History movies

Talk to Me (2007)

Tuesday, October 14th, 2008
Genres: Biography | Drama | History
Countries: USA
Actors: Annan, Jim | Antoine, Benz | Birman, Matt | Brown, David | Cedric the Entertainer | Cheadle, Don | Dale, J. Miles | Davidx | Ejiofor, Chiwetel | Epps, Mike | Jones, Kamal | Kassel, Jeff | Malmberg, Jim | Peterson, Erick | Rakes, Kwame
Directors: Lemmons, Kasi
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The true life story of Ralph Waldo “Petey” Greene Jr. In the mid-to-late 1960s, in Washington, D.C., vibrant soul music and exploding social consciousness were combining to unique and powerful effect. It was the place and time for Petey to fully express himself - sometimes to outrageous effect - and “tell it like it is.” With the support of his irrepressible and tempestuous girlfriend Vernell, the newly minted ex-con talks his way into an on-air radio gig. He forges a friendship and a partnership with fellow prison inmate Milo’s brother Dewey Hughes. From the first wild morning on the air, Petey relies on the more straight-laced Dewey to run interference at WOL-AM, where Dewey is the program director. At the station, Petey becomes an iconic radio personality, surpassing even the established popularity of his fellow disc jockeys, Nighthawk and Sunny Jim. Combining biting humor with social commentary, Petey openly courts controversy for station owner E.G. Sonderling. Petey was determined to make not just himself but his community heard during an exciting and turbulent period in American history. As Petey’s voice, humor, and spirit surge across the airwaves with the vitality of the era, listeners tune in to hear not only incredible music but also a man speaking directly to them about race and power in America like few people ever have. Through the years, Petey’s “The truth just is” style — on - and off-air - would redefine both Petey and Dewey, and empower each to become the man he would most like to be.

Black Pimpernel, The (2007)

Tuesday, October 14th, 2008
Genres: Drama | History | Romance | Thriller
Countries: Denmark | Finland | Mexico | Sweden
Actors: Nyqvist, Michael | del Castillo, Kate | Cavazos, Lumi | Norgaard, Carsten | Giménez Cacho, Daniel | Bergin, Patrick | Campos, Cristián | Ross-Brown, Claire | Werlinder, Lisa
Directors: Faringer, Åsa
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The story about Swedish ambassador in Chile - Harald Edelstam - and his heroic actions to protect the innocent people from the execution during and after the military coup on September 11th 1973. We travel with Edelstam during the terrible moments just after the coup and follows his never-ending fight for human rights, law and order. What drove him? And what price did he end up paying for his total commitment? Haunted by his own demons the we experiences on close hand how a womanizer desperately searches to find love again, a task only doable, if he can fight his own past and redeem himself. After saving hundreds - maybe even thousands - he is challenged once more, this time to save his newfound love from the death penalty issued by the regime. Another impossible task and a desperate chase against time. Based on a true story about a man, that did, what all of us only dreams of.

Children of Huang Shi, The (2008)

Tuesday, October 7th, 2008
Genres: Drama | History
Countries: Australia | China | Germany
Actors: Rhys Meyers, Jonathan | Mitchell, Radha | Chow, Yun-Fat | Yeoh, Michelle | Li, Guang | Ji, Lin | Walker, Matt | Kolpakova, Anastasia | Su, Ping | Hideaki, Imai | Hashimoto, Sciichiro | Takashima, Shinichi | Mang, Xing | Zhu, Ruixiang | Fang, Yuelong
Directors: Spottiswoode, Roger
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Inspired by true events, THE CHILDREN OF HUANG SHI is a portrayal both sweeping and intimate of people who, thrown into an unexpected and desperate situation, discover their capacity for love and responsibility. It tells how a young Englishman, George Hogg came to lead sixty orphaned boys on an extraordinary journey of almost a thousand perilous miles across the snow-bound Liu Pan Shan mountains to safety on the edge of the Mongolian desert. And of how, in doing so, he came to understand the true meaning of courage. During his journey, Hogg learns to rely on the support of Chen, the leader of a Chinese partisan group who becomes his closest friend. He soon finds himself falling in love with Lee, a recklessly brave Australian adventurer whom war has turned into an unsentimental nurse on horseback. Along the way Hogg befriends Madame Wang, an aristocratic survivor who has also been displaced by war, who helps the young Englishman, his friends and their sixty war orphans make their way across awesome (and rarely filmed) mountain and desert regions to a place of safety near the western end of the Great Wall of China.

Untouchables, The (1987)

Friday, September 26th, 2008
Genres: Crime | Drama | History | Thriller
Countries: USA
Actors: Costner, Kevin | Connery, Sean | Smith, Charles Martin | Garcia, Andy | De Niro, Robert | Bradford, Richard | Kehoe, Jack | Sullivan, Brad | Drago, Billy | Clarkson, Patricia | D'Ambrosio, Vito | Goldstein, Steven | Aylward, Peter | Harvey, Don | Swan, Robert
Directors: De Palma, Brian
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Federal agent Elliot Ness assembles a personal team of mob fighters to bring Chicago crime boss Al Capone to justice using unconventional means during the mob wars of the 1920s. This fictionalized account of the arrest of Al Capone is heavy on style and gunfire. The end shootout combines a baby carriage and stairs with a nod to Eisenstein’s _The Battleship Potemkin_.

Other Boleyn Girl, The (2008)

Monday, June 9th, 2008
Genres: Drama | History | Romance
Countries: UK | USA
Actors: Bana, Eric | Sturgess, Jim | Rylance, Mark | Morrissey, David | Cumberbatch, Benedict | Coleman, Oliver | Redmayne, Eddie | Cox, Tom | Smiley, Michael | Mitchell, Iain | Garfield, Andrew | Jones, Lewis | Galloway, Corinne | Allen, Alfie | Wallis, Bill
Directors:
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A sumptuous and sensual tale of intrigue, romance and betrayal set against the backdrop of a defining moment in European history: two beautiful sisters, Anne and Mary Boleyn, driven by their family’s blind ambition, compete for the love of the handsome and passionate King Henry VIII.

Nightwatching (2007)

Wednesday, May 14th, 2008
Genres: Biography | Drama | History | Mystery
Countries: Canada | France | Germany | Netherlands | Poland | UK
Actors: Freeman, Martin | Holmes, Emily | Teigen, Michael | Britton, Christopher | Culkin, Michael | Ferrier, Harry | Holmes, Jonathan | Jones, Toby | Kasiecki, Kacper | Kotz, Adam | Lukis, Adrian | Marczewski, Maciej | McCabe, Richard | McNulty, Kevin | Mohr, Rafal
Directors: Greenaway, Peter
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With the 400th anniversary of Rembrandt’s birth in 2006, NIGHTWATCHING is truly a feast for the senses. Extravagant, suspenseful and sensuously beautiful, the mystery behind the extraordinary artist’s infamous painting is perfectly explored by one of the most iconic Directors of our time - Peter Greenaway. The year 1642 marks the turning point in the life of the famous Dutch painter, Rembrandt, turning him from a wealthy respected celebrity into a discredited pauper. At the insistence of his pregnant wife Saskia, Rembrandt has reluctantly agreed to paint the Amsterdam Musketeer Militia in a group portrait that will later become to be known as The Nightwatch. He soon discovers that there is a conspiracy afoot with the Amsterdam merchants playing at soldiers maneuvering for financial advantage and personal power in, that time, the richest city in the Western World. Rembrandt stumbles on a foul murder. Confident in the birth of a longed-for son and heir, Rembrandt is determined to expose the conspiring murderers and builds his accusation meticulously in the form of the commissioned painting, uncovering the seamy and hypocritical side to Dutch Society in the Golden Age. Rembrandt’s great good fortune turns. Saskia dies. Rembrandt reveals the accusation of murder in the painting and the conspirators plan revenge. They set out to discredit him at home and abroad. They plant a treacherous mistress, Geertje, to seduce him. They try to blind him. They plan his social and financial ruin, and to create the circumstances for his slide into penury, insult his young mistress Hendrickje, conspire to destroy his son, and bring Rembrandt to his knees. The bold and courageous painting of the Nightwatch, exceptional in aesthetics and content, is Rembrandt’s most celebrated painting, it consolidated his reputation as a master-painter but it also destroyed him socially and financially.

Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007)

Monday, May 5th, 2008
Genres: Biography | Drama | History
Countries: France | UK
Actors: Mollà, Jordi | Rush, Geoffrey | King, Aimee | Blanchett, Cate | Shrapnel, John | Lynch, Susan | McCave, Elise | Morton, Samantha | Cornish, Abbie | McGhie, Penelope | Ifans, Rhys | Redmayne, Eddie | McLoughlin, Stuart | Owen, Clive | Scarborough, Adrian
Directors: Shekhar Kapur
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Nearly a decade after Cate Blanchett drew the attention of audiences and critics alike with ELIZABETH, the Oscar-winning actress returns to the role of the Virgin Queen. Though the protestant ruler has been on the throne for decades in 1585, Elizabeth I’s reign is still under attack from both inside her country and from the continent. Her cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots (Samantha Morton), carries the favour of the nation’s Catholics as she schemes for the throne from prison, while Spain’s King Philip II (Jordi Molla) plots an invasion with the power of his famous armada. But Elizabeth is also concerned with the arrival of Sir Walter Raleigh (Clive Owen), a charming pirate and adventurer. Unable to reconcile her feelings with her crown, she encourages Bess (Abbie Cornish), her beloved lady-in-waiting, to pursue a relationship with Raleigh.
Nine years haven’t dulled Blanchett’s ability to play this—or any other—character with an impressive range of fire and tenderness. Her chemistry with the infinitely watchable Owen is one of the film’s highlights. As in ELIZABETH, director Shekhar Kapur doesn’t restrict himself from using artfully constructed shots that aren’t normally used in period dramas. It’s a modern retelling of history, and Kapur and his director of photograpy, Remi Adefarasin, aren’t content to let the film have the standard look of many films in the genre. Costume designer Alexandra Byrne follows the same logic, creating stunning dresses for Elizabeth that draw inspiration both from modernity and the time period. If Blanchett weren’t such a gifted actress, the gorgeous costumes might threaten to overtake her as the star of the film.

Seabiscuit (2003)

Sunday, May 4th, 2008
Genres: Drama | History | Sport
Countries: USA
Actors: McCullough, David | Bridges, Jeff | O'Connor, Paul Vincent | Cooper, Chris | Ensign, Michael | Keane, James | Mahaffey, Valerie | Doty, David | Craig, Carl M. | O'Neill, Michael | Corley, Annie | Angarano, Michael | Bowen, Cameron | Luke, Noah | Bess, Mariah
Directors: Ross, Gary
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In an era when Americans were in great need of heroic figures to help them forget their troubles, SEABISCUIT comes to the rescue. The picture relates a moving story of friendship and devotion in rehabilitating the main characters’fractured lives, as it interweaves the interactions between horse, jockey, trainer and owner and their adoring fans. The film accurately portrays the real people and events of those troubled times and how Seabiscuit “fixed us, every one of us.”

300 Spartans, The (1962)

Monday, April 28th, 2008
Genres: Adventure | Drama | History | War
Countries: USA
Actors: Egan, Richard | Richardson, Ralph | Diane Baker | Coe, Barry | Farrar, David | Houston, Donald | Synodinou, Anna | Moore, Kieron | Crawford, John | Brown, Robert | Naismith, Laurence | Wakefield, Anne | Triesault, Ivan | Fawcett, Charles | Nikolinakos, Michalis
Directors: Maté, Rudolph
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Essentially true story of how Spartan king Leonidas led an extremely small army of Greek Soldiers (300 of them his personal body guards from Sparta) to hold off an invading Persian army more than 20 times as large. The actual heroism of those who stood (and ultimately died) with Leonidas helped shape the course of Western Civilization, allowing the Greek city states time to organize an army which repelled the Persians. Set in 480 BC.

Goodbye Bafana (2007)

Thursday, April 17th, 2008
Genres: Biography | Drama | History
Countries: Belgium | France | Germany | Italy | Luxembourg | South Africa | UK
Actors: Fiennes, Joseph | Haysbert, Dennis | Kruger, Diane | Henderson, Shiloh | Lyster, Patrick | Ndukwana, Faith | Bawa, Mehboob | Galley, Adrian | Grier, Warrick | Mongezi, Leslie | Msutu, Sizwe | Roberts, Matthew | van Jaarsveldt, Eduan | Pheto, Terry | Troiano, Giulia
Directors: August, Bille
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GOODBYE BAFANA is the true story of a white South African racist whose life was profoundly altered by the black prisoner he guarded for twenty years. The prisoner’s name was Nelson Mandela.