If You Liked Lion of the Desert, Watch These Next
Finished Lion of the Desert (1981) and want more of the same? These 18 movies are what its fans watched next, ranked by how often people who liked it also liked these. Like Lion of the Desert, most of them are history, war, drama.
Everything on this page has a home release and plays right here on Rotten Brains — pick one and press play. No sign-up, and a free account only adds resume and history.
18 titles · updated 3rd October 2026
1.The Longest Day(1962)
7.6WarDramaHistoryAlso war and drama
The retelling of June 6, 1944, from the perspectives of the Germans, US, British, Canadians, and the Free French. Marshall Erwin Rommel, touring the defenses being established as part of the Reich's Atlantic Wall, notes to his officers that when the Allied invasion comes they must be stopped on the beach. "For the…
Watch now
2.The Guns of Navarone(1961)
7.3AdventureDramaWarAlso drama and war
A team of allied saboteurs are assigned an impossible mission: infiltrate an impregnable Nazi-held island and destroy the two enormous long-range field guns that prevent the rescue of 2,000 trapped British soldiers.
Watch now
3.Exodus(1960)
6.7DramaWarAlso drama and war
Ari Ben Canaan, a passionate member of the Jewish paramilitary group Haganah, attempts to transport 600 Jewish refugees on a dangerous voyage from Cyprus to Palestine on a ship named the Exodus. He faces obstruction from British forces, who will not grant the ship passage to its destination.
Watch now
4.Lawrence of Arabia(1962)
8.0AdventureHistoryWarAlso history and war
During World War I, English officer Thomas Edward 'T.E.' Lawrence sets out to unite and lead the diverse, often warring, Arab tribes to fight the Turks.
Watch now
5.Bonhoeffer: Pastor. Spy. Assassin(2024)
6.7HistoryDramaWarAlso history and drama
As the world teeters on the brink of annihilation, Dietrich Bonhoeffer joins a deadly plot to assassinate Hitler, risking his faith and fate to save millions of Jews from genocide.
Watch now
6.Legionnaire(1998)
5.9ActionWarAdventureAlso war and history
Alain Lefevre is a boxer paid by a Marseille mobster to take a dive. When he wins the fight he attempts to flee to America with the mobster's girlfriend Katrina. This plan fails and he seeks escape by joining the foreign legion. As part of the legion he tangles with abusive lieutenant Steinkampf and bonds with…
Watch now
7.Empire of the Sun(1987)
7.5DramaHistoryWarAlso drama and history
Jamie Graham, a privileged English boy, is living in Shanghai when the Japanese invade and force all foreigners into prison camps. Jamie is captured with an American sailor, who looks out for him while they are in the camp together. Even though he is separated from his parents and in a hostile environment, Jamie…
Watch now
8.Shepherd: The Story of a Jewish Dog(2020)
6.8FamilyDramaWarAlso drama and war
Follow the perilous journey to freedom when a young boy and his dog attempt to escape a concentration camp during World War II. Based on true events.
Watch now
9.God on Trial(2008)
6.8HistoryWarDramaAlso history and war
In the Jewish tradition of arguing with God, Jewish prisoners in Auschwitz decide to put God on Trial.
Watch now
10.Battle of the Bulge(1965)
6.9DramaHistoryWarAlso drama and history
In the winter of 1944, the Allied Armies stand ready to invade Germany at the coming of a New Year. To prevent it, Hitler orders an all-out offensive to re-take French territory and capture the major port city of Antwerp.
Watch now
11.Greyhound(2020)
7.4WarActionDramaAlso war and drama
A first-time captain leads a convoy of allied ships carrying thousands of soldiers across the treacherous waters of the "Black Pit" to the front lines of WWII. With no air cover protection for 5 days, the captain and his convoy must battle the surrounding enemy Nazi U-boats in order to give the allies a chance to win…
Watch now
12.Gandhi(1982)
7.6DramaHistoryAlso drama and history
In the early years of the 20th century, Mohandas K. Gandhi, a British-trained lawyer, forsakes all worldly possessions to take up the cause of Indian independence. Faced with armed resistance from the British government, Gandhi adopts a policy of 'passive resistance', endeavouring to win freedom for his people…
Watch now
13.The Six Triple Eight(2024)
7.6DramaWarHistoryAlso drama and war
During World War II, the US Army's only all-Black, all-women battalion takes on an impossible mission: sorting through a three-year backlog of 17 million pieces of mail that hadn't been delivered to American soldiers and finish within six months.
Watch now
14.The Zone of Interest(2023)
7.0DramaHistoryWarAlso drama and history
The commandant of Auschwitz, Rudolf Höss, and his wife Hedwig, strive to build a dream life for their family in a house and garden next to the camp.
Watch now
15.Operation Mincemeat(2022)
6.5WarHistoryDramaAlso war and history
In 1943, two British intelligence officers concoct Operation Mincemeat, wherein their plan to drop a corpse with false papers off the coast of Spain would fool Nazi spies into believing the Allied forces were planning to attack by way of Greece rather than Sicily.
Watch now
16.The Wind That Shakes the Barley(2006)
7.3DramaWarAlso drama and war
In 1920s Ireland young doctor Damien O'Donovan prepares to depart for a new job in a London hospital. As he says his goodbyes at a friend's farm, British Black and Tans arrive, and a young man is killed. Damien joins his brother Teddy in the Irish Republican Army, but political events are soon set in motion that tear…
Watch now
17.Breaker Morant(1980)
7.1DramaHistoryWarAlso drama and history
During the Boer War, three Australian lieutenants are on trial for shooting Boer prisoners. Though they acted under orders, they are being used as scapegoats by the General Staff, who hopes to distance themselves from the irregular practices of the war. The trial does not progress as smoothly as expected by the…
Watch now