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Best History Movies

Reconstructions of real events and eras.


These history films are ranked by IMDb score — the ones that audiences worldwide have voted, re-watched, and argued over the most. Refine by year or cross-reference with another genre. The list begins with the best.
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19702026
Showing 33 of 40

  1. 01.
    Schindler's List

    Schindler's List

    1993·Dir. Steven Spielberg·195 min·9.0

    The true story of how businessman Oskar Schindler saved over a thousand Jewish lives from the Nazis while they worked as slaves in his factory during World War II.

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  2. 02.
    O.J.: Made in America

    O.J.: Made in America

    2016·Dir. Ezra Edelman·467 min·8.9

    A chronicle of the rise and fall of O.J. Simpson, whose high-profile murder trial exposed the extent of American racial tensions, revealing a fractured and divided nation.

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  3. 03.
    Shoah

    Shoah

    1985·Dir. Claude Lanzmann·566 min·8.7

    Director Claude Lanzmann spent 11 years on this sprawling documentary about the Holocaust, conducting his own interviews and refusing to use a single frame of archival footage. Dividing Holocaust witnesses into three categories – survivors, bystanders, and perpetrators – Lanzmann presents testimonies from survivors of the Chelmno concentration camp, an Auschwitz escapee, and witnesses of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, as well as a chilling report of gas chambers from an SS officer at Treblinka.

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  4. 04.
    Saving Private Ryan

    Saving Private Ryan

    1998·Dir. Steven Spielberg·169 min·8.6

    As U.S. troops storm the beaches of Normandy, three brothers lie dead on the battlefield, with a fourth trapped behind enemy lines. Ranger captain John Miller and seven men are tasked with penetrating German-held territory and bringing the boy home.

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  5. 05.
    The Untold History Of The United States

    The Untold History Of The United States

    2012·Dir. Oliver Stone·585 min·8.6

    Oliver Stone charts the history of the United States from the Second World War to the present.

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  6. 06.
    Rocketry: The Nambi Effect

    Rocketry: The Nambi Effect

    2022·Dir. R. Madhavan·154 min·8.6

    The story of the great Indian rocket scientist, Shri Nambi Narayanan's life, a true patriot, who was turned into a villain in the blink of an eye after being falsely accused of treason.

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  7. 07.
    Jai Bhim

    Jai Bhim

    2021·Dir. T. J. Gnanavel·164 min·8.6

    A pregnant woman from a primitive tribal community, searches desperately for her husband, who is missing from police custody. So as to find her husband and seek justice for them, as their voice, a High Court advocate rises in support. Will their battle for justice succeed?

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  8. 08.
    Toma

    Toma

    2021·Dir. Dragan Bjelogrlić·140 min·8.6

    Biopic about Serbian folk singer Toma Zdravković, the man who is remembered not only for his songs and unique way he was singing them, but also as a bohemian, both in his behavior and his soul.

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  9. 09.
    Sarpatta Parambarai

    Sarpatta Parambarai

    2021·Dir. Pa. Ranjith·174 min·8.5

    When Sarpatta Parambarai is challenged to a do-or-die match, Kabilan, a young labourer, must choose whether to put on the gloves himself and lead his clan to victory, or be dissuaded by his disapproving mother and dangerous politics.

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  10. 10.
    Sita Ramam

    Sita Ramam

    2022·Dir. Hanu Raghavapudi·158 min·8.5

    Afreen, a rebellious Pakistani student sets ablaze the car of an Indian in London. Angered Afreen returns to Pakistan to ask for money from her grandfather that she has to pay in a month's time as damages. However, she gets to know that he is no more and the only thing he has left for her is a letter-delivering task, written by Ram to Sita. As Afreen sets out to find Ram, there begins her journey of discovering the secret behind the 20-year-old letter.

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  11. 11.
    The Kashmir Files

    The Kashmir Files

    2022·Dir. Vivek Agnihotri·170 min·8.5

    Based on a true tragedy, the emotionally triggering film sheds light on the plight of Kashmiri Pandits (Hindus), a religious minority in the 1990s Kashmir valley, who were compelled to flee their homes by the Islamic militants.

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  12. 12.
    I Swear

    I Swear

    2025·Dir. Kirk Jones·121 min·8.4

    Diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome at 15, John Davidson navigates his way against the odds through troubled teenage years and into adulthood, finding inspiration in the kindness of others to discover his true purpose in life.

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  13. 13.
    The Best of Youth

    The Best of Youth

    2003·Dir. Marco Tullio Giordana·367 min·8.4

    After a fateful encounter in the summer of 1966, the lifepaths of two brothers from a middle-class Roman family diverge, intersecting with some of the most significant events of postwar Italian history in the following decades.

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  14. 14.
    Amadeus

    Amadeus

    1984·Dir. Miloš Forman·160 min·8.4

    Disciplined Italian composer Antonio Salieri becomes consumed by jealousy and resentment towards the hedonistic and remarkably talented young Salzburger composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

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  15. 15.
    Mahanati

    Mahanati

    2018·Dir. Nag Ashwin·176 min·8.4

    Mahanati depicts the life and career of one of Telugu cinema's greatest and most iconic starlets, the first Indian female super star, Savitri.

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  16. 16.
    Das Boot

    Das Boot

    1981·Dir. Wolfgang Petersen·150 min·8.3

    A German submarine hunts allied ships during the Second World War, but it soon becomes the hunted. The crew tries to survive below the surface, while stretching both the boat and themselves to their limits.

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  17. 17.
    Braveheart

    Braveheart

    1995·Dir. Mel Gibson·178 min·8.3

    Enraged at the slaughter of Murron, his new bride and childhood love, Scottish warrior William Wallace slays a platoon of the local English lord's soldiers. This leads the village to revolt and, eventually, the entire country to rise up against English rule.

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  18. 18.
    Hamilton

    Hamilton

    2025·Dir. Thomas Kail·160 min·8.3

    Presenting the tale of American founding father Alexander Hamilton, this filmed version of the original Broadway smash hit is the story of America then, told by America now.

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  19. 19.
    Sardar Udham

    Sardar Udham

    2021·Dir. Shoojit Sircar·162 min·8.3

    A young Sardar Udham Singh left deeply scarred by the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, escaped into the mountains of Afghanistan, reaching London in 1933-34. Carrying an unhealed wound for 21 years, the revolutionary assassinated Michael O’Dwyer on 13th March, 1940, the man at the helm of affairs in Punjab, April 1919 to avenge the lost lives of his beloved brethren.

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  20. 20.
    Green Book

    Green Book

    2018·Dir. Peter Farrelly·130 min·8.2

    Tony Lip, a bouncer in 1962, is hired to drive pianist Don Shirley on a tour through the Deep South in the days when African Americans, forced to find alternate accommodations and services due to segregation laws below the Mason-Dixon Line, relied on a guide called The Negro Motorist Green Book.

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  21. 21.
    The Voice of Hind Rajab

    The Voice of Hind Rajab

    2025·Dir. Kaouther Ben Hania·89 min·8.2

    January 29, 2024. Red Crescent volunteers receive an emergency call. A five-year old girl is trapped in a car under fire in Gaza, pleading for rescue. While trying to keep her on the line, they do everything they can to get an ambulance to her. Her name was Hind Rajab.

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  22. 22.
    Oppenheimer

    Oppenheimer

    2023·Dir. Christopher Nolan·181 min·8.2

    The story of J. Robert Oppenheimer's role in the development of the atomic bomb during World War II.

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  23. 23.
    1917

    1917

    2019·Dir. Sam Mendes·119 min·8.2

    At the height of the First World War, two young British soldiers must cross enemy territory and deliver a message that will stop a deadly attack on hundreds of soldiers.

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  24. 24.
    Ran

    Ran

    1985·Dir. Akira Kurosawa·160 min·8.2

    Shakespeare's King Lear is reimagined as a singular historical epic set in sixteenth-century Japan where an aging warlord divides his kingdom between his three sons.

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  25. 25.
    The Elephant Man

    The Elephant Man

    1980·Dir. David Lynch·124 min·8.2

    A Victorian surgeon rescues a heavily disfigured man being mistreated by his "owner" as a side-show freak. Behind his monstrous façade, there is revealed a person of great intelligence and sensitivity. Based on the true story of Joseph Merrick (called John Merrick in the film), a severely deformed man in 19th century London.

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  26. 26.
    Ayla: The Daughter of War

    Ayla: The Daughter of War

    2017·Dir. Can Ulkay·124 min·8.2

    In 1950, amidst the ravages of the Korean War, Sergeant Süleyman stumbles upon a a half-frozen little girl, with no parents and no help in sight and he risks his own life to save her, smuggling her into his army base and out of harm’s way.

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  27. 27.
    Downfall

    Downfall

    2004·Dir. Oliver Hirschbiegel·155 min·8.2

    In April of 1945, Germany stands at the brink of defeat with the Russian Army closing in from the east and the Allied Expeditionary Force attacking from the west. In Berlin, capital of the Third Reich, Adolf Hitler proclaims that Germany will still achieve victory and orders his generals and advisers to fight to the last man. When the end finally does come, and Hitler lies dead by his own hand, what is left of his military must find a way to end the killing that is the Battle of Berlin, and lay down their arms in surrender.

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  28. 28.
    They Shall Not Grow Old

    They Shall Not Grow Old

    2018·Dir. Peter Jackson·99 min·8.2

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

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  29. 29.
    The Ascent

    The Ascent

    1977·Dir. Larisa Shepitko·109 min·8.2

    During a freezing WWII winter, two Soviet partisans on a mission to gather food contend with the temperature, the occupying Germans, and their own psyches.

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  30. 30.
    Temple Grandin

    Temple Grandin

    2010·Dir. Mick Jackson·108 min·8.2

    A biopic of Temple Grandin, an autistic American who has become one of the leading scientists in humane livestock handling.

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  31. 31.
    The Look of Silence

    The Look of Silence

    2014·Dir. Joshua Oppenheimer·100 min·8.2

    An optician grapples with the Indonesian mass killings of 1965-1966, during which his older brother was exterminated.

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  32. 32.
    The Act of Killing

    The Act of Killing

    2012·Dir. Joshua Oppenheimer·159 min·8.2

    In this chilling and groundbreaking documentary, former Indonesian death squad leaders reenact their real-life mass killings in the style of various film genres. As they recreate their past atrocities, the line between reality and performance blurs, exposing the lingering impact of Indonesia's 1965-66 anti-communist purge and the unsettling psychology of its perpetrators.

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  33. 33.
    Bhaag Milkha Bhaag

    Bhaag Milkha Bhaag

    2013·Dir. Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra·186 min·8.2

    The true story of the "Flying Sikh" world champion runner and Olympian Milkha Singh who overcame the massacre of his family, civil war during the India-Pakistan partition, and homelessness to become one of India's most iconic athletes.

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