Top Rated History Movies on Kanopy - Page 32

Herb Alpert Is...

2020

Herb Alpert Is...

2020
7.2
From the success of Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass, through the founding of A&M Records, to giving away more than $150 million to arts and education programs across the country, we’ll witness the humanity and the humility inherent in everything he does, as well as come to understand the power of creativity to entertain, inspire, heal and transform.
Rising Free

2019

Rising Free

2019
4.7
Amidst the rugged Oregon territory, Rising Free is a visual masterpiece that showcases the harrowing journey of a young woman running from the throes of prejudice. Taken in by a gracious pioneer family, she learns to stand in newfound hope but is soon tested by unforeseen tragedies. In a vast and unforgiving wilderness, she must embrace this foreign hope within or surrender to shadows of darkness that loom over her.
This Is Not a Movie: Robert Fisk and the Politics of Truth

2019

This Is Not a Movie: Robert Fisk and the Politics of Truth

2019
7.5
For more than forty years, British journalist Robert Fisk has reported on some of the most violent conflicts in the world, from Northern Ireland to the Middle East, always with his feet on the ground and a notebook in hand, travelling into landscapes devastated by war, ferreting out the facts and sending reports to the media he works for with the ambition of catching the interest of an audience of millions.
Boulevard! A Hollywood Story

2021

Boulevard! A Hollywood Story

2021
6.2
In the mid-1950s, Dickson Hughes and Richard Stapley, young composers and romantic partners, are hired by legendary silent film star Gloria Swanson to write a musical based on her film Sunset Boulevard, directed by Billy Wilder in 1950.
Congo: White King, Red Rubber, Black Death

2003

Congo: White King, Red Rubber, Black Death

2003
7.2
This true, astonishing story describes how King Leopold II of Belgium turned Congo into its private colony between 1885 and 1908. Under his control, Congo became a gulag labor camp of shocking brutality. Leopold posed as the protector of Africans fleeing Arab slave-traders but, in reality, he carved out an empire based on terror to harvest rubber.
Hiroshima: Out of the Ashes

1990

Hiroshima: Out of the Ashes

1990
5.8
The movie follows the perspective of several characters (such as Japanese victims, soldiers, American prisoners of war and others) and how they lived or tried to survive the effects felt during the aftermath of the Atomic Bomb dropping by the Enola Gay at Hiroshima, during World War II.
Forbidden Films

2014

Forbidden Films

2014
6.5
Between 1933 and 1945 roughly 1200 films were made in Germany, of which 300 were banned by the Allied forces. Today, around 40 films, called "Vorbehaltsfilme", are locked away from the public with an uncertain future. Should they be re-released, destroyed, or continue to be neglected? Verbotene Filme takes a closer look at some of these forbidden films.
The Sailor's Song

1958

The Sailor's Song

1958
6.5
A film about the historical uprising of the seamen in Kiel: During the Russian October Revolution of 1917, German and Russian soldiers start to solidarize with each other. By disarming the officers, machinist Henne Lonke and stoker Jens Kasten prevent the attack on a Russian freighter. When German admiralty gives out orders for operation "Nibelungen", which would lead the German fleet into a suicidal attack against England and quell the revolutionary spirit, seamen and soldiers from different political backgrounds unite in protest.
Mayerling

1957

Mayerling

1957
5.5
Mayerling is the name of a notorious Austrian village linked to a romantic tragedy. At a royal hunting lodge there, in 1889, Crown Prince Rudolf--desperate over his father's command to put away his teenage mistress, the Baroness Marie Vetsera--shot her to death and killed himself. The misfortune may indeed have been a murder-suicide, but perhaps it was a political assassination, or even the result of a lunatic family vendetta: scholarship is still catching up with the facts.
Carmel

2009

Carmel

2009
7
Israeli filmmaker Amos Gitaï offers a look impressionist long history of armed conflict in their nation.
Freedom's Fury

2006

Freedom's Fury

2006
6.5
A documentary on the 1956 Olympic semifinal water polo match between Hungary and Russia. Held in Australia, the match occurred as Russian forces were in Budapest, stomping out a popular revolt.
The Bloody Lady

1981

The Bloody Lady

1981
6.7
The folktale about Bloody Lady Bathory, doomed to bathe in the blood of young girls in order to be forever youthful herself
Zapatista

1999

Zapatista

1999
5.2
"Zapatista" is the definitive look at the uprising in Chiapas. It is the story of a Mayan peasant rebellion armed with sticks and their word against a first world military. It is the story of a global movement that has fought 175,000 federal troops to a stand still and transformed Mexican and international political culture forever.
Hollywood on Trial

1976

Hollywood on Trial

1976
5.5
A detailed look at the events leading up to the blacklisting of Hollywood writers and artists. In October 1947 nineteen Hollywood personalities were subpoenaed by the House Committee on Un-American Activities to testify about their knowledge or possible involvement in the American Communist Party. The first ten to be called refused to cooperate, claiming their first amendment rights, were cited for contempt of Congress and sent to prison. They became known as the "Hollywood Ten" and this is their story.
Seeing Red: Stories of American Communists

1983

Seeing Red: Stories of American Communists

1983
6.3
A unique documentary that looks at the political activities of the American Communist Party in the early to mid-twentieth century.
The Girls in the Band

2011

The Girls in the Band

2011
6.2
THE GIRLS IN THE BAND tells the poignant, untold stories of female jazz and big band instrumentalists and their fascinating, groundbreaking journeys from the late 1930s to the present day.
Slavery by Another Name

2012

Slavery by Another Name

2012
7.2
A documentary that recounts the many ways in which American slavery persisted as a practice many decades after its supposed abolition.
The Law in These Parts

2011

The Law in These Parts

2011
6.8
Can justice truly be served in the occupied territories given the current system of law administered by Israel for Palestinians? This documentary explores the history of Israel's military legal system in the Occupied Palestinian Territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The Surprising History of Sex and Love

2002

The Surprising History of Sex and Love

2002
8
The Surprising History of Sex and Love is a documentary presented by Terry Jones, looking at the different and surprising attitudes to sex and love throughout history. The documentary traces the story of changing social and religious attitudes to sex through a broad swathe of history. Starting with the place of ’sacred sex’ in the ancient world and ending with a discussion of the contemporary relationship between sex, marketing and prurience, the film offers some kind of map of how we got from there to here, and indicates that changes in sexual attitudes are connected with issues of power and control.
Michel Gondry: Do It Yourself

2023

Michel Gondry: Do It Yourself

2023
7.9
A portrait of French filmmaker Michel Gondry, creator, for three decades, of an imperfect, astonishing, fascinating, damaged and poetic work.