21. Amistad
Year of Release: 1997
Overall Rating: 2.9 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Drama/Historical
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Steven Spielberg
Actors: Morgan Freeman, Nigel Hawthorne, Anthony Hopkins, Djimon Hounsou, Matthew McConaughey, Pete Postlethwaite
Plot: 1839 - the slave ship Amistad is on its way from Cuba to the U.S. when there is an uprising led by a former African tribal leader. Landing in America, instead of freedom, they are once again captured and bound - but an abolitionist lawyer takes their case - arguing they are not slaves, but free citizens from another country. The outcome will not be decided until it reaches the Supreme Court, where John Quincy Adams presides.
22. 12 Years a Slave
Year of Release: 2013
Overall Rating: 3.3 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Drama/Historical
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Steve McQueen
Actors: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Lupita Nyong'o, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano, Paul Giamatti
Plot: Follows the true story of Solomon Northup, an upstate free black man who, years before the civil war broke out, was abducted and sold into slavery. Facing both extreme cruelty and incredible kind deeds, he struggles to maintain his dignity while fighting to survive. In the twelfth year of his ordeal a chance meeting with a Canadian abolitionist will change his life forever.
23. The Last King of Scotland
Year of Release: 2006
Overall Rating: 3.0 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Drama/Historical
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Kevin Macdonald
Actors: Forest Whitaker, James McAvoy, Gillian Anderson, Simon McBurney, Kerry Washington, Adam Kotz
Plot: A young Scottish doctor travels away from his family ways to experience something new when he runs into the new President of Uganda who happens to have strong feelings for the Scottish.
24. The Lion in Winter
Year of Release: 1968
Overall Rating: 2.9 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Drama/Historical
MPAA Rating: PG
Director: Anthony Harvey
Actors: Katharine Hepburn, Anthony Hopkins, Peter O'Toole, Timothy Dalton, Jane Merrow, John Castle
Plot: After Henry II brings Eleanor of Aquitaine out of prison, Christmastide 1183, power grabs and treacherous plots are hatched amongst the couple and their three sons, but with little real intent to alter the status quo.
25. Milk
Year of Release: 2008
Overall Rating: 3.0 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Drama/Historical
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Gus Van Sant
Actors: Josh Brolin, Sean Penn, Emile Hirsch, James Franco, Diego Luna, Alison Pill
Plot: Explores the life and career of Harvey Milk, who was the first openly gay man elected to public office in 1977 as a member San Francisco's Board of Supervisors.
26. Dunkirk
Year of Release: 2017
Overall Rating: 3.3 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Drama/Historical
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: Christopher Nolan
Actors: Fionn Whitehead, Mark Rylance, Tom Hardy, Aneurin Barnard, Cillian Murphy, Kenneth Branagh
Plot: After landing at Dunkirk, France during the Battle of France in WWII, a group of Allied soldiers from Belgium, the British Empire, Canada and France find themselves surrounded by the German army. A fierce battle ensues, leading to one of the most daring and miraculous rescues of the war.
27. The Killing Fields
Year of Release: 1984
Overall Rating: 3.0 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Drama/Historical
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Roland Joffé
Actors: Sam Waterston, Haing S. Ngor, John Malkovich, Julian Sands, Craig T. Nelson, Spalding Gray
Plot: Based on the true story of a photographer in Cambodia during Pol Pot's atrocious killings.
28. The Queen
Year of Release: 2006
Overall Rating: 2.9 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Drama/Historical
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: Stephen Frears
Actors: Helen Mirren, Michael Sheen, James Cromwell, Alex Jennings, Helen McCrory, Sylvia Syms
Plot: Taking place after Princess Diana's deadly car accident, The Queen of England refuses to make a supportive statement about the Princess, while Prince Charles and Tony Blair try to diffuse the situation and bring royalty back to popularity.
29. Passion of Joan of Arc, The ( passion de Jeanne d'Arc, La )
Year of Release: 1929
Overall Rating: 3.2 out of 4 stars
Language: French
Genre: Drama/Historical
MPAA Rating: NR
Director: Carl Theodor Dreyer
Actors: Maria Falconetti, Eugene Silvain, André Berley, Maurice Schutz, Antonin Artaud, Michel Simon
Plot: Silent French film about the trial and execution of St. Joan of Arc.
30. The Right Stuff
Year of Release: 1983
Overall Rating: 3.0 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Drama/Historical
MPAA Rating: PG
Director: Philip Kaufman
Actors: Ed Harris, Sam Shepard, Dennis Quaid, Scott Glenn, Barbara Hershey, Fred Ward
Plot: The story of the Mercury 7 Astronauts and how the space program really got started with these aging men.
