🎥 Discover the Best History Movies and TV Shows To Watch Today

509 titles in this genre

The History genre offers a glimpse into the past, exploring significant events, cultures, and figures that shaped our world. From epic battles to royal dramas, History movies and TV shows captivate audiences with their rich stories and historical accuracy.

Cast

Hristos Vasilopoulos

Μηχανή του Χρόνου (2005) TV Show

9.5 3 votes

Genre: Documentary, History

Country: Greece

Seasons: 19

Episodes: 540

Story: You may also like: ArchivesYou may also like: Bird Attack

Plot: greek history, historic people, historical film

Cast

Tatsuya Nakadai

Akira Ishihama

Shima Iwashita

Tetsuro Tamba

Harakiri (1962)

8.4 1.2K votes

Genre: Action, Drama, History

Country: Japan

Duration: 135 min.

Audience: NR

Story: Down-on-his-luck veteran Tsugumo Hanshirō enters the courtyard of the prosperous House of Iyi. Unemployed, and with no family, he hopes to find a place to commit seppuku—and a worthy second to deliver the coup de grâce in his suicide ritual. The senior counselor for the Iyi clan questions the ronin’s resolve and integrity, suspecting Hanshirō of seeking charity rather than an honorable end. What follows is a pair of interlocking stories which lay bare the difference between honor and respect, and promises to examine the legendary foundations of the Samurai code.

Style: philosophical

Plot: suicide, samurai, asia, flashback, revenge, poverty, black and white, seppuku, ...

Time: 17th century

Place: japan

Cast

O. J. Simpson

Nicole Brown Simpson

Marcia Clark

Danny Bakewell Sr.

O.J.: Made in America (2016)

8.4 263 votes

Genre: Crime, Documentary, History

Country: United States of America

Duration: 467 min.

Audience: NR

Story: A chronicle of the rise and fall of O.J. Simpson, whose high-profile murder trial exposed the extent of American racial tensions, revealing a fractured and divided nation.

Plot: police brutality, american football, biography, los angeles, california, true crime, racial tension, sports documentary, ...

Cast

Ennio Morricone

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Silvano Agosti

Alessandro Alessandroni

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Fausto Ancillai

Ennio (2022)

8.3 385 votes

Genre: Documentary, History, Music

Country: Belgium, China

Duration: 156 min.

Audience: NR

Story: A portrait of Ennio Morricone, the most popular and prolific film composer of the 20th century, the one most loved by the international public, a two-time Oscar winner and the author of over five hundred unforgettable scores.

Cast

Michel Bouquet

Reinhard Heydrich

Heinrich Himmler

Adolf Hitler

Night and Fog (1956)

8.3 570 votes

Genre: Documentary, History

Country: France

Duration: 32 min.

Story: Filmmaker Alain Resnais documents the atrocities behind the walls of Hitler's concentration camps.

Plot: destruction of a civilization, nazi, prisoner of war, auschwitz-birkenau concentration camp, torture, short film

Time: world war ii

Place: germany

Cast

Robert Aramayo

Maxine Peake

Peter Mullan

Shirley Henderson

I Swear (2025)

8.2 386 votes

Genre: Drama, History

Country: United Kingdom

Duration: 121 min.

Audience: R

Story: Diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome at 15, John Davidson navigates his way against the odds through troubled teenage years and into adulthood, finding inspiration in the kindness of others to discover his true purpose in life.

Plot: dark comedy, biography, based on true story, alienation, outcast, tourette syndrome, docudrama, triumph over adversity, ...

Time: 1980s, 1990s

Place: scotland

Cast

Sebastian Maniscalco

8.2 13.0K votes

Genre: Comedy, Drama, History

Country: United States of America

Duration: 130 min.

Audience: PG-13

Story: Tony Lip, a bouncer in 1962, is hired to drive pianist Don Shirley on a tour through the Deep South in the days when African Americans, forced to find alternate accommodations and services due to segregation laws below the Mason-Dixon Line, relied on a guide called The Negro Motorist Green Book.

Plot: friendship, southern usa, based on true story, road trip, racism, pianist, driver, lgbt, ...

Time: 1960s

Cast

Claude Lanzmann

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Simon Srebnik

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Michael Podchlebnik

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Motke Zaidl

Shoah (1985)

8.2 222 votes

Genre: Documentary, History

Country: France

Duration: 566 min.

Audience: NR

Story: Director Claude Lanzmann spent 11 years on this sprawling documentary about the Holocaust, conducting his own interviews and refusing to use a single frame of archival footage. Dividing Holocaust witnesses into three categories – survivors, bystanders, and perpetrators – Lanzmann presents testimonies from survivors of the Chelmno concentration camp, an Auschwitz escapee, and witnesses of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, as well as a chilling report of gas chambers from an SS officer at Treblinka.

Plot: holocaust (shoah), history of mankind, history and legacy, historical documentary

Time: world war ii

Cast

Tom Hanks

Tom Sizemore

Edward Burns

Barry Pepper

Saving Private Ryan (1998)

8.2 17.4K votes

Genre: Drama, History, War

Country: United States of America

Duration: 169 min.

Audience: R

Story: As U.S. troops storm the beaches of Normandy, three brothers lie dead on the battlefield, with a fourth trapped behind enemy lines. Ranger captain John Miller and seven men are tasked with penetrating German-held territory and bringing the boy home.

Plot: dying and death, self sacrifice, bravery, duty, troops, waffen ss, omaha beach, rescue mission, ...

Time: world war ii, 1940s

Place: normandy, france

Hacksaw Ridge (2016)

8.2 15.0K votes

Genre: Drama, History, War

Country: Australia, United Kingdom

Duration: 139 min.

Audience: R

Story: WWII American Army Medic Desmond T. Doss, who served during the Battle of Okinawa, refuses to kill people and becomes the first Conscientious Objector in American history to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Plot: hero, abusive father, pacifism, bible, gore, vegetarian, biography, based on true story, ...

Time: world war ii

Place: japan

Cast

Hind Rajab

Motaz Malhees

Saja Kilani

Amer Hlehel

The Voice of Hind Rajab (2025)

8.1 315 votes

Genre: Drama, History

Country: France, Tunisia

Duration: 89 min.

Audience: NR

Story: January 29, 2024. Red Crescent volunteers receive an emergency call. A five-year old girl is trapped in a car under fire in Gaza, pleading for rescue. While trying to keep her on the line, they do everything they can to get an ambulance to her. Her name was Hind Rajab.

Plot: palestinian-israeli conflict, palestine, war crimes, zionism, based on true story, child in peril, genocide, gaza strip, ...

Time: 2020s

Cast

William Franklyn-Miller

Ben Kingsley

Mary-Louise Parker

Leo Hanna

Young Washington (2026)

8.1 26 votes

Genre: Drama, History, War

Country: United States of America, Ireland

Duration: 125 min.

Audience: PG-13

Story: Before he led a nation, George Washington was a young soldier thrown into a global conflict. With alliances crumbling and war closing in, he must choose who to trust and confront the leader he's becoming.

Plot: based on novel or book, biography, period drama, duringcreditsstinger, historical drama, inspirational, bold, cliché, ...

Time: 18th century

Cast

Sigourney Weaver

Henry Czerny

Ryan Kelley

Austin Nichols

Prayers for Bobby (2009)

8.1 634 votes

Genre: Drama, History, TV Movie

Country: United States of America

Duration: 89 min.

Audience: PG

Story: Bobby Griffith was his mother's favorite son, the perfect all-American boy growing up under deeply religious influences in Walnut Creek, California. Bobby was also gay. Struggling with a conflict no one knew of, much less understood, Bobby finally came out to his family.

Plot: coming out, suicide, based on novel or book, parent child relationship, based on true story, grief, male homosexuality, tragic event, ...

Cast

Anthony Hopkins

John Hurt

Anne Bancroft

John Gielgud

The Elephant Man (1980)

8.0 4.0K votes

Genre: Drama, History

Country: United States of America, United Kingdom

Duration: 124 min.

Audience: PG

Story: A Victorian surgeon rescues a heavily disfigured man being mistreated by his "owner" as a side-show freak. Behind his monstrous façade, there is revealed a person of great intelligence and sensitivity. Based on the true story of Joseph Merrick (called John Merrick in the film), a severely deformed man in 19th century London.

Style: exploitation

Plot: friendship, london, england, escape, nurse, biography, based on true story, tragedy, ...

Time: 19th century, 1880s

Cast

Song Kang-ho

Thomas Kretschmann

Yoo Hai-jin

Ryu Jun-yeol

A Taxi Driver (2017)

8.0 1.2K votes

Genre: Drama, History

Country: South Korea

Duration: 138 min.

Story: May, 1980. Man-seob is a taxi driver in Seoul who lives from hand to mouth, raising his young daughter alone. One day, he hears that there is a foreigner who will pay big money for a drive down to Gwangju city. Not knowing that he’s a German journalist with a hidden agenda, Man-seob takes the job.

Plot: taxi, taxi driver, protest, based on true story, democracy, historical event, gwangju uprising, gwangju, ...

Time: 1980s

Place: south korea

Cast

Taraji P. Henson

Octavia Spencer

Janelle Monu00e1e

Kevin Costner

Hidden Figures (2016)

8.0 10.5K votes

Genre: Drama, History

Country: United States of America

Duration: 127 min.

Audience: PG

Story: The untold story of Katherine G. Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson – brilliant African-American women working at NASA and serving as the brains behind one of the greatest operations in history – the launch of astronaut John Glenn into orbit. The visionary trio crossed all gender and race lines to inspire generations to dream big.

Plot: nasa, mathematics, sexism, biography, racial segregation, racism, historical fiction, scientist, ...

Time: 1960s

Cast

Luigi Lo Cascio

Alessio Boni

Adriana Asti

Sonia Bergamasco

The Best of Youth (2003)

8.0 608 votes

Genre: Drama, History, Romance

Country: Italy

Duration: 367 min.

Audience: R

Story: After a fateful encounter in the summer of 1966, the lifepaths of two brothers from a middle-class Roman family diverge, intersecting with some of the most significant events of postwar Italian history in the following decades.

Plot: society, loss of loved one, sicily, italy, political activism, cultural revolution, florence, italy, ...

Cast

F. Murray Abraham

Tom Hulce

Elizabeth Berridge

Simon Callow

Amadeus (1984)

8.0 4.8K votes

Genre: Drama, History, Music

Country: United States of America

Duration: 160 min.

Audience: PG

Story: Disciplined Italian composer Antonio Salieri becomes consumed by jealousy and resentment towards the hedonistic and remarkably talented young Salzburger composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Plot: opera, composer, musician, marriage crisis, talent, emperor, based on true story, based on play or musical, ...

Time: 18th century

Place: italy, austria

Cast

Tatsuya Nakadai

Akira Terao

Jinpachi Nezu

Daisuke Ryu016b

Ran (1985)

8.0 1.8K votes

Genre: Action, Drama, History

Country: Japan, France

Duration: 160 min.

Audience: R

Story: Shakespeare's King Lear is reimagined as a singular historical epic set in sixteenth-century Japan where an aging warlord divides his kingdom between his three sons.

Plot: assassination, kingdom, gun, greed, castle, siege, heir to the throne, revenge, ...

Ford v Ferrari (2019)

8.0 9.1K votes

Genre: Action, Drama, History

Country: United States of America

Duration: 153 min.

Audience: PG-13

Story: American car designer Carroll Shelby and the British-born driver Ken Miles work together to battle corporate interference, the laws of physics, and their own personal demons to build a revolutionary race car for Ford Motor Company and take on the dominating race cars of Enzo Ferrari at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France in 1966.

Plot: based on novel or book, car race, sports, car mechanic, biography, based on true story, le mans, racing, ...

Time: 1960s

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Exploring the World of History Movies and TV Shows

The History genre is a treasure trove of captivating stories, memorable characters, and pivotal events that have shaped human civilization. With the rise of streaming platforms, accessing high-quality History content has never been easier. From critically acclaimed films to award-winning TV series, there's a wealth of historical dramas to discover.

Types of History Movies and TV Shows

History movies and TV shows can be broadly categorized into several sub-genres, including: * Historical dramas: These films and series focus on specific events, periods, or figures, often with a strong emphasis on historical accuracy. * Biographical dramas: These stories explore the lives of influential individuals, such as leaders, artists, or inventors. * Historical action films: These movies often feature epic battles, heroic quests, or daring adventures set against a historical backdrop.

Discovering the Best History Movies and TV Shows

To find the most engaging History content, consider exploring online reviews, ratings, and recommendations from fellow history enthusiasts. Some popular History movies include "Schindler's List," "Gladiator," and "Lincoln," while notable TV series like "Vikings," "The Last Kingdom," and "Chernobyl" have garnered widespread acclaim. By delving into the world of History movies and TV shows, viewers can gain a deeper understanding of the past, its complexities, and its lasting impact on modern society.