10 Best Movies Set in or About Belgium

10 Movies Set in or About Belgium

Foreign-led films whose sustained setting or subject remains centered on Belgium.

1. 

   1. In Bruges

   2008

   Two Irish hitmen are sent to lie low in the fairy-tale town of Bruges after a job gone wrong. As one drinks in the sights and the other stews with guilt, orders arrive from their volatile boss that neither man expected. A darkly funny, unexpectedly moving crime comedy.

   Why & details

   Curator’s note: A dark comedy-thriller whose Bruges setting, medieval cityscape, and tourist identity are central.

2. 

   2. The Nun's Story

   1959

   A devout young Belgian woman leaves her privileged family to become a nun, only to find her vow of obedience tested by her fierce will, her calling as a nurse in the Congo, and the coming of World War II. A thoughtful drama of faith and conscience.

   Why & details

   Curator’s note: A Belgian nun's story moving through Belgian religious life and colonial Congo mission work.

3. 

   3. Battleground

   1950

   Weary soldiers of the U.S. 101st Airborne dig in around besieged Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge, enduring cold, fear, and encirclement in the bitter Belgian winter. A grounded, soldier's-eye World War II drama.

4. 

   4. Tour de Force

   Hin und Weg · 2014

   A close-knit group of friends sets off on their annual cycling holiday through Belgium, but this year's trip is shadowed by one member's grave illness and a heavy secret. A bittersweet German road movie about friendship and farewell.

5. 

   5. Battle of the Bulge

   1965

   In the winter of 1944, Hitler launches a massive surprise offensive through the forests of Belgium in a last desperate bid to turn the war, and Allied forces scramble to hold the line. A sweeping World War II battle epic.

   Why & details

   Curator’s note: A World War II film centered on the Ardennes offensive, a major battle in Belgium and Luxembourg.

6. 

   6. Squadron Leader X

   1943

   A German propaganda agent parachutes into occupied Belgium disguised as a downed RAF officer, meaning to stage anti-British stunts — but his cover quickly begins to unravel and he must scramble to survive behind the lines. A wartime thriller.

7. 

   7. Uncensored

   1942

   Under Nazi occupation, members of the Belgian resistance revive an underground newspaper to counter German propaganda, and prove so effective that the occupiers set out to hunt them down. A wartime drama of clandestine courage.

8. 

   8. My Name Is Loh Kiwan

   로기완 · 2024

   Having fled North Korea, a young defector arrives in Belgium and battles to be granted refugee status, finding fragile hope in his bond with a disillusioned woman who has given up on her own life. A tender drama of survival and belonging.

9. 

   9. The Other Tree of Guernica

   El otro árbol de Guernica · 1969

   A group of Spanish children evacuated to Belgium during the Spanish Civil War wait out the distant conflict far from home, longing for the day they can finally return. A wartime drama of exile and childhood.

10. 

    10. L'étoile du nord

    1982

    Aboard a ship bound for Belgium, a drifting Frenchman strikes up an acquaintance with a young woman and a wealthy jewel-carrying passenger — an encounter whose consequences follow him to a Brussels boarding house. A moody thriller adapted from Simenon.