Film

It Happened Here

Name: It Happened Here
Genre: Drama, Science Fiction, War
Released: 1966
Cast: Pauline Murray, Sebastian Shaw, Bart Allison, Frank Bennett, Nicolette Bernard

Drama

A 1966 British film imagining a Nazi occupation of England, asking what collaboration and resistance might look like on home soil. Shot with documentary austerity on actual locations, it's a thought experiment rather than spectacle—uncomfortable, intellectually rigorous, and genuinely strange. For those interested in alternate history as moral inquiry, not adventure.

TMDb rating

3.4

If you liked this

Threads1984

A British nuclear war drama with the same unflinching commitment to depicting civilian consequence. Threads shows societal collapse with the grimness and procedural detail that makes It Happened Here so unsettling.

But Relentlessly bleak and deliberately devoid of heroics or catharsis. The long-term aftermath of disaster is shown in exhausting, repetitive detail.

Come and See1985

Soviet film about a young partisan in WWII that refuses sentiment or spectacle. Like It Happened Here, it's interested in how ordinary people behave under occupation—what collaboration looks like, what resistance costs.

But Extremely graphic and disturbing. The violence is not stylised; it's presented as the mundane horror of war. Some viewers find it unwatchable.

The Wave1981

German film about a teacher creating a fascist movement in a modern classroom as social experiment. Shares It Happened Here's concern with how quickly ordinary citizens accept authoritarianism when it's presented persuasively.

But The dated 1980s setting and melodramatic ending undercut the premise. It feels more like a lesson than a genuine interrogation of ideology.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from It Happened Here

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Battle of Algiers1966

Both use pseudo-documentary form to collapse the distance between observer and occupied subject, making ideology visible as behaviour rather than rhetoric.

Released the same year as It Happened Here, this Pontecorvo film documents urban insurgency and counterinsurgency with newsreel authenticity. Both films use documentary technique to make speculation feel like reportage.

But Based on actual events and colonial violence, which makes it politically confrontational rather than safely hypothetical. Some viewers find its formal beauty compromised by its subject matter.

Rogue Male1976

British TV film about a man hunted after an assassination attempt on a European dictator. Has the same low-budget realism and focus on survival under oppressive systems that makes It Happened Here so credible.

But Slower-paced than modern thrillers. The suspense relies on tension and character rather than action, which some find tedious.

Europa Europa1990

A Jewish boy passes as Aryan during WWII. Like It Happened Here, it explores survival through compromise and the moral ambiguity of collaboration when the alternative is death.

But Tonal shifts between dark comedy and tragedy can feel jarring. Some historical details are fictionalised in ways that reduce its documentary power.

The Road2009

Post-apocalyptic survival drama focused on the psychological weight of occupation and scarcity. Shares It Happened Here's interest in how people behave when systems collapse rather than action-adventure fantasy.

But Oppressively grey and depressing throughout. There is almost no relief or levity, which exhausts some viewers before the film ends.

Under the Skin2014

Scarlett Johansson infiltrates a landscape, observing human behaviour with an alien detachment. Like It Happened Here, it treats occupation as a condition to be documented rather than narratively resolved.

But Deeply abstract and frustrating if you want plot or conventional dramatic beats. Long sequences of observation with minimal dialogue alienate most audiences.

The Lives of Others2006

East German surveillance drama about complicity and conscience. Examines how ordinary people become instruments of oppression through small compromises—It Happened Here's core concern in a more conventional package.

But Awards-favourite pacing and a redemptive arc that feel designed for comfort. Some find it too neat and morally convenient compared to grittier alternatives.

Stalker1979

Andrei Tarkovsky's science fiction meditation on desire and forbidden zones. Shares It Happened Here's philosophical, unhurried approach to speculative premise and its distrust of narrative convenience.

But Extremely slow and meditative. If you want plot momentum or conventional sci-fi spectacle, this will feel like watching paint dry for two hours.

The Fog of War2003

Both treat collaboration not as moral failing but as a rational response to constraint—they ask what you would actually do rather than what you should have done.

Errol Morris's documentary interviews Robert McNamara about decision-making during the Vietnam War and WWII. Complements It Happened Here's interrogation of complicity by showing how authority figures rationalise collaboration with destruction.

But A talking-head documentary that requires genuine interest in history and ethics. Without that, it's just an old man in an office talking for ninety minutes.

The Visitors1993

Both films use invasion narrative to ask questions about national identity and social fragmentation that their own societies were experiencing rather than historical or generic questions.

Soviet science fiction miniseries about benevolent aliens arriving in Russia, creating upheaval and collaboration. It's low-budget speculative drama using occupation as a lens to examine post-Soviet society, with It Happened Here's philosophical texture.

But Obscure, dubbed, with pacing that assumes a different television tradition. The special effects are crude even for 1993, and subtlety sometimes tips into incomprehensibility.