favorite historical films?

Poststructural Pub
1

We’re wrapping up the last year of homeschooling – Kevin will be going to “regular school” for high school.

I’m looking at the areas we have gaps. My training’s in insects and plants, my husband has a PhD in math, so the poor kid’s been a bit deficient in the liberal arts!

Time to cram! :astonished: :laughing:

I remember finding history very difficult in school, but it really came alive for me when I saw historical films. One of my favorites back then was a series called “Elizabeth R” starring Glenda Jackson.

Last week we watched “Amadeus” (I’m listening to a history of Western Music course on tape and I’m full of Mozart lately :laughing:). Amadeus led us to a History Channel episode about the French Revolution, and this week we’re going to watch that HBO series on John Adams (based on the book by David Mccullough).

What are some of your favorites?

PS. Remember, these will be watched by a 13 yr old, so no “Calligula” please :stuck_out_tongue:

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Are you looking for a specific time period? Are you looking for bona fide historically accurate or a good movie that is a good fictional representation?

ps. I wasn’t much older when I saw Caligula and I turned out fine.

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1776 is an entertaining though not entirely historical treatment of the Declaration of Independence. The more recent John Adams miniseries has gotten excellent reviews, but I haven’t watched it.

The PBS Civil War series is long, but is one of the best works on that subject.

4

Nope! Little bit of everything! Chariots! Bodice ripping! Men in tights!

Are you looking for bona fide historically accurate or a good movie that is a good fictional representation?

Both!

We saw Amadeus, but I was also learning about Mozart from the educational tapes, so I was able to say “yes he had a crude and crazy sense of humor, but he wasn’t necessarily a giggling idiot. Nowadays they don’t think Salieri did him in. The part about “too many notes” really was accurate.”

So it’s OK to have a fictionalization, as long as it’s not too hard to correct for it.

ps. I wasn’t much older when I saw Caligula and I turned out fine.

eesh!!! Good man!
I’m terrified to see “Braveheart”

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Me, too. “Dances with Wolves” sounds a bit unsettling, as well.

How about “Gone with the Wind?”

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Well there you go! I wouldn’t have thought of that one, but that’s great.
Historical background, and some classic cinematography as well.
You need that background to understand things like this…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6bOpJ5elW8&feature=related

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“Braveheart” and “historical accuracy” don’t really go down too well in the same sentence.
I picked up “Rob Roy” in the Oxfam shop, but couldn’t finish it. It’s the same old business of the Gaels did be livin’ in mud huts. And it’s just sad.
I suggest “Michael Collins”. It has its embroideries too, but it is a good film.

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With my son, I recently watched “Casablanca”, “Das Boot” and “Enemy at the Gates”.
“Enemy at the gates” depicts the seige of Stalingrad. It is a little “adult” at times. If you are considering it, watch it through yourselves first.
“Casablanca” is not exactly realistic. However, given that it is a propaganda film - and a very good one - it can raise some lines of enquiry.
“Das Boot” is very long. Not sure how a thirteen-year-old would take it. It’s worth considering.

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Apart from some atrocious false beards, Gettysburg is very good. I saw it before we visited the battlefield, and it made the history really come alive.

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I guess one thing to keep in mind is that, at 13, he’ll be starting at the point where the real survey of history courses begin. Generally, World (used to be European…not sure how they bill it now,) in 9th or 10th grade, and U.S. history in 11th. So he won’t miss out on the overview as presented by U.S. public education.
Your kid is probably likely to approach this stuff with a fresher mind than some, because of his unique educational background.
Of course, films, books, etc, can aid and abet in giving interesting details, alternative povs, and geographic angles they can’t cover in a year of schooling.

I wonder if something like the Don’t Know Much About History books, in print or on tape, would be worthwhile?

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Both our children loved Terry Deary’s “Horrible Histories” series. They have a fair amout of information in an entertaining format.

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I like that series of books that are yellow with black diagonal strips. At the top of each book it says “Cliffnotes.” They got them for just about everything. But for historical accuracy you are going to want him to read “The Deluge” a historical novel by Henryk Sienkiewicz. It is the second volume of a three-volume series known to Poles as “the Trilogy.” Then you can rent the movie. Don’t forget the “Crucible” a sory of McCarthyism, I mean the Salem witch trials. There’s a movie for it too.

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Gandhi

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“Glory” starring Matthew Broderick about the regiment of black soldiers in the Civil War.
“To Kill a Mockingbird” starring Gregory Peck about Pre-Civil Rights South.
“Roger & Me” the first of Michael Moore’s documentaries. Well, any of Michael Moore’s documentaries. I just saw “Capitalism: A Love Story.” Take Tissues.

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The most brilliance jim has ever posted in a 1 word post. Maybe even his only 1 word post.

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I would start with 1 million years BC with Raquel Welch, or Clan of the Cave Bear then Nefertiti, Queen of the Nile and The Emperor’s Shadow(Chinese). The next series would be The Greatest Story Ever Told, The Robe, Attila, with Sophia Loren, El Cid, with Sophia Loren, Alfred the Great, The Vikings, with Janet Leigh, The Lion in Winter, either one, Adventures of Robin Hood with Olivia de Haviland, Edward II with Annie Lennox, Joan of Arc with Leelee Sobieski, The Name of the Rose, Black Cross, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, with Winona Ryder, Conqueror, with Susan Hayward, The Agony and the Ecstasy, Martin Luther with Niall MacGinnis a great Irish actor and doctor, Queen Christiana, with Greta Garbo, A Man for All Seasons, Mutiny on the Bounty, Last of the Mohicans, Northwest Passage, The Fighting Kentuckian, Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier, The Alamo, Charge of the Light Brigade '36 version, The Outlaw Josey Wales,The Horse Soldiers, The Great Locomotive Chase, Gone with the Wind, Red River, My Darling Clementine, Chisum, Parnell, The Grapes of Wrath, Bound for Glory, Inherit the Wind, To Be or Not to Be, Dangerous Moonlight, Easy Rider.

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Just watched the movie Troy. “Based” off the writings of Homer it was interesting how they adapted it and the changes in style. It has been a long time since I have read the story, but thought it was interesting the way an old story was made modern. To bad it has a bit of suggested sex and violence and is close to 3 hours long.

Kurosawa has done some interesting work, The Seven Samurai was turned into The Magnificent seven, and many of his movies borrowed from western art like Shakespeare, or became western art like a Fist Full of Dollars. I think it is interesting how the jutte is replaced with a badge, preparing a sword is replaced with unstrapping a pistol, how burial services differ, etc. It seems good stories are universal. Knowing the western versions first might help with the subtitle issues.

Letters from Iwo Jima was a beautiful film, I haven’t seen it’s companion film, but it might be a nice one too.

All is Quiet on the Western Front was notable on how it seemed nothing like the book. Where as the black and white version of Les Miserables and For Whom the Bell Tolls follow the books well. It would be interesting to compare and contrast the books and the movie, and look into the histories of the books and periods that they were set in.

Some movies would be worth seeing for the context they were made. Red Dawn seems goofy and funny now, but when it was released, anti-commie propaganda was on everything from TV sitcoms, to advertisement for products. I think The Day the Earth Stood Still may have a similar hysteria feel about it.

The scariest thing about the movie Calligula, reading up on his history, it left out some of the things he did. Perhaps power doesn't corrupt, but the corrupt seek power, and that guy was more twisted than a corkscrew.
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Don’t you mean more twisted than a threaded wine bottle cap? What’s a corkscrew?

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Wow. This is a great list, all the way from “cheezy” stuff to more serious historical representations. Even things like “1 Million Years BC” with Raquel Welch is worth it for the kitch value. “Geez Dad, you actually watched stuff like that back then?!”

This may be the year for us to try Netflix.

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Any opinions on the various Queen Elizabeth movies out there?