Titles Available as of July 2022
This is a selective list of streaming video holdings in the American University Library. Streaming guides are created by doing multiple keyword searches in the library catalog to capture as many titles on a topic as possible. For complete up-to-date streaming holdings, please refer to our streaming catalog.
A Navy pilot (Wilson) is shot down over enemy territory, and struggles to survive the relentless pursuit of a ruthless secret police enforcer, a deadly tracker, and countless hostile troops. With time running out, the injured pilot's commanding officer (Hackman) goes against orders to carry out a desperate rescue mission.
Biography of Argentinian revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara, who helped Fidel Castro in his struggle against the corrupt Batista regime, eventually resulting in the overthrow of that government and Castro's taking over of Cuba. The film covers Guevara's life from when he first landed in Cuba in 1956 to his death in an ambush by government troops in the mountains of Bolivia in 1967.
Post war Hiroshima: It's been four years since the last time she visited her hometown. Takako faces the after effects of the A-bomb when she travels around the city to call on old friends.
The career of Shakespeare's Sir John Falstaff as roistering companion to young Prince Hal, circa 1400-1413.
Denzel Washington is a colonel beginning what he thinks is the routine investigation of a candidate for the Medal of Honor. But nothing about his quest is routine.
U.K. prime minister Winston Churchill must rally the nation to war against the Nazis.
Based on real events, A Hidden Life is the story of an unsung hero, Bl. Franz Jägerstätter, who refused to fight for the Nazis in World War II. When the Austrian peasant farmer is faced with the threat of execution for treason, it is his unwavering faith and his love for his wife, Fani, and children that keeps his spirit alive.
In WW2, twelve year old Soviet orphan Ivan Bondarev works for the Soviet army as a scout behind the German lines and strikes a friendship with three sympathetic Soviet officers.
Set in 12th century Europe and the exotic East, THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN is an epic romantic action film about a young peasant (Orlando Bloom) who becomes a renowned knight, saves a kingdom, and falls in a love with a princess. From Ridley Scott, the master of the modern epic.
In the American Colonies, England and France, aided by Native American allies, wage a fierce and savage war for a continent neither is destined to control. Amidst the conflict, Hawkeye, a frontiersman raised by Mohicans, and Cora Munro, the daughter of a British officer, fall desperately in love, in Michael Mann's retelling of the classic James Fenimore Cooper novel.
In the 1860s, a dying aristocracy struggles to maintain itself against a harsh Sicilian landscape. The film traces with a slow and deliberate rhythm the waning of the noble home of Fabrizio Corbero, Prince of Salina (the Leopard) and the corresponding rise to eminence of the enormously wealthy ex-peasant Don Calogero Sedara.
A woman (Catherine Belkodja), haunted by the loss of her lover, works on programming a video game about World War II's Battle of Okinawa. Melding retro-futuristic sci-fi imagery and reflections on traumas in Japanese history into a provocative visual and philosophical puzzle, Level Five belongs equally to the past, the present and the future.
England in June 1944. Unseasonal storms. Allied troops are massed ready for the invasion of France, some already on the boats. The Normandy beaches will be their destination while paratroopers are dropped inland to take key towns and bridges. On the other side of the Channel the Germans still expect the invasion at Calais, and anyway the weather makes them think nothing is likely to be imminent.
Master and Commander: Far Side of the World
Ship Surgeon Stephen Maturin (Bettany) and Navy Capt. Jack Aubrey (Crowe) sail out to see the richness and strangeness of life on the far side of the world, against the backdrop of Napoleonic Wars.
During the Korean War, a battle worn Lt. and his platoon behind enemy lines, have orders to march to Hill 465 for possible relief.
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Ridge
This short film follows the plot of Ambrose Bierce's unforgettable short story, in which a Civil War prisoner sentenced to hang appears to break free and escape-but appearances are deceiving. The film won the prize for Best Short Subject at the 1962 Cannes Film Festival. Starring Roger Jacquet, Anne Cornaly, and Anker Larsen. Directed by Robert Enrico.
One of Our Aircraft is Missing
On its way back from a raid on the city of Stuttgart, Germany, a British bomber is shot down over Nazi-held Holland. Parachuting into Dutch farmlands under cover of darkness, a six-member crew, led by stalwart pilot John Glyn Haggard (Hugh Burden) and crusty Yorkshireman co-pilot Tom Earnshaw (Eric Portman), connects with members of the local resistance, led by schoolteacher Els (Pamela Brown), who shelter the Brits from their Nazi inquisitors as they make their way towards freedom. Nominated for two Academy Awards.
Six vignettes follow the Allied invasion from July 1943 to winter 1944, from Sicily north to Venice. Communication is fragile. A woman leads an Allied patrol through a mine field; she dies protecting a G.I., but the Yanks think she killed him. A street urchin steals shoes from a G.I. who tracks him to a shanty town. A G.I. meets a woman the day Rome is liberated; in six months they meet again: he's cynical, she's a whore. A US nurse braves the trip across the Arno into German fire in search of a partisan she loves. Three chaplains, including a Jew, call on a monastery north in the Apennines. Allied soldiers and partisans try to escape capture in the marshes of the Po Featuring Carmela Sazio, Robert Van Loon, Alfonsino Pasca, Maria Michi et les moines franciscains.
This panoramic portrait of General Patton -- a magnificent anachronism, deeply pious and extremely profane-offers shrewd insight into the brilliant, unstable WW II tactician.
This is a story of awakening humanity in the midst of violence told with intimacy and elegance by writer/director Zaza Urushadze. Tangerines is the spare, yet haunting tale of an older Estonian man, who cares for two wounded soldiers from opposite sides of the 1990s-era war in Georgia.
Set during World War II, the story follows an Army rifle company during several months of one of the fiercest struggles of the twentieth century -- the battle of Guadalcanal Island.
During the Nazi occupation of Poland, an acting troupe becomes embroiled in a Polish soldier's efforts to track down a German spy.
In 1941 the Japanese are at odds with the United States on a number of issues which they are attempting to resolve via their Washington embassy. In case this diplomacy fails, the military are hatching plans for a surprise early Sunday morning air attack on the U.S. base at Pearl Harbour.
A perceptive, psychological drama that deals with the problems of an Air Force commander who must rebuild a bomber group whose shattered morale threatens the effectiveness of daylight bombing raids.
In the forested depths of eastern Congo lies Virunga National Park, one of the most biodiverse places on earth and home to the planet's last remaining mountain gorillas. In this wild but enchanted environment, a small and embattled team of park rangers - including an ex-child soldier turned ranger, a caretaker of orphan gorillas and a dedicated conservationist - protect this UNESCO World Heritage site from armed militia, poachers and the dark forces struggling to control Congo's rich natural resources.
Air War in the Pacific: The Bloody Ridges of Peleliu
Combining graphic combat footage and expert commentary, this is a commanding view of the battles and strategy, the men and machines, and the horror and heroism that marked World War II. [Episode 1] American and allied warriors battled strong Japanese fleets and Kamikaze suicide missions in their struggle for air superiority and victory. [Episode 2] The battle at Peleliu (Palau) Island was very costly for the American Marines, who finally claimed victory.
Battlefield Detectives: Civil War, Gettysburg
July 1-3, 1863: Over three hot days, Union and Confederate forces clashed in and around a small Pennsylvania town. When the Battle of Gettysburg ended, the two exhausted sides had inflicted more than 50,000 casualties upon one another--the largest battle ever fought on American soil. The third day is considered the Confederacy's "high-water mark"--when General Robert E. Lee lost the decisive battle of the Civil War. But scientific battlefield evidence now suggests that by the time the artillery began firing that day, the Confederate fight was already doomed. And when Pickett's Charge--the famous full frontal attack against Union lines--got underway, the battle effectively was over. Experts in physics, geology, crowd control, and cartography join forces with military historians to better understand this epic battle.
Join Ann Curry for dramatic reunions between people separated and thrown together by WWII. A Japanese-American woman sent to a confinement camp hopes to find a childhood friend, and a survivor from a Jewish ghetto in Shanghai searches for the daughter of the couple who befriended him as a boy.
The Color of War, Intro the Breach: Face to Face, Volume 1
Combines color film and photos taken from government archives and private collections with first-person commentary from the combatants and the photographers who documented the struggle.
The Color of War, Why We Fight: Fueling the Fire, Volume 4
Combines color film and photos taken from government archives and private collections with first-person commentary from the combatants and the photographers who documented the struggle.
This program captures the experiences of the combat photographers, war correspondents, combat artists, radio personalities, and others who documented World War II.
A documentary on the Nazi concentration camps at the time of liberation in 1945.
Vietnamese and American artists join forces to stage Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream in Hanoi. On their journey toward opening night, this spirited film follows them behind the scenes as they wrestle with the obstacles of language, culture, ideology, and a history of war.
The Enemy at the Gates -- Hitler's Twilight: The End of Nazi Germany
Adolf Hitler's self-belief and outward confidence were legendary and not without cause. His blitzkriegs were very much built on components that were the Fuhrer's own brand of advanced modern warfare. Even in 1944, with the Allies poised to take the Fatherland, he still believed he alone could win the war. Military planning remained his sole responsibility and those on the General Staff were merely his "messenger boys." This video traces the Fuhrer's always-stormy relationship with the German High Command, his commanders, political colleagues, and even his own troops during their last battles.
Join archaeologists and divers recovering remains of ships and planes lost during World War II’s epic Dunkirk operation. Discover new evidence of the ingenious technology that helped save Allied forces from defeat by the encircling Germans.
At Tu Du Hospital in Saigon, the painful aftermath of the Vietnam War is all too evident. Babies in a special unit have enlarged heads or are missing limbs. Pham Thi Thu Linh, born without arms, writes with her feet. A boy with a shrunken leg careens around the corridor in a wheelchair. Thirty years after the end of the Vietnam War they are among several millions diagnosed by the Vietnamese as victims of Agent Orange. In The Last Ghost of War, we meet several who are plaintiffs in a class action suit against 32 US chemical companies. Attorneys, activists, scientists, and a military historian take us to a new battlefield. These Vietnamese victims are seeking compensation and justice. The question is were these dioxin-laden herbicides chemical weapons? And if so, who should be held accountable in the wake of what was allegedly the largest chemical warfare operation in history? Funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, with a grant from the New Jersey Council for the Humanities A presentation of the Center for Asian American Media With educational and public performance rights.
The classic study of the process of dehumanization, released during the Cold War in 1987, follows social psychologist Sam Keen as he unmasks how individuals and nations dehumanize their enemies to justify the inhumanity of war.
The invasion of Iraq was the most extensively-reported conflict in history, with more than 2,000 journalists descending on the country. But paradoxically, most of this coverage never made the news back home. This documentary contrasts coverage of the Iraq War with the reporting of previous conflicts, revealing how the 2003 invasion was sanitized and repackaged for the American public, and assessing the wider implications of the media's role in war coverage.
During the final days of the Vietnam War, as the North Vietnamese Army closed in on Saigon, the South Vietnamese resistance crumbled. The U.S. had only a skeleton crew of diplomats and military operatives still in the country. With the clock ticking, a number of heroic Americans took matters into their own hands, engaging in unsanctioned and often makeshift operations in an effort to save as many South Vietnamese as possible.
The Last Outpost: Afghanistan tells the story of the U.S. effort to build up the Afghan army, America's only real exit strategy. Shot from the ground and on the frontlines, the film chronicles the war through the portrait of two Afghans and an American soldier in an embedded team of 130 Afghans. The two cinematographers/directors, Tim Grucza and Yuri Maldavski, spent a month and a half with the soldiers in a tiny outpost by the Pakistan border looking into Waziristan. Ultimately, the film is a look at the absurdity of the war and the impossibility of the fight. It will also explore the psychology, motivation, and identity of soldier allies fighting a common enemy but radically opposed in their cultures and ways of life.
Martin Adler: The War Reporter
Journalist Martin Adler courageously recorded warfare in Somalia, Liberia, and 38 other countries, helping define the way Americans saw foreign conflicts for more than a decade. This program brings together some of Adler's award-winning photos and footage to present a riveting profile of an extraordinary man. "I want to go to the places no one else goes to, and I want to listen to the people nobody else listens to," Adler once said. Women sweeping the ground in the middle of bombed-blasted Chechnya, a Liberian warlord holding an AK-47 in one hand and a baby in the other, desolate landscapes from Uganda to Algeria - Martin allowed the images to speak for themselves, fuelled by a fearless curiosity which would eventually get him killed. The film also features interviews with Adler's friends and colleagues, and segments from his acclaimed film On Patrol with Charlie Company.
Secret footage going back years shows the effort to kill and expel Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar. With accounts from victims and witnesses, the film examines evidence that security forces committed crimes against humanity.
A powerful documentary revealing the appalling violence meted out to the defeated in 1945. Using rare and unseen archive film, this program tells a harrowing story of vengeance against German civilians, which mirrored some of the worst cruelty of the Nazi occupiers during the years of war. It includes the unique testimony of eyewitnesses and victims, who recall the horrors with searing clarity- their memories undimmed 70 years after the events took place. This is a story that has, until now, not been told, amidst the justified celebration of an end to an unspeakable tyranny. It offers a moving and vivid picture of Europe in ruins.
Examine the newspapers and journals of the Civil War era and discover how they forever changed the outlook and face of American journalism.
Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington's year dug in with the Second Platoon in one of Afghanistan's most strategically crucial valleys reveals extraordinary insight into the surreal combination of back breaking labor, deadly firefights, and camaraderie as the soldiers painfully push back the Taliban.
Hitler greatly underestimated the tenacity of the Soviet people, the Red Army, and the brutal Russian winter in the failed campaign to seize the industrial city of Stalingrad. This classic program incorporates authentic WWII archival film footage and accounts from soldiers on both sides of the battleline in Stalingrad.
Wherever political, religious, racial, or ideological interests collide, diplomacy and tolerance historically yield to the barbarity of war. In this program, political scientist Charles-Philippe David; Jean-Louis Dufour, editor-in-chief of the magazine Defense; and historians Robert O'Connell, Andre Corviser, and Laurent Henninger trace the history of warfare from its remote origins to the present day and discuss if it is avoidable or if it is an innate human drive.
This film traces the history of 'embedded' and independent reporting from the carnage of World War I to the destruction of Hiroshima, and from the invasion of Vietnam to the current war in Afghanistan. As weapons and propaganda are ever more sophisticated, the very nature of war has developed into an 'electronic battlefield.'
Vietnam veterans speak about atrocities committed upon Vietnamese soldiers and civilians during their time in the U.S. armed forces in Vietnam. Through testimony given at the Winter Soldier Investigation held by the Vietnam Veterans Against the War in 1971, press conferences, and interviews with individual participants, the film graphically portrays the effect of U.S. government policy and practice, which turned soldiers into animals bent on destruction and Vietnamese into "gooks"--Non-human "targets" for murder, rape, and mutilation. The veterans struggle to come to terms with the devastation they caused so that others will not make the same mistake again.
Focusing on war-torn areas of the world, this inspiring program profiles women living with the day-to-day tragedy of war. Part I begins in Israel and moves to Northern Ireland where we meet Nobel Peace Prize winner Meiread Corrigan who formed Peace People. Part II is dedicated to the women of Salvador, working for the popular front movements for a more just society, and moves to the U.S. where women are fighting to reclaim their neighborhoods from crime.
World War II in Color: Total War
Until today, our collective memories of World War II have lived almost exclusively in black and white. Recently re-discovered color film archival materials, assembled after years of research, offer a new perspective on everything from the war's most critical battles and key personalities to details of life on the home front to the plight of uprooted refugees. This segment covers the events of Pearl Harbor through D-Day.
The story of Third Platoon, Charlie Company, 1st battalion of the 506th infantry; and how the war followed them home. It is a story of heroism, grief, vicious combat, depression, drugs, alcohol and brutal murder; an investigation into the Army's mental health services; and a powerful portrait of what multiple tours and post-traumatic stress are doing to a generation of young American soldiers.