The film was written and directed by Lionel Chetwynd, based on the life and wartime exploits of Varian Fry who saved more than 2,000 Jewish artists from Vichy France, the conquered ally of Nazi Germany.

When the State Department tries to block his plans to head back to Europe, Fry finds an ally in First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, who intervenes on his behalf.

With picture-perfect forged passes and identification cards, Fry begins to send Jewish artists out of France to Spain where they can arrange transport to the United States.

In just under one year, ending with his expulsion in September 1941, Fry's clandestine underground escape route over the Pyrenees eventually frees more than 2,000 artists, authors, scientists and intellectuals from Vichy France, including some who are listed onscreen in the background of the closing credits: Chagall, Arendt, Jacques Lipchitz, Hans Bellmer, Heinrich Mann, André Masson, Max Ernst, Franz Werfel, Ferdinand Springer and Feuchtwanger.

Producers of Varian's War included Barwood Film's chief executive, Barbra Streisand and Cis Corman, along with Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh, the head of Ardent Productions.

In filming in Canada, a large Canadian supporting cast was assembled that included Christopher Heyerdahl, Remy Girard, Gloria Carlin, Dorothee Berryman as a brothel madame, Pascale Montpetit, Vlasta Vrana, Joel Miller, Maury Chaykin and Aubert Pallascio.

Darryl Miller of the Los Angeles Times wrote: "Noble intentions aside, Varian's War ... is a mess of a movie that leaves viewers with more questions than answers about Varian Fry ... Clumsily constructed and hollowly acted, it's a project that its lead performers – William Hurt and Julia Ormond – along with Barbra Streisand's Barwood Films, should quickly try to bury in their resumes ... Writer-director Lionel Chetwynd fudges a lot of facts, beginning with the implication that Fry founded the Emergency Rescue Committee.

Chetwynd also plays fast and loose with depictions of the supporting characters, including Fry's associate, Miriam Davenport (Ormond), and the writer Lion Feuchtwanger.