History Based Films

[janmitsui14]

Amarcord - Fascist Italy

Days Of Glory - France-Algeria alliance set World War II

Divided We Fall - Czechoslovakia set World War II (Holocaust-themed)

Doctor Zhivago - World War I, Russia

Downfall - The final last days of Adolf Hitler, World War II

Europa - US-occupied Germany post-World War II

Europa Europa - an autobiography set World War II (Holocaust-themed)

Fahrenheit 9-11 - a documentary, terrorism

Grave Of The Fireflies - World War II, Japan

Indochine - French Indochina, Vietnam

Joyeux Noel - World War I

Katyn - World War II Poland, the Katyn Massacre

Kolya - Russian occupation in Poland post-World War II

Life Is Beautiful - Holocaust-themed

Of Gods And Men - Algerian Civil War

Sophie Scholl: The Final Days - autobiography of Sophie Scholl, World War II

The Battle Of Algiers - French-Algerian war

The Battleship Potemkin - mutiny in Russian battleship Potemkin

The Boat - World War II

The Counterfeiters - World War II, Operation Bernhard

The Lives Of Others - history pre-Germany (East and West Germany)

The Milk Of Sorrow - Peru

The Pianist - an autobiography (Holocaust-themed)

The Spirit Of The Beehive - post-Civil War Spain

The Twilight Samurai - feudal Japan

The Wind That Shakes The Barley - Irish War Of Independence

Waltz With Bashir - Lebanon War

Joint Security Area - cold war, North and South Korea

By Hollywood and/or mainstream:
Amistad
300
Ben-Hur
Black Hawk Down
Blood Diamond
Braveheart
Dogfight - A personal favorite from Hollywood, starring River Phoenix and Lili Taylor set San Francisco, California; Vietnam War
Gladiator
Gone With The Wind
Hotel Rwanda
Invictus
Pearl Harbor
Saving Private Ryan
Schindler's List
The King's Speech

In bold: recommended
In bold and : highly recommended

For a comprehensive list, visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...al_drama_films

[pyoolechez]

^Oooh nice list. just seen Doctor Zhi, very contemplative as is Spirit of the Beehive. Stunning cinematography.

William Wyler had an interesting take on the epic Ben-hur (1959), his second encounter and work with the novel in the boom of sound and color in film. An interesting note, one of the first screenwriters for this wanted Ben-Hur and Messala's relationship to be something homosexual but they thought it would bring reactions, and unbearable circumstances. That extra twist may probably work today (with a good director). That scene with a beaten Ben-hur, and Jesus whose back is turned against us the whole time, never revealing his face, was one of this film's stamp. And the chariot race, crafted shot by shot!!! Gladiator seems to have some of its premises but works just as fine. I guess the theme of intimacy/loyalty and treachery is always pivotal to stories as these.

[questor]

Amarcord - Fascist Italy

Days Of Glory - France-Algeria alliance set World War II

Divided We Fall - Czechoslovakia set World War II (Holocaust-themed)

Doctor Zhivago - World War I, Russia

Downfall - The final last days of Adolf Hitler, World War II

Europa - US-occupied Germany post-World War II

Europa Europa - an autobiography set World War II (Holocaust-themed)

Fahrenheit 9-11 - a documentary, terrorism

Grave Of The Fireflies - World War II, Japan

Indochine - French Indochina, Vietnam

Joyeux Noel - World War I

Katyn - World War II Poland, the Katyn Massacre

Kolya - Russian occupation in Poland post-World War II

Life Is Beautiful - Holocaust-themed

Of Gods And Men - Algerian Civil War

Sophie Scholl: The Final Days - autobiography of Sophie Scholl, World War II

The Battle Of Algiers - French-Algerian war

The Battleship Potemkin - mutiny in Russian battleship Potemkin

The Boat - World War II

The Counterfeiters - World War II, Operation Bernhard

The Lives Of Others - history pre-Germany (East and West Germany)

The Milk Of Sorrow - Peru

The Pianist - an autobiography (Holocaust-themed)

The Spirit Of The Beehive - post-Civil War Spain

The Twilight Samurai - feudal Japan

The Wind That Shakes The Barley - Irish War Of Independence

Waltz With Bashir - Lebanon War

Joint Security Area - cold war, North and South Korea

By Hollywood and/or mainstream:
Amistad
300
Ben-Hur
Black Hawk Down
Blood Diamond
Braveheart
Dogfight - A personal favorite from Hollywood, starring River Phoenix and Lili Taylor set San Francisco, California; Vietnam War
Gladiator
Gone With The Wind
Hotel Rwanda
Invictus
Pearl Harbor
Saving Private Ryan
Schindler's List
The King's Speech

In bold: recommended
In bold and : highly recommended

For a comprehensive list, visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...al_drama_films

Nice update, great list!

[questor]

1900-set in Fascist Italy.

Incognito-about a forgery of a Rembrandt painting.

[michymichymoo]

How about Inglorious Basterds?

[paddylast]

How about Inglorious Basterds?

hhhm nah - gumamit lang si QT ng mga historical figures and events like Hitler, the war itself...but it's very much fictional...

[janmitsui14]

Inglorious Basterds is okay, the only problem is that it is way far removed from history and reality. But of course, we can definitely add that in the list. Thanks.

[king_lek12]

How about these films?

The Great Raid
Enemy At The Gates

[janmitsui14]

^ Hi there. I have not seen those movies yet, though I find Enemy At The Gates familiar. I shall check them out when I get the time. I still have a lot of movies on queue.

[jingdalagan]

Der Untergang

the film that gave birth to several parodies just by changing the subtitles. it was a melancholic film. as much as you would like to feel bad for Hitler, the director would remind you (with the way the film went) that he made a choice to be a monster - that he deliberately wanted as a leader to be feared, not loved.

sure he was nice to his dog and to his secretary. he even found time to have a girlfriend. but that doesn't make him less of a monster. he even found time to formulate battle plans despite knowledge of the obliteration of his troops. he keeps on fooling himself that he is still in control of the war. the worst thing he did is he exploited his countrymen's xenophobia in order to promulgate whatever that is left of National Socialism (Nazi for short).

[GL2814.5]

Der Untergang

the film that gave birth to several parodies just by changing the subtitles. it was a melancholic film. as much as you would like to feel bad for Hitler, the director would remind you (with the way the film went) that he made a choice to be a monster - that he deliberately wanted as a leader to be feared, not loved.

sure he was nice to his dog and to his secretary. he even found time to have a girlfriend. but that doesn't make him less of a monster. he even found time to formulate battle plans despite knowledge of the obliteration of his troops. he keeps on fooling himself that he is still in control of the war. the worst thing he did is he exploited his countrymen's xenophobia in order to promulgate whatever that is left of National Socialism (Nazi for short).

So this is the source of all those "Hitler rants..." videos on YouTube...

[CoolCucumber]

Sorry, ang laki pala ng pics.

[GL2814.5]

Inglorious Basterds is okay, the only problem is that it is way far removed from history and reality. But of course, we can definitely add that in the list. Thanks.

The thread is for "history-based" films, so I guess for as long as the movie makes a reference to some real event in history, it can pass.

[jingdalagan]

So this is the source of all those "Hitler rants..." videos on YouTube...

yeah, this is the one. it's cool, actually.

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Braveheart

despite the attacks thrown its way by historians for being historically inaccurate, it doesn't deny the fact of the film's beauty - of how the people of Scotland struggled to break free under the rule of England.

for sure the common object of the attacks would be William Wallace impregnating the French wife of the prince of England. it is like saying that the current bloodline of royalty came from a Scottish rebel.

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The Emperor's Shadow

another good film that was also the subject of several negative reviews for being "historically inaccurate". on this aspect though, it could be said that it would paint a negative picture of the Chinese royalty to show an adopted brother of the king of Qin to be having carnal relations with the latter's daughter. they may not be related by blood but to portray her as one who would go into a carnal relationship outside of marriage is ... (for lack of a more appropriate term) cheap.

[questor]

Admiral- Set during the Russian Revolution.

The Brest Fortress-The location of the Soviets' defense against the Nazi juggernaut during the Second World War.

The Mongol-The rise of Temudjin as the leader of the Mongols.

[jingdalagan]

The Countess

[CoolCucumber]

[jingdalagan]

Bandit Queen

a moving film that is actually an unauthorized biopic of Phoolan Devi. Devi herself hated the film that she almost made true her threat of self-immolation upon seeing how her character was shown to be so "unclean".

in a country where misogysts rule the country and the society is divided into classes, while her methods for establishing her rule in a territory are the kinds that made her an outlaw, when all you have are laws that promote suppression of the poor and maltreatment of women, some things need to be shaken badly.

[jingdalagan]

Frost/Nixon

what is the difference between an admission and a confession?

based on some of the notes that i have read from a criminal law reviewer, an admission is where a person admits to the wrongdoing but does not include guilt in admitting the act. a confession on the other hand is where the person admits to the wrongdoing and would hope for forgiveness (technically, a lower sentence).

sometimes referred to as Frost vs Nixon, this is where it shows how a hard-boiled political interview is done right. it's the kind of interviews we rarely see now. if not for the sets and the people involved, this would have been easily mistaken for a cross-examination of a president who'd rather quit the post than admit that the Watergate scandal is a mistake. and the job of making former US President Richard Nixon admit it that it is wrong lied in the hands of David Frost.

sure it involved a lot of verbal tussles here and there but remember that a politician adept with words should be facing one who is just as adept at words as he is - or is he? sometimes the fact that David Frost is a Brit more helped than harmed because this interview that he accepted would be in the point of view of an outsider looking in.

a film i highly recommend for political history enthusiasts.

[janmitsui14]

I have to update my list.