncke BeekhuyzenDuring WWII, a member of the Jewish Council of Amsterdam finds a way to spare children from deportation to the death camps.
- DirectorRose BoschStarsJean RenoMélanie LaurentGad ElmalehA faithful retelling of the 1942 "Vel' d'Hiv Roundup" and the events surrounding it.
- DirectorSøren Kragh-JacobsenStarsTomas Villum JensenMorten Buch JørgensenNikolaj Lie KaasA group of school-mates form a resistance group in nazi-occupied Denmark.