Best History Movies

Historical films let you watch the past argue with itself - wars, trials, revolutions and the people caught inside them. Ranked here by audience rating: sweeping period epics, tense docudramas and intimate true stories. See where each streams and mark off the eras you've covered.

Man on the Moon (1999)

1987: When the Day Comes (2017)

Seven Years in Tibet (1997)

The King (2019)

The Hill (2023)

A Night to Remember (1958)

The Magdalene Sisters (2002)

Zulu (1964)

Lost Illusions (2021)

Suffragette (2015)

Palm Trees in the Snow (2015)

The Devils (1971)

The Tiger (2015)

David (2025)

Official Secrets (2019)

Munich (2005)

Silence (2016)

Escape from Pretoria (2020)

To End All War: Oppenheimer & the Atomic Bomb (2023)

The Man Who Knew Infinity (2016)

Birdman of Alcatraz (1962)

Kingdom of Heaven (2005)

Casualties of War (1989)

Fabrizio De André: Principe libero (2018)

The Lion in Winter (1968)

A Man for All Seasons (1966)

The Old Gun (1975)

A Bridge Too Far (1977)

Midway (2019)

Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India (2001)

Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris (2022)

Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (2013)

The Young Victoria (2009)

Downton Abbey (2019)

Hamilton (2025)

Anthropoid (2016)

Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (2021)

Patriots Day (2016)

First Man (2018)

Conspiracy (2001)

BlackBerry (2023)

Finding Forrester (2000)

The Damned United (2009)

A Hidden Life (2019)

The Untold History Of The United States (2012)

She Said (2022)

Cabrini (2024)

The First King (2019)

Promise at Dawn (2017)

Till (2022)

The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1974)

The Post (2017)

22 July (2018)

The Boys in the Boat (2023)

Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005)

Ip Man 3 (2015)

The Long Walk Home (1990)

Esterno notte (Parte I) (2022)

Safety (2020)

Cleopatra (1963)