The World Through Film

By: Amy

A list of films depicting chunks of the history of the world or people.
Based on true stories, blunt biopics, historical re-tellings, etc

I also take suggestions. If you do, please let me know where the film sets to be able to place them in the list chronologically. If the list doesn’t make sense, don’t worry. It’s because I’m messy.

//updated January 2012.

• 01
  The Prince of Egypt
  Brenda Chapman
• 02
  The Ten Commandments
  Cecil B. DeMille
• 03
  Troy
  Wolfgang Petersen
• 04
  The Nativity Story
  Catherine Hardwicke
• 05
  Ben-Hur
  William Wyler
• 06
  The Passion of the Christ
  Mel Gibson
• 07
  Red Cliff
  John Woo
• 08
  Mulan
  Tony Bancroft
• 09
  Ágora
  Alejandro Amenábar
• 10
  Mongol
  Sergei Bodrov
• 11
  Quills
  Philip Kaufman
• 12
  Battleship Potemkin
  Sergei Eisenstein
• 13
  Bright Star
  Jane Campion
• 14
  The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister
  James Kent
• 15
  Charles Darwin and the Tree of Life
  David Attenborough
• 16
  The Conspirator
  Robert Redford
• 17
  Everlasting Moments
  Jan Troell
• 18
  The Young Victoria
  Jean-Marc Vallée
• 19
  Finding Neverland
  Marc Forster
• 20
  The Last Station
  Michael Hoffman
• 21
  Forever Enthralled
  Chen Kaige
• 22
  Coco Before Chanel
  Anne Fontaine
• 23
  The Last Emperor
  Bernardo Bertolucci
• 24
  The King's Speech
  Tom Hooper
• 25
  Anastasia
  Don Bluth
• 26
  My Boy Jack
  Brian Kirk
• 27
  Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale
  Wei Te-sheng
• 28
  The Artist
  Michel Hazanavicius
• 29
  Cabaret
  Bob Fosse
• 30
  The Aviator
  Martin Scorsese
• 31
  The White Ribbon
  Michael Haneke
• 32
  The Sound of Music
  Robert Wise
• 33
  The Pianist
  Roman Polanski
• 34
  City of Life and Death
  Lu Chuan
• 35
  The Flowers of War
  Zhang Yimou
• 36
  Defiance
  Edward Zwick
• 37
  Female Agents
  Jean-Paul Salomé
• 38
  The Counterfeiters
  Stefan Ruzowitzky
• 39
  Sophie Scholl: The Final Days
  Marc Rothemund
• 40
  Grave of the Fireflies
  Isao Takahata
• 41
  Schindler's List
  Steven Spielberg
• 42
  Flags of Our Fathers
  Clint Eastwood
• 43
  Letters from Iwo Jima
  Clint Eastwood
• 44
  The Soong Sisters
  Mabel Cheung
• 45
  Downfall
  Oliver Hirschbiegel
• 46
  Gandhi
  Richard Attenborough
• 47
  The Founding of a Republic
  Han Sanping
• 48
  Kinsey
  Bill Condon
• 49
  Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War
  Kang Je-gyu
• 50
  71: Into the Fire
  John H. Lee
• 51
  The Motorcycle Diaries
  Walter Salles
• 52
  Evita
  Alan Parker
• 53
  The Argentine
  Steven Soderbergh
• 54
  Howl
  Rob Epstein
• 55
  J. Edgar
  Clint Eastwood
• 56
  The Believer
  Henry Bean
• 57
  La vie en rose
  Olivier Dahan
• 58
  Catch Me If You Can
  Steven Spielberg
• 59
  Hula Girls
  Lee Sang-il
• 60
  An American Crime
  Tommy O'Haver
• 61
  Munich
  Steven Spielberg
• 62
  The Home Song Stories
  Tony Ayres
• 63
  Walk the Line
  James Mangold
• 64
  The Last King of Scotland
  Kevin Macdonald
• 65
  Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus
  Steven Shainberg
• 66
  Skin
  Anthony Fabian
• 67
  All Good Things
  Andrew Jarecki
• 68
  Ali
  Michael Mann
• 69
  Post Mortem
  Pablo Larraín
• 70
  Frost/Nixon
  Ron Howard
• 71
  Milk
  Gus Van Sant
• 72
  We Were Here
  David Weissman
• 73
  Aftershock
  Feng Xiaogang
• 74
  Capote
  Bennett Miller
• 75
  Grey Gardens
  Michael Sucsy
• 76
  The Runaways
  Floria Sigismondi
• 77
  Tabloid
  Errol Morris
• 78
  Boogie Nights
  Paul Thomas Anderson
• 79
  Man on the Moon
  Miloš Forman
• 80
  The Lives of Others
  Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
• 81
  Leonids Story
  Rainer Ludwigs
• 82
  Philadelphia
  Jonathan Demme
• 83
  Carandiru
  Héctor Babenco
• 84
  Boys Don't Cry
  Kimberly Peirce
• 85
  I Love You Phillip Morris
  Glenn Ficarra
• 86
  The Fighter
  David O. Russell
• 87
  Crazy English
  Zhang Yuan
• 88
  Hunger
  Steve McQueen
• 89
  A Beautiful Mind
  Ron Howard
• 90
  Mao's Last Dancer
  Bruce Beresford
• 91
  The Bang Bang Club
  Steven Silver
• 92
  The Celluloid Closet
  Rob Epstein
• 93
  Yang ± Yin: Gender in Chinese Cinema
  Stanley Kwan
• 94
  The Lady
  Luc Besson
• 95
  Invictus
  Clint Eastwood
• 96
  Of Gods and Men
  Xavier Beauvois
• 97
  Shattered Glass
  Billy Ray
• 98
  I Am Slave
  Gabriel Range
• 99
  Bowling for Columbine
  Michael Moore
• 100
  The Queen
  Stephen Frears
• 101
  The Sea Inside
  Alejandro Amenábar
• 102
  The Fall of Fujimori
  Ellen Perry
• 103
  The Fog of War
  Errol Morris
• 104
  Beautiful Boxer
  Ekachai Uekrongtham
• 105
  A Barefoot Dream
  Kim Tae-gyun
• 106
  Moneyball
  Bennett Miller
• 107
  The Whistleblower
  Larysa Kondracki
• 108
  The Blind Side
  John Lee Hancock
• 109
  127 Hours
  Danny Boyle
• 110
  Shut Up & Sing
  Barbara Kopple
• 111
  Fahrenheit 9/11
  Michael Moore
• 112
  The Tillman Story
  Amir Bar-Lev
• 113
  Taxi to the Dark Side
  Alex Gibney
• 114
  Pink Saris
  Kim Longinotto
• 115
  Super, Girls!
  Jian Yi
• 116
  The Colors of the Mountain
  Carlos César Arbeláez
• 117
  Last Train Home
  Lixin Fan
• 118
  Restrepo
  Tim Hetherington
• 119
  Queer China, 'Comrade' China
  Cui Zi'en
• 120
  The Iron Lady
  Phyllida Lloyd
• 121
  An African Election
  Jarreth J. Merz
• 122
  8: The Mormon Proposition
  Reed Cowan
• 123
  Detroit Wild City
  Florent Tillon
• 124
  Game Change
  Jay Roach
• 125
  Page One: A Year Inside the New York Times
  Andrew Rossi