A World War II film many viewers had never heard of is now being hailed as one of the most powerful war dramas available to stream.
The Forgotten Battle has quietly earned a perfect Rotten Tomatoes score, with audiences praising its emotional weight, historical detail, and immersiveness.
Now streaming on Netflix, the 2020 Dutch production revisits the Battle of the Scheldt, a crucial but often overlooked military operation in late 1944 that proved vital to the Allied advance through Europe.
While the battle itself rarely appears in mainstream WWII cinema, the film’s grounded, human-scale approach has clearly struck a chord with viewers.
Directed by Matthijs van Heijningen Jr., The Forgotten Battle tells its story through three intertwined perspectives: a young Dutch man conscripted into the German army, a British glider pilot shot down behind enemy lines, and a Dutch woman forced into the resistance while trying to save her brother.
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Together, these threads build a picture of war that feels intimate and human.
On Rotten Tomatoes, one viewer calls it ‘a gripping war drama, detailing the horrors of war,’ praising its performances, cinematography, and fact-based storytelling.
Another describes it as ‘intriguing from the very start, like a really good book that you read from start to finish in one sitting.’
Others have highlighted its emotional impact: ‘Before watching this film I had no prior knowledge of it and no particular expectation,’ reads another review. ‘However, I found it engrossing and extremely realistic… Ultimately, I found it very moving.’
Similar praise echoes across IMDb, where several viewers rank it alongside the genre’s greats: ‘This is the best movie I have seen about WW2 in a very long time,’ writes one reviewer, comparing it to films like Saving Private Ryan.
Will you be watching The Forgotten Battle?
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Sound great, I’ll give it a go
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No, War movies aren’t my thing
‘I just finished watching it and I’m still a bit shocked at how it got to me.’
One IMDb review notes that The Forgotten Battle was among the most expensive Dutch films ever produced and Netflix’s first original feature from the Netherlands. Despite not having a blockbuster budget, the film ‘wrings every last dollar out of its coffers,’ delivering large-scale battle scenes alongside tense, character-driven moments.
With dialogue split between English, Dutch and German, it presents WWII as a fractured, multilingual experience shaped by impossible choices and moral compromise.
Award-winning in its home country and now gaining global attention, The Forgotten Battle has become a standout example of the kind of prestige international cinema Netflix can champion. As one reviewer sums it up: ‘One of the best foreign WWII films you will find.’
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