MTDb › Best of › History › 2000s
Best History Movies of the 2000s
#1 Prayers for Bobby (2009) · ★ 8.1 · 653 votes · 1h 29m · tv-movie, drama, historyBobby 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…
#2 Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War (2004) · ★ 8.0 · 794 votes · 2h 28m · action, adventure, dramaWhen two brothers are forced to fight in the Korean War, the elder decides to take the riskiest missions if it will help shield the younger from battle.…
#3 The Best of Youth (2003) · ★ 8.0 · 620 votes · 6h 7m · romance, drama, historyAfter 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 po…
#4 Downfall (2004) · ★ 7.9 · 4,479 votes · 2h 35m · drama, history, warIn April of 1945, Germany stands at the brink of defeat with the Russian Army closing in from the east and the Allied Expeditionary Force attacking from the west. In Berlin, capita…
#5 The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (2008) · ★ 7.8 · 7,846 votes · 1h 34m · drama, history, warWhen his family moves from their home in Berlin to a strange new house in Poland, young Bruno befriends Shmuel, a boy who lives on the other side of the fence where everyone seems…
#6 Ip Man (2008) · ★ 7.8 · 4,261 votes · 1h 46m · action, drama, historyA semi-biographical account of Yip Man, the first martial arts master to teach the Chinese martial art of Wing Chun. The film focuses on events surrounding Ip that took place in th…
#7 One Hundred Steps (2000) · ★ 7.8 · 746 votes · 1h 54m · drama, historyPeppino Impastato is a quick-witted lad growing up in 1970s Sicily. Despite hailing from a family with Mafia ties and living just one hundred steps from the house of local boss Tan…
#8 Apocalypto (2006) · ★ 7.7 · 6,695 votes · 2h 18m · action, drama, historySet in the Mayan civilization, when a man's idyllic presence is brutally disrupted by a violent invading force, he is taken on a perilous journey to a world ruled by fear and oppre…
#9 Hotel Rwanda (2004) · ★ 7.7 · 3,290 votes · 2h 2m · drama, history, warInspired by true events, this film takes place in Rwanda in the 1990s when more than a million Tutsis were killed in a genocide that went mostly unnoticed by the rest of the world.…
#10 The Count of Monte Cristo (2002) · ★ 7.7 · 2,121 votes · 2h 11m · action, adventure, thrillerYoung sailor Edmond Dantès is wrongfully imprisoned, escapes, finds treasure, and reinvents himself as the wealthy Count of Monte Cristo to exact revenge on those who betrayed him.…
#11 The World's Fastest Indian (2005) · ★ 7.7 · 926 votes · 2h 7m · adventure, drama, historyThe life story of New Zealander Burt Munro, who spent years building a 1920 Indian motorcycle—a bike which helped him set the land-speed world record at Utah's Bonneville Salt Flat…
#12 Memoirs of a Geisha (2005) · ★ 7.6 · 3,470 votes · 2h 26m · romance, drama, historyIn the years before World War II, a penniless Japanese child is torn from her family to work as a maid in a geisha house.…
#13 Coach Carter (2005) · ★ 7.6 · 3,353 votes · 2h 16m · drama, historyBased on a true story, in which Richmond High School head basketball coach Ken Carter made headlines in 1999 for benching his undefeated team due to poor academic results.…
#14 Cinderella Man (2005) · ★ 7.6 · 2,494 votes · 2h 24m · romance, drama, historyThe true story of boxer Jim Braddock who, following his retirement in the 1930s, makes a surprise comeback in order to lift his family out of poverty.…
#15 The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007) · ★ 7.6 · 1,312 votes · 1h 52m · drama, historyJean-Dominique Bauby, editor-in-chief of French fashion bible Elle magazine, has a devastating stroke at age 43. The damage to his brain stem results in locked-in syndrome, with wh…
#16 Hero (2002) · ★ 7.5 · 2,600 votes · 1h 39m · action, adventure, dramaDuring China's Warring States period, a district prefect arrives at the palace of Qin Shi Huang, claiming to have killed the three assassins who had made an attempt on the king's l…
#17 No Man's Land (2001) · ★ 7.5 · 519 votes · 1h 38m · action, history, warTwo soldiers from opposite sides get stuck between the front lines in the same trench. The UN is asked to free them and both sides agree on a ceasefire, but will they stick to it?…
#18 Black Hawk Down (2001) · ★ 7.4 · 6,618 votes · 2h 25m · action, history, warWhen U.S. Rangers and an elite Delta Force team attempt to kidnap two underlings of a Somali warlord, their Black Hawk helicopters are shot down, and the Americans suffer heavy cas…
#19 Enemy at the Gates (2001) · ★ 7.4 · 4,197 votes · 2h 11m · romance, drama, historyA Russian and a German sniper play a game of cat-and-mouse during the Battle of Stalingrad in WWII.…
#20 Joyeux Noel (2005) · ★ 7.4 · 955 votes · 1h 56m · romance, drama, historyFrance, 1914, during World War I. On Christmas Eve, an extraordinary event takes place in the bloody no man's land that the French and the Scots dispute with the Germans……
#21 Glory Road (2006) · ★ 7.4 · 829 votes · 1h 58m · drama, historyIn 1966, Texas Western coach Don Haskins led the first all-black starting line-up for a college basketball team to the NCAA national championship.…
#22 Gangs of New York (2002) · ★ 7.3 · 7,443 votes · 2h 48m · drama, history, crimeIn early 1860s New York, Irish immigrant Amsterdam Vallon is released from prison and returns to the Five Points, seeking revenge against his father's killer, William Cutting, a po…
#23 Frost/Nixon (2008) · ★ 7.3 · 1,351 votes · 2h 2m · drama, historyFor three years after being forced from office, Nixon remained silent. But in summer 1977, the steely, cunning former commander-in-chief agreed to sit for one all-inclusive intervi…
#24 Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India (2001) · ★ 7.3 · 667 votes · 3h 53m · adventure, romance, dramaThe year is 1893 and India is under British occupation. In a small village, the tyrannical Captain Russell has imposed an unprecedented land tax on its citizens. Outraged, Bhuvan,…
#25 Red Cliff II (2009) · ★ 7.3 · 513 votes · 2h 21m · action, adventure, dramaThe battle of Red Cliff continues and the alliance between Xu and East Wu is fracturing. With Cao Cao's massive forces on their doorstep, will the kingdoms of Xu and East Wu survi…
#26 Troy (2004) · ★ 7.2 · 11,341 votes · 2h 43m · action, adventure, historyIn year 1250 B.C. during the late Bronze age, two emerging nations begin to clash. Paris, the Trojan prince, convinces Helen, Queen of Sparta, to leave her husband Menelaus, and sa…
#27 The Patriot (2000) · ★ 7.2 · 4,494 votes · 2h 45m · action, drama, historyAfter proving himself on the field of battle in the French and Indian War, Benjamin Martin wants nothing more to do with such things, preferring the simple life of a farmer. But wh…
#28 Invictus (2009) · ★ 7.2 · 4,443 votes · 2h 14m · drama, historyNewly elected President Nelson Mandela knows his nation remains racially and economically divided in the wake of apartheid. Believing he can bring his people together through the u…
#29 Milk (2008) · ★ 7.2 · 2,493 votes · 2h 8m · drama, historyThe true story of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man ever elected to public office. In San Francisco in the late 1970s, Harvey Milk becomes an activist for gay rights and inspir…
#30 Hunger (2008) · ★ 7.2 · 1,261 votes · 1h 36m · drama, historyThe story of Bobby Sands, the IRA member who led the 1981 hunger strike during The Troubles in which Irish Republican prisoners tried to win political status.…
#31 The Young Victoria (2009) · ★ 7.2 · 1,081 votes · 1h 45m · romance, drama, historyAs the only legitimate heir of England's King William, teenage Victoria gets caught up in the political machinations of her own family. Victoria's mother wants her to sign a regenc…
#32 The Damned United (2009) · ★ 7.2 · 726 votes · 1h 37m · drama, historyTaking over Leeds United, Brian Clough's abrasive approach and his clear dislike of the players' dirty style of play make it certain there is going to be friction. Glimpses of his…
#33 Russian Ark (2002) · ★ 7.2 · 519 votes · 1h 39m · fantasy, drama, historyA ghost and a French marquis wander through the Winter Palace in St Petersburg, encountering scenes from many different periods of its history.…
#34 Kingdom of Heaven (2005) · ★ 7.1 · 5,261 votes · 2h 24m · action, adventure, dramaAfter his wife dies, a blacksmith named Balian is thrust into royalty, political intrigue and bloody holy wars during the Crusades.…
#35 Munich (2005) · ★ 7.1 · 3,103 votes · 2h 44m · action, thriller, dramaDuring the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, eleven Israeli athletes are taken hostage and murdered by a Palestinian terrorist group known as Black September. In retaliation, the Israe…
#36 We Were Soldiers (2002) · ★ 7.1 · 2,377 votes · 2h 18m · action, history, warThe year is 1965 and America is at war with North Vietnam. Commanding the air cavalry is Lt. Col. Hal Moore (Gibson), a born leader committed to his troops. His target: the Ia Dr…
#37 United 93 (2006) · ★ 7.1 · 1,690 votes · 1h 51m · action, thriller, dramaA real-time account of the events on United Flight 93, one of the planes hijacked on 9/11 that crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania when passengers foiled the terrorist plot.…
#38 Finding Forrester (2000) · ★ 7.1 · 1,260 votes · 2h 16m · drama, historyGus Van Sant tells the story of a young African American man named Jamal who confronts his talents while living on the streets of the Bronx. He accidentally runs into an old writer…
#39 Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005) · ★ 7.1 · 1,153 votes · 1h 33m · drama, historyThe story of journalist Edward R. Murrow's stand against Senator Joseph McCarthy's anti-communist witch-hunts in the early 1950s.…
#40 Seabiscuit (2003) · ★ 7.1 · 965 votes · 2h 21m · drama, historyTrue story of the undersized Depression-era racehorse whose victories lifted not only the spirits of the team behind it but also those of their nation.…