Films that Promote Peace & Nonviolence

Suggested by Friends (Quakers)

All Quiet on the Western Front

USA, 1930, B & W, Drama, D: Lewis Milestone, Original book: by Erich Maria Remarque, 105 m
This anti-war movie about German boys in World War I was banned by Hitler, as was the original book

Apocalypse Now

USA, 1979, Drama, D: Frances Ford Coppola, Original Book: The Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad; Stars: Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, Martin Sheen, 150 m
A US special agent is sent up-river into Cambodia during the Vietnam War to kill a rogue officer.

Birdman of Alcatraz, The

USA, 1962, Drama, D: John Frankenheimer, Stars: Burt Lancaster, Thelma Ritter, Karl Malden, 143 m
The film is based on the story of a man named Robert Stroud, imprisoned for life on the island prison of Alcatraz in California who became a world authority on ornithology.

Born on the Fourth of July

USA, 1989, Drama, D: Oliver Stone, Stars: Tom Cruise, Bryan Larkin, 140 m
Ron Kovic, a soldier paralyzed in the Vietnam War, becomes an anti-war organizer.

Catch-22

USA, 1970, Satire, D: Mike Nichols; Original Book: Joseph Heller, Stars: Alan Arkin, Art Garfunkel, 121 m
A US bombardier in W.W. II learns the only way out of the Army is to go crazy; but if you want out, you're not crazy.

Cry, the Beloved Country

USA, 1995, Drama, D: Darrell Roodt, Original Book: Alan Paton, Stars: James Earl Jones, Dembisa Kente, 120 m
In South Africa, a poor Black man, Absolom Kumalo, moves to Johannesburg and falls in with bad company. He is involved in the murder of a good white man. Absolom's brother, preacher Stephen Kumalo (James Earl Jones) is befriended by the white landowner whose son was killed.

Dances with Wolves

USA, 1990, Drama, D: Kevin Costner; Stars: Kevin Costner, Mary McDonnell, Graham Greene (II), 183 m
Posted to Dakota Territory during the US Civil War, Lt. John Dunbar discovers an Indian tribe and turns to Native ways.

Dead Man Walking

USA, 1995, Drama, D: Tim Robbins, Stars: Susan Sarandon, Sean Penn, Robert Prosky, 122 m
A man convicted of murder and awaiting execution on death row writes to a nun, who works to set him free. Film is based on the true story of Sister Helen Prejean, a Louisiana nun who tried to end the death penalty in the USA.

Dr. Strangelove, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

UK, 1963, B & W, Comedy, D: Stanley Kubrick, Stars: Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, Keenan Wynn, 104 m
A rogue US general, convinced of a Communist plot, sends a bomber to the Soviet Union, which could trigger a Doomsday Device if attacked

Fahrenheit 451

France, 1967, Drama, D: Francois Truffaut, Stars: Julie Christie, Oskar Werner, Cheryl Cusack, Original book: by Ray Bradbury, 111 m
Truffaut's only film in English, the film portrays a civilization where all books are banned.

For Whom the Bell Tolls

USA, 1943, Drama, D: Sam Wood, Original Book: Ernest Hemingway, Stars: Ingrid Bergman, Gary Cooper, 170 m
A young soldier fighting for the Republic in the Spanish Civil War, has one night of romance before battle

Friendly Persuasion

USA, 1956, Drama, D: William Wyler, Original Book: Jessamyn West, Stars: Gary Cooper, Dorothy McGuire, Marjorie Main, Anthony Perkins, 140 m
A Quaker family in Indiana struggles to keep the Peace Testimony during the Civil War.

Gandhi

UK/India, 1982, Drama, D: Richard Attenborough, Stars: Ben Kingsley, Candice Bergen, Edward Fox, John Gielgud, 188 m
The life of Mohandas Gandhi, from his youth in South Africa to law school in England to his remarkable nonviolent campaign for Indian independence.

Hiding Place, The

USA, 1975, Drama, D: James F. Collier, Stars: Jeanette Cliff, Julie Harris, Eileen Heckart,
Two sisters, Corrie and Betsie ten Boom, shelter Jews in Holland during the German occupation and are discovered sent to a concentration camp.

Killing Fields, The

UK, 1984, Drama, D Roland Joffe, Stars: Sam Waterson, Haing S. Ngor, 141 m
Dith Pran, aide to NYT journalist Sydney Schanberg in Vietnam, stays behind as the war ends, and the horror of Pol Pot's Cambodia unfolds.

http://www.filmsite.org/kill.html Movie Review by Tim Dirks

Lord of the Flies

USA, 1990, Drama, D: Harry Hook, Original book: by William Golding, 90 m
British schoolboys, shipwrecked on an island, are divided. Half follow the civilized, rational Ralph and half follow Jack, the leader of the tribe of militarists.

Red Badge of Courage

USA, 1951, Drama, D: John Huston, Original Book: Stephen Crane, Stars: Smith Ballew, Whit Bissell, 69 m
A soldier in the Civil War vacillates between courage and cowardice, and rallies to fight again.

Russians are Coming, the Russians are Coming, The

USA, 1966, Comedy, D: Norman Jewison, Original Book: The Off-Islanders, by Nathaniel Benchley, Stars: Carl Reiner, Eva Marie Sainte, Alan Arkin, 120 m
A Russian submarine lands off New England during the Cold War and negotiates with the town

Schindler's List

USA, 1993, D: Steven Spielberg, Stars: Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, Ralph Fiennes, Carolyn Goodall, 197 m
German businessman Oskar Schindler saves more than 1,000 Jews from the Holocaust in Germany.

Sergeant York

USA, 1941, D: Humphrey Hawks, Stars: Gary Cooper, Walter Brennan, Joan Leslie, 134 m
A pacifist, drafted in the US Army in W.W.I, turns into a military hero.

Shenandoah

USA, 1965, Drama, D: Andrew McLaglan, Stars: James Stewart, Doug McClure, Glenn Corbett, 105 m
A farmer in Virginia tries valiantly to keep out of the Civil War.

To Kill a Mockingbird

USA, 1962, Drama, D: Robert Mulligan, Original Book: Harper Lee, Stars: Gregory Peck, Mary Badham, Robert Duvall, 129 m
A white Southern lawyer defends a black man accused of raping a white woman.

War, The

USA, 1994, D: Jon Avnet, Stars: Elijah Wood, Kevin Costner, Mare Winningham, 127 m
A Southern US veteran, psychologically injured by the Vietnam War, tries to teach his children peace.