Movies About Real Terrorist Attacks
Real life events are often a source of inspiration for movies. This also applies to past terrorist attacks. The movies in this list were not made to glorify acts of terror, but rather to highlight the bravery and solidarity displayed by law enforcement, firefighters, rescue teams, paramedics and ordinary citizens in times of tragedy.
Which movie in this list has made the deepest impression on you?
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Which movie in this list has made the deepest impression on you?
Discuss the list here
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24 titles
- DirectorClint EastwoodStarsPaul Walter HauserSam RockwellBrandon StanleySecurity guard Richard Jewell is an instant hero after foiling a bomb attack at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, but his life becomes a nightmare when the FBI leaks to the media that he is a suspect in the case.
- DirectorAnthony MarasStarsDev PatelArmie HammerNazanin BoniadiThe true story of the Taj Hotel terrorist attack in Mumbai. Hotel staff risk their lives to keep everyone safe as people make unthinkable sacrifices to protect themselves and their families.
- DirectorPaul GreengrassStarsDavid Alan BascheOlivia ThirlbyLiza Colón-ZayasA real-time account of the events on United Flight 93, one of the planes hijacked on September 11th, 2001 that crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania when passengers foiled the terrorist plot.
- DirectorPeter BergStarsMark WahlbergMichelle MonaghanJ.K. SimmonsThe story of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing and the aftermath, which includes the city-wide manhunt to find the terrorists responsible.
- DirectorPaul GreengrassStarsAnders Danielsen LieJonas Strand GravliJon ØigardenA three-part story of Norway's worst terrorist attack in which over seventy people were killed. 22 July looks at the disaster itself, the survivors, Norway's political system and the lawyers who worked on this horrific case.
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsEric BanaDaniel CraigMarie-Josée CrozeAfter the Black September capture and massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics, five men are chosen to eliminate the people responsible for that fateful day.
- DirectorJim SheridanStarsDaniel Day-LewisPete PostlethwaiteAlison CrosbieAn Irish man's coerced confession to an I.R.A. bombing he did not commit results in the imprisonment of his father as well. Meanwhile, a British lawyer fights to clear their names and free them.
- DirectorPaul GreengrassStarsTom HanksBarkhad AbdiBarkhad AbdirahmanThe true story of Captain Richard Phillips and the 2009 hijacking by Somali pirates of the U.S.-flagged MV Maersk Alabama, the first American cargo ship to be hijacked in two hundred years.
- DirectorOliver StoneStarsNicolas CageMichael PeñaMaria BelloTwo Port Authority police officers become trapped under the rubble of the World Trade Center.
- DirectorJosé PadilhaStarsBatsheva Dance CompanyZina ZinchenkoBen SchnetzerInspired by the true events of the 1976 hijacking of an Air France flight en route from Tel Aviv to Paris, and the most daring rescue mission ever attempted.
- DirectorUli EdelStarsMartina GedeckMoritz BleibtreuJohanna WokalekA look at Germany's terrorist group, The Red Army Faction (RAF), which organized bombings, robberies, kidnappings, and assassinations in the late 1960s and '70s.
- DirectorAnurag KashyapStarsKay Kay MenonPawan MalhotraAditya SrivastavA film about the investigations following the 1993 serial Bombay bomb blasts, told through the different stories of the people involved --police, conspirators, victims, middlemen.
- DirectorClint EastwoodStarsAlek SkarlatosAnthony SadlerSpencer StoneThree courageous young Americans prevent a terrorist attack on a train bound for Paris.
- DirectorFatih AkinStarsNuman AcarAdam BousdoukosDiane KrugerKatja's life collapses after the deaths of her husband and son in a bomb attack. After a time of mourning and injustice, Katja seeks revenge.
- DirectorToa FraserStarsJamie BellMark StrongAbbie CornishBased on the Iranian Embassy siege of 1980, this action-thriller dramatizes a six-day standoff between armed Iranian Arabs and SAS soldiers ready for a counterattack.
- DirectorRam MadhvaniStarsSonam KapoorShabana AzmiYogendra TikkuThe story of courageous Neerja Bhanot, who sacrificed her life while protecting the lives of 359 passengers on Pan Am Flight 73 in 1986 when it was hijacked by a terrorist organization.
- DirectorErik PoppeStarsAndrea BerntzenAleksander HolmenSolveig Koløen BirkelandA teenage girl struggles to survive and to find her younger sister during the July 2011 terrorist mass murder at a political summer camp on the Norwegian island of Utøya.
- DirectorKevin MacdonaldStarsMichael DouglasAnkie SpitzerJamal Al GasheyThe Palestinian terrorist group Black September holds Israeli athletes hostage at the 1972 Summer Olympic Games in Munich.
- DirectorNishikant KamatStarsParesh RawalKay Kay MenonIrrfan KhanA moving portrayal of the 2006 train bombings in Mumbai, this Indian drama follows the interconnected stories of several strangers.
- DirectorJohn FrankenheimerStarsRobert ShawBruce DernMarthe KellerWhen a Black September terrorist group begins a plot to carry out a massive terrorist attack in the United States, an Israeli commando works with the FBI to identify the target and conspirators, and prevent the plan from succeeding.
- DirectorMichael BayStarsJohn KrasinskiPablo SchreiberJames Badge DaleDuring an attack on a U.S. compound in Libya, a security team struggles to make sense out of the chaos.
- DirectorAditya DharStarsVicky KaushalParesh RawalMohit RainaIndian army special forces execute a covert operation, avenging the killing of fellow army men at their base by a terrorist group.
- DirectorRachid BoucharebStarsBrenda BlethynSotigui KouyatéSami BouajilaTwo strangers come to discover the fate of their respective children in the 2005 terrorist attacks on London.
- DirectorRam Gopal VarmaStarsNana PatekarAtul KulkarniSanjeev JaiswalThe real story of ten terrorists, who sail to Mumbai and wage war on the populace for the next 72 hours.