Top Rated History Movies on Kanopy - Page 27

Castles in the Sky

2014

Castles in the Sky

2014
5.8
England, while the storm clouds of Nazism menace Germany. Robert Watson Watt and a team of eccentric and brilliant meteorologists struggle to turn the mere idea of radar into a functional reality.
1971

2014

1971

2014
6.7
Forty years before WikiLeaks and the NSA scandal, there was Media, Pennsylvania. In 1971, eight activists plotted an intricate break-in to the local FBI offices to leak stolen documents and expose the illegal surveillance of ordinary Americans in an era of anti-war activism. In this riveting heist story, the perpetrators reveal themselves for the first time, reflecting on their actions and raising broader questions surrounding security leaks in activism today.
Quilombo

1984

Quilombo

1984
6.9
Quilombo dos Palmares was a real-life democratic society, created in Brazil in the 17th century. This incredibly elaborate (and surprisingly little-known) film traces the origins of Quilombo, which began as a community of freed slaves. The colony becomes a safe harbor for other outcasts of the world, including Indians and Jews. Ganga Zumba (Toni Tornado) becomes president of Quilombo, the first freely elected leader in the Western Hemisphere. Naturally, the ruling Portuguese want to subjugate Zumba and his followers, but the Quilombians are ready for their would-be oppressors. The end of this Brave New World is not pleasant, but the followers of Zumba and his ideals take to the hills, where they honor his memory to this day. Writer/director Carlos Diegues takes every available opportunity to compare the rise and fall of Quilombo with the state of affairs in modern-day Brazil.
The Statue of Liberty

1985

The Statue of Liberty

1985
6.7
For more than 100 years, the Statue of Liberty has been a symbol of hope and refuge for generations of immigrants. In this lyrical, compelling and provocative portrait of the statue, Ken Burns explores both the history of America’s premier symbol and the meaning of liberty itself. Featuring rare archival photographs, paintings and drawings, readings from actual diaries, letters and newspapers of the day, the fascinating story of this universally admired monument is told. In interviews with Americans from all walks of life, including former New York governor Mario Cuomo, the late congresswoman Barbara Jordan and the late writers James Baldwin and Jerzy Kosinski, The Statue of Liberty examines the nature of liberty and the significance of the statue to American life. Nominated for both the Academy Award ® and the Emmy Award ®, The Statue of Liberty received the prestigious CINE Golden Eagle, the Christopher Award and the Blue Ribbon at the American Film Festival.
The Boat Is Full

1981

The Boat Is Full

1981
6
During World War II, Switzerland severely limited refugees: "Our boat is full." A train from Germany halts briefly in an isolated corner of Switzerland. Six people jump off seeking asylum: four Jews, a French child, and a German soldier. They seek temporary refuge with a couple who run a village inn. They pose as a family: the deserter as husband, Judith as his wife, an old man from Vienna as her father, his granddaughter and the French lad, whom they beg to keep silent, as their children. Judith's teenage brother poses as a soldier. The fabrication unravels through chance and the local constable's exact investigation. Whom will the Swiss allow to stay? Who gets deported?
McVeigh

2024

McVeigh

2024
5.1
A haunting psychological thriller based on one of America's most infamous figures. After the Waco siege, a chilling plan brews in the mind of army veteran Timothy McVeigh. What follows are the harrowing real-life events of the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in American history.
Buried Truth of the Maya

2020

Buried Truth of the Maya

2020
6.7
Maya legend tells us that there is a hidden underground cave below Chichen Itza, now high tech archaeologists are here to find the buried truth.
Prosecuting Evil: The Extraordinary World of Ben Ferencz

2018

Prosecuting Evil: The Extraordinary World of Ben Ferencz

2018
6.3
A fascinating portrait of Ben Ferencz, the last surviving Nuremberg Trial prosecutor, who continues to wage his lifelong crusade in the fight for law and peace.
Heroic Times

1984

Heroic Times

1984
7.2
The tragic medieval tale of a man of inhuman strength, fierce temper and a desire for noble knighthood. While on the run as a murderer, he finds new life as a knight, only to face disillusionment, the horrors of war and ugly human vices.
Galileo

1975

Galileo

1975
5.9
Challenged by a new student, tutor and theorist Galileo co-opts emerging telescope technology and discovers irrefutable proof of the heretical notion that the earth is not the center of the universe. But in a rigid society ruled by an uneasy alliance of aristocracy and clergy already undermined by the Plague and the Reformation, science is a threat and enlightenment is a luxury. Faced with either death at the hands of the Inquisition or recantation to a hypocritical but all-powerful Papacy, Galileo must choose between his own life and the restless scientific curiosity that he has spurned family, friends, and wealth to pursue.
The Dumb Girl of Portici

1916

The Dumb Girl of Portici

1916
7
Fenella, a poor Italian girl, falls in love with a Spanish nobleman, but their affair triggers a revolution and national catastrophe.
The Silver Screen: Color Me Lavender

1997

The Silver Screen: Color Me Lavender

1997
4.9
A film scrapbook, images, phrases from our past, hiding their meanings behind veils. Let's lift those veils, one by one, to find how images, at one time seeming innocent, have revealed, after decades, to have homosexual overtones.
Target for Tonight

1941

Target for Tonight

1941
5.6
This is the authentic story of a bombing raid on Germany... how it is planned and how it is executed. Every person seen in the picture is a member of the Royal Air Force from Commander-in-Chief to aircraft hand, re-enacting his own daily life on the job. They are the men and women who actually direct, plan and execute the raids.
Close to Vermeer

2023

Close to Vermeer

2023
7.9
In the year before he retires, Gregor Weber, a globally renowned Vermeer expert and flamboyant curator at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, works on his big dream: the largest Vermeer exhibition ever. Together with Weber, a number of enthusiasts and experts go in search of what truly makes a Vermeer a Vermeer.
Razzennest

2022

Razzennest

2022
5.8
South African enfant terrible filmmaker and artiste-cineaste Manus Oosthuizen meets with Rotten Tomatoes-approved indie film critic Babette Cruickshank in an Echo Park sound studio. With key members of Manus's crew joining, they record an audio commentary track for his new elegiac feature documentary Razzennest. But the session goes down a different path... cazzart! The ultimate elevation of arthouse horror, just not as you might expect.
Baltic Tribes

2018

Baltic Tribes

2018
5.8
DocuDrama about 13th century pre-Christian culture. Danish spy Lars enters the tribal lands of the Baltic peoples, where he takes part in religious rites, cruel forays, gets high during the Summer Solstice, becomes slave to the Couronians and even fights the crusaders. Who were the last pagans of Europe and how did they live? It is a unique trip into the textures of the past and into the unknown lands of the Baltic Tribes.
Finding Oscar

2016

Finding Oscar

2016
7.7
Thirty years after a forgotten massacre that occurred during the Guatemalan civil war, a forensic scientist and prosecutor search for Oscar, a young boy who survived the horror.
Underfire: The Untold Story of Pfc. Tony Vaccaro

2016

Underfire: The Untold Story of Pfc. Tony Vaccaro

2016
7.2
The remarkable story of WWII infantryman and photographer Tony Vaccaro, who created one of the most comprehensive, haunting and intimate photographic records of the war using a smuggled $47 camera while developing the negatives in his helmet at night.
Going Attractions: The Definitive Story of the American Drive-in Movie

2013

Going Attractions: The Definitive Story of the American Drive-in Movie

2013
7.7
Once a vibrant part of American culture, drive-ins reached their peak in the late 1950s with almost 5,000 dotting the nation. Although drive-ins are experiencing a resurgence, today less than 400 remain. In a nation that loves cars and movies, why haven't they survived? April Wright's lovingly made documentary, filled with archival images of hundreds of open and closed drive-in theaters, interviews with theater owners, operators and cinema luminaries attempts to answer that question.
Gettysburg

2011

Gettysburg

2011
5.8
An examination of the Battle of Gettysberg on both the personal and strategic level.