1. Hollywood Spies (Les espions qui venaient d'Hollywood)
During the 1930s anti-Semitism was rampant not only in Germany but also in America. There was a German American Bund and pro-Nazi rallies even filled Madison Square Gardens in New York City. And the US was isolationist. Until Pearl Harbor, then, everything changed. Spymasters throughout the 20th century, and particularly during times of conflict, thought it advantageous to enlist the services of celebrities who had high level and powerful "fans" in various industries, many with easy access to politicians and high ranking government officials. Hollywood, as we now know from declassified National Archive documents, aided in the mobilization for war and its people contributed as spies, combatants, propagandists, documentary and fund-raisers, entertainers, and morale-boosters. Hundreds of celebrities eagerly answered the "call to arms" and brought their talents and patriotism to the intelligence services, military and war information offices.
It has an average vote of 8 on TMDB.
2. Thirteen Days
The story of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962—the nuclear standoff with the USSR sparked by the discovery by the Americans of missile bases established on the Soviet-allied island of Cuba.
It has an average vote of 7 on TMDB.
3. My Favorite War (Mans mīļākais karš)
Ilze Burkovska, a little girl who is obsessed with stories of World War II and will be a filmmaker in a distant future, lives in Latvia under the totalitarian boot of the Soviets and the ominous shadow of the many menaces and horrors of the Cold War.
It has an average vote of 6.7 on TMDB.
4. Winston Churchill: A Giant in the Century (Winston Churchill : Un géant dans le siècle)
A new look at the public and private life of one of the most important statesmen in the history of Europe: Winston Churchill , soldier, politician, writer, painter, leader of his country in the darkest hours, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, a myth, a giant of the 20th century.
It has an average vote of 7.7 on TMDB.
5. Täuschung - Die Methode Reagan (Täuschung - Die Methode Reagan)
A documentary about US-led covert actions under the Reagan administration intended to bolster the perception of Soviet aggression, undermine the peace initiatives of Sweden's PM Olof Palme, and to tie the non-aligned Sweden to NATO.
It has an average vote of 9 on TMDB.
6. K-19: Doomsday Submarine
The disastrous first combat patrol of the K-19, the Soviet Union's first atomic-powered nuclear missile submarine.
7. Kourou et l'épopée spatiale française (Kourou et l'épopée spatiale française)
(Kourou et l'épopée spatiale française)
It has an average vote of 8 on TMDB.
8. National Geographic: The World's Biggest Bomb Revealed
National Geographic 2011 Documentary on the World's Biggest Bomb .
It has an average vote of 7 on TMDB.
9. An Officer and a Spy (J'accuse)
In 1894, French Captain Alfred Dreyfus is wrongfully convicted of treason and sentenced to life imprisonment at the Devil’s Island penal colony.
It has an average vote of 7.077 on TMDB.
10. CIA vs KGB: Battleground Berlin (KGB-CIA, au corps à corps)
For 50 years, Berlin was the symbol of the Cold War. The city at the heart of the intelligence war between the US and the Soviet bloc. Thousands of KGB or CIA, agents observed each other, cogs in the biggest information war in history.
11. Mission to Mir
This film shows how far we have come since the cold-war days of the 50s and 60s. Back then the Russians were our "enemies". And to them the Americans were their "enemies" who couldn't be trusted. Somewhere in all this a young girl in Oklahoma named Shannon set her sights on becoming one of those space explorers, even though she was told "girls can't do that." But she did.
It has an average vote of 6.7 on TMDB.
12. MK Ultra
The Rosie Kay Dance Company present a piece about the strange history and pop-cultural aftermath of CIA mind control experiments during the Cold War, with documentary segments by Adam Curtis.
It has an average vote of 10 on TMDB.
13. Ice-Breaker: The '72 Summit Series
September 2022 marks the 50th anniversary of the 1972 Summit Series, the iconic hockey tournament that pitted the best players from Canada against the best from the Soviet Union. It has been universally acknowledged as a defining event in Canadian history. This inspiring new documentary enlarges the canvas to tell the story from the unique perspectives of a diverse cast of participants who are rarely if ever heard: diplomats, NHL hockey legends, Soviet players, journalists, fans, broadcasters, business leaders and Team Canada’s Chairman – all reveal untold, exclusive stories about what happened before, during, and after September ‘72.
14. Theatre of Hope (Théâtre de l'Espérance)
The film is set to bring forward once again the well-worn images of the summit talks between Reagan and Gorbachev in Geneva. It is a reproduction of the days during the summit. On the one hand, pictures are gathered from the perspective as an onlooker in Geneva, on the other hand, the old television footage is processed.
15. Charlie Wilson's War
The true story of Texas congressman Charlie Wilson's covert dealings in Afghanistan, where his efforts to assist rebels in their war with the Soviets had some unforeseen and long-reaching effects.
It has an average vote of 6.539 on TMDB.
16. The Wall
Like the best USIA films, The Wall distills political events into an emotionally clear and compelling ideological "story". In 1962 Walter de Hoog gathered footage from U.S. and German newsreel sources and crafted this taut short film about the first year of the Berlin Wall. Straightforward, keenly balanced narration portrays Berliners as "accepting the wall but never resigned to it". The extraordinary footage of the first escapes was propaganda enough-- His challenge was to make the politics human.
It has an average vote of 7 on TMDB.
17. The Jump (Šuolis)
In the Cold War years of the 1970s, an American patrol boat meets a Soviet ship off the east coast of the United States for talks about fishing rights in the Atlantic. In the midst of this, while Russian commanders are aboard the U.S. Coast Guard vessel where the talks are being held, a Lithuanian sailor jumps across the ten feet of icy water separating the boats. Crash-landing on the deck of the American ship, he desperately begs for asylum. Though they try, the Americans ultimately fail to provide protection and the Soviets are allowed to capture him and brutally return him to their vessel. Thus begins a stranger-than-fiction story of imprisonment, discovery, fame, and freedom. Through rare archival footage and a dramatic first-person re-enactment of that fateful day by Simas Kudirka, the would-be defector himself, this tale of one of the biggest Cold War muddles takes us on a journey of uncanny twists of fate, and the emotional sacrifices of becoming a universal symbol of freedom.
It has an average vote of 7.286 on TMDB.
18. Nukes in Space
U.S. nuclear tests in space, and the development of the military intercontinental ballistic missile .
It has an average vote of 6.1 on TMDB.
19. Russen und Deutsche - Sieben historische Wendepunkte (Russen und Deutsche - Sieben historische Wendepunkte)
(Russen und Deutsche - Sieben historische Wendepunkte)
20. Gander International: The Airport in the Middle of Nowhere
In 1938 an airfield was built at the northeastern-most end of America, the descent went slowly but incessantly through the Cold War. This is the story of how its inhabitants gradually moved away from the great world stage and had to reinvent themselves as well as their home town.
It has an average vote of 10 on TMDB.
