Quite a few movies listed in this thread, so I'll inlcude a few that haven't been listed yet.
Watership Down (great old school animation, great tale of adventure and freedom...be warned, despite its appearence it's not for children as it can get rather violent and pulls no punches with death; read the book first and you'll enjoy the movie even more...it's true to the book but had to leave quite a bit out)
The Plague Dogs (from the same author as Watership...get the imported version if you can, the American version changed the ending from the novel to make it "more palatable" to American audiences; this is another animated film)
Threads (BBC mini series about the aftermath of a nuclear exchange between the USSR & USA)
Masada (another mini series, its about a standoff between Jewish rebels & a Roman legion in Judea)
Living on Tokyo Time (a young Japanese woman agrees to marry a Japanese American to avoid being deported...the problem is that she's ambitious and he's a loser...touching drama with comedic elements)
Snow Falling on Cedars (another romantic drama...set in WW2; American soldier is in love with a Japanese American who is sent off to an internment camp)
Ju Dou (Chinese language film, tragic story of a woman who has a rich abusive and impotent husband...she falls in love with his poor nephew)
Iron and Silk (an American English teacher living in China falls in love with a student and learns martial arts, his romance gives him problems with the government...great drama but very hard to find on DVD)
I think I've just noticed a theme among most of my films....
Craig