History through TV and Films (in progress)

by Kim_Kobusch_Simonsen | created - 14 Nov 2021 | updated - 3 months ago | Public

Some historic films/TV. In chronological order. Limited to 100 entries.

21st Century Ignored

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1. Historien om Danmark (2017)

60 min | Documentary, Drama, History

A thorough review of the history of Denmark from prehistoric times right up until today.

Stars: Lars Mikkelsen, Kimmie Falstrøm, Martin Boserup, Ari Alexander

Votes: 369

5000 BC - 2000 AD

2. Russian Ark (2002)

Not Rated | 99 min | Drama, Fantasy, History

87 Metascore

A 19th century French aristocrat, notorious for his scathing memoirs about life in Russia, travels through the Russian State Hermitage Museum and encounters historical figures from the last 200+ years.

Director: Aleksandr Sokurov | Stars: Sergey Dreyden, Mariya Kuznetsova, Leonid Mozgovoy, Mikhail Piotrovsky

Votes: 21,814 | Gross: $0.04M

0-2000 AD

3. 10,000 BC (2008)

PG-13 | 109 min | Action, Adventure, Drama

34 Metascore

In the prehistoric past, D'Leh is a mammoth hunter who bonds with the beautiful Evolet. When warriors on horseback capture Evolet and the tribesmen, D'Leh must embark on an odyssey to save his true love.

Director: Roland Emmerich | Stars: Camilla Belle, Steven Strait, Marco Khan, Cliff Curtis

Votes: 135,475 | Gross: $94.78M

10,000 BC

4. Troy (2004)

R | 163 min | Adventure, Drama

56 Metascore

An adaptation of Homer's great epic, the film follows the assault on Troy by the united Greek forces and chronicles the fates of the men involved.

Director: Wolfgang Petersen | Stars: Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom, Julian Glover

Votes: 570,379 | Gross: $133.38M

13th-12th Century BC

5. 300 (2006)

R | 117 min | Action, Drama

52 Metascore

In the ancient battle of Thermopylae, King Leonidas and 300 Spartans fight against Xerxes and his massive Persian army. They face insurmountable odds when they are betrayed by a Spartan reject.

Director: Zack Snyder | Stars: Gerard Butler, Lena Headey, David Wenham, Dominic West

Votes: 864,137 | Gross: $210.61M

480 BC

6. 300: Rise of an Empire (2014)

R | 102 min | Action, Drama

48 Metascore

Greek general Themistocles of Athens leads the naval charge against invading Persian forces led by mortal-turned-god Xerxes and Artemisia, vengeful commander of the Persian navy.

Director: Noam Murro | Stars: Sullivan Stapleton, Eva Green, Lena Headey, Hans Matheson

Votes: 315,877 | Gross: $106.58M

480 BC

7. Alexander (2004)

R | 175 min | Action, Biography, Drama

40 Metascore

Alexander, the King of Macedonia and one of the greatest army leaders in the history of warfare, conquers much of the known world.

Director: Oliver Stone | Stars: Colin Farrell, Anthony Hopkins, Rosario Dawson, Angelina Jolie

Votes: 176,653 | Gross: $34.30M

356-285 BC

8. Spartacus (1960)

PG-13 | 197 min | Adventure, Biography, Drama

87 Metascore

The slave Spartacus survives brutal training as a gladiator and leads a violent revolt against the decadent Roman Republic, as the ambitious Crassus seeks to gain power by crushing the uprising.

Directors: Stanley Kubrick, Anthony Mann | Stars: Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier, Jean Simmons, Charles Laughton

Votes: 143,165 | Gross: $30.00M

111-71 BC

9. Rome (2005–2007)

TV-MA | 60 min | Action, Drama, Romance

A down-to-earth account of the lives of both illustrious and ordinary Romans set in the last days of the Roman Republic.

Stars: Kevin McKidd, Ray Stevenson, Polly Walker, Kerry Condon

Votes: 185,303

49-45 BC

10. Cleopatra (1963)

G | 192 min | Biography, Drama, History

60 Metascore

Queen Cleopatra VII of Egypt experiences both triumph and tragedy as she attempts to resist the imperial ambitions of Rome.

Directors: Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Rouben Mamoulian | Stars: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Rex Harrison, Pamela Brown

Votes: 37,400 | Gross: $57.78M

44-30 BC

11. Ben-Hur (1959)

G | 212 min | Adventure, Drama

90 Metascore

After a Jewish prince is betrayed and sent into slavery by a Roman friend in 1st-century Jerusalem, he regains his freedom and comes back for revenge.

Director: William Wyler | Stars: Charlton Heston, Jack Hawkins, Stephen Boyd, Haya Harareet

Votes: 253,632 | Gross: $74.70M

30 AD

12. Quo Vadis (1951)

Not Rated | 171 min | Biography, Drama, Romance

65 Metascore

After fierce Roman commander Marcus Vinicius becomes infatuated with beautiful Christian hostage Lygia, he begins to question the tyrannical leadership of the despotic emperor Nero.

Directors: Mervyn LeRoy, Anthony Mann | Stars: Robert Taylor, Deborah Kerr, Leo Genn, Peter Ustinov

Votes: 16,739 | Gross: $24.29M

64 AD

13. The Eagle (2011)

PG-13 | 114 min | Action, Adventure, Drama

55 Metascore

In Roman-ruled Britain, a young Roman soldier endeavors to honor his father's memory by finding his lost legion's golden emblem.

Director: Kevin Macdonald | Stars: Channing Tatum, Jamie Bell, Donald Sutherland, István Göz

Votes: 74,054 | Gross: $19.49M

140 AD

14. Gladiator (2000)

R | 155 min | Action, Adventure, Drama

67 Metascore

A former Roman General sets out to exact vengeance against the corrupt emperor who murdered his family and sent him into slavery.

Director: Ridley Scott | Stars: Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen, Oliver Reed

Votes: 1,619,825 | Gross: $187.71M

169-192 AD

15. Kingdom of Heaven (2005)

R | 144 min | Action, Adventure, Drama

63 Metascore

Balian of Ibelin travels to Jerusalem during the Crusades of the 12th century, and there he finds himself as the defender of the city and its people.

Director: Ridley Scott | Stars: Orlando Bloom, Eva Green, Liam Neeson, Martin Hancock

Votes: 314,876 | Gross: $47.40M

1180-1189 AD

16. Robin Hood (2010)

PG-13 | 140 min | Action, Adventure, Drama

53 Metascore

In twelfth-century England, Robin Longstride and his band of marauders confront corruption in a local village and lead an uprising against the crown that will forever alter the balance of world power.

Director: Ridley Scott | Stars: Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett, Matthew Macfadyen, Max von Sydow

Votes: 283,135 | Gross: $105.27M

1199-1200 AD

17. Braveheart (1995)

R | 178 min | Biography, Drama, War

68 Metascore

Scottish warrior William Wallace leads his countrymen in a rebellion to free his homeland from the tyranny of King Edward I of England.

Director: Mel Gibson | Stars: Mel Gibson, Sophie Marceau, Patrick McGoohan, Angus Macfadyen

Votes: 1,091,231 | Gross: $75.60M

1280-1315 AD

18. Outlaw King (2018)

R | 121 min | Action, Biography, Drama

59 Metascore

A true David vs. Goliath story of how the 14th century Scottish 'Outlaw King' Robert the Bruce used cunning and bravery to defeat the much larger and better equipped occupying English army.

Director: David Mackenzie | Stars: Chris Pine, Stephen Dillane, Rebecca Robin, Billy Howle

Votes: 80,945

1304-1307

19. The Last Duel (2021)

R | 152 min | Action, Drama, History

67 Metascore

The Knight Jean de Carrouges must settle the dispute over his wife Marguerite by challenging his former friend to a duel to the death.

Director: Ridley Scott | Stars: Matt Damon, Adam Driver, Jodie Comer, Harriet Walter

Votes: 182,013 | Gross: $10.85M

1370-1386 AD

20. The New World (2005)

PG-13 | 135 min | Biography, Drama, History

73 Metascore

The story of the English exploration of Virginia, and of the changing world and loves of Pocahontas.

Director: Terrence Malick | Stars: Colin Farrell, Q'orianka Kilcher, Christopher Plummer, Christian Bale

Votes: 89,854 | Gross: $12.71M

1607-1620s

21. Silence (I) (2016)

R | 161 min | Drama, History

79 Metascore

In the 17th century, two Portuguese Jesuit priests travel to Japan in an attempt to locate their mentor, who is rumored to have committed apostasy, and to propagate Catholicism.

Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Andrew Garfield, Adam Driver, Liam Neeson, Tadanobu Asano

Votes: 122,964 | Gross: $7.10M

1637–1638

22. The Favourite (2018)

R | 119 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama

91 Metascore

In early 18th-century England, the status quo at the court is upset when a new servant arrives and endears herself to a frail Queen Anne.

Director: Yorgos Lanthimos | Stars: Olivia Colman, Emma Stone, Rachel Weisz, Nicholas Hoult

Votes: 233,389 | Gross: $34.37M

1705 AD

23. Rob Roy (1995)

R | 139 min | Adventure, Biography, Drama

55 Metascore

In 1713 Scotland, Rob Roy MacGregor is wronged by a nobleman and his nephew, becomes an outlaw in search of revenge while fleeing the Redcoats, and faces charges of being a Jacobite.

Director: Michael Caton-Jones | Stars: Liam Neeson, Jessica Lange, John Hurt, Tim Roth

Votes: 45,667 | Gross: $31.60M

1713

24. The Mission (1986)

PG | 125 min | Adventure, Drama, History

55 Metascore

Eighteenth-century Spanish Jesuits try to protect a remote South American tribe in danger of falling under the rule of pro-slavery Portugal.

Director: Roland Joffé | Stars: Robert De Niro, Jeremy Irons, Ray McAnally, Aidan Quinn

Votes: 65,684 | Gross: $17.22M

1750-1759

25. A Royal Affair (2012)

R | 137 min | Biography, Drama, History

73 Metascore

A young queen, who is married to an insane king, falls secretly in love with her physician - and together they start a revolution that changes a nation forever.

Director: Nikolaj Arcel | Stars: Alicia Vikander, Mads Mikkelsen, Mikkel Boe Følsgaard, Trine Dyrholm

Votes: 50,871 | Gross: $1.55M

1770-1772

26. Marie Antoinette (2006)

PG-13 | 123 min | Biography, Drama, History

64 Metascore

The retelling of France's iconic but ill-fated queen, Marie Antoinette. From her betrothal and marriage to Louis XVI at 14 to her reign as queen at 19 and to the end of her reign as queen, and ultimately the fall of Versailles.

Director: Sofia Coppola | Stars: Kirsten Dunst, Jason Schwartzman, Rip Torn, Steve Coogan

Votes: 121,875 | Gross: $15.96M

1769-1793

27. In the Heart of the Sea (2015)

PG-13 | 122 min | Action, Adventure, Biography

47 Metascore

A recounting of a New England whaling ship's sinking by a giant whale in 1820, an experience that later inspired the great novel Moby-Dick.

Director: Ron Howard | Stars: Chris Hemsworth, Cillian Murphy, Brendan Gleeson, Ben Whishaw

Votes: 148,745 | Gross: $25.02M

1820

28. The Woman King (2022)

PG-13 | 135 min | Action, Drama, History

76 Metascore

A historical epic inspired by true events that took place in The Kingdom of Dahomey, one of the most powerful states of Africa in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Director: Gina Prince-Bythewood | Stars: Viola Davis, Thuso Mbedu, Lashana Lynch, Sheila Atim

Votes: 73,097 | Gross: $67.33M

1823 AD

29. The Young Victoria (2009)

PG | 105 min | Biography, Drama, History

64 Metascore

A dramatization of the turbulent first years of Queen Victoria's rule, and her enduring romance with Prince Albert.

Director: Jean-Marc Vallée | Stars: Emily Blunt, Rupert Friend, Paul Bettany, Miranda Richardson

Votes: 66,383 | Gross: $11.00M

1830s-1861

30. Amistad (1997)

R | 155 min | Biography, Drama, History

64 Metascore

In 1839, the revolt of Mende captives aboard a Spanish owned ship causes a major controversy in the United States when the ship is captured off the coast of Long Island. The courts must decide whether the Mende are slaves or legally free.

Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Djimon Hounsou, Matthew McConaughey, Anthony Hopkins, Morgan Freeman

Votes: 82,767 | Gross: $44.18M

1839

31. 12 Years a Slave (2013)

R | 134 min | Biography, Drama, History

96 Metascore

In the antebellum United States, Solomon Northup, a free Black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery.

Director: Steve McQueen | Stars: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Kenneth Williams, Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt

Votes: 741,201 | Gross: $56.67M

1841-1853

32. The Leopard (1963)

PG | 186 min | Drama, History

100 Metascore

The Prince of Salina, a noble aristocrat of impeccable integrity, tries to preserve his family and class amid the tumultuous social upheavals of 1860s Sicily.

Director: Luchino Visconti | Stars: Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon, Claudia Cardinale, Paolo Stoppa

Votes: 28,815

1860

33. Lincoln (2012)

PG-13 | 150 min | Biography, Drama, History

87 Metascore

As the Civil War rages on, U.S President Abraham Lincoln struggles with continuing carnage on the battlefield as he fights with many inside his own cabinet on his decision to emancipate the slaves.

Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, David Strathairn, Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Votes: 272,609 | Gross: $182.21M

1865

34. Warrior (2019–2023)

TV-MA | 60 min | Action, Crime, Drama

During the Tong Wars in the late 1800s, Ah Sahm, a martial arts prodigy from China, immigrates to San Francisco and becomes a hatchet man for the most powerful tong in Chinatown.

Stars: Andrew Koji, Olivia Cheng, Jason Tobin, Dianne Doan

Votes: 43,888

1880-1900 AD

35. At Eternity's Gate (2018)

PG-13 | 111 min | Biography, Drama, History

76 Metascore

A look at the life of painter Vincent van Gogh during the time he lived in Arles and Auvers-sur-Oise, France.

Director: Julian Schnabel | Stars: Willem Dafoe, Rupert Friend, Oscar Isaac, Mads Mikkelsen

Votes: 39,997 | Gross: $2.29M

1880-1890

36. The Current War (2017)

PG-13 | 102 min | Biography, Drama, History

55 Metascore

The dramatic story of the cutthroat race between electricity titans Thomas A. Edison and George Westinghouse to determine whose electrical system would power the modern world.

Director: Alfonso Gomez-Rejon | Stars: Benedict Cumberbatch, Oliver Powell, Sophia Ally, Tuppence Middleton

Votes: 30,948

1880-1893

37. The Lost City of Z (2016)

PG-13 | 141 min | Adventure, Biography, Drama

78 Metascore

A true-life drama, centering on British explorer Major Percival Fawcett, who disappeared whilst searching for a mysterious city in the Amazon in the 1920s.

Director: James Gray | Stars: Charlie Hunnam, Robert Pattinson, Sienna Miller, Tom Holland

Votes: 99,452 | Gross: $8.58M

1905-1907 AD

38. Gandhi (1982)

PG | 191 min | Biography, Drama, History

79 Metascore

The life of the lawyer who became the famed leader of the Indian revolts against the British rule through his philosophy of nonviolent protest.

Director: Richard Attenborough | Stars: Ben Kingsley, John Gielgud, Rohini Hattangadi, Roshan Seth

Votes: 240,187 | Gross: $52.77M

1893-1948

39. 1900 (1976)

Unrated | 317 min | Drama, History

70 Metascore

The epic tale of a class struggle in twentieth-century Italy as seen through the eyes of two childhood friends on opposing sides.

Director: Bernardo Bertolucci | Stars: Robert De Niro, Gérard Depardieu, Dominique Sanda, Francesca Bertini

Votes: 27,281

1901-1945

40. The Last Emperor (1987)

PG-13 | 163 min | Biography, Drama, History

76 Metascore

Bernardo Bertolucci's Oscar-winning dramatisation of the life story of China's last emperor, Pu Yi.

Director: Bernardo Bertolucci | Stars: John Lone, Joan Chen, Peter O'Toole, Ruocheng Ying

Votes: 111,500 | Gross: $43.98M

1908-1950

41. Oppenheimer (I) (2023)

R | 180 min | Biography, Drama, History

90 Metascore

The story of American scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer and his role in the development of the atomic bomb.

Director: Christopher Nolan | Stars: Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr.

Votes: 726,119 | Gross: $326.11M

1924-1959 AD

42. Babylon (I) (2022)

R | 189 min | Comedy, Drama, History

61 Metascore

A tale of outsized ambition and outrageous excess, it traces the rise and fall of multiple characters during an era of unbridled decadence and depravity in early Hollywood.

Director: Damien Chazelle | Stars: Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Jean Smart, Olivia Wilde

Votes: 167,436

1926-1932 AD

43. Munich: The Edge of War (2021)

PG-13 | 130 min | Biography, Drama, History

53 Metascore

A British diplomat travels to Munich in the run-up to World War II, where a former classmate of his from Oxford is also en route, but is working for the German government.

Director: Christian Schwochow | Stars: George MacKay, Jannis Niewöhner, Jeremy Irons, Liv Lisa Fries

Votes: 35,881

1937

44. The King's Speech (2010)

R | 118 min | Biography, Drama, History

88 Metascore

The story of King George VI, his unexpected ascension to the throne of the British Empire in 1936, and the speech therapist who helped the unsure monarch overcome his stammer.

Director: Tom Hooper | Stars: Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter, Derek Jacobi

Votes: 707,878 | Gross: $138.80M

1939

45. Hacksaw Ridge (2016)

R | 139 min | Biography, Drama, History

71 Metascore

World War II American Army Medic Desmond T. Doss, serving during the Battle of Okinawa, refuses to kill people and becomes the first man in American history to receive the Medal of Honor without firing a shot.

Director: Mel Gibson | Stars: Andrew Garfield, Sam Worthington, Luke Bracey, Teresa Palmer

Votes: 593,984 | Gross: $67.21M

1925-1945 AD

46. Dunkirk (2017)

PG-13 | 106 min | Action, Drama, History

94 Metascore

Allied soldiers from Belgium, the British Commonwealth and Empire, and France are surrounded by the German Army and evacuated during a fierce battle in World War II.

Director: Christopher Nolan | Stars: Fionn Whitehead, Barry Keoghan, Mark Rylance, Tom Hardy

Votes: 739,965 | Gross: $188.37M

1940 AD

47. Pearl Harbor (2001)

PG-13 | 183 min | Action, Drama, Romance

44 Metascore

A tale of war and romance mixed in with history. The story follows two lifelong friends and a beautiful nurse who are caught up in the horror of an infamous Sunday morning in 1941.

Director: Michael Bay | Stars: Ben Affleck, Kate Beckinsale, Josh Hartnett, William Lee Scott

Votes: 351,751 | Gross: $198.54M

1941 AD

48. The Way Back (I) (2010)

PG-13 | 133 min | Adventure, Drama, History

66 Metascore

Siberian gulag escapees travel four thousand miles by foot to freedom in India.

Director: Peter Weir | Stars: Jim Sturgess, Ed Harris, Colin Farrell, Dragos Bucur

Votes: 122,003 | Gross: $2.70M

1941

49. Greyhound (2020)

PG-13 | 91 min | Action, Drama, History

64 Metascore

Several months after the U.S. entry into World War II, an inexperienced U.S. Navy commander must lead an Allied convoy being stalked by a German submarine wolf pack.

Director: Aaron Schneider | Stars: Tom Hanks, Elisabeth Shue, Stephen Graham, Matt Helm

Votes: 114,821

1942

50. The Thin Red Line (1998)

R | 170 min | Drama, History, War

78 Metascore

Adaptation of James Jones' autobiographical 1962 novel, focusing on the conflict at Guadalcanal during the second World War.

Director: Terrence Malick | Stars: Jim Caviezel, Sean Penn, Nick Nolte, Kirk Acevedo

Votes: 199,580 | Gross: $36.40M

1942-1943

51. The Great Escape (1963)

Approved | 172 min | Adventure, Drama, Thriller

86 Metascore

Allied prisoners of war plan for several hundred of their number to escape from a German camp during World War II.

Director: John Sturges | Stars: Steve McQueen, James Garner, Richard Attenborough, Charles Bronson

Votes: 258,873 | Gross: $12.10M

1944

52. Valkyrie (2008)

PG-13 | 121 min | Drama, History, Thriller

56 Metascore

A dramatization of the July 20, 1944 assassination and political coup plot by desperate renegade German Army officers against Adolf Hitler during World War II.

Director: Bryan Singer | Stars: Tom Cruise, Bill Nighy, Carice van Houten, Kenneth Branagh

Votes: 259,217 | Gross: $83.08M

1944

53. Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)

R | 141 min | Action, Adventure, Drama

89 Metascore

The story of the battle of Iwo Jima between the United States and Imperial Japan during World War II, as told from the perspective of the Japanese who fought it.

Director: Clint Eastwood | Stars: Ken Watanabe, Kazunari Ninomiya, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Ryô Kase

Votes: 170,019 | Gross: $13.76M

1944

54. Flags of Our Fathers (2006)

R | 135 min | Action, Adventure, Drama

79 Metascore

The life stories of the six men who raised the flag at the Battle of Iwo Jima, a turning point in World War II.

Director: Clint Eastwood | Stars: Ryan Phillippe, Barry Pepper, Joseph Cross, Jesse Bradford

Votes: 129,238 | Gross: $33.60M

1945

55. Downfall (2004)

R | 156 min | Biography, Drama, History

82 Metascore

Traudl Junge, the final secretary for Adolf Hitler, tells of the Nazi dictator's final days in his Berlin bunker at the end of WWII.

Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel | Stars: Bruno Ganz, Alexandra Maria Lara, Ulrich Matthes, Juliane Köhler

Votes: 375,169 | Gross: $5.51M

1945 AD

56. Generation War (2013)

TV-MA | 270 min | Action, Drama, History

57 Metascore

Five friends go out to war and promise each other to be back for Christmas.

Stars: Volker Bruch, Tom Schilling, Katharina Schüttler, Miriam Stein

Votes: 32,581 | Gross: $0.09M

1939-1945

57. The Pacific (2010)

TV-MA | 53 min | Action, Adventure, Drama

The Pacific Theatre of World War II, as seen through the eyes of several young Marines.

Stars: James Badge Dale, Joseph Mazzello, Jon Seda, Ashton Holmes

Votes: 129,965

1941-1945 AD

58. Band of Brothers (2001)

TV-MA | 59 min | Drama, History, War

The story of Easy Company of the U.S. Army 101st Airborne Division and their mission in World War II Europe, from Operation Overlord to V-J Day.

Stars: Scott Grimes, Damian Lewis, Ron Livingston, Shane Taylor

Votes: 527,064

1942-1945 AD

59. Schindler's List (1993)

R | 195 min | Biography, Drama, History

95 Metascore

In German-occupied Poland during World War II, industrialist Oskar Schindler gradually becomes concerned for his Jewish workforce after witnessing their persecution by the Nazis.

Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Kingsley, Caroline Goodall

Votes: 1,450,426 | Gross: $96.90M

1939-1945 AD

60. Shoah (1985)

Not Rated | 566 min | Documentary, History, War

99 Metascore

Claude Lanzmann's epic documentary recounts the story of the Holocaust through interviews with witnesses - perpetrators as well as survivors.

Director: Claude Lanzmann | Stars: Simon Srebnik, Michael Podchlebnik, Motke Zaïdl, Hanna Zaïdl

Votes: 10,549 | Gross: $0.02M

1939-1945

61. Seven Years in Tibet (1997)

PG-13 | 136 min | Adventure, Biography, Drama

55 Metascore

Heinrich Harrer, an Austrian climber, breaks out of prison and travels to the holy city of Lhasa. He is employed as an instructor to the 14th Dalai Lama and soon becomes his close confidante.

Director: Jean-Jacques Annaud | Stars: Brad Pitt, David Thewlis, BD Wong, Mako

Votes: 155,912 | Gross: $37.96M

1944-1951

62. The Crown (2016–2023)

TV-MA | 60 min | Biography, Drama, History

Follows the political rivalries and romances of Queen Elizabeth II's reign and the events that shaped Britain for the second half of the 20th century.

Stars: Claire Foy, Olivia Colman, Imelda Staunton, Matt Smith

Votes: 256,658

1947-1997 AD

63. The Death of Stalin (2017)

R | 107 min | Comedy, Drama, History

88 Metascore

Moscow, 1953. After being in power for nearly 30 years, Soviet dictator, Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin, takes ill and quickly dies. Now the members of the Council of Ministers scramble for power.

Director: Armando Iannucci | Stars: Steve Buscemi, Simon Russell Beale, Jeffrey Tambor, Andrea Riseborough

Votes: 113,408 | Gross: $8.05M

1953

64. Bridge of Spies (2015)

PG-13 | 142 min | Drama, History, Thriller

81 Metascore

During the Cold War, an American lawyer is recruited to defend an arrested Soviet spy in court, and then help the CIA facilitate an exchange of the spy for the Soviet captured American U2 spy plane pilot, Francis Gary Powers.

Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Tom Hanks, Mark Rylance, Alan Alda, Amy Ryan

Votes: 327,710 | Gross: $72.31M

1960

65. The Right Stuff (1983)

PG | 193 min | Adventure, Biography, Drama

91 Metascore

The U.S. space program's development from the breaking of the sound barrier to selection of the Mercury 7 astronauts, from a group of test pilots with a more seat-of-the-pants approach than the program's more cautious engineers preferred.

Director: Philip Kaufman | Stars: Sam Shepard, Scott Glenn, Ed Harris, Dennis Quaid

Votes: 65,339 | Gross: $21.50M

1947-1963

66. The Siege of Jadotville (2016)

TV-MA | 108 min | Action, Drama, History

Irish Commandant Pat Quinlan leads a stand off with troops against French and Belgian Mercenaries in the Congo during the early 1960s.

Director: Richie Smyth | Stars: Jamie Dornan, Emmanuelle Seigner, Mark Strong, Mikael Persbrandt

Votes: 44,344

1961

67. Hidden Figures (2016)

PG | 127 min | Biography, Drama, History

74 Metascore

The story of a team of female African-American mathematicians who served a vital role in NASA during the early years of the U.S. space program.

Director: Theodore Melfi | Stars: Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monáe, Kevin Costner

Votes: 255,214 | Gross: $169.61M

1961 AD

68. The Courier (2020)

PG-13 | 112 min | Drama, History, Mystery

65 Metascore

Businessman Greville Wynne is asked by a Russian source to try to help put an end to the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Director: Dominic Cooke | Stars: Benedict Cumberbatch, Merab Ninidze, Rachel Brosnahan, Vladimir Chuprikov

Votes: 73,559 | Gross: $6.61M

1960-1964

69. The Spy (2019)

TV-MA | 53 min | Biography, Drama, History

Based on the life of Israeli spy Eli Cohen.

Stars: Sacha Baron Cohen, Noah Emmerich, Hadar Ratzon Rotem, Alexander Siddig

Votes: 49,211

1967

70. Detroit (2017)

R | 143 min | Crime, Drama, History

77 Metascore

Fact-based drama set during the 1967 Detroit riots in which a group of rogue police officers respond to a complaint with retribution rather than justice on their minds.

Director: Kathryn Bigelow | Stars: John Boyega, Anthony Mackie, Algee Smith, Jacob Latimore

Votes: 55,942 | Gross: $16.79M

1967

71. The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020)

R | 129 min | Drama, History, Thriller

76 Metascore

The story of 7 people on trial stemming from various charges surrounding the uprising at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois.

Director: Aaron Sorkin | Stars: Eddie Redmayne, Alex Sharp, Sacha Baron Cohen, Jeremy Strong

Votes: 193,309

1968

72. Judas and the Black Messiah (2021)

R | 126 min | Biography, Drama, History

84 Metascore

Offered a plea deal by the FBI, William O'Neal infiltrates the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party to gather intelligence on Chairman Fred Hampton.

Director: Shaka King | Stars: LaKeith Stanfield, Daniel Kaluuya, Jesse Plemons, Dominique Fishback

Votes: 91,459

1968-1970

73. First Man (2018)

PG-13 | 141 min | Biography, Drama, History

84 Metascore

A look at the life of the astronaut, Neil Armstrong, and the legendary space mission that led him to become the first man to walk on the Moon on July 20, 1969.

Director: Damien Chazelle | Stars: Ryan Gosling, Claire Foy, Jason Clarke, Kyle Chandler

Votes: 202,221 | Gross: $44.94M

1969

74. Apollo 13 (I) (1995)

PG | 140 min | Adventure, Drama, History

78 Metascore

NASA must devise a strategy to return Apollo 13 to Earth safely after the spacecraft undergoes massive internal damage putting the lives of the three astronauts on board in jeopardy.

Director: Ron Howard | Stars: Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton, Kevin Bacon, Gary Sinise

Votes: 315,528 | Gross: $173.84M

1970 AD

75. The Post (2017)

PG-13 | 116 min | Biography, Drama, History

83 Metascore

A cover-up spanning four U.S. Presidents pushes the country's first female newspaper publisher and her editor to join an unprecedented battle between press and government.

Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Sarah Paulson, Bob Odenkirk

Votes: 162,245 | Gross: $81.90M

1971

76. Munich (2005)

R | 164 min | Action, Drama, History

74 Metascore

After the Black September capture and massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics, five men are chosen to eliminate the people responsible for that fateful day.

Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Eric Bana, Daniel Craig, Marie-Josée Croze, Ciarán Hinds

Votes: 238,254 | Gross: $47.40M

1972

77. The Red Sea Diving Resort (2019)

TV-MA | 129 min | Drama, History, Thriller

Israel's Mossad agents attempt to rescue Ethiopian Jewish refugees in Sudan in 1979.

Director: Gideon Raff | Stars: Mbulelo Grootboom, Sizo Mahlangu, Michael Kenneth Williams, Masasa Mbangeni

Votes: 32,578

1984-1985

78. Chernobyl (2019)

TV-MA | 41 min | Drama, History, Thriller

In April 1986, the city of Chernobyl in the Soviet Union suffers one of the worst nuclear disasters in the history of mankind. Consequently, many heroes put their lives on the line in the following days, weeks and months.

Stars: Jessie Buckley, Jared Harris, Stellan Skarsgård, Adam Nagaitis

Votes: 864,871

1986 AD

79. When They See Us (2019)

TV-MA | 296 min | Biography, Crime, Drama

Five teens from Harlem become trapped in a nightmare when they're falsely accused of a brutal attack in Central Park. Based on the true story.

Stars: Asante Blackk, Caleel Harris, Ethan Herisse, Marquis Rodriguez

Votes: 137,806

1989

80. Black Hawk Down (2001)

R | 144 min | Action, Drama, History

74 Metascore

The story of 160 elite U.S. soldiers who dropped into Mogadishu in October 1993 to capture two top lieutenants of a renegade warlord, but found themselves in a desperate battle with a large force of heavily armed Somalis.

Director: Ridley Scott | Stars: Josh Hartnett, Ewan McGregor, Tom Sizemore, Eric Bana

Votes: 423,529 | Gross: $108.64M

1993 AD

81. Hotel Rwanda (2004)

PG-13 | 121 min | Biography, Drama, History

79 Metascore

Paul Rusesabagina, a hotel manager, houses over a thousand Tutsi refugees during their struggle against the Hutu militia in Rwanda, Africa.

Director: Terry George | Stars: Don Cheadle, Sophie Okonedo, Joaquin Phoenix, Xolani Mali

Votes: 372,217 | Gross: $23.53M

1994

82. Dark Waters (2019)

PG-13 | 126 min | Biography, Drama, History

73 Metascore

A corporate defense attorney takes on an environmental lawsuit against a chemical company that exposes a lengthy history of pollution.

Director: Todd Haynes | Stars: Mark Ruffalo, Anne Hathaway, Tim Robbins, Bill Pullman

Votes: 101,768

1998-2007

83. Spartacus (1960)

PG-13 | 197 min | Adventure, Biography, Drama

87 Metascore

The slave Spartacus survives brutal training as a gladiator and leads a violent revolt against the decadent Roman Republic, as the ambitious Crassus seeks to gain power by crushing the uprising.

Directors: Stanley Kubrick, Anthony Mann | Stars: Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier, Jean Simmons, Charles Laughton

Votes: 143,165 | Gross: $30.00M

84. Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972)

Not Rated | 95 min | Action, Adventure, Biography

In the 16th century, the ruthless and insane Don Lope de Aguirre leads a Spanish expedition in search of El Dorado.

Director: Werner Herzog | Stars: Klaus Kinski, Ruy Guerra, Helena Rojo, Del Negro

Votes: 62,271

85. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (2019)

TV-PG | 113 min | Biography, Drama, History

68 Metascore

Against all the odds, a thirteen-year-old boy in Malawi invents an unconventional way to save his family and village from famine.

Director: Chiwetel Ejiofor | Stars: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Maxwell Simba, Felix Lemburo, Robert Agengo

Votes: 44,369

86. Against the Ice (2022)

TV-MA | 102 min | Adventure, Drama, History

49 Metascore

In 1909, two explorers fight to survive after they're left behind while on a Denmark expedition in ice-covered Greenland.

Director: Peter Flinth | Stars: Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Joe Cole, Heida Reed, Þorsteinn Bachmann

Votes: 28,395

87. 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992)

PG-13 | 154 min | Adventure, Biography, Drama

47 Metascore

Christopher Columbus' discovery of the Americas and the effect this has on the indigenous people.

Director: Ridley Scott | Stars: Gérard Depardieu, Armand Assante, Sigourney Weaver, Loren Dean

Votes: 32,807 | Gross: $7.19M

88. They Shall Not Grow Old (II) (2018)

R | 99 min | Documentary, History, War

91 Metascore

A documentary about World War I with never-before-seen footage to commemorate the centennial of the end of the war.

Director: Peter Jackson | Stars: Thomas Adlam, William Argent, John Ashby, Attwood

Votes: 38,457 | Gross: $17.96M

89. The Act of Killing (2012)

Not Rated | 117 min | Documentary, Biography, Crime

92 Metascore

A documentary which challenges former Indonesian death-squad leaders to reenact their mass-killings in whichever cinematic genres they wish, including classic Hollywood crime scenarios and lavish musical numbers.

Directors: Joshua Oppenheimer, Anonymous, Christine Cynn | Stars: Anwar Congo, Herman Koto, Syamsul Arifin, Ibrahim Sinik

Votes: 40,804 | Gross: $0.49M

90. Kon-Tiki (2012)

PG-13 | 118 min | Adventure, Biography, Drama

62 Metascore

Legendary explorer Thor Heyerdahl's epic 4,300-mile crossing of the Pacific on a balsawood raft in 1947, in an effort to prove that it was possible for South Americans to settle in Polynesia in pre-Columbian times.

Directors: Joachim Rønning, Espen Sandberg | Stars: Pål Sverre Hagen, Anders Baasmo, Gustaf Skarsgård, Odd-Magnus Williamson

Votes: 51,958 | Gross: $1.52M

91. Andrei Rublev (1966)

R | 189 min | Biography, Drama, History

The life, times and afflictions of the fifteenth-century Russian iconographer St. Andrei Rublev.

Director: Andrei Tarkovsky | Stars: Anatoliy Solonitsyn, Ivan Lapikov, Nikolay Grinko, Nikolay Sergeev

Votes: 57,048 | Gross: $0.10M

92. Land of Mine (2015)

R | 100 min | Drama, History, War

75 Metascore

In post-World War II Denmark, a group of young German POWs are forced to clear a beach of thousands of land mines under the watch of a Danish Sergeant who slowly learns to appreciate their plight.

Director: Martin Zandvliet | Stars: Roland Møller, Louis Hofmann, Joel Basman, Mikkel Boe Følsgaard

Votes: 45,759 | Gross: $0.44M

93. Margrete: Queen of the North (2021)

Unrated | 120 min | Biography, Drama, History

68 Metascore

1402. Queen Margrete is ruling Sweden, Norway and Denmark through her adopted son, Erik. But a conspiracy is in the making and Margrete finds herself in an impossible dilemma that could shatter her life's work: the Kalmar Union.

Director: Charlotte Sieling | Stars: Trine Dyrholm, Søren Malling, Morten Hee Andersen, Jakob Oftebro

Votes: 2,922

94. Kagemusha: The Shadow Warrior (1980)

PG | 162 min | Drama, History, War

84 Metascore

A petty thief with an utter resemblance to a samurai warlord is hired as the lord's double. When the warlord later dies the thief is forced to take up arms in his place.

Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Tatsuya Nakadai, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Ken'ichi Hagiwara, Jinpachi Nezu

Votes: 38,167

95. Persepolis (2007)

PG-13 | 96 min | Animation, Biography, Drama

90 Metascore

A precocious and outspoken Iranian girl grows up during the Islamic Revolution.

Directors: Vincent Paronnaud, Marjane Satrapi | Stars: Chiara Mastroianni, Catherine Deneuve, Gena Rowlands, Danielle Darrieux

Votes: 100,163 | Gross: $4.45M

96. The Baader Meinhof Complex (2008)

R | 150 min | Action, Biography, Crime

76 Metascore

A look at Germany's terrorist group, The Red Army Faction (RAF), which organized bombings, robberies, kidnappings, and assassinations in the late 1960s and '70s.

Director: Uli Edel | Stars: Martina Gedeck, Moritz Bleibtreu, Johanna Wokalek, Bruno Ganz

Votes: 40,117 | Gross: $0.48M

97. The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)

Passed | 114 min | Biography, Drama, History

98 Metascore

In 1431, Jeanne d'Arc is placed on trial on charges of heresy. The ecclesiastical jurists attempt to force Jeanne to recant her claims of holy visions.

Director: Carl Theodor Dreyer | Stars: Maria Falconetti, Eugene Silvain, André Berley, Maurice Schutz

Votes: 60,652 | Gross: $0.02M

98. Battleship Potemkin (1925)

Not Rated | 66 min | Drama, History, Thriller

97 Metascore

In the midst of the Russian Revolution of 1905, the crew of the battleship Potemkin mutiny against the brutal, tyrannical regime of the vessel's officers. The resulting street demonstration in Odessa brings on a police massacre.

Director: Sergei Eisenstein | Stars: Aleksandr Antonov, Vladimir Barskiy, Grigoriy Aleksandrov, Ivan Bobrov

Votes: 61,437 | Gross: $0.05M

99. Quo Vadis, Aida? (2020)

101 min | Drama, History, War

97 Metascore

Aida is a translator for the UN in the small town of Srebrenica. When the Serbian army takes over the town, her family is among the thousands of citizens looking for shelter in the UN camp.

Director: Jasmila Zbanic | Stars: Jasna Djuricic, Izudin Bajrovic, Boris Ler, Dino Bajrovic

Votes: 38,200

100. First They Killed My Father (2017)

TV-MA | 136 min | Biography, Drama, History

72 Metascore

Cambodian author and human rights activist Loung Ung recounts the horrors she suffered as a child under the rule of the deadly Khmer Rouge.

Director: Angelina Jolie | Stars: Sareum Srey Moch, Phoeung Kompheak, Sveng Socheata, Mun Kimhak

Votes: 20,432



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