Historical Films on Netflix

When a prison guard discovers that a death row inmate possesses mysterious powers, he tries desperately to prevent the condemned man's execution.

Year: 1999
IMDb: 8.6
Netflix rating: 4.3/5
Runtime: 03:08:41
Netflix ID: 60000417 · Watch on Netflix · IMDb

Tapped for the throne after the death of the emperor, a Roman general instead finds himself condemned to die by the late ruler's power-hungry son.

Year: 2000
IMDb: 8.5
Netflix rating: 4.3/5
Runtime: 02:34:58
Netflix ID: 60000929 · Watch on Netflix · IMDb

A young newlywed moves to her husband's imposing estate, where she must contend with his sinister housekeeper and the haunting shadow of his late wife.

Year: 2020
IMDb: 8.1
Runtime: 02:03:02
Netflix ID: 81002196 · Watch on Netflix · IMDb

During World War II, a brilliant mathematician leads a team of cryptanalysts as they work feverishly to break the Germans' notorious Enigma code.

Year: 2014
IMDb: 8
Netflix rating: 4.4/5
Runtime: 01:54:12
Netflix ID: 70295172 · Watch on Netflix · IMDb

Winner of five Oscars, this black-and-white silent film follows the romance between a silent-era legend on a downward spiral and a rising starlet.

Year: 2011
IMDb: 7.9
Netflix rating: 3.9/5
Runtime: 01:40:34
Netflix ID: 70189319 · Watch on Netflix · IMDb

In Brian De Palma's period crime drama, Eliot Ness will stop at nothing to take down legendary Al Capone -- even if it means bending some rules.

Year: 1987
IMDb: 7.9
Netflix rating: 4/5
Runtime: 01:59:31
Netflix ID: 60004086 · Watch on Netflix · IMDb

In 12th-century Spain, a philosopher and his profound teachings jeopardize the caliph he serves when political rivals threaten a government upheaval.

Year: 1997
IMDb: 7.9
Runtime: 02:15:56
Netflix ID: 81252543 · Watch on Netflix · IMDb

In Jane Austen's tale of 19th-century England, Mrs. Bennet hopes to marry her daughters to prosperous gentlemen, including new arrival Mr. Darcy.

Year: 2005
IMDb: 7.8
Netflix rating: 4/5
Runtime: 02:06:36
Netflix ID: 70032594 · Watch on Netflix · IMDb

This stirring drama follows the first African-Americans to serve in combat during the Civil War -- and shows how they helped turn the tide of the war.

Year: 1989
IMDb: 7.8
Netflix rating: 4/5
Runtime: 02:02:12
Netflix ID: 547335 · Watch on Netflix · IMDb

Inspired by Soviet satellite Sputnik streaking across the heavens in 1957, a teenager builds a rocket to compete for a science fair scholarship.

Year: 1999
IMDb: 7.8
Runtime: 01:47:19
Netflix ID: 18957852 · Watch on Netflix · IMDb

When her kidnapped son is brought home, a mother suspects that the boy isn't her child, so the police captain has her committed to an asylum.

Year: 2008
IMDb: 7.7
Netflix rating: 3.8/5
Runtime: 02:21:41
Netflix ID: 70100378 · Watch on Netflix · IMDb

As his esteem grows in the world of physics, Stephen Hawking's body is ravaged by ALS, forcing his increasing dependence on his devoted wife, Jane.

Year: 2014
IMDb: 7.7
Netflix rating: 3.9/5
Runtime: 02:03:25
Netflix ID: 80000644 · Watch on Netflix · IMDb

Filmmaker Dylan Mohan Gray delves into Africa's AIDS crisis to put a human face on those caught in the battle over inexpensive, generic HIV drugs.

Year: 2012
IMDb: 7.7
Runtime: 01:23:11
Netflix ID: 70268209 · Watch on Netflix · IMDb

Based on the life of Jan Banas, a famous footballer’s megawatt success begets a game of rivalry, passion and love.

Year: 2017
IMDb: 7.7
Runtime: 01:41:54
Netflix ID: 81116046 · Watch on Netflix · IMDb

Lifer Frank Morris plans his unauthorized departure from Alcatraz in this thriller based on the penitentiary's only successful jailbreak.

Year: 1979
IMDb: 7.6
Netflix rating: 3.9/5
Runtime: 01:51:52
Netflix ID: 480144 · Watch on Netflix · IMDb

Technical troubles scuttle the Apollo 13 mission in 1971, risking the lives of astronaut Jim Lovell and his crew in this chronicle of a true story.

Year: 1995
IMDb: 7.6
Netflix rating: 4/5
Runtime: 02:19:46
Netflix ID: 262866 · Watch on Netflix · IMDb

The Sultan of Egypt and Syria launches a campaign to retake Jerusalem amid the Crusades.

Year: 1963
IMDb: 7.6
Runtime: 03:14:03
Netflix ID: 81252549 · Watch on Netflix · IMDb

What was supposed to be a peaceful protest turned into a violent clash with the police. What followed was one of the most notorious trials in history.

Year: 2020
IMDb: 7.5
Runtime: 02:10:10
Netflix ID: 81043755 · Watch on Netflix · IMDb

Living in Alexandria during World War II, an Egyptian teen enamored with American films dreams of making it in Hollywood.

Year: 1979
IMDb: 7.4
Runtime: 02:11:07
Netflix ID: 60001801 · Watch on Netflix · IMDb

After being falsely imprisoned, a vengeful murderer covers his tracks by enlisting the help of a baker whose meat pies become the toast of London.

Year: 2007
IMDb: 7.3
Netflix rating: 3.5/5
Runtime: 01:56:18
Netflix ID: 70077544 · Watch on Netflix · IMDb

Romani writer Bronislawa Wajs struggles to succeed as a poet in 20th-century Poland -- while being rejected by the very people who inspired her art.

Year: 2013
IMDb: 7.3
Runtime: 02:05:57
Netflix ID: 81078812 · Watch on Netflix · IMDb

Astronaut Neil Armstrong spends a decade training for the flight of a lifetime, as he prepares to be the first man to walk on the moon.

Year: 2018
IMDb: 7.3
Runtime: 02:20:59
Netflix ID: 80991403 · Watch on Netflix · IMDb

Interviews and photographs illuminate the odyssey of Joseph Stalin's daughter Svetlana, who defected to the West at the height of the Cold War.

Year: 2015
IMDb: 7.2
Netflix rating: 3/5
Runtime: 00:51:58
Netflix ID: 80123614 · Watch on Netflix · IMDb

After a fateful encounter with the McDonald brothers, struggling salesman Ray Kroc becomes driven to change the way hamburgers are made and sold.

Year: 2016
IMDb: 7.2
Runtime: 01:55:19
Netflix ID: 80101899 · Watch on Netflix · IMDb

While filming a movie in England, Hollywood icon Marilyn Monroe slips away with a young Brit for a week of self-discovery and frivolity.

Year: 2011
IMDb: 7
Netflix rating: 3.5/5
Runtime: 01:38:55
Netflix ID: 70202150 · Watch on Netflix · IMDb

This biopic tells the story of Margaret Keane, the American painter who was known for her pop art paintings of children with large doe eyes.

Year: 2014
IMDb: 7
Netflix rating: 3.5/5
Runtime: 01:45:42
Netflix ID: 70095129 · Watch on Netflix · IMDb

Based on the 1884 epic novel by author Henryk Sienkiewicz, a Polish knight fights to reclaim his lover from a Cossack leader amid civil unrest.

Year: 1999
IMDb: 7
Runtime: 02:55:13
Netflix ID: 70308739 · Watch on Netflix · IMDb

In this true tale (which inspired 'Moby Dick'), a New England whaling crew wages a desperate battle to survive when a giant whale capsizes their ship.

Year: 2015
IMDb: 6.9
Netflix rating: 3.7/5
Runtime: 02:01:39
Netflix ID: 80017529 · Watch on Netflix · IMDb

Leading a tumultuous life, Egyptian-born French-Italian singer Dalida navigates love, success, suicide and the dark side of fame in this biopic.

Year: 2017
IMDb: 6.9
Runtime: 02:01:44
Netflix ID: 80210753 · Watch on Netflix · IMDb

Queen Elizabeth steels herself against invasion, treason and betrayal as she pines for the love of swashbuckling adventurer Sir Walter Raleigh.

Year: 2007
IMDb: 6.8
Netflix rating: 3.7/5
Runtime: 01:54:45
Netflix ID: 70045272 · Watch on Netflix · IMDb

Leading scientists offer insights into the most powerful explosion in recorded history, which leveled miles of Siberian wilderness in 1908.

Year: 2008
IMDb: 6.8
Netflix rating: 3/5
Runtime: 00:49:20
Netflix ID: 80123551 · Watch on Netflix · IMDb

Three high school graduates prepare to start the next chapter of their lives, but the outbreak of World War II may derail their dreams forever.

Year: 2007
IMDb: 6.8
Runtime: 01:40:58
Netflix ID: 81446625 · Watch on Netflix · IMDb

Ambitious Boleyn sisters Anne and Mary compete for the heart of powerful but intemperate King Henry VIII in this opulent historical drama.

Year: 2008
IMDb: 6.7
Netflix rating: 3.6/5
Runtime: 01:55:22
Netflix ID: 70083114 · Watch on Netflix · IMDb

In this big-budget adaptation, soldier Robin happens upon the dying Robert of Loxley and promises to return his sword to his family in Nottingham.

Year: 2010
IMDb: 6.6
Netflix rating: 3.7/5
Runtime: 02:20:21
Netflix ID: 70111323 · Watch on Netflix · IMDb

A child bride grows up to be an enigmatic woman presiding over her household, harboring a painful past as supernatural murders of men plague her village.

Year: 2020
IMDb: 6.6
Runtime: 01:34:06
Netflix ID: 81029150 · Watch on Netflix · IMDb

Two 19th-century Irish immigrants journey to the United States for very different reasons, finding love amid the hardships they endure.

Year: 1992
IMDb: 6.5
Netflix rating: 3.6/5
Runtime: 02:19:56
Netflix ID: 492899 · Watch on Netflix · IMDb

Four African American veterans return to Vietnam decades after the war to find their squad leader's remains — and a stash of buried gold. From Spike Lee.

Year: 2020
IMDb: 6.5
Runtime: 02:35:52
Netflix ID: 81045635 · Watch on Netflix · IMDb

Rivals Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse find themselves in a frenzied race to determine whose electrical system will power the modern world.

Year: 2017
IMDb: 6.5
Runtime: 01:47:52
Netflix ID: 80192838 · Watch on Netflix · IMDb

A group of peasant farmers fights to protect their village against a corrupt landowner. Adapted from the popular novel by Abdel Rahman al-Sharqawi.

Year: 1970
IMDb: 6.4
Runtime: 02:09:30
Netflix ID: 81252548 · Watch on Netflix · IMDb

A young Queen Mary returns to rule her native Scotland and battle her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I, for the throne of England.

Year: 2018
IMDb: 6.3
Runtime: 02:03:52
Netflix ID: 80994900 · Watch on Netflix · IMDb

During the Dutch tulip mania, love blooms between a wealthy merchant's wife and a painter, but their future together hinges on a risky bet.

Year: 2017
IMDb: 6.2
Runtime: 01:44:45
Netflix ID: 80108157 · Watch on Netflix · IMDb

Born lower class and raised by aristocrats, an orphan agonizes with forbidden love as three nations feud to control his community over four decades.

Year: 2018
IMDb: 6.2
Runtime: 02:21:04
Netflix ID: 81083545 · Watch on Netflix · IMDb

Andrzej Wajda's epic saga follows the story of two Polish families living under Russian rule during the late 1800s and early 1900s. While the Horeszkos hope for independence, the Soplica family supports Russia.

Year: 1999
IMDb: 6
Runtime: 02:28:23
Netflix ID: 60000552 · Watch on Netflix · IMDb

After returning home from WWII, an Olympic athlete struggles to overcome the memories of his traumatic past until he finds faith.

Year: 2018
IMDb: 5.8
Runtime: 01:38:31
Netflix ID: 80991031 · Watch on Netflix · IMDb

Having fled to England after the Nazi invasion, a group of Polish airmen continues to fight the Germans as members of the Royal Air Force's 303 Squadron.

Year: 2018
IMDb: 5.8
Runtime: 01:39:14
Netflix ID: 81183403 · Watch on Netflix · IMDb

In 1960s LA, actor Jean Seberg becomes the target of an FBI investigation as a result of her support for the Black Panthers. Based on a true story.

Year: 2019
IMDb: 5.8
Runtime: 01:42:29
Netflix ID: 80216232 · Watch on Netflix · IMDb

At the end of WWII, a courageous war hero turns Polish government agent tasked with a confidential mission to secure British aid against Germany.

Year: 2019
IMDb: 5.7
Runtime: 01:53:10
Netflix ID: 81168901 · Watch on Netflix · IMDb

A false prophet and self-proclaimed messiah in 18th-century Austria is investigated by a skeptical lawyer and opposed by one of his former followers.

Year: 2011
IMDb: 5.7
Runtime: 01:42:01
Netflix ID: 81229388 · Watch on Netflix · IMDb

A doctor is summoned to an elegant manor home to tend to an ill maid but finds supernatural secrets that connect to his past.

Year: 2018
IMDb: 5.5
Runtime: 01:51:35
Netflix ID: 80241340 · Watch on Netflix · IMDb

When a journalist digs into the deaths of Polish veterans in England after WWII, he unearths clues to a deep conspiracy that could cost him dearly.

Year: 2018
IMDb: 5.5
Runtime: 01:29:19
Netflix ID: 80208305 · Watch on Netflix · IMDb

As a Polish militia battles for independence from Russian rule in the 1910s, a star-crossed romance puts loyalties to the test. Inspired by true events.

Year: 2019
IMDb: 5.3
Runtime: 02:19:43
Netflix ID: 81278719 · Watch on Netflix · IMDb

Juan Sebastián Elcano just wants to party, but ends up on an expedition with Ferdinand Magellan and navigating the world for a historic adventure.

Year: 2019
IMDb: 4.1
Runtime: 01:29:30
Netflix ID: 80989548 · Watch on Netflix · IMDb

Rising star Sharon Tate is plagued by visions of her imminent death, as Charles Manson’s crazed cult moves in for the kill.

Year: 2019
IMDb: 2.8
Runtime: 01:29:50
Netflix ID: 81059974 · Watch on Netflix · IMDb

Passionate in love and warfare, a staunch activist attempts to free his occupied nation while liberating himself from a complicated romance.

Year: 2019
Runtime: 01:47:30
Netflix ID: 81190733 · Watch on Netflix · IMDb

Hannah Gadsby returns for her second special and digs deep into the complexities of popularity, identity and her most unusual dog park encounter.

Year: 2020
Runtime: 01:12:50
Netflix ID: 81054700 · Watch on Netflix · IMDb

This fictional documentary follows the life of army officer Witold Pilecki, who voluntarily infiltrated and later escaped from the Auschwitz death camp.

Year: 2015
Runtime: 01:20:33
Netflix ID: 81277560 · Watch on Netflix · IMDb

Discover how Antonina and Jan Żabiński courageously risked their lives to save hundreds of Jews by hiding them at the Warsaw Zoo during World War II.

Year: 2019
Runtime: 01:10:00
Netflix ID: 81306416 · Watch on Netflix · IMDb

While searching for her missing mother, intrepid teen Enola Holmes uses her sleuthing skills to outsmart big brother Sherlock and help a runaway lord.

Year: 2020
Runtime: 02:03:54
Netflix ID: 81277950 · Watch on Netflix · IMDb

This documentary focuses on tempestuous 16th-century Czar Ivan IV, whose vision and ruthlessness expanded the size, power and culture of Russia.

Year: 2014
Netflix rating: 3/5
Runtime: 00:52:09
Netflix ID: 80123615 · Watch on Netflix · IMDb

As her country erupts into the chaos of World War II, a young Polish woman fights to survive during years of endless slaughter.

Year: 2016
Runtime: 02:22:57
Netflix ID: 81094635 · Watch on Netflix

A ruthless, atheist interrogator turned remorseful Catholic author wants forgiveness from God and seeks help from a top cardinal she once arrested.

Year: 2016
Runtime: 01:49:32
Netflix ID: 80151419 · Watch on Netflix

Years after a grave diagnosis, a spirited man with cerebral palsy transforms his life by finding his own way to communicate. Based on a true story.

Year: 2013
Runtime: 01:47:03
Netflix ID: 81192958 · Watch on Netflix

Facing dwindling crowds and their own aging, silver screen comedy legends Laurel and Hardy embark on a tour to reconnect with fans — and each other.

Year: 2018
Runtime: 01:37:48
Netflix ID: 81038344 · Watch on Netflix

When robberies and murders targeting women sweep early 20th-century Egypt, the hunt for suspects leads to two shadowy sisters. Based on a true story.

Year: 1984
Runtime: 03:50:07
Netflix ID: 81236591 · Watch on Netflix

Through her diary, Anne Frank's story is retold alongside those of five Holocaust survivors in this poignant documentary from Oscar winner Helen Mirren.

Year: 2019
Runtime: 01:34:41
Netflix ID: 81264660 · Watch on Netflix

A decades-old diary found at a construction site reveals the harrowing account of a professor in hiding during the early days of the Warsaw Uprising.

Year: 2013
Runtime: 01:14:56
Netflix ID: 81277552 · Watch on Netflix

This documentary tells the story of Jan Karski, the first person to deliver eyewitness accounts of Nazi war crimes in Poland to the western powers.

Year: 2015
Runtime: 01:11:48
Netflix ID: 81277561 · Watch on Netflix

This documentary follows the life of Jerzy Popiełuszko, the chaplain of the Solidarity movement, who inspired Poles to stand up to the Communist regime.

Year: 2014
Runtime: 01:26:32
Netflix ID: 81306466 · Watch on Netflix

With his business on the brink of bankruptcy, entrepreneur Enrico Piaggio comes up with a new invention that moves the world.

Year: 2019
Runtime: 01:42:18
Netflix ID: 81411169 · Watch on Netflix

Just released from prison, Nino Patroni sets out to ensure his sister gets married, discover who put him behind bars and woo his beloved Rosa.

Year: 1971
Runtime: 01:45:34
Netflix ID: 81411199 · Watch on Netflix

In this documentary, a professor explains his idiosyncratic theory concerning the origins of the Andean Chachapoya people, the "warriors of the clouds."

Year: 2016
Runtime: 00:52:02
Netflix ID: 81457244 · Watch on Netflix