33 feature films for history buffs

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Lifehacker has collected the best films about historical events: from Antiquity to modern times.

1. Schindler's list

• Historical drama.
• USA, 1993.
• Duration: 197 minutes.
• IMDb: 8, 9.

The film is based on the real story of Oskar Schindler, a manufacturer and a member of the Nazi party, who saved more than a thousand Jews from concentration camps during World War II.

2. Save Private Ryan

• War drama.
• USA, 1998.
• Duration: 169 minutes.
• IMDb: 8, 6.

During the landing of American troops in Normandy in 1944, a detachment of eight people is sent to the rear of the enemy. They must rescue a soldier whose three brothers were killed at the front almost at the same time.

3. Gladiator

• Drama, peplum.
• USA, UK, 2000.
• Duration: 155 minutes.
• IMDb: 8, 5.

General of the Roman army Maximus is unjustly convicted and sentenced to death. From that moment on, he becomes a gladiator, dreaming of meeting his main enemy in the arena.

4. Brave heart

• Historical.
• USA, 1995.
• Duration: 177 minutes.
• IMDb: 8, 4.

The action takes place in 13th century Scotland. William Wallace, the future national hero of Scotland, leads the struggle for his country's independence from England.

5. Amadeus

• Drama, biography, musical.
• USA, 1984.
• Duration: 153 minutes.
• IMDb: 8, 3.

The film is based on a play by Peter Schaeffer, which became a free interpretation of the biographies of composers Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri.

6. Dunkirk

• War drama, thriller.
• USA, UK, France, Netherlands, 2017.
• Duration: 106 minutes.
• IMDb: 8, 3.

A film by Christopher Nolan about the famous Dunkirk operation. During World War II, about three hundred thousand soldiers of the Allied army were trapped near the city of Dunkirk. Command and even civilian sailors are making every effort to save the military.

7. Andrey Rublev

• Drama.
• USSR, 1966.
• Duration: 175 minutes.
• IMDb: 8, 3.

The picture consists of eight short stories about the period of civil strife in Russia. The stories have little to do with each other, but everything that happens is presented through the perception of the great icon painter Andrei Rublev.

8. Young Victoria

• Biographical, drama, historical.
• UK, USA, 2009.
• Duration: 106 minutes.
• IMDb: 8, 3.

"She ruled by millions, but her heart belonged to a single man." A painting about the growing up and marriage of Queen Victoria of Great Britain.

9.12 years of slavery

• Historical drama.
• USA, 2013.
• Duration: 133 minutes.
• IMDb: 8, 1.

The life story of a free black in the forties of the XIX century. The main character is deceived into slavery on a plantation, where he will spend 12 years trying to find freedom again.

10. Ben Hur

• Peplum.
• USA, 1959.
• Duration: 212 minutes.
• IMDb: 8, 1.

The Jew Ben-Hur and the Roman Messala, who were friends in childhood, meet many years later and realize that now their position is too different. Due to political differences, Messala exiles a friend into slavery, and since then he wants to take revenge.

11. The imitation game

• Historical drama.
• USA, UK, 2014.
• Duration: 114 minutes.
• IMDb: 8, 0.

Biographical drama about Alan Turing, who deciphered during the Second World War the code of the German encryption machine "Enigma", with which the Nazis transmitted secret messages.

12. The king speaks

• Tragicomedy, historical.
• UK, Australia, 2010.
• Duration: 118 minutes.
• IMDb: 8, 0.

Duke George (father of the current Queen of Great Britain) is to ascend to the British throne. But first, he needs to overcome self-doubt and nervous stuttering.

13. Spartacus

• Peplum.
• USA, 1960.
• Duration: 197 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 9.

The story of the gladiator Spartacus and the ambitious Roman commander Crassus. Wanting to gain freedom, Spartacus raises the legendary slave uprising in Rome.

14. Apocalypse

• Drama, Thriller, Adventure, Historical.
• USA, 2006.
• Duration: 139 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 8.

The life of the Mayan civilization before the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors was also not simple and cloudless. The picture tells about an Indian whose comrades-in-arms were captured by a neighboring tribe.

15. Alexander Nevsky

• Drama, epic, military, historical.
• USSR, 1938.
• Duration: 112 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 7.

An epic about the struggle of the Russian people under the leadership of Prince Alexander Nevsky against the Teutonic Order, who decided to seize the Russian lands.

16.300 Spartans

• Kinokomiks, peplum, neo-noir.
• USA, 2007.
• Duration: 117 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 7.

A fantasy version of the legendary Battle of Thermopylae, based on the comics by Frank Miller. The plot was based on the historical confrontation between a small detachment of Spartans and the vastly superior army of the Persians.

17. Royal romance

• Drama, historical, melodrama.
• Denmark, Sweden, Czech Republic, 2012.
• Duration: 137 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 6.

While the Danish king Christian VII prefers to spend his free time in the brothels of Copenhagen, his wife Caroline Matilda has a close friend - a young German doctor Johann Friedrich Struensee.

18. Lincoln

• Drama, biographical.
• USA, 2012.
• Duration: 150 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 4.

US President Abraham Lincoln is trying to amend the constitution outlawing slavery and end the country's civil war.

19. Mongol

• Drama, historical.
• Russia, Germany, Kazakhstan, 2007.
• Duration: 120 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 3.

The story of the difficult growing up and formation of the young man Temujin, who is destined to become the great commander Genghis Khan.

20. Agora

• Drama, romance, adventure, historical.
• Spain, 2009.
• Duration: 141 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 2.

A painting about Hepathy of Alexandria, the first woman scientist in history who lived in the Roman Empire in the 4th century, during the formation of the Christian religion.

21. Troy

• Action, adventure, drama, peplum.
• USA, Malta, UK, 2004.
• Duration: 162 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 2.

The film is based on Homer's poem "The Iliad" and tells about the legendary confrontation between Achilles and his army for the wife of the king of Sparta Helen, which ended with the siege of the city of Troy.

22. Kingdom of Heaven

• Historical, war drama.
• USA, Spain, 2005.
• Duration: 145 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 2.

Dying, the crusader father bestows the title of knight on his armourer son. He swears allegiance to the king of Jerusalem and enters the knightly order.

23. Kon-Tiki

• Historical, Drama, Adventure.
• Norway, Denmark, Great Britain, Germany, Sweden, 2012.
• Duration: 118 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 2.

The story of the exploit of the traveler Thor Heyerdahl, who managed to pass on a raft from South America to Polynesia.

24. Cleopatra

• Peplum, drama.
• USA, 1963.
• Duration: 243 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 0.

The Queen of Egypt dreams of uniting her possessions with Rome and creating a great empire. To achieve her goal, she is ready to seduce the Roman rulers.

25. King

• Drama, biography, historical.
• Russia, 2009.
• Duration: 123 minutes.
• IMDb: 6, 9.

The story of one of the most controversial rulers of Russia, Ivan the Terrible, and his childhood friend, Metropolitan Philip, the only one who decided to oppose the will of the tsar.

26. Admiral

• Historical, military, adventure.
• Russia, 2008.
• Duration: 123 minutes.
• IMDb: 6, 9.

A painting about the last years of the life of Admiral Alexander Kolchak against the background of the events of two revolutions and the civil war.

27. Duchess

• Drama, biographical, historical.
• USA, UK, France, Italy, 2008.
• Duration: 110 minutes.
• IMDb: 6, 9.

Duchess Georgina Cavendish became a trendsetter and a constant participant in political intrigue. But that doesn't help her find true love.

28. Another one of the Boleyn family

• Drama.
• USA, UK, 2008.
• Duration: 114 minutes.
• IMDb: 6, 7.

Sisters Anne and Maria Boleyn vie for the attention of King Henry VIII. They are both destined to become his mistresses, but only one will rise to the throne.

29. Chart-19

• Drama, disaster film.
• Germany, Canada, Great Britain, Russia, 2002.
• Duration: 138 minutes.
• IMDb: 6, 7.

In the midst of the Cold War, a Soviet submarine enters the exercise. But after the test launch of the rocket, an accident occurs in the coolant of the nuclear reactor. To avoid a major leak, the team must come up with a way to fix the break.

30. Jeanne d'Arc

• War drama, biography.
• France, 1999.
• Duration: 160 minutes.
• IMDb: 6, 4.

The Maid of Orleans, sincerely believing that God himself is talking to her, becomes a great commander. But even this cannot save her from accusations of heresy and execution.

31. Exodus: Kings and Gods

• Peplum, drama.
• USA, UK, Spain, 2014.
• Duration: 150 minutes.
• IMDb: 6, 0.

Retelling of the biblical story about the prophet Moses and the exodus of the Jews from Egypt.

32. Taras Bulba

• Drama, historical.
• Russia, Ukraine, Poland, 2009.
• Duration: 127 minutes.
• IMDb: 5, 8.

A screen adaptation of one of the most famous works of Gogol. Against the background of the struggle of the Zaporozhye Cossacks with the Commonwealth, a personal tragedy unfolds in the family of the Cossack Colonel Taras Bulba.

33. Alexander

• Biographical drama, historical.
• USA, 2004.
• Duration: 175 minutes.
• IMDb: 5, 5.

A close ally of Alexander the Great tells the story of the life and victories of the great commander.