some great suggestions here

id go with
battle of britain
band of brothers
das boot
the opening of private ryan is pretty jawdropping
although might be too strong for an 8 yr old

id maybe say Grave of the Fireflies but thats like watership down+ the plague dogs x 1000,000
even more harrowing because its based on a true story
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxv9ghINEhs[/video]

I appreciate that this is a bit of a downer, especially as I love war films, but what can a child usefully learn about war at the age of 8 and do you really want to reinforce it? Innocence is a wonderful thing.

Inglorious Basterds

Inglorious Basterds

Disgusted it took so long for someone to recommend that.

sorry…. was busy 😳

I remember reading goodnight mr tom when i was around that age , ITV made a programme with the guy from morse as mr Tom . might be a dvd around

given the last poster’s moniker then a matter of life and death surely?
i must’ve watched this and world at war for the first time at around the age of eight

Matter of life and death is a great call but not sure how much i would off got as an 8 year old , Another David Niven film worth a look is The
The Way Ahead , about conscripts but again not sure if i would get the message at 8 years old

The Bridge On The River Kwai

My dad took me to see it when I was not far off her age, but he had a personal reason for doing so.

all quiet on the western front.

perhaps the biggest ‘key event’ in ww2 was ww1

The original 1944 film of Memphis Belle, have a look yourself on youtube first.

I remember reading goodnight mr tom when i was around that age , ITV made a programme with the guy from morse as mr Tom . might be a dvd around

Goodnight Mr Tom? Excellent film.

I’d go with sommat like Enemy At The Gate (if you can ignore the mildly naughty bit). Probably more like the war for lots of soldiers than most films I’ve seen, i.e. a lot of sitting about in the pissing rain. Not too much gore either.

Grave of the Fireflies is one grim film.

You have all forgotten one of the best classic war films!

The Heroes of Telemark

Surprised know one has mentioned Schindler’s list yet.
Maybe a little bit too deep for an 8yr old.

The sound of music

Although it wouldn’t be suitable for an 8 year old, when I watched the “Pacific” a couple of years ago, it really made me realise what a pointless act War is. Such a waste of human life! And this is from someone who loves war films. The Pacific really made me think about what the men in WW2 went through.

Kelly’s Heroes for a serious, accurate depiction of the war. Clint Eastwood trying not to laugh throughout the whole film.

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. It’s got 8 year olds in it.

+1 for The Machine Gunners if you can find the BBC version. It was excellent viewing when I was a kid and would be perfect for her. Also, quite ratre, so not much chance of someone copying it.

Hunt the Bismark is probably worth a shot though. All round a damn good film.

Second for Schindler’s list, or just take her a museum. There’s so much more to the war than Tommy’s and Jerry’s shooting at each other, at the museum you can see things that would’ve affected children her age during the war. From ration books to children’s gas masks.

Schindlers list was somethingi managed to watch when I was very young somehow… Something I always remember to funnily enough.

Where ya goin now?

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4GOXv8P3HI[/video]

… and the collective instantly trots out a list of just about all the WW2 films it can think of.

She’s EIGHT YEARS OLD!!!

Dumkopfs.

Ask her teacher.

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. It’s got 8 year olds in it.

this.

my kids were shown it at school.

Second vote for ‘Life is Beautiful’ , stunning movie and very funny in parts.

Memphis Belle was was what my school deemed suitable to show to us about primary 6 or 7 age. Most exciting bit for us was when one guy shouts “There’s a hole in the wing the size of my dick”. Truly the horrors of war.

Woppit +1

Thing is, when I was 8, war films were on telly all the time during daytime and weekends. This ranged from the propaganda ones made during WW2 to the post war ones starting to touch on the horrors of war to the boys own merry adventure type fluff, and probably none were aimed at kids. Gave a range of interpretation of war and while not documentary or fact they certainly put some awareness and understanding of it all into me before watching the documentary stuff when older. Kids just don’t really have that now, those films aren’t really shown, and if they are there’s full colour other channels of choice, computer games, and so on.

Gone for the second nanny McPhee film as a starter

… and the collective instantly trots out a list of just about all the WW2 films it can think of.

She’s EIGHT YEARS OLD!!!

Dumkopfs.

And? As I quite clearly pointed out, I wasn’t much off that age when my dad took me to see Bridge On The River Kwai at the cinema. That film was released in ’57, I was born in ’54, and he died in ’67. I couldn’t have been much more than 9 or 10. He was a Japanese POW in Changi, he felt I needed to have some sort of perspective on what life was like, as he wouldn’t talk about it.

Nuremberg was a two part docu film which stared Alec Baldwin which was about the Nuremberg trials after the war. Sometimes shown on the discovery channel.
Only thing is the last part of it shows some very harrowing scenes which can be upsetting for just about anyone.

Three pages and we haven’t had this mentioned yet?

I know they’ve been mentioned before, but:

Ice Cold in Alex.
Went the day well.
A matter of life & death.
The boy in the striped pyjamas.

And if you could buy her a copy of The Silver Sword, by Ian Serraillier, I reckon she’d love it. Great book.

most of those suggestions are unsuitable for an 8 year old.

The World at War is best kept for a few years down the line as well I reckon.

I would let her read Going Solo by Roald Dahl. It is a very good account of his life in the war as an RAF pilot.

There was a recent BBC docu-drama called into the blue (or something similar) about the Battle of Britain and the stress it put on the pilots.

D-Day to Berlin was a good series and not as graphic as the world at war, I don’t think

Great suggestions here. I would agree with Went the Day Well, and add This Land is Mine, starring Charles Laughton. The propaganda films of the second world war have a real sense of the fear and determination of the people faced with the threat of Nazi invasion.

If she’s a patient eight year old, you might try The Great Dictator; Chaplin’s greatest film, imo. There are some passages a child would love, of humour and pathos and excitement, but it is a slow film in places. The representation of Hitler is just superb, though. Apparently, the little bastard watched it several times. That’s vanity: watching a genius apply his talent to ripping the shit out of you.

PS, I totally agree with rustyspammer above, about The Silver Sword.