Ask a Maven

Re:Historical Drama

seely — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 17:22:05 GMT

I was recently introduced to a historical drama that I had completely missed. Clocking in at an epic 137 minutes, I was less than thrilled to sit down and watch it, but The Lives of Others turned out to be an instant favorite for me. I liked it because as with most historical dramas I've enjoyed, it deals more with the people and relationships than the history, while still be set in a very historical context (communist Germany, before the wall fell). It's a pretty moving and endearing story, well written and acted. It seems to have a lot of historical accuracy too as it was based on a true story with from what I've heard are only relatively minor changes to the actual events.

Re:Historical Drama

csprague — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 21:17:15 GMT

leeroy711:

csprague:

leeroy711:

csprague:

Hey there, I was thinking of maybe switching up format a bit and starting a thread that's genre specific. I don't know about you all, but some times it's easier for me to just think of a genre that I am interested in rather than to try and follow a template for getting a recommendation. So, recently I have been most interested in historical drama, but every time I go to a auto-generating recommendation engine I seem to get a bunch of films I have already seen. I have a hard time believing that I have exhausted the Historical Drama library, so I thought I would ask you all for some of your favorites or if you know of any lesser-known movies that you wouldn't typically see in a rec. engine.

I guess the obvious follow-up question would be: what parts of history are you most interested in? There's a hell of a lot to choose from.

Good questions. Well, I am pretty fascinated by Turn-of the-Century kinds of films, ie Sense and Sensability. But I also really liked Shakespeare in Love, Marie Antoinette, Elizabeth, and Braveheart. Oh, and for some reason, i really liked The Patriot. So, I am not sure if i have an attachment to a certain time period really. Oh and The New World was severely under-appreciated in my opinion.

You may appreciate Malick's Days of Heaven for turn of the century stuff. I thought the story was a bit too slow (as with all of Malick's stuff) but (also with all Malick's stuff) the cinematography was absolutely beautiful. Also check out HBO's series Carnivale. It's somewhat of historical drama/sci fi.

As far as the epic drama stuff is concerned, I highly suggest Luc Besson's Messenger. Dustin Hoffman plays a great little part.

Days of Heaven was a movie I watched for a film class. It was slow, heavy, long, and at the end i was so depressed I wanted the world to end. But the more I talked to people about it, and after watching some other Malick, I started liking it. Weird how that happens with some movies.

I actually just added Besson's The Messenger that other day.

Thanks!

Re:Historical Drama

leeroy711 — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 19:44:05 GMT

csprague:

leeroy711:

csprague:

Hey there, I was thinking of maybe switching up format a bit and starting a thread that's genre specific. I don't know about you all, but some times it's easier for me to just think of a genre that I am interested in rather than to try and follow a template for getting a recommendation. So, recently I have been most interested in historical drama, but every time I go to a auto-generating recommendation engine I seem to get a bunch of films I have already seen. I have a hard time believing that I have exhausted the Historical Drama library, so I thought I would ask you all for some of your favorites or if you know of any lesser-known movies that you wouldn't typically see in a rec. engine.

I guess the obvious follow-up question would be: what parts of history are you most interested in? There's a hell of a lot to choose from.

Good questions. Well, I am pretty fascinated by Turn-of the-Century kinds of films, ie Sense and Sensability. But I also really liked Shakespeare in Love, Marie Antoinette, Elizabeth, and Braveheart. Oh, and for some reason, i really liked The Patriot. So, I am not sure if i have an attachment to a certain time period really. Oh and The New World was severely under-appreciated in my opinion.

You may appreciate Malick's Days of Heaven for turn of the century stuff. I thought the story was a bit too slow (as with all of Malick's stuff) but (also with all Malick's stuff) the cinematography was absolutely beautiful. Also check out HBO's series Carnivale. It's somewhat of historical drama/sci fi.

As far as the epic drama stuff is concerned, I highly suggest Luc Besson's Messenger. Dustin Hoffman plays a great little part.

Re:Historical Drama

csprague — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 13:34:18 GMT

leeroy711:

csprague:

Hey there, I was thinking of maybe switching up format a bit and starting a thread that's genre specific. I don't know about you all, but some times it's easier for me to just think of a genre that I am interested in rather than to try and follow a template for getting a recommendation. So, recently I have been most interested in historical drama, but every time I go to a auto-generating recommendation engine I seem to get a bunch of films I have already seen. I have a hard time believing that I have exhausted the Historical Drama library, so I thought I would ask you all for some of your favorites or if you know of any lesser-known movies that you wouldn't typically see in a rec. engine.

I guess the obvious follow-up question would be: what parts of history are you most interested in? There's a hell of a lot to choose from.

Good questions. Well, I am pretty fascinated by Turn-of the-Century kinds of films, ie Sense and Sensability. But I also really liked Shakespeare in Love, Marie Antoinette, Elizabeth, and Braveheart. Oh, and for some reason, i really liked The Patriot. So, I am not sure if i have an attachment to a certain time period really. Oh and The New World was severely under-appreciated in my opinion.

Re:Historical Drama

leeroy711 — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 20:59:39 GMT

csprague:

Hey there, I was thinking of maybe switching up format a bit and starting a thread that's genre specific. I don't know about you all, but some times it's easier for me to just think of a genre that I am interested in rather than to try and follow a template for getting a recommendation. So, recently I have been most interested in historical drama, but every time I go to a auto-generating recommendation engine I seem to get a bunch of films I have already seen. I have a hard time believing that I have exhausted the Historical Drama library, so I thought I would ask you all for some of your favorites or if you know of any lesser-known movies that you wouldn't typically see in a rec. engine.

I guess the obvious follow-up question would be: what parts of history are you most interested in? There's a hell of a lot to choose from.

Re:Historical Drama

joem18b — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 18:28:17 GMT

The Battle of Algiers for insight into colonialism and national insurgency.

Re:Historical Drama

seely — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 14:40:16 GMT

One outstanding historical drama I only recently saw was "To Live". Its set in pre-communist/communist/post-communist China, and follows one family's journey through that amazing period and transformation. The film was nothing short of breathtaking. It is subtitled, but you're so drawn into the story that you won't notice after 2 or 3 minutes.

Re:Historical Drama

leeroy711 — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 01:12:37 GMT

csprague:

Hey there, I was thinking of maybe switching up format a bit and starting a thread that's genre specific. I don't know about you all, but some times it's easier for me to just think of a genre that I am interested in rather than to try and follow a template for getting a recommendation.

Good idea. I love good historical dramas. I would have to say it would be a good idea to check out Costa-Gavras' films. They are usually referred to as "political thrillers" but I know better. Z is one of my favorites of all time. Missing and Amen are also both incredible.

Jean-Pierre Melville's Army of Shadows is a really good film about the French Resistance.

I'll think of more later.

Re:Historical Drama

Risselada — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 17:41:41 GMT

All that Merchant and Ivory stuff.

A Room with a View was pretty good for historical romance / comedy type stuff.

Re:Historical Drama

seely — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 16:34:32 GMT

Hm, I'm not much of a historical drama fan, but there are definitely a few that I have actually really liked.

Gettysburg was one of my favorites, and one of the first historical dramas I can remember seeing. I liked that despite this being a war epic, it wasn't completely centered around the battlefield. There were a lot of moving scenes involving family and relationships that gave the film a bit more depth that most war epics I've seen.

The Mission was required watching for a film class, but I've subsequently made everyone I know watch it. I find it to be a very powerful, moving story without going so far as to be cheesey or insincere.

Ragtime is one of my favorite historical fictional films. El Doctorow is one of my favorite authors, and the blending of real people and real events into a quasi-fictional account is well done. The interwoven storylines are brilliant.

Master and Commander was also quite good. Not a big Russell Crowe fan, but I felt like he was quite well suited for the role, and pulled it off with aplomb. Held my interest beginning to end, which is difficult to do in the context of historical drama.

Re:Historical Drama

joem18b — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 06:34:37 GMT

a couple that i especially like (sorry, i can't do the links right now):

Tora Tora Tora

The Day Reagan Was Shot

Thirteen Days

Re:Historical Drama

mercurial — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 23:56:57 GMT

My personal favorites:

Barry Lyndon

Unequivocally the best 18th century period film ever made. Incredible.

Black Narcissus

Great drama set in the Himalayas. And nuns!

Elizabeth

Probably have already seen this, but just in case. Great film.

Dogville

A lot of people have not seen this due to the overwhelming negative reviews for it. But it is an amazing film nonetheless about early 20th century America.

Manderlay

The second film in the unfinished trilogy that follows Dogville.

Gosford Park

Impeccable film about the English caste system.

A Little Princess

Amazing kid's film. I still love it.

Edward II

Postmodern interpretation of Edward II. Might be too much for some.

Battleship Potemkin

Great historical film. Iconic scenes throughout.

The Red Violin

Traces a violin from its creation over 300 hundred years ago to today. And it has Samuel L. Jackson.

A Very Long Engagement

Tragic wartime flick about World War I in France.

The Mission

Insightful film about the struggles to convert South American natives to Christianity.

Pride and Prejudice (2005)

Best adaptation of the novel in my opinion.

The Hours

Three women going through the same whirlwind of emotions a three different times in history.

Plunkett & Macleane

Dramatic comedy set around the time of Marie Antoinette.

Marie Antoinette (2006)

I've grown to love this film since my hesitant initial reaction.

Titus

Postmodern interpretation of Titus Andronicus.

The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc

Another postmodern interpretation of the life of Joan of Arc.

Andersonville

Tragic movie about life in a prisoner of war camp in the South during the Civil War.

Sleepy Hollow

Quirky flick set in 19th century New England.

The Color Purple

Early 20th century South and the struggle of slaves. Great movie.

That's all I can think of for now. I'm sure you've seen a number of these.

Historical Drama

csprague — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 20:10:17 GMT

Hey there, I was thinking of maybe switching up format a bit and starting a thread that's genre specific. I don't know about you all, but some times it's easier for me to just think of a genre that I am interested in rather than to try and follow a template for getting a recommendation. So, recently I have been most interested in historical drama, but every time I go to a auto-generating recommendation engine I seem to get a bunch of films I have already seen. I have a hard time believing that I have exhausted the Historical Drama library, so I thought I would ask you all for some of your favorites or if you know of any lesser-known movies that you wouldn't typically see in a rec. engine.