Netflix subscribers on a trip outside the U.S. are sometimes surprised to find their accounts are blocked while overseas, primarily due to licensing issues. Some content is only licensed to the streaming service for viewers inside the United States (or is restricted in certain countries). And, by the way, Netflix is known to add users who circumvent the site’s security to blacklists.
In 2015, Netflix announced it would block Virtual Private Networks (VPN), which allow viewers from overseas to view the site and its contents as if they were in the United States. This week, the site announced it would start a heavy crackdown on those users. Here are a few of the military/war movies those subscribers won’t be able to watch:
Restrepo
This is Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington’s war documentary masterpiece featuring the U.S. Army’s Second Platoon, B Company, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team in the Korengal Valley of Afghanistan. The film (and the outpost defended in the film) is named after Pvt. 1st. Class Juan Sebastián Restrepo, a medic killed earlier in the deployment. Four years later, Junger would make another film, Korengal, which would pick up where Restrepo left off. Korengal is also on Netflix.
Top Gun
Here’s a military movie that requires no introduction and no explanation outside of a volleyball scene. This is a flick that probably guaranteed the Navy wouldn’t have to put any money into recruiting pilots for the rest of eternity. If the United States ever falls as a civilization, archeologists in future millennia are going to wonder where they can sign up.
The Civil War
The documentary series and style that allowed Ken Burns to turn a blowup and motion effect into a career is on Netflix in its’ entirety. Also on the streaming service is Burns’ epic-scaled but fairly “meh” World War II documentary in the same vein, called The War.
Comedy Warriors
Five wounded post-9/11 veterans have the opportunity to explore their experiences through humor. The film follows them and their work with professional comedians Zach Galifianakis, Lewis Black, Bob Saget, and B.J. Novak, who help them write and perform their own personal stand-up routines. One vet refers to the Iraq War as “a pretty aggressive study abroad program.”
Cartel Land
This is a film about vigilante groups fighting drug cartels in the Mexican Drug Wars. The most shocking part of Cartel Land is that its a documentary, and you can see the characters and events unfold as they did in the real world. It garnered a 94% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes and is currently nominated for an Academy Award. It will also probably inspire Bundy clan copycats to take to the Arizona desert to “help” the U.S. Border Patrol keep ‘Murica free of invaders.
Forrest Gump
No one really needs an introduction to Forrest Gump. People still quote this movie to death in lame jokes and it’s now more than a decade old. It makes this list because of Gump’s Army service in Vietnam and Gary Sinise’s epic portrayal of Lieutenant Dan Taylor.
The Unknown Known
How do you feel about former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld? Master documentarian Errol Morris’s 2014 film will either infuriate you or soften your feelings toward the lifelong government official with the most punchable face.
Beasts of No Nation
Netflix made a foray into conflict films this year with its critical hit Beasts of No Nation, starring Idris Elba as a warlord recruiting child soldiers to fight in a civil war in Liberia. The government of a West African country falls as the warlords forces attack a village under international protection. A young boy named Agu flees after his father is shot and is captured by the NDF rebel guerillas. Do not watch this film with kids, teenagers, anyone with emotions, or anyone who expects to not be traumatized.
Team America: World Police
Few movies are as epic as Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s Team America. If you’re a post-9/11 military veteran and haven’t seen this film, you must have been in such a secret squirrel MOS that the military kept you under a rock.
Ravenous
Less of a military movie and more of a horror movie in a military setting, Ravenous feature Guy Pearce visiting a remote U.S. Army outpost in post-Civil War California, a base full of the worst Blue Falcons of all time. Also featuring the worst trailer ever made for a decent film. Seriously, it looks like a fan trailer.
Bonus: TV Shows
Army Wives
Perfect viewing for anyone who ever wanted to pretend Catherine Bell was like the typical military spouse. I think the Army missed an opportunity here. There was never a better recruiting tool.
M*A*S*H
This is what we who grew up watching this show always hoped a real deployment would be like. If U.S. troops were allowed to build liquor distilleries in their barracks, we’d all become amateur engineers. Sadly, deployments are nothing like this
Archer
Five seasons of everyone who matters’ favorite secret agent for hire lives on Netflix, with the sixth season coming (phrasing!).
