Historical Drama backdrop

Historical Drama movies

Period-driven drama where the era’s rules and realities shape the conflict, choices, and consequences.

271. The Clan

The Clan
Drama History Crime Historical Drama Organized Crime
6.9
20151h 49minArgentina, Spain
Director: Pablo Trapero

Overview

In Argentina, between 1982 and 1985, the Puccios, a well-established family of San Isidro, an upper-class suburb of Buenos Aires, kidnap several people and hold them as hostages for a ransom.

Themes

Loyalty and betrayal, Deception and risk, Family crime under democracy, Class mobility pressures, Youth defection vs coercion, Private wealth and violence

Available on

Amazon Video
Apple TV
Fandango At Home
Data provided by JustWatch.Availability may vary by region.

272. Straight Outta Compton

Straight Outta Compton
Drama Music History Historical Drama Music Biopic
7.8
20152h 27minUnited Kingdom, United States
Director: F. Gary Gray

Overview

In 1987, five young men, using brutally honest rhymes and hardcore beats, put their frustration and anger about life in the most dangerous place in America into the most powerful weapon they had: their music. Taking us back to where it all began, Straight Outta Compton tells the true story of how these cultural rebels—armed only with their lyrics, swagger, bravado and raw talent—stood up to the authorities that meant to keep them down and formed the world’s most dangerous group, N.W.A. And as they spoke the truth that no one had before and exposed life in the hood, their voice ignited a social revolution that is still reverberating today.

Themes

Freedom of speech, Police harassment, Racial tensions, Power struggles in music industry, Artistic expression under threat, Fame and group dynamics

Available on

Amazon Prime Video
Amazon Video
Apple TV
Data provided by JustWatch.Availability may vary by region.

273. The 33

The 33
Drama History Historical Event Historical Drama
6.9
20152hUnited States
Director: Patricia Riggen

Overview

Based on the true story of the collapse of a mine in San Jose, Chile—that left 33 miners isolated underground for 69 days.

Themes

Leadership under crisis, Survival under isolation, Collective resilience, Corporate accountability, Government-driven rescue, Owner negligence

Available on

Amazon Video
Apple TV
HBO Max
Data provided by JustWatch.Availability may vary by region.

274. Walt Before Mickey

Walt Before Mickey
Drama Historical Drama
5.9
20151h 47minUnited States
Director: Khoa Le

Overview

Based on the book "Walt Before Mickey" covers the early years of Walt Disney's career. The legendary Walt Disney had a tumultuous childhood, yet he was determined to overcome obstacles in his path, before the creation of his first iconic character: Mickey Mouse.

Themes

Creative collaboration under constraint, Ownership rights, Independence pursuit, Financing pressure, Early venture resilience, Entrepreneurial partnership

Available on

Amazon Prime Video
Amazon Video
Apple TV
Data provided by JustWatch.Availability may vary by region.

275. The Stanford Prison Experiment

The Stanford Prison Experiment
Thriller Drama History Mind Game Thriller Historical Drama
6.8
20152h 2minUnited States
Director: Kyle Patrick Alvarez

Overview

In 1971, Stanford's Professor Philip Zimbardo conducts a controversial psychology experiment in which college students pretend to be either prisoners or guards, but the proceedings soon get out of hand. Based on a true story.

Themes

Prison brutality dynamics, Prison role assignment, Human experiment ethics, 1970s social pressure, Based on true story tension, Group conformity under rules

Available on

Amazon Video
Apple TV
Google Play Movies
Data provided by JustWatch.Availability may vary by region.

276. Colonia

Colonia
Drama History Historical Drama Biographical History
7.0
20151h 46minGermany, Luxembourg
Director: Florian Gallenberger

Overview

A young woman's desperate search for her abducted boyfriend draws her into the infamous Colonia Dignidad, a sect nobody ever escaped from.

Themes

State violence, Authoritarian repression, Dissident persecution, Cult indoctrination, Secret collusion, Gender resilience

Available on

Amazon Video
Apple TV
fuboTV
Data provided by JustWatch.Availability may vary by region.

277. Mr. Holmes

Mr. Holmes
Drama Crime Family Mystery Historical Drama
6.8
20151h 44minUnited Kingdom, United States
Director: Bill Condon

Overview

In 1947, long-retired and near the end of his life, Sherlock Holmes grapples with an unreliable memory and must rely on his housekeeper's son as he revisits the still-unsolved case that led to his retirement.

Themes

Memory loss, Loneliness and isolation, Detective role, Based on novel, Memory vs narrative construction, Domestic duty and care

Available on

Amazon Video
Apple TV
Google Play Movies
Data provided by JustWatch.Availability may vary by region.

278. Son of Saul

Son of Saul
War Drama Thriller World War II Historical Drama
7.4
20151h 47minHungary
Director: László Nemes

Overview

In the horror of 1944 Auschwitz, a prisoner forced to burn the corpses of his own people finds moral survival trying to save from the flames the body of a boy he takes for his son, seeking to give him a proper Jewish burial.

Themes

Disguise and deception, Resistance under oppression, Survival under atrocity, Duty vs kin, Rituals under duress, Sonderkommando role

Available on

Amazon Video
Apple TV
Google Play Movies
Data provided by JustWatch.Availability may vary by region.

279. Madame Bovary

Madame Bovary
Drama Historical Drama
5.7
20151h 58minBelgium, Germany
Director: Sophie Barthes

Overview

The classic story of Emma Bovary, the beautiful wife of a small-town doctor in 19th century France, who engages in extra marital affairs in an attempt to advance her social status.

Themes

Class inequality, Social climbing, Extramarital temptation, Gendered expectations, Marital distance, Debt and credit dependency

Available on

Amazon Prime Video
Amazon Video
Apple TV
Data provided by JustWatch.Availability may vary by region.

280. Embrace of the Serpent

Embrace of the Serpent
Drama Adventure Adventure Epic Historical Drama
7.8
20152h 5minArgentina, Colombia
Director: Ciro Guerra

Overview

The epic story of the first contact, encounter, approach, betrayal and, eventually, life-transcending friendship, between Karamakate, an Amazonian shaman, last survivor of his people, and two scientists that, over the course of 40 years, travel through the Amazon in search of a sacred plant that can heal them. Inspired by the journals of the first explorers of the Colombian Amazon, Theodor Koch-Grunberg and Richard Evans Schultes.

Themes

Religious conversion pressures, Colonial encounter and control, Nature as resource and stage, Indigenous knowledge vs extraction, Memory vs oblivion in contact, Power asymmetry and exploitation

Available on

Amazon Video
Apple TV
Google Play Movies
Data provided by JustWatch.Availability may vary by region.