We can be heroes: 20 best movies based on real-life military operations

After a number of terrorist attacks on a U.S. diplomatic compound in Libya on September 11, 2012, a small team of soldiers were forced to defend the facility in order to save the lives of themselves and the others inside. These weren’t U.S. Army soldiers, however, but private military contractors from Global Response Staff (a division of the Central Intelligence Agency), making the story all the more remarkable. However, it’s worth noting that many details of “13 Hours: The Secret Story of Benghazi” have been disputed, casting some controversy over the Michael Bay-directed movie. 

John Krasinski stars in the film alongside David Denman, who famously appeared with Krasinski on “The Office.” We say “famously” because Denman portrayed Roy, the fiance that Pam (Jenna Fischer) left in favor of Krasinski’s Jim character.

This list isn’t just limited to American operations, as evidenced by our inclusion of “Anthropoid,” the 2016 drama film about the Czechoslovak government-in-exile’s assassination of the high-ranking German Nazi official Reinhard Heydrich on May 27, 1942. The title comes from Operation Anthropoid, the code name given to the mission, which didn’t result in Heydrich’s immediate death, although he succumbed to his injuries from the attack a week later. Despite strong performances by Cillian Murphy, Jamie Dornan, and Toby Jones, as well as a generally positive reception from critics, “Anthropoid” failed to win any major awards, including a single one of its 12 nominations at the Czech Lion Awards.

Although military personnel weren’t directly involved for the most part, the “Canadian Caper” was still a government operation undertaken by Canadian officials and the CIA in January 1980. Under the guise of scouting locations for a fictitious sci-fi film named “Argo,” two CIA agents rescued six American diplomats (who evaded capture during the seizure of the American Embassy in Tehran, Iran) by pretending all eight individuals were part of the aforementioned film’s crew. The caper was a success and later immortalized in the Ben Affleck-directed film “Argo,” which, despite criticisms of downplaying the major role of the Canadians, earned Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Film Editing.

NATO’s Operation Deny Flight enforced a UN no-fly zone above Bosnia and Herzegovina between April 1993 and December 1995. It played a crucial role in shaping the Bosnian War and included an air battle over Banja Luka, the first combat engagement in NATO history, and the Mrkonjić Grad incident, in which U.S. Air Force pilot Scott O’Grady was shot down by Serbian forces. O’Grady evaded capture by the Serbs for nearly a week before being rescued, and his story was loosely adapted into the 2001 film “Behind Enemy Lines,” with Owen Wilson playing a character based on O’Grady. Although the actual O'Grady gave the film a positive review, he later sued 20th Century Fox for both misleading the public and using his story for financial gain. O’Grady lost in court when it was ruled that a person’s story is not the same as their protected likeness or image.

Ridley Scott’s “Black Hawk Down” was based on the 1999 book of the same name by Mark Bowden, which was inspired by the true events of a 1993 raid in Mogadishu, Somalia. The goal of the “Battle of Mogadishu” (or “Day of the Rangers”) was to capture military commander and political leader Mohamed Farrah Aidid, but the plan went awry when Aidid’s supporters shot down a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter. “Black Hawk Down” won Oscars for Best Film Editing and Best Sound Mixing, in addition to two other nods.

Being hijacked and taken hostage by armed pirates in the Indian Ocean is a dire situation, but few dire situations are too tall of a task for the U.S. Navy’s SEAL Team Six. After Captain Richard Phillips of the Maersk Alabama container ship was taken hostage by four Somali pirates, the SEALs eventually required only six or seven sniper shots to kill three pirates and capture another, successfully rescuing Phillips. Tom Hanks starred in a film adaptation of the event, which received six Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay.

Often referred to as the largest covert operation in history, “Operation Cyclone” was the name given to the assistance received by the Afghan mujahideen from the CIA and U.S. Representative Charlie Wilson during the Afghan-Soviet war of the 1980s. In addition to financial support of about $20 billion, Afghanistan also received an enormous supply of arms, including anti-aircraft missiles. The operation was brought to the big screen in 2007 as “Charlie Wilson’s War,” with Tom Hanks (again!) in the titular role.

“Downfall” is set over the last 10 days of Adolf Hitler’s reign and life, in the midst of the Battle of Berlin, which was the clash between the Soviet Union’s Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation (the last major offensive of WWII on European soil) and the Germans’ Operation Clausewitz defense. It is a grim but highly acclaimed German film (known in the nation as “Der Untergang”) that earned an Oscar nod for Best Foreign Language Film and heaps of praise for Bruno Ganz’s portrayal of Hitler. Even if you’ve never watched the movie, you’ve likely seen one of the parodies of the famous “Hitler rant” scene, which has been spoofed countless times since the film’s 2004 release.

The Dunkirk evacuation, a.k.a Operation Dynamo, involved the rescue of more than 338,000 Allied soldiers stranded on the beaches of France during World War II between May 26 and June 4, 1940. The evacuation of the Belgian, British, and French troops was the same mission referenced by Winston Churchill in his iconic “we shall fight on the beaches” speech, and the inspiration not only for Christopher Nolan’s “Dunkirk” (which won Best Film Editing, Sound Editing, and Sound Mixing at the 90th Academy Awards) but also a 1958 film of the same name, among others.

Although some of the details were fictionalized, many of the characters (portrayed by an all-star cast consisting of Jude Law, Joseph Fiennes, Rachel Weisz, Ed Harris, Ron Perlman, and Bob Hoskins) in “Enemy at the Gates” were real people participating in the very-real Battle of Stalingrad in the winter of 1942 and 1943. Specifically, the 2001 Jean-Jacques Annaud film (which is based on a 1973 book of the same name by William Craig) deals with an ongoing feud and eventual duel between two rival snipers: one on the Soviet side and one on the German side.

The successful escape from the German-controlled Stalag Luft III POW camp in Żagań, Poland, portrayed in 1963’s “The Great Escape” was an actual event recounted in a book of the same name by former Australian fighter pilot Paul Brickhill. Many details of the event were changed for the film, including an exaggeration of the role of American soldiers in order to include actors Steve McQueen, James Garner, Richard Attenborough, and Charles Bronson. However, the characters are still mostly composites of real soldiers involved in the famous tunnel-based escape of 76 men. 

Just two months after Clint Eastwood released “Flags of Our Fathers,” a war film based on the famous flag-raising during the Battle of Iwo Jima, the iconic director released another film, “Letters from Iwo Jima,” which portrayed the Japanese side of the operation. While the first movie focuses on a single incident and its aftermath in the years and decades that followed, “Letters from Iwo Jima” specifically centers on the battle itself, as the Japanese accepted defeat at the hands of Allied troops. Although both pictures were praised, the latter earned a bit more attention, as well as four Academy Award nominations and a win for Best Sound Editing.

Operation Red Wings was supposed to disrupt local Afghan militia activity in the Pech District of the Kunar Province, but if you’ve seen “Lone Survivor,” you’ll know the 2005 mission was a spectacular failure. Numerous special operations forces were involved, and tragically, 19 US Army soldiers and Navy SEALs died, leaving SEAL Marcus Luttrell as the titular lone survivor. He was portrayed by Mark Wahlberg in the 2013 film, alongside actors Taylor Kitsch, Emile Hirsch, Ben Foster, and Eric Bana.

After the 1972 Munich massacre in which 11 Israeli Olympic athletes and a German police officer were killed by the Black September Palestinian terrorist organization, Israel’s Mossad launched Operation Wrath of God in order to assassinate the individuals behind the plot. The events were depicted in Steven Spielberg’s 2005 film “Munich,” which also discussed the morality behind the actions of both sides of the conflict. “Munich” received five Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director, but failed to capitalize on any.

The exact events of “Saving Private Ryan” were fictionalized—namely the actual rescue of a soldier named Private Ryan—but the film’s first 27 minutes have been praised as being one of the most accurate representations of Operation Overlord (better known to the public as D-Day) ever produced. From the equipment to the strategy to the heavy amount of casualties, Spielberg perfectly captured the Allies’ storming of the Normandy beaches, and the film won Oscars for Best Director, Cinematography, Sound Mixing, Film Editing, and Sound Effects Editing, in addition to six other nods.

“The Thin Red Line” is mostly known for its all-star cast, which includes Sean Penn, Adrien Brody, Jim Caviezel, George Clooney, John Cusack, Woody Harrelson, Nick Nolte, John C. Reilly, and John Travolta. It’s also known for illustrating a fictionalized version of the Battle of Mount Austen, part of World War II’s Guadalcanal Campaign that took place between August 7, 1942 and February 9, 1943. The battle was a big victory for Allied forces in the Pacific, and a major factor in Japan’s eventual surrender.

On July 20, 1944, Claus von Stauffenberg and several co-conspirators attempted to assassinate Adolf Hitler in a military complex in East Prussia. Although the bomb was successfully detonated during a conference in which the Führer was present, he, of course, survived. Three German military officials died in the blast, but this was nothing compared to the almost 4,000 people who were executed or killed themselves after being arrested by the Gestapo in connection with the plot. Tom Cruise starred in the 2008 film adaptation of the Operation Valkyrie mission, which was said to mirror the actual events quite well.

A dramatized take on the Vietnam War’s Battle of Ia Drang, “We Were Soldiers” stars Mel Gibson, Madeleine Stowe, Greg Kinnear, and Sam Elliott. The battle took place over five days in November 1964, and involved the first large-scale helicopter air assault and the first use of B-52 strategic bombers in a tactical support role. Although not all of the film’s facts are indeed factual, U.S. Army General Hal Moore (who wrote the book on which the movie was based) stated that it was nevertheless the first one “to get it right.”

When producer Euan Lloyd was watching news coverage of the 1980 Iranian Embassy siege in London, and Operation Nimrod—the Special Air Service mission to storm the building and rescue 24 of the hostages inside—he knew it would make an entertaining movie. But he’d have to act quickly, lest the idea get snatched up by another filmmaker. So journalist George Markstein immediately wrote a synopsis, James Follett worked to turn it into a novel, and as each chapter was completed, Reginald Rose penned the screenplay for “Who Dares Wins.” Although critics were mixed in their reviews, audiences generally enjoyed the 1982 British political thriller.

Nearly a decade after Osama bin Laden masterminded the September 11th terrorist attacks, the Al-Qaeda founder was finally located and killed in Pakistan. A year-and-a-half later, a film was released about the exhaustive manhunt to track him down, and Operation Neptune Spear, the top secret CIA and Navy SEAL mission that resulted in his death. “Zero Dark Thirty” was directed by Kathryn Bigelow (of “The Hurt Locker” fame) and won an Academy Award, despite numerous criticisms of the film’s accuracy.