30 Best Military Romance Movies To Watch Now

Few things bring out humanity's boundless capacity for love like wartime. That may sound strange, but times of strife and battle — be they on a grand or small scale — call on people to really focus on their priorities. To search within themselves for those things that mean the most, and to cherish those precious moments of happiness above all else — precisely because they are so scarce and short-lived. Perhaps that is why there is no romance like the ones set against the backdrop of war, or in a tight-knit military setting where tensions run high and passions require a fervorous outlet. As the weather turns colder and we look to cuddle up with a heartwarming, tear-jerking, emotional overload of romantic feelings, we've got just the thing. Here are some of the very best military romances out there to satisfy even your most ardent yearnings for shirtless soldiers, forbidden feelings, historic backdrops, or flirtatious banter.

Set in Germany after World War II, "The Aftermath" tells the story of the truly terrible idea for British soldiers stationed there to bring their wives along and take over civilian homes. Lewis Morgan (Jason Clarke) and his wife Rachael (Keira Knightley) lost their young son to the blitz, and really have no business being anywhere near Germany in their fractured state. Yet there they are, in Hamburg, occupying the home of German architect Stephen (Alexander Skarsgård), and his young teen daughter Freda (Flora Thiemann), who lost their wife and mother when the British took the city. 

Unfortunately, Lewis is unable to cope with his feelings of loss and has distanced himself from Rachael, while Freda resents her father's surrendering of their home and her mother's things to the people who killed her. This unmooring of both Rachael and Stephen from their familiar, safe support systems leaves them aimless and seeking emotional sustenance. They fall into each other's arms and eventually their hearts as well. It's an underrated film — okay, technically it was eviscerated by critics — but it's beautifully shot and scored, with ardent performances by both Knightley and Skarsgård. Come for the romance, stay for the very sexy encounters, and be rewarded at the end with the imminent loss of something dear helping to break down the protective walls one's erected.

It's hard to argue with "Atonement's" cast of powerhouse actors, dozens of award nominations, and iconic green dress that's a sensation unto itself. It also marked the first time most Americans got a taste of Saoirse Ronan, Juno Temple, and Benedict Cumberbatch. "Atonement" further cemented the serious acting chops of Keira Knightley and James McAvoy, and is a compelling tale that draws the viewer in. A child's spitefulness mixed with a fundamental misunderstanding of events, followed by a horrific crime, leads to the separation of two lovers across time and destiny as England gets ravaged by World War II. "Atonement" pulls no punches, but miraculously these two still get their happy ending. Or do they?

Despite an overwhelming number of positive reviews, the film did receive a bit of backlash for its irresponsible handling of the adaptation of Ian McEwan's novel and the shocking reveal of an unreliable narrator at the end of the film that upends the story we've just witnessed. No longer the inspiration of love enduring against impossible odds, it becomes a self-serving fiction necessitated thanks to the love denied by injustice and cruel twists of fate. But it is hard to argue with that other stuff. Regardless, it's all worth it for that dress.

"Casablanca" is a film so etched into the firmament of Hollywood history it's almost easy to forget it's a war movie. But with action taking place within the Vichy French puppet regime, extending all the way into a colonized Morocco. Following leaders of the Czech Resistance (among other refugees) escaping from the clutches of Germany, "Casablanca" actually deals with some of the more obscure and far-reaching aspects of World War II than any other film of its era. Moreover, Rick (Humphrey Bogart) and Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) are easily one of the top movie couples of all time, and they aren't even together as a couple except in flashbacks. 

Of course, such a film could never be made today if only because Ilsa's fate is being decided solely by the men in her life at the end of the film — Victor (Paul Henreid) telling Rick to run away with her to safety since he is wanted by the Reich, Rick schooling Ilsa on why she has to get on the plane with Victor — but thankfully we don't need another film like it. We have this one, and it is nearly perfect. Ranked the number one best love story of all time by the American Film Institute (not just a war-related love story, but the best love story of kind), and the number three movie ever, how could you say otherwise?

Honing in on the devastating effects Vietnam had on the American homefront, "Coming Home" follows conservative Sally (Jane Fonda) and her life-changing experience volunteering at the local veteran's hospital. The film explores duty, self-expression, love, loyalty, and tragedy. It doesn't shy away from the truly horrible nature of PTSD, as two soldiers die by suicide after suffering its effects. It also confronts head-on the reality of soldiers returning as amputees or paraplegics — such as Sally's new love Luke (Jon Voight) — who have to somehow assimilate back into "normal" life even though society will make no concessions for them. It's a touching, heartrending film that pulls no punches and yet is unabashedly loving.

In her acceptance speech after being awarded the best actress Oscar for her role in "Coming Home," Jane Fonda incorporated signing to acknowledge the many invisible disabilities millions of Americans live with every day. A small gesture, to be sure, and one that didn't quite fit in with the themes of her film, but her heart, as ever, was in the right place.

If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline​ by dialing 988 or by calling 1-800-273-TALK (8255)​.

"The English Patient" is notorious, but unless one counts the decision to fully obscure Ralph Fiennes's face in his role as "the patient," it can't really be considered innovative. The Boston Globe — and, okay, most of the 69th Academy Awards — disagrees. The story concerns forbidden love, with László (Fiennes) and Katharine (Kristin Scott Thomas) developing shy, tentative feelings that turn to heavy passion. Separated by the onset of WWII and Katharine's (justified) fear of her husband finding out, things collapse when said husband (Colin Firth) manages to kill himself and mortally wound Katharine in a fiery plane crash intended to strike and kill László as well. And that's just the flashbacks. There's an entire secondary romance building in the film's present, between László's nurse Hana (Juliette Binoche) and bomb removal technician Kip (Naveen Andrews) which is much sweeter, purer, and more delicate. 

And just for fun, there's also a mysterious search for a traitor, a seller of military secrets, led by Caravaggio (Willem Dafoe). "The English Patient" won a slew of trophies, so it's certified prestigious. And the Oscars were definitely right about awarding best supporting actress to Binoche. She's the emotional core of this gorgeously shot and directed film.

"Firebird" is something of a unicorn. Homosexual military romances have existed since the advent of soldiers, but films with gay relationships are still a rare find. Gay romance films based on actual events that took place where homosexuality was illegal and remains illegal to this day — such as "Firebird" — are acts of bravery, plain and simple. 

Another way "Firebird" stands out is by not shying away from the ambiguous feelings the lovers have for their situation. They are drawn to each other, yes, but Roman (Oleg Zagorodnii) is acutely aware of the dangers associated with engaging in an affair with another man, both as a citizen of the USSR and as a member of their military. Moreover, Roman's wife Luisa (Diana Pozharskaya) feels hurt, betrayed, and disgusted by their deception, in equal measure. She pulls no punches. Sergey (Tom Prior) and Roman's passion is filmed with ardor and acceptance, but their situation is not whitewashed with tolerance. The complications fuel the authenticity, and what results is a compelling picture.

It's impossible to say how many millions of people over the past seven decades have endured gritty, uncomfortable trysts on a beach thanks to "From Here to Eternity," but it's definitely up there. The moment Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr roll around in the sand and surf, so impassioned that they're unaware of the saltwater film on their skin or the crushed shells in their swimsuits, is still so enthralling to watch it's easily the most famous beach scene of any film. 

The movie itself, based on the novel of the same name by James Jones, explores the languid, carefree existence of life on a Hawaiian military base in the weeks and days leading up to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. It's not that the soldiers were lax, but the atmosphere was one of boxing matches, petty conflicts, and blossoming flirtations. Defenses were down, and everyone was at ease. The sharp turn in the fates of the characters after the bombings serves as a sobering reminder of the havoc and upheaval war wreaks on a life. Some of the content hasn't aged very well, but the performances remain unforgettable.

"Indochine" is an epic tale of Vietnam from its time as part of occupied French Indochina through the Communist uprising that would ultimately result in France's withdrawal from the continent and Vietnam's newly gained independence as separate countries North and South. Starring ethereal beauty Catherine Deneuve as Éliane, a French plantation owner outside of Saigon, "Indochine" is a rather convoluted tale. It starts with Éliane striking up an affair with a handsome naval officer named Jean-Baptiste (Vincent Perez), then falls into chaos as her adopted daughter Camille (Linh-Dan Pham) mistakenly believes they are in love when he happens to save her life. As you do. 

That misunderstanding turns into real, passionate love between the two, and eventually a harrowing tale of escape and survival between them as they flee French authorities on the mainland, have a child together, and try to escape to China. Sadly, Camille is separated from her family as Jean-Baptiste and their son are apprehended by the French and the former is soon killed. Camille is eventually caught too and held for many years until the Communists come to power and she is released to join them in fighting for independence, choosing her nation over her son.

While the plot may be overwrought and overlong, the cinematography makes it all worth it, per Roger Ebert. The sweeping vistas and stunning landscapes are simply breathtaking, and no doubt contributed to the film's Oscar win for best foreign language film that year.

The original theatrical trailer for "The Mortal Storm" is an oddity, because it goes out of its way to not reveal any details of the film, rather directing the audience to the novel on which the film is based, saying it has to be seen to be appreciated. Furthermore, it makes the astounding decision to quote reviews of the book, such as that from the New York Herald Tribune, calling it a "beautiful young love story," referring to the lovely Freya (Margaret Sullivan) rejecting the man she was supposed to marry when he goes in with the Reich, turning instead to the loving, righteous arms of Martin (Jimmy Stewart). 

That same review, according to Turner Classic Movies, lamented the dated feeling of a movie that dealt with events that were still shocking and weighty when production began but old news by the time the film was released to theaters. It's true, news cycles in times of war and conflict move much faster than that of the Hollywood studio system, so it's no wonder audiences were rather lukewarm to it at the time. However, eight decades later "The Mortal Storm" has a 100% Fresh rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes. The film was so effective in its critique of Nazism that it prompted Joseph Goebbels to ban it and every further MGM film from distribution throughout Germany and its occupied territories. Now that's an impact.

Set amid the strained landscape of the West Bank, "Omar" is a Palestinian film about the sheer impossibility of living in this environment and not having it inform your whole existence. For the film, this message manifests in the life of the titular character, played by Adam Bakri, Nadia (Leem Lubany), the girl he loves, and the lives of his friends Tarek and Amjad (Eyad Hourani and Samer Bisharat, respectively). 

The boys start out as inseparable as brothers, but when Omar is caught crossing the wall along the West Bank to visit Nadia, a domino effect of hardships envelops the foursome. They enter an endless exchange of blows and retaliations between themselves and the Israeli guards across the way. The boys wind up fighting as much against one another as they do the soldiers, as all of their identities and the trust they had built within their friendship and their community have been compromised. All Omar has left is his love for Nadia, but she might be lost forever too. "Omar" is a bittersweet love story set against tragedy in a war-torn region.

One of Melanie Griffith's best assets is her pluckiness, and "Shining Through" rests a lot of its appeal on it. Griffith plays Linda Voss, an Irish-Jewish daughter of immigrants living in Queens in the 1930s and '40s. She is soft-spoken but assertive and unafraid to voice her opinions.

While job hunting has her batting up against young women with degrees from places like the Seven Sisters colleges, she stumbles into a position as the private secretary of a mysterious man named Ed Leland (Michael Douglas), whom she's instantly drawn to. With war already raging in Europe, however, and tensions building in America, Linda soon discovers the company she works for is a front and Ed is a spy. The two begin a romance but it falls apart once the US enters the war in December 1941. 

As events unfold, Linda uses her sheer force of will and that unflagging pluck to land herself a spy mission in Berlin, where the help and hindrance of characters played by gifted actors John Gielgud, Joely Richardson, and Liam Neeson leads her into a deadly battle and back into Ed's arms. Critics, for the most part, didn't like this level of melodrama, giving it a Rotten Tomatoes score of just 41%, but the audience score is nearly twice that. Pluck and common charm, it seems, are valuable assets indeed.

Can a documentary be romantic? According to "Surviving the Silence" director Cindy L. Abel, romance is the very heart of this story and what drew her into it. The original story involved the events surrounding the military discharge of Colonel Margarethe Cammermeyer after she disclosed she was a lesbian to a security clearance council, as depicted in the 1995 TV movie "Serving in Silence" starring Glenn Close. 

The lead member of the council investigating Cammermeyer's case, it turns out, was army nurse Colonel Pat Thompson, also a lesbian living in secret under the supposed tolerance of don't ask don't tell. Her story of a lifetime hiding who she was from almost everyone, as it crashes up against her forced complicity in Cammermeyer's ouster, is where "Surviving the Silence" takes the reins. The care and caution both Pat and her eventual wife Barbara had to take, not knowing who might discover their secret, be it a neighbor or a coworker or someone listening in on a phone call, is incredibly moving. Through it all, it's their love that drives them forward, that keeps them going, and that ultimately leads Pat to find a way to perform her duty while also doing right by Colonel Cammermeyer.

There are a few love stories of note in the 1986 phenomenon "Top Gun." First, there's Pete "Maverick" Mitchell (Tom Cruise) wooing Charlie (Kelly McGillis) from those first off-key strains of "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling." Second, there is the absolute top-shelf relationship goals marriage of Goose (Anthony Edwards) and Carole (Meg Ryan), honed down to its quintessential essence in one perfect single scene. 

Thirdly, and perhaps most indelibly, there is the volleyball scene that opened up an entire generation of young teens to their sexuality. "Homoerotic" is not nearly sufficient enough of a word to describe it, as Dave Holmes wrote for Esquire prior to the summer release of the sequel "Top Gun: Maverick," if for no other reason than it connotes merely a suggestion of homosexual desire, whereas Holmes argues the intention is blatant. Turns out he's not wrong. Even late director Tony Scott said of the scene, "I didn't have a vision of what I was doing other than just doing soft porn." 

It must be noted, too, girls saw also "Top Gun" in droves. And if those girls liked boys, they liked that scene. It was an honest-to-god cultural touchstone moment for just about anyone at a formative age in 1986, because suddenly in the middle of a crowded movie theater, they all, en masse, found that loving feeling.

Set during World War I, "A Very Long Engagement" is the story of two affianced lovers separated by the battlefield, then kept apart even longer as Manech (Gaspard Ulliel) is presumed dead following a brutal punishment by the French government for trying to be sent home and Mathilde (Audrey Tautou) searches for the answers as to what happened to him and his fellow soldiers. 

The sweeping landscapes provide some breathtaking cinematography, and lush warm hues enrich the atmosphere of everything they touch, prompting critic Richard Roeper to say, "Visually it is one of the most impressive films of the year." That stunning beauty may seem fitting for the typical emotional resonance of an epic war romance, and rightly so. 

The film is not all grand emotional melodrama, however. Mixing the soaring emotions of a love story amid the horrors of war with whimsy both fanciful and dark, "A Very Long Engagement" becomes something more than its parts. David Edelstein at Slate said "It gave the feeling of a macabre fable," and that director Jean-Pierre Jeunet "is lyrical even when gliding through vast, infernal trenches, past hideously mutilated bodies." That sounds like an engagement worth committing to.

"The Year of Living Dangerously" is perhaps best remembered as the film Linda Hunt won the best supporting actress Oscar for her role playing a man – albeit a role with "layers of sexual ambiguity," per a 1986 BOMB interview. The film follows novice reporter Guy Hamilton (Mel Gibson) and UK Embassy worker Jill Bryant (Sigourney Weaver) taking place during a real-life military coup of the Indonesian government in 1965. 

When Guy arrives still wet behind the ears, it's only the proffered friendship of photographer Billy Kwan (Hunt) that gets him any contacts in Indonesia whatsoever. It's also through Billy that Guy and Jill meet and become romantically involved. As military tensions rise and all evidence points to a coming rebellion, the need to flee Jakarta is obvious. Billy is killed, however, and Guy's ambition leads him to want to stay to cover the rebellion. He gets caught in a melee at the presidential palace and suffers a serious eye injury. Only as he's recuperating at the home of his late friend does he realize his judgment has been clouded by all the wrong things, and what's important is being with Jill.