At their best, war movies allow viewers to walk in soldiers' boots, recognize their heroic sacrifices, and sympathize with their traumatic experiences in profound ways. Yet, while the war genre is nearly as old as the cinematic format, there are far fewer examples of guerrilla warfare depicted on screen compared to large industrial military skirmishes among warring nations.
Guerrilla warfare pertains to militias, rebels, citizens, and non-military forces that use unconventional fighting methods to overcome their disadvantages on the battlefield.
With Alex Garland's Civil War headed toward theaters in April 2024, it's worth wondering how the film will stack up with the all-time best movies featuring gritty and intense guerrilla warfare. After all, the most memorable examples tend to use guerrilla filmmaking tactics to mirror the chaotic environment of a violent conflict.
Here are the 10 grittiest war movies that feature guerilla tactics.
10 The Battle of Algiers (1966)
In what still remains the most important, realistic, and harrowing example on record, Gillo Pontecorvo's The Battle of Algiers is the best of its kind. With stunning documentary-like naturalism, the movie depicts the Algerian Revolution during the 1950s, showing perspectives from the Algerian and French sides of the war.
Vastly overpowered by the French forces, the Algerian nationals rally and fight back by any means necessary, demonstrating an unbreakable triumph of will. Apart from blazing the trail for more guerrilla war movies to come, the shocking authenticity of the movie is hard to beat.
Beyond the intensity of the battles, bombings, and torture, the grittiness derives from the hasty hand-held camera work, documentary-like newsreel footage, fly-on-the-wall spectatorship, and other impromptu techniques that make viewers feel as if they are right there in the middle of the skirmish when watching the experimental '60s movie.
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9 State of Siege (1972)
Greek filmmaker Costa-Gavras is known for making the most provocative political thrillers on record. In his 1972 film State of Siege, the director focuses on the revolutionary war between the Uruguayan government and the Tupamaro Guerrillas in the early '70s to tell a gritty tale about the fog of war. The plot concerns an American counter-insurgent trainer who is kidnapped by guerrillas in South America and the intense clash of wits, weapons, and wiles that ensues.
Similar to The Battle of Algiers, State of Siege was based on a contemporary true story that adds to the urgency and immediacy of the film. The events depicted in the film occurred just three years before the movie was made, giving it a sense of gritty realism that's hard to resist. In fact, Costa-Gavras took the writer of The Battle of Algiers, Franco Solinas, to Uruguay to help him develop the story. The result combines gritty action with a morally murky message that bears repeat viewings.
Stream State of Siege on The Criterion Channel
8 The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)
Directed by and starring Clint Eastwood, The Outlaw Josey Wales is an action-packed affair set during the American Civil War. The story follows Josey Wales, an ex-farmer from Missouri who joins a band of Confederate guerrillas with plans to avenge the Northerners who slaughtered his family. Although it is not based on a true story per se, the hyper-violent grittiness is beyond reproach.
Past the ultra-grisly shootouts and brutal acts of violence, Josey's strange relation to the guerrillas in the movie is genuinely compelling. On one hand, Josey is a gruff loner hell-bent on avenging his fallen family. On the other, he slowly becomes the de facto leader of a group of displaced westward settlers, gradually assuming a messianic role that guides them toward salvation.
As far as Westerns go, the movie refreshingly bucks traditional conventions. As a movie about guerrilla warfare, the film mines American history to tell a personal and national story at once.
Rent The Outlaw Josey Wales on Apple TV
7 Dune (1984, 2021-2024)
Dune (1984)
- Release Date
- December 14, 1984
- Rating
- PG-13
Adapted from the classic Frank Herbert sci-fi classic, Dune is a epic-scale story of intergalactic war. On the surface, the tale follows Paul Atriedes, a noble from House Atreides who must fight an intense war for control of the desert planet Arrakis. Along the way, Paul joins forces with the Fremen, a group of warriors who resort to inventive guerrilla tactics to defeat Arrakis' imperial forces.
While perhaps not as rooted in history as the others, there's no denying how brave and barbarous the guerrilla warriors are in Dune. Whether David Lynch's or Denis Villeneuve's version, the Fremen navigate the terrain by riding sandworms, relying on ambushes and surprise attacks to harm their enemies, and on the part of the Infiltrators, using invisibility to pit the Arrakis landscape against the imperials.
The Skirmishers provide grenades, the Fedaykins fashion crysknives, and the Kulon caravans provide stealth to ensure the guerrilla warfare tactics succeed.
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6 Red Dawn (1984)
John Milius' Red Dawn channels American fears and paranoia of Cold War movies and turns that into the potential for World War III. The story imagines the sudden invasion of the U.S. by Russian forces, prompting a ragtag band of young Americans known as the Wolverines to round up makeshift weapons, fight back, and defend their country to death in the rural mountains of Colorado.
The Wolverines display the exact sort of creativity and ingenuity one might expect from a guerrilla gang. Using an opponent's strength against them is one of the primary tenets of guerrilla warfare, and the Wolverines go to hyper-violent extremes to overcome their military disadvantage and risk their lives to prevent the Soviets from seizing control of America.
Red Dawn is a macho and muscular action movie that concludes by honoring the underage guerrillas who bravely banded together and sacrificed their lives for the betterment of their country.
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5 Salvador (1986)
Oliver Stone is no stranger to war movies. Yet while most fans celebrate Stone's Best Picture-winning Platoon, Salvador was released the same year to much less fanfare. Which is a shame, as it's arguably the best movie that employs guerrilla filmmaking tactics to directly reflect the guerrilla warfare taking place in the movie.
Salvador stars James Woods as Richard Boyle, a war photographer assigned to cover a revolution in Central America, where he gets caught in a whirlwind of political intrigue. Prompted by the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero, Boyle heads to El Salvador and is immediately immersed in the visceral civil war that pulls his loyalties in opposite directions.
The local guerrillas want Boyle to snap photos of the war for the American press, while the Americans want Boyle to capture photos of the rebel forces. Despite the moral ambiguity, few movies about guerrilla warfare are as engaging, unsettling, and violently chaotic.
Stream Salvador on Tubi
4 Ride With the Devil (1999)
Directed by Ang Lee with remarkable aplomb, Ride with the Devil takes place during the American Civil War in the 1860s. The story concerns Jake (Tobey Maguire) and Jack (Skeet Ulrich), two friends from Missouri who join the Bushwhacker militia when the war breaks out, and utilize low-tech guerrilla methods to defend the Confederacy. Despite a wistful romantic subplot, the guerrilla fighting action is on par with best in class.
Known as The Irregulars, Jake and Jack employ several guerrilla tactics to fight the Jayhawkers, leading to the latter becoming gravely injured on the battlefield. Between the violent raids, ambushes, amputations, gangrene contraction, and harsh winter conditions, Lee emphasizes the unforgivable nature of war in the film.
The gritty action reaches a fever pitch when the Irregulars are chased by Union troops in the woods, culminating in a blistering shootout replete with lethal violence.
Rent Ride with the Devil on Apple TV
3 Che (2008)
Directed by Steven Soderbergh with riveting verve, Che is one of the finest made and most important war movies on record. Marked by a tour-de-force performance by Benicio Del Toro as famed Marxist revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara, the sprawling two-part epic charts the brutally violent Cuban and Bolivian Revolutions. Shot in a gritty cinéma vérité style, the movie has a lifelike documentary quality that adds to its authenticity.
Beyond the ambitious size and scope of the four-hour epic and the incredible attention to detail of the on-location film shoot, it's the historical import that gives Che such dramatic weight. On Par with The Battle of Algiers and State of Siege, the movie is rooted in reality, focuses on real-life revolutionary figures, and goes to tremendously visceral lengths to depict the heroism required to lead a guerrilla army.
Stream Che on AMC+
2 Beasts of No Nation (2015)
Beasts of No Nation
- Release Date
- September 11, 2015
- Cast
- Abraham Attah , Emmanuel Affadzi , Ricky Adelayitor , Andrew Adote , Vera Nyarkoah Antwi , Ama Abebrese
- Runtime
- 133
Written and directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga, Beasts of No Nation takes place in an unnamed West African country ravaged by war. The stellar Netflix war movie follows Agu (Abraham Attah), a young African boy who rises to prominence as a gallant guerrilla soldier protecting his land and his people during a grueling civil war.
With the African government fighting a gritty war with rebels on the ground, Agu flees into the jungle before allying with the Native Defense Forces (NFD). Agu's time in the NFD is incredibly harrowing from the start, when he's forced into a ruthless initiation ritual that requires him to chop an innocent victim to pieces with a machete.
Things only get more brutal from there, with Agu and his young friend Strika engaging in several ultra-gory raids and ambushes that display their sense of loyalty and camaraderie. The difficult material also entails instances of violent sexual assault, forcing Agu to grow up far too fast in the defense of his heritage.
Stream Beasts of No Nation on Netflix
1 The Forever Purge (2021)
While not technically a military movie per se, The Purge franchise as a whole has been evolving (or devolving) toward a fictional future American Civil War for nearly a decade. In The Forever Purge, a violent band of insurrectionists commits heinous crimes, prompting a group of Americans who wish to flee the country to step up and fight back.
Burning, raiding, looting, and hyper-violent ambushing are just some of the harrowing methods used to achieve their agenda. In a twisted version of the American Freedom Fighters of yore, The Forever Purge imagines how dark and dystopian a lawless guerrilla war can be taken in the future if preventive measures are not instilled.
While taking to horrifying extremes to prove a political point, series creator James DeMonaco continues to double down on his cynical worldview of the future, warning Americans of how tenuous the current political climate is and the consequences that may come about in the future.
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