Cinema has given us many great historical films that take us back in time and show us some of the best and worst times in human history.
Through the best movies, we can go to other countries, find out what it was like to be in the most violent wars, see how the smartest people broke codes or made atomic weapons, sit next to the great kings and queens of Europe, see them do great things, or go to places that are hard to get to.
The reason is that there are no time machines. However, the human mind is very strong, so movies have become a kind of window into other lives and times. Christopher Nolan’s movie Oppenheimer is more proof that movies are most exciting, clever, and important when they move away from fiction (which can be brutal) and focus on real stories and people.
From the Selma to Montgomery march to the Watergate scandal to the first trip to the moon, movies are the best way to learn more about our past.
The 25 Best Historical Movies of All Time
Oppenheimer
Oppenheimer, which stars Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, and Matt Damon and was directed by Christopher Nolan, is the story of an American scientist named Robert Oppenheimer who is asked to lead the Manhattan Project so that the United States can make the first nuclear weapons before the Nazis do. The movie shows not only his work, but also his relationships, the problems he faced, and how he felt when he saw how powerful the bomb he helped make was. So, this movies is also going to be one of the best historical movies of all time.
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The Favorite
This movie by Yorgos Lanthimos was the one that gave Olivia Colman the Oscar for Best Actress, which she earned. Colman plays Queen Anne of England, a woman who is experimental and impulsive but also very powerful. Stone and Weisz play two women who want to be the queen’s favorite because they know that if they do, they will have a great life and be able to do anything they set their minds to.
12 Years a Slave
This three-time Oscar-winning movie, starring Chiwetel Ejiofor and produced by Brad Pitt, is based on the true story of Solomon Northup, a musician who was tricked, kidnapped, and sold as a slave to a plantation during the time of slavery in the United States. There, he had to deal with all kinds of abuse and hard work while fighting to get his freedom back and go home to his family.
Gladiator
Ridley Scott directed this movie about Roman gladiators. It tells the story of Maximus (Russell Crowe), a soldier who is betrayed and sold into slavery. He eventually becomes a gladiator, which gives him the chance to start planning his revenge against the man who betrayed him and destroyed his family.
Marie Antoinette
The outfits in the Sofia Coppola movie, which won an Oscar, are a different take on the Marie Antoinette story. In the movie, Kirsten Dunst plays Marie Antoinette. The movie shows how she got to the French court, how she got along with Louis XVI, and what her life was like in the Palace of Versailles, until the French Revolution starts and her whole life changes.
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
This movie, which was up for two Oscars, is about the terrorist acts of September 11, but it looks at them from a different angle. Thomas Horn plays Oskar Schell, a boy whose father died in an attack on one of the towers. A few months after the tragedy, Oskar finds a hidden key. He thinks it must be part of a message from his father, so he goes on an adventure that takes him all over the city to find the “treasure” that will keep him tied to his father. That’s why, the film is one of the best historical movies of all time.
Frida
This movie, which won two Oscars and starred Salma Hayek, is kind of a history of Frida Kahlo. It looks at her career, the accident that put her in a bed, and her complicated relationship with Diego Rivera. It also shows how she made some of her most famous works.
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The Post
This movie is about one of the most important times in news. It stars Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Sarah Paulson, and Bod Odenkirk. Steven Spielberg is in charge of the movie, which is about the editors and reporters of the Washington Post who had to deal with censorship from the government after they published a number of secret documents about the Vietnam War and other secret Pentagon documents that had been leaked.
All Quiet on the Western Front
All Quiet on the Western Front is a movie about a young German soldier in World War I. It is based on a book with the same name. Paul and his friends see the start of the war and the terror, confusion, and fear that comes with it as they fight to stay alive in the ditches. The movie is directed by Edward Berger, and it shows how the soldiers deal with one of the most difficult fights.
Dunkirk
People say that Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk is one of the best war movies ever made. The movie shows what happened when the British were forced to leave Dunkirk, France, because they were trapped by Axis Germany. Dunkirk is told from three different points of view, all of which are linked by the tension, fear, and uncertainty of war. It was shot in a documentary way, and the images are very striking.
Selma
In this Oscar-winning movie, David Oyelowo plays Martin Luther King Jr. The story takes place in the 1950s, when Dr. King was in the middle of a campaign to give African-Americans the right to vote. At the same time, they start getting ready for a big march from Selma, Alabama, to Montgomery, Alabama, a violent area.
Kon-tiki
This is a story about excitement and trips that didn’t go as planned. The movie is about the famous explorer Thor Heyerdahl’s 4,300-mile trip across the Pacific. In the 1940s, he used a wooden raft to show if the first people from South America could have reached Polynesia before Columbus.
Elizabeth
In this movie, Cate Blanchett plays Queen Elizabeth I. It’s about the first few years of her rule in England and how people tried to force her to find a husband during a time of religious strife. The movie shows the problems she meets and how she overcame them to become a powerful queen. It was nominated for 7 Oscars and won one for her makeup.
Curse of the Golden Flower
This movie is amazing because of its story, costumes, and photos, but also because of what it says. This dramatic movie stars Gong Li and Chow Yun-Fat. It takes place during the Tang Dynasty, when the emperor finds out that his wife has been cheating on him with his adopted son. This leads to a number of plans and plots that could bring down the dynasty.
At Eternity’s Gate
Willem Dafoe plays Vincent Van Gogh in this biopic, which focuses on a time when the famous painter went into voluntary exile in Arles. There, he struggled to make his art known and stay alive with the help of his brother Theo, who became his patron and supporter while he dealt with mental health problems and made friends with artist Paul Gauguin.
The Book Thief
From a girl’s point of view, this is a war movie. Based on the same-named book, the movie is about Liesel Meminger, played by Sophie Nélisse. During World War II, she hides in stolen books and shares them with her friends, who must keep a secret that could put her family in danger if it gets out.
The Imitation Game
It tells the story of Alan Turing, a British mathematician who helps break the Nazis’ war codes during World War II. He does this by making an important tool that can help his country win the war. The movie stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley. The movie also shows Turing’s private life and how it is used against him after the war.
Apollo 13
This movie, which won two Oscars, is one of many that deal with the space race. This movie is about NASA astronauts who are part of the Apollo 13 mission. It stars Tom Hanks and Bill Paxton. During the mission, the spaceship gets severely damaged, forcing the crew and experts on Earth to work together to find a way to help them get back.
Hidden Figures
This movie, starring Taraji P. Henson and Octavia Spencer, is about a group of African-American women who were very important to the U.S. space program. Some of the show’s biggest problems were solved by these smart mathematicians, but they were forgotten because they were African-American and women. It wasn’t until many years later that the world found out about them and gave them the credit they deserved.
Jojo Rabbit
This movie, set in Nazi Germany and about a boy who lives with his mother and wants to join the Hitler Youth with the help of his imaginary friend Hitler, is directed by Taika Waititi. Soon, Jojo finds out that things are not as he thought, that the enemy he met is not so different from him, and that his mom has been hiding a Jewish girl in their house, and he has to keep the secret.
The pianist
For his part in this Roman Polanski movie, Adrien Brody got an Oscar for best actor. Here is the story of Wladyslaw Szpilman, a Jewish musician who lives through the destruction of the Warsaw ghetto and stays hidden during the war, living in the shadows and relying on the help of others to avoid being caught by the Germans and dying the same way as his family and friends.
The Color Purple
Based on the book by Alice Walker, this movie with Oprah Winfrey, Whoopi Goldberg, and Danny Glover is about racism, sexism, and discrimination in the south of the United States. Whoopi Goldberg plays Celie, a girl who grows up in an abusive environment and gets pregnant at 14 after her father beats her. The story goes through several decades of Celie’s life and shows how she fights for her freedom and to find who she is. Fans just love the film. Therefore, the movie is one of the best historical movies of all time.
Schindler’s List
This movie by Steven Spielberg won seven Oscars and is about a German man named Oskar Schindler. During World War II, he saves the lives of hundreds of Jews who were going to be sent to concentration camps. Oskar chooses to start giving out fake papers so that the Nazis will think that many of them work in his factories. He had to bribe, steal, and lie to help protect them and give them a chance to live.
Amadeus
This 1984 movie was made by Milo Forman and F. Murray Abraham (who was in The White Lotus). In Amadeus, the story of famous artist and composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is told by another famous composer named Antonio Salieri. Salieri had a lot of problems with Mozart and was jealous of his success and achievements. He later said that he killed Mozart.
All The President’s Men
This movie is also about news, just like The Post. The four-time Oscar-winning movie stars Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford as Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, two Washington Post reporters who helped uncover the Watergate spy scandal. They worked with a secret source to get all the information they needed to bring down President Nixon.
