10 phenomenal historical fiction movies

This list is about to make history. History that never happened. That’s not entirely true. Historical fiction is what happens when the author takes liberties with stuff that did happen, which, when you think about it, is all of actual human history. Here are 10 of the best historical fiction movies ever made, ranked.

10. The Duelists

Ridley Scott’s The Duelists is the ultimate tale of frenemies. Set over the course of the Napoleonic wars, army officers D’Hubert and Feraud have a rivalry that makes the Kendrick Lamar vs. Drake beef look like a schoolyard spat. After one officer is perceived to have insulted the other, the two spend the next years of their lives fighting deadly duels for honor. Swords. Pistols. Swords on horseback. Pistols again. These men won’t quit until one of them can pry their honor from the other’s cold, dead hands.

9. All Quiet on the Western Front

Edward Berger’s Netflix adaptation of the classic novel by Erich Maria Remarque is harrowing. All Quiet On The Western Front revolves around a bright-eyed German soldier named Paul Bäumer, who, along with his friends, are all excited to take part in the First World War. Instead of honor and adventure, they find death. So much death. By bullets. By artillery shells. Poison gas. Flamethrowers. Disease. Suicide. Exposure. The film is an examination of the universal truth of war: It is useless, worthless, meaningless hell.

8. The Lion in Winter

Ever wonder what Christmas was like for English royals in 1183? Take a gander at Anthony Harvey’s The Lion In Winter and you’ll see for yourself! The action takes place in the court of King Henry II, who is cooped up inside his castle with his estranged, King Lear-esque family. His relationship with his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine is on the rocks, and his three sons want to sharpen those rocks and use them to kill each other in order to ascend their father’s throne. And you thought your relatives were a drag.

7. Titanic

James Cameron’s Titanic is as big-budget as historical fiction stories come. I’d tell you the plot, but you likely already know it. It’s basically Romeo and Juliet, lovers on opposite sides of society find each other on a soon-to-be sinking ship which tragically sunders their blooming romance. While the love story is a tearjerker, the stars of this movie are the side characters. The band playing one final song. The old couple in bed. The mother reading to her children as the water comes in. Thousands met their real-life end due to poor planning and greed, a lesson for the ages that is likely doomed to repeat.

6. Gladiator

Ridley Scott’s Gladiator is a masterwork, a bread and circuses cinematic spectacle that would have made the ancient Romans proud. It’s about Roman general Maximus Decimus Meridius who is stripped of his rank and sold into the gladiator pits by a jealous emperor-to-be, who then goes on to murder the poor guy’s family. But is Maximus daunted? Hell no. Using his honed battlefield skills, he’s gonna lead his fellow gladiators to victory and get revenge on the man who destroyed his life. Part action movie, part historical epic, part Shakespearean Julius Caesar-esque drama. All brilliant.

5. Amistad

Steven Spielberg’s Amistad retells the real story of the Spanish slave ship of the same name, which was taken over by African prisoners in 1839. The uprising caused an uproar in white American society, and the legal battle that followed laid the groundwork for the American abolitionist movement. It’s a deeply disturbing film that gives an unflinching look at the horrors of slavery, while simultaneously maintaining a burning ember of hope that things, slowly, surely, can change for the better if we fight for it.

4. Schindler’s List

Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List tells the true story of Oskar Schindler, a German industrialist who saved the lives of over 1,000 Polish Jews during the Holocaust. Schindler was able to keep Jews out of concentration camps by employing them in his factories, all the while risking arrest at the hands of the SS. It is a tale of tremendous courage, and an example of how one man can make a difference for many.

3. Amadeus

If you thought the rivalry in The Duelists was bad, just wait til you get a load of Miloš Forman’s Amadeus. In this case, the rivalry was entirely one-sided. Italian court composer Antonio Salieri is royally pissed off about the budding artistic genius of the young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, whose work threatens to eclipse the elder composer’s legacy. Instead of just making better art, Salieri decides to use his creativity to undermine Mozart, eventually leading to the composer’s total unraveling. Adapted from the play of the same name, Amadeus unfolds much like Shakespeare’s Othello—the story of one man’s commitment to utterly destroying another.

2. Twelve Years A Slave

Steve McQueen’s Twelve Years A Slave is the true story of Solomon Northup, a Black violinist who was kidnapped by human traffickers and sold into slavery in the antebellum South. As the title suggests, it takes place over the story of 12 long and brutal years, following his enslavement and his eventual escape to freedom. This multi-Oscar-winning film is a tough watch, and easily one of the best historical drama films of the 21st century.

1. Life Is Beautiful

Roberto Benigni’s Life Is Beautiful tells the story of Guido Orefice, a Jewish Italian man who is imprisoned in a concentration camp along with his young son during World War II. Despite the conditions the pair are kept in, Guido attempts to protect his son from the horrors of their surroundings by telling jokes and playing imagination games. The film is a study of the sacrifices that parents make for their children, along with preserving and remaining optimistic in an environment that’s capable of withering the soul to an early death. Despite the chilling circumstances, the film was able to prove its titular statement to be true. Life is indeed beautiful, and worth living at all costs.