Top Rated History Movies on Pantaflix - Page 500

Chasing a Rainbow: The Life of Josephine Baker

1987

Chasing a Rainbow: The Life of Josephine Baker

1987
7
The story of Josephine Baker takes us on a fascinating tour of 20th-century race relations on both sides of the Atlantic, yet it leads to no conclusion, and black girls in search of a role-model tend to look elsewhere. Part of her appeal is her startlingly unique appearance. Simply nobody has ever looked or acted like her. She fits no black stereotype. Nor does she look like any recognizable strain of Afro-American. I'd always heard she was half-white, but it seems that her paternity is unknown, and her contradictory claims on the subject don't do much to enlighten us. (We are tempted to imagine quite an exotic mix.) Her origins in sharply-segregated St. Louis, where she is said to have witnessed a lynching, do not seem to have left her embittered. Perhaps she had too much to give. There is a special innocence about that smile, and when she performs her cross-eyed gag, we are lifted into a strange pixie-world, all its own.
Nagi El-Ali

1992

Nagi El-Ali

1992
7
After the assassination of the Palestinian artist Naji Al-Ali in London in 1987, the film flashes back to the stops that he went through in his life, starting from his displacement with his family to Lebanon, to his work in Kuwait, to his return to Lebanon during the Lebanese civil war.
Dead the Long Night

1979

Dead the Long Night

1979
10
Composed of archive images narrated by the writer, anthropologist and linguist Mouloud Mammeri, the film offers a reflection on the anti-colonialist and anti-imperialist struggle movements of the 1970s around the world.
Pilchuck: A Dance with Fire

2015

Pilchuck: A Dance with Fire

2015
5
The Pilchuck Glass School outside Seattle has been going for 43 years. Started by Dale Chihuly, when glass in America was at its infancy. This school is responsible for making the US Studio Glass movement what it is today. It's an international institution now, bringing students from all over the world. It started in 1971, during the peace movements, Flower Power and war in Vietnam This documentary tells the story of it's beginnings, and how it's now made the Pacific NW, the largest glass art center in the world.
A Minute Ago

2014

A Minute Ago

2014
5
A Minute Ago, which debuted this fall at High Art gallery in Paris, revolves around rotoscoping, the animation technique Rose calls “collaging in time and space.” Her most impressionistic work to date, the work takes its point of departure from two pieces of footage: a YouTube video of a freak summer hailstorm on a Siberian beach, and a tour given by the architect Philip Johnson of his landmark Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut, just a few years before his death at age 98. “I was thinking about the relationship between shocking, catastrophic weather conditions and collage, which has a similar uncanny, suturing quality,” Rose says. Accompanied partly by a down-pitched version of Pink Floyd’s 1971 concert played “to the dead” at Pompeii, the work has an unsettling, morose quality.
Marco Polo: Haperek Ha'aharon

1997

Marco Polo: Haperek Ha'aharon

1997
5
In the midst of a war between Venice and Genoa, Marco Polo, a citizen of Venice, is imprisoned by the inquisition and is charged with heresy.
The Night Is Afraid of the Sun

1965

The Night Is Afraid of the Sun

1965
10
Historical film in four scenes which retrace the returns, the progress and the outcome of the war of liberation in Algeria. The first painting, “The land was thirsty” describes aspects of injustice and colonial oppression. The second “The Paths to the Prison” recounts the sufferings of the people engaged in combat. The last two are the stories of two lives.
Punitive Expedition

1970

Punitive Expedition

1970
8
The Monarchy leads a repressive campaign against a Serb village, where an Austrian officer was killed.
The Spy Hikmat Fahmi

1994

The Spy Hikmat Fahmi

1994
6
The story of the famous dancer Hikmat Fahmy, who was spying on the British army for the German forces during the Second World War, convinced that it contributes to rid Egypt of the British occupation.
Leonardo: Seeking the Truth

2014

Leonardo: Seeking the Truth

2014
7
This film will take the viewer on a journey with a person whose genius epitomized the Renaissance era and the subsequent development of science and art. The hand of this prodigy will sketch the first prototype of a helicopter, paint the most mysterious painting of all time and illustrate human anatomy. The story, told by Leonardo's friend will uplift the veil to reveal da Vinci's life in Florence and Milan at the time of political instability, his numerous scientific and artistic escapades as well as the creation of masterpieces, which stir awe and reverence in the hearts of men up to this day.
The Pharaohs' Woman

1960

The Pharaohs' Woman

1960
6
A beautiful girl and a young physician fall in love in the midst of a family, and power struggle between rival princes of Upper and Lower Egypt. When all seems to turn to the better, a dejected woman gets her revenge, and the couple's destruction.
The Amazing Grace

2006

The Amazing Grace

2006
6
John Newton is captain of a slave ship moored off the coast of Nigeria. He stands at a crossroads in his life, his morality and religion at odds with the brutality of his chosen profession. Stepping ashore, he starts on a journey of redemption that will end in tragedy but prove the catalyst for greater achievements. A local anthem sung in adversity by the slaves whom he captures punctuates the film. It will be the inspiration for Newton's redemption and for his writing of the hymn Amazing Grace.
The Last 30 Years

2010

The Last 30 Years

2010
1
It is the love story of Resa and Oskar who meet in the 1970s in the midst if the leftist studen movements. For Resa it is love on first sight when she encounters the handsome and self-confident activist Oskar and is willing to do anything to get his attention. The relationship she dreams of finally comes true, but quickly problems arise. One day Oskar disappears without a trace from her life completely. Years later both meet again - now more mature and with surprising careers...
A Challenge To Democracy

1944

A Challenge To Democracy

1944
10
An examination of the living conditions at Japanese-American relocation centers.
Friends

1939

Friends

1939
5
The Soviet classic based on the biography of one of the main October Revolution leaders - Sergey Kirov.
Ghosts of Rwanda

2004

Ghosts of Rwanda

2004
7
Ghosts of Rwanda marks the 10th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide with a documentary chronicling one of the worst atrocities of the 20th century. In addition to interviews with key government officials and diplomats, this documentary offers eyewitness accounts of the genocide from those who experienced it firsthand. FRONTLINE illustrates the failures that enabled the slaughter of 800,000 people to occur unchallenged by the global community.
Red Poppies of Issyk-Koul

1971

Red Poppies of Issyk-Koul

1971
10
Directed by Bolotbek Shamshiyev, the movie shows Kyrgyzstan under early Soviet rule; and tells us about opium contrabanda across the border.
Horizons

1972

Horizons

1972
8
Experimental Film. Documentary reflects the cultural life in modern Egypt.
A Dream of Love

1939

A Dream of Love

1939
6
Aging composer Franz Liszt lives in an abbey. On his birthday, a priest brings him a box that was just delivered; there is no return address. In the box he finds a single flower. The flower brings back memories of his lost love of long ago, who inspired him to compose his unforgettable melodies.
The Contessa's Secret

1954

The Contessa's Secret

1954
6
The lover of an Italian revolutionary offers herself to Napoleon in exchange for her sweetheart's life.