History

Cry Freedom

Cry Freedom

Cry Freedom

IMDb: 7.5
1987
157min

A dramatic story, based on actual events, about the friendship between two men struggling against apartheid in South Africa in the 1970s. Donald Woods is a white liberal journalist in South Africa who begins to follow the activities of Stephen Biko, a courageous and outspoken black anti-apartheid activist.

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The Last Emperor

The Last Emperor

The Last Emperor

IMDb: 7.8
1987
163min

A dramatic history of Pu Yi, the last of the Emperors of China, from his lofty birth and brief reign in the Forbidden City, the object of worship by half a billion people; through his abdication, his decline and dissolute lifestyle; his exploitation by the invading Japanese, and finally to his obscure existence as just another peasant worker in the People’s Republic.

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Escape from Sobibor

Escape from Sobibor

Escape from Sobibor

IMDb: 7.5
1987
120min

During WWII, the death camp at Treblinka had an escape, causing the Commandant at a similar camp in Sobibor to vow (actually threaten) that his camp would never experience the same thing. But those who were its captives, the Jewish laborers that had been spared from the ovens, knew that they were on borrowed time and that their only hope was to escape… the only question was how to do it. On October 14, 1943, members of the camp’s underground resistance succeeded in covertly killing eleven German officers and a number of Ukrainian guards. Of the 600 inmates in the camp, roughly 300 escaped, although most were later re-captured and killed. The escape forced the Nazis to close the death camp, dismantling it and planting a forest.

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Empire of the Sun

Empire of the Sun

Empire of the Sun

IMDb: 7.8
1987
153min

The story of young English boy who lives with his parents in Shanghai during World War II. After the Pearl Harbor attack, the Japanese occupy the Shanghai International Settlement, and in the following chaos Jim becomes separated from his parents.

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Lady Jane

Lady Jane

Lady Jane

IMDb: 7.2
1986
142min

The death of King Henry VIII throws his kingdom into chaos because of succession disputes. His weak son Edward, is on his deathbed. Anxious to keep England true to the Reformation, a scheming minister John Dudley marries off his son, Guildford to Lady Jane Grey, whom he places on the throne after Edward dies. At first hostile to each other, Guildford and Jane fall in love. But they cannot withstand the course of power which will lead to their ultimate downfall.

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The Mission

The Mission

The Mission

IMDb: 7.5
1986
126min

Jeremy Irons plays a Spanish Jesuit who goes into the South American wilderness to build a mission in the hope of converting the Indians of the region. Robert DeNiro plays a slave hunter who is converted and joins Irons in his mission. When Spain sells the colony to Portugal, they are forced to defend all they have built against the Portugese aggressors.

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Salvador

Salvador

Salvador

IMDb: 7.5
1986
123min

A second rated journalist from the US tries his luck in El Salvador during the military dictatorship in the 1980s.

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Revolution

Revolution

Revolution

IMDb: 5.2
1985
126min

New York trapper Tom Dobb becomes an unwilling participant in the American Revolution after his son Ned is drafted into the Army by the villainous Sergeant Major Peasy. Tom attempts to find his son, and eventually becomes convinced that he must take a stand and fight for the freedom of the Colonies, alongside the aristocratic rebel Daisy McConnahay. As Tom undergoes his change of heart, the events of the war unfold in large-scale grandeur.

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Amadeus

Amadeus

Amadeus

IMDb: 8.3
1984
160min

The incredible story of genius musician Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, told in flashback by his peer and secret rival Antonio Salieri – now confined to an insane asylum.

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A Passage to India

A Passage to India

A Passage to India

IMDb: 7.4
1984
163min

The film is set during the period of growing influence of the Indian independence movement in the British Raj. It begins with the arrival in India of a British woman, Miss Adela Quested (Judy Davis), who is joining her fiancé, a city magistrate named Ronny Heaslop (Nigel Havers). She and Ronny’s mother, Mrs. Moore (Peggy Ashcroft), befriend an Indian doctor, Aziz H. Ahmed (Victor Banerjee).

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The Killing Fields

The Killing Fields

The Killing Fields

IMDb: 7.9
1984
141min

The Killing Fields tells the real life story of a friendship between two journalists, an American and a Cambodian, during the bloody Khmer Rouge takeover of Cambodia in 1975, which lead to the death of 2-3 million Cambodians during the next four years, until Pol Pot’s regime was toppled by the intervening Vietnamese in 1979.

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Phar Lap

Phar Lap

Phar Lap

IMDb: 7.3
1983
107min

Phar Lap, the big bold chestnut reigned as the king of the turf in the depression that gripped Australia of the 1930s. From his humble beginnings the New Zealand bred horse raced on to become the hero of a nation.

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The Right Stuff

The Right Stuff

The Right Stuff

IMDb: 7.9
1983
193min

A chronicle of the original Mercury astronauts in the formation of America’s space program: Alan Shepherd, the first American in space; Gus Grissom, the benighted astronaut for whom nothing works out as planned; John Glenn, the straight-arrow ‘boy scout’ of the bunch who was the first American to orbit the earth; and the remaining pilots: Deke Slayton, Scott Carpenter and Wally Schirra.

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Gandhi

Gandhi

Gandhi

IMDb: 8.1
1982
191min

In the early years of the 20th century, Mohandas K. Gandhi, a British-trained lawyer, forsakes all worldly possessions to take up the cause of Indian independence. Faced with armed resistance from the British government, Gandhi adopts a policy of ‘passive resistance’, endeavouring to win freedom for his people without resorting to bloodshed.

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Reds

Reds

Reds

IMDb: 7.5
1981
195min

A radical American journalist becomes involved with the Communist revolution in Russia and hopes to bring its spirit and idealism to the United States.

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The Decline of Western Civilization

The Decline of Western Civilization

The Decline of Western Civilization

IMDb: 7.7
1981
100min

The Los Angeles punk music scene circa 1980 is the focus of this film. With Alice Bag Band, Black Flag, Catholic Discipline, Circle Jerks, Fear, Germs, and X.

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Quest for Fire

Quest for Fire

Quest for Fire

IMDb: 7.4
1981
100min

A colossal adventure odyssey that turns back the hands of time to the very beginning of man’s existence. 80,000 years ago, when man roamed the earth, he was exposed to the many harsh elements of nature. Against the perilous atmosphere of rugged terrain, rival tribes and savage beasts, Quest for Fire examines a peaceful tribe’s search for that all important element fire, and the knowledge to create it. Focusing on human dream as well as realistic insights into pre-historic man, the constant struggle for survival is vividly recreated in this sensational production.

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Gallipoli

Gallipoli

Gallipoli

IMDb: 7.5
1981
112min

As World War I rages, brave and youthful Australians Archy and Frank, both agile runners, become friends and enlist in the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps together. They later find themselves part of the Dardanelles Campaign on the Gallipoli peninsula, a brutal eight-month conflict which pit the British and their allies against the Ottoman Empire and left over 500,000 men dead.

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Breaker Morant

Breaker Morant

Breaker Morant

IMDb: 7.9
1980
107min

During the Boer War, three Australian lieutenants are on trial for shooting Boer prisoners. Though they acted under orders, they are being used as scapegoats by the General Staff, who hopes to distance themselves from the irregular practices of the war. The trial does not progress as smoothly as expected by the General Staff, as the defence puts up a strong fight in the courtroom.

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A Tale of Two Cities

A Tale of Two Cities

A Tale of Two Cities

IMDb: 6.6
1980
162min

Dissolute barrister Sydney Carton becomes enchanted and then hopelessly in love with the beautiful Lucie Manette. But Lucie loves and marries Charles Darnay, and remains oblivious to Carton’s undimmed devotion to her. When Darnay is ensnared in the deadly web of the French Revolution and condemned to die by the guillotine, Sydney Carton concocts a dangerous plot to free the husband of the woman he loves.

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Caligula

Caligula

Caligula

IMDb: 5.3
1979
156min

The perversion behind imperial Rome, the epic story of Rome’s mad Emporer. All the details of his cruel, bizarre reign are revealed right here: His unholy sexual passion for his sister, his marriage to Rome’s most infamous prostitute, his fiendishly inventive means of disposing those who would oppose him, and more.

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Zulu Dawn

Zulu Dawn

Zulu Dawn

IMDb: 6.6
1979
117min

In 1879, the British suffer a great loss at the Battle of Isandlwana due to incompetent leadership. Cy Endfield co-wrote the epic prequel Zulu Dawn 15 years after his enormously popular Zulu. Set in 1879, this film depicts the catastrophic Battle of Isandhlwana, which remains the worst defeat of the British army by natives, with the British contingent outnumbered 16-to-1 by the Zulu tribesmen. The film’s opinion of events is made immediately clear in its title sequence: ebullient African village life presided over by King Cetshwayo is contrasted with aristocratic artifice under the arrogant eye of General Lord Chelmsford (Peter O’Toole). Chelmsford is at the heart of all that goes wrong, initiating the catastrophic battle with an ultimatum made seemingly for the sake of giving his troops something to do. His detached  manner leads to one mistake after another.

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The Tree of Wooden Clogs

The Tree of Wooden Clogs

The Tree of Wooden Clogs

IMDb: 8.0
1978
186min

The life inside a farm in Italy at the beginning of the century. Many poor country families live there, and the owner pays them by their productivity. One of the families has a very clever child. They decide to send him to school instead of make him help them, although this represents a great sacrifice. The boy has to wake up very early and walk several miles to get to the school. One day the boy’s shoes break when returning home, but they do not have money to buy other. What can they do?

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A Bridge Too Far

A Bridge Too Far

A Bridge Too Far

IMDb: 7.4
1977
175min

Tells the story of operation Market Garden. A failed attempt by the allies in the latter stages of WWII to end the war quickly by securing three bridges in Holland allowing access over the Rhine into Germany. A combination of poor allied intelligence and the presence of two crack German panzer divisions meant that the final part of this operation (the bridge in Arnhem over the Rhine) was doomed to failure.

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Fellini’s Casanova

Fellini’s Casanova

Fellini’s Casanova

IMDb: 7.1
1976
155min

Casanova is a libertine, collecting seductions and sexual feats. But he is really interested in someone, and is he really an interesting person? Is he really alive?

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Private Vices, Public Virtues

Private Vices, Public Virtues

Private Vices, Public Virtues

IMDb: 5.9
1976
104min

The son of Emperor Franz Josef of Austria, Crown Prince Rudolf, is believed to have shot his female lover and himself in a tragic suicide pact in 1882 in Mayerling. Due to Imperial cover-ups, the full story may never be known. This story has been filmed several times, in French in 1935 and in English in 1968. Hungarian director Miklos Jancso recreates those events for his own purposes, continuing his favored theme of the rejection of paternal authority. In the film, which has very little dialog, Rudolf is a good-natured pan-sexual golden boy, who cavorts on his rural estate with a host of beautiful, aristocratic lovers and friends of both sexes. He refuses to leave his country idyll even though he has been ordered to by the Emperor, his father. Despite the fact that for a large part of the film, attractive young people go about unclothed and engaging in erotic encounters, the mood is one of melancholy rather than prurience.

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The Message

The Message

The Message

IMDb: 8.3
1976
177min

Handsomely-mounted historical epic concerns the birth of the Islamic faith and the story of the prophet Mohammed.

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Midway

Midway

Midway

IMDb: 6.8
1976
132min

This war drama depicts the U.S. and Japanese forces in the naval Battle of Midway, which became a turning point for Americans during World War II.

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All the President’s Men

All the President’s Men

All the President’s Men

IMDb: 8.0
1976
138min

In the run-up to the 1972 elections, Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward covers what seems to be a minor break-in at the Democratic Party National headquarters. He is surprised to find top lawyers already on the defense case, and the discovery of names and addresses of Republican fund organizers on the accused further arouses his suspicions. The editor of the Post is prepared to run with the story and assigns Woodward and Carl Bernstein to it. They find the trail leading higher and higher in the Republican Party, and eventually into the White House itself.

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The Story of Adele H

The Story of Adele H

The Story of Adele H

IMDb: 7.4
1975
97min

The story of beautiful Adèle Hugo, the second daughter of Victor Hugo, who is devastated by the accidental death of her elder sister. Hugo is living in exile on the island of Guernsey where Adèle meets and is seized by an obsessive and unrequited love for a British officer, Lt. Pinson. She follows him to Halifax, Nova Scotia, under the assumed name of Miss Lewly. While in Halifax, he rejects her, but she communicates to her parents that she has married him. Her father urges her to return home, but she destroys Pinson’s hope of happiness by claiming to his actual fiancee’s father, a judge, that Pinson is married to her. She follows him to Barbados, West Indies, where he is posted and assumes the name of Mrs. Pinson. By the time he catches up with Adèle, she does not acknowledge or recognize him. Returned to Paris, the Third Republic now established, she is placed in an asylum by her father. She dies in Paris in 1915, in her 85th year.

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The Hindenburg

The Hindenburg

The Hindenburg

IMDb: 6.2
1975
125min

In this highly speculative historical thriller, Colonel Franz Ritter (George C. Scott), a former hero pilot now working for military intelligence, is assigned to the great Hindenburg airship as its chief of security. As he races against the clock to uncover a possible saboteur aboard the doomed zeppelin he finds that any of the passengers and crew could be the culprit.

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Mandingo

Mandingo

Mandingo

IMDb: 6.2
1975
127min

A slave owner in the 1840s trains one of his slaves to be a bare-knuckle fighter.

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Barry Lyndon

Barry Lyndon

Barry Lyndon

IMDb: 8.1
1975
184min

In the Eighteenth Century, in a small village in Ireland, Redmond Barry is a young farm boy in love with his cousin Nora Brady. When Nora engages to the British Captain John Quin, Barry challenges him for a duel of pistols. He wins and escapes to Dublin, but is robbed on the road. Without any other alternative, Barry joins the British Army to fight in the Seven Years War.

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Overlord

Overlord

Overlord

IMDb: 7.2
1975
83min

During the war a young lad is called up and, with an increasing sense of foreboding, undertakes his army training ready for D-day.

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Operation Daybreak

Operation Daybreak

Operation Daybreak

IMDb: 7.1
1975
118min

Czechoslovakia, 1942. Three brave Czech patriots risk everything to rid their country of its brutal Nazi leader, SS-General Reinhard Heydrich.

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Lone Wolf and Cub: White Heaven in Hell

Lone Wolf and Cub: White Heaven in Hell

Lone Wolf and Cub: White Heaven in Hell

IMDb: 7.5
1974
83min

In the sixth and final film of the Lone Wolf and Cub series, the final conflict between Ogami Itto and the Yagyu clan is carried out.

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Antony and Cleopatra

Antony and Cleopatra

Antony and Cleopatra

IMDb: 5.9
1972
138min

Adaptation of Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra, a historical drama that attempts to bring an epic visual style to the Bard’s original stage play. The story concerns Marc Antony’s attempts to rule Rome while maintaining a relationship with the queen of Egypt (Hildegarde Neil), which began while Antony was still married. Now he is being forced to marry the sister of his Roman co-leader, and soon the conflict leads to war.

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The Canterbury Tales

The Canterbury Tales

The Canterbury Tales

IMDb: 6.5
1972
111min

Glimpses of Chaucer penning his famous work are sprinkled through this re-enactment of several of his stories.

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1776

1776

1776

IMDb: 7.6
1972
142min

The film focuses on the representatives of the Thirteen original colonies who participated in the Second Continental Congress. 1776 depicts the three months of deliberation (and, oftentimes, acrimonious debate) that led up to the signing of one of the most important documents in the History of the United States, the Declaration of Independence.

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The Devils

The Devils

The Devils

IMDb: 7.8
1971
111min

A dramatised historical account of the rise and fall of Urbain Grandier, a 17th-century Roman Catholic priest accused of witchcraft following alleged demonic possessions of sexually repressed nuns.

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