1. Feature Films on War and Revolution in Europe between 1750 and 1850
1809 Andreas Hofer - Die Freiheit des Adlers
Director: Xaver Schwartzenberger, Austria/Germany/Italy 2002, 111 minutes
The film chronicles the life of Andrea Hofer, an inn-keeper from Tyrol who leads a rebellion against Napoleon’s invading army in 1809.
For more see: Internet Movie Database or UNC Media Resources Center.
Amazing Grace
Director: Michael Apted, Germany/UK/USA 2006, 118 minutes
William Wilberforce, a young, idealistic Member of Parliament, attempts to end the British slave trade. With few allies such as his mentor, John Newton, a slave ship captain turned repentant priest who penned the great hymn, "Amazing Grace," Prime William Pitt, and Olaudah Equiano, the erudite former slave turned author, Wilberforce fruitlessly fights both public indifference and moneyed opposition determined to keep their exploitation safe.
For more see: Internet Movie Database
Beaumarchias l’insolent
Director: Edouard Molinaro, France 1996, 100 minutes
The true life story of Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, the son of a clockmaker, who writes "The Barber of Seville", works as a secret agent for the French king, runs guns to the American revolutionaries, and along the way finds himself on a collision course with the Chevalier d'Eon, France's notorious cross-dressing superspy.
For more see: Internet Movie Database or UNC Media Resources Center.
Le Colonel Chabert
Director: Yves Angelo, France 1994, 110 minutes
Colonel Chabert has been severely wounded in the French-Russian Napoleonic war to the point that the medical examiner has signed his death certificate. When he regains his health and memory, he goes back to Paris, where his "widow", Anne has married the Count Ferraud and is financing his rise to power using Chabert's money. Chabert hires a lawyer to help him get back his money and his honor.
For more see: Internet Movie Database or UNC Media Resources Center.
Dangerous Liaisons (Les Liaisons dengereuses)
Director: Stephen Frears, UK/USA 1988, 119 minutes
Set in Rococco France, a scheming widow and her ex-lover make a bet regarding the corruption of a recently married woman. The ex-lover, Valmont, bets that he can seduce her, even though she is an honorable woman. If he wins, he can have his lover to do as he will.
For more see: Internet Movie Database or UNC Media Resources Center.
Danton
Director: Andrzej Wajda, France/Poland/West Germany 1983, 136 minutes
Action opens in November of 1793, with Danton returning to Paris from his country retreat upon learning that the Committee for Public Safety, under Robespierre's incitement, has begun a series of massive executions, The Terror. Confident in the peoples' support, Danton clashes with his former ally, but calculating Robespierre soon rounds up Danton and his followers, tries them before a revolutionary tribunal and dipatches them to the guillotine.
For more see: Internet Movie Database or UNC Media Resources Center.
Desirée
Director: Henry Koster, USA 1954, 110 minutes
In Marseilles, France in 1794, Desirée Clary, a young millinery clerk, becomes infatuated with Napoleon Bonaparte, but winds up wedding Genaral Jean-Baptiste Berandotte, an aid to Napoleon who later joins the forces that bring about the Emperor's downfall. Josephine Beauharnais, a worldly courtesan marries Napoleon and becomes Empress of France, but is then cast aside by her spouse when she proves unable to produce an heir to the throne.
For more see: Internet Movie Database or UNC Media Resources Center.
Der Kongreß tanzt
Director: Erik Charell, Germany 1931, 85 minutes
Vienna glove-sales-lady Christl falls in love to Czar Alexander. Metternich tries to use this to keep him out of the conferences of the Vienna Congress from 1815.
For more see: Internet Movie Database.
Marie Antoinette
Director: Sofia Coppola, France/Japan/USA 2006, 123 minutes
Marie Antionette, born in the splendor of the Habsburg Empire, is married to the young King of France. She lives a life of excess luxury at Versailles, eventually triggering the uprising that will lead to the French Revolution.
For more see: Internet Movie Database or UNC Media Resources Center.
Les Misérables
Director: Billie August, Germany/UK/USA 1998, 134 minutes
An adaption of the novel by Victor Hugo, first published 1862, the film follows the life Jean Valjean. Released from prison. Valjean adopts a young girl, Cosette, and attempts to make a new life for himself, but the relentless Javert and student revolutions in Paris interfere.
For more on the film see: Internet Movie Database or UNC Media Resources Center
For more on the novel see: Wikipedia
Monsieur N.
Director: Antoine de Caunes, France/UK 2003, 120 Minutes
The film explores the mysterious circumstances surrounding Napoleon’s death. It deals with the last days of Napoleon on St. Helena through the eyes of a British officer assigned to be his liason with the British government.
For more see: Internet Movie Database.
Napoléon
Director: Abel Gance, France 1927, 235 minutes
A massive six-hour biopic of Napoleon, tracing his career from his schooldays (where a snowball fight is staged like a military campaign), his flight from Corsica, through the French Revolution (where a real storm is intercut with a political storm) and the Terror, culminating in his triumphant invasion of Italy in 1797.
For more see: Internet Movie Database or UNC Media Resources Center.
Napoléon
Director: Sacha Guitry, France/Italy 1955, 123 minutes
The film explores the life of Napoleon and includes an impressive cast of world-renowned actors.
For more see: Internet Movie Database or UNC Media Resources Center.
Napoléon
Director: Yves Simoneau, Canada/Czech Republic/France/Germany/Hungary/Italy/Spain/UK/USA 2002, 380 minutes
The film begins in 1816, as Napoleon tells his life story to a young servant girl from his prison cell on St. Helena. He relates his military victories, his rise to Emperor, and his love for Josephine de Beauharnais.
For more see: Internet Movie Database.
La Nuit de Varennes
Director: Ettore Scola, France/Italy 1982, 135 minutes
In June of 1791, a group of passengers in a stagecoach find themselves caught up in the events of the French Revolution, when they find themselves in the city of Varennes when revolutionists arrest the fleeing King Louis. Linked to this historical event the film imagines a group of travellers on the same road, including the American patriot Thomas Paine, the noted seducer Casanova, the French novelist Restif de La Bretonne, and one of the queen's ladies-in-waiting.
For more see: Internet Movie Database or UNC Media Resources Center.
Quills
Director: Phillip Kaufman, Germany/UK/USA 2000, 124 minutes
The infamous writer, The Marquis de Sade of 18th Century France, is imprisoned for unmentionable activities at Charanton Insane Asylumn. He manages to befriend the young Abbe de Coulmier, who run's the asylumn, along with a beautiful laundress named Madeline. Things go terribly wrong when the Abbe finds out that the Marquis' books are being secretly published.
For more see: Internet Movie Database or UNC Media Resources Center.
Ridicule
Director: Patrice Leconte, France 1996, 102 Minutes
To get royal backing on a needed drainage project, a poor French lord must learn to play the delicate games of wit at court at Versailles. In the periwigged and opulent France of Louis XVI, an unwitting nobleman soon discovers that survival at court demands both a razor wit and an acid tongue.
For more see: Internet Movie Database or UNC Media Resources Center.
Le rouge et le noir
Director: Jean-Daniel Verhaeghe, France/Germany/Italy 1997, 200 minutes
A young man, Julian Sorel, grows up in a small French village, and wishes he could have been a part of Napoleon’s grand army. Some years later, he becomes caught up in the July Revolution in Paris.
For more see: Internet Movie Database.
Valmont
Director: Milos Forman, France/USA 1989, 137 minutes
Set in Baroque France, a scheming widow and her lover make a bet regarding the corruption of a recently married woman. The lover, Valmont, bets that he can seduce her, even though she is an honorable woman. If he wins, he can have his lover to do as he will. However, in the process of seducing the married woman, Valmont falls in love. Based on the same novel as "Dangerous Liaisons."
For more see: Internet Movie Database or UNC Media Resources Center.
War and Peace
Director: King Vidor, Italy/USA 1956, 208 minutes
An adaption to the novel by Leo Tolstoy, first published from 1865 to 1869, the film follows a group of Russian friends as they fight Napoleon’s invading army. It also follows the love affair between Pierre, a solider, and Natasha.
For more on the film see: Internet Movie Database or UNC Media Resources Center.
For more on the novel see: Wikipedia.
Waterloo
Director: Sergei Bondarchuk, Italy/Soviet Union 1970, 132 minutes
After defeating France and imprisoning Napoleon on Elba, ending two decades of war, Europe is shocked to find Napoleon has escaped and has caused the French Army to defect from the King back to him. The best of the British generals, the Duke of Wellington, beat Napolean's best generals in Spain and Portugal, but has never faced Napoleon. They meet at the Battle of Waterloo.
For more see: Internet Movie Database or UNC Media Resources Center.
Amistad
Director: Steven Spielberg, USA, 1997, 152 minutes
Historical drama based on the incident of a slave revolt aboard the Spanish slave trading ship La Amistad in 1839. The slaves are captured by U.S. Naval forces and imprisoned until a decision is reached on their status. The subsequent trial became a anti-slavery cause celebre and ended up as an important test case in the Supreme Court in 1842 when ex-president [and congressman] John Quincy Adams agreed to represent the slaves and their leader Cinque, [before a court dominated 7 to 2] by slave owning justices.
For more see: Internet Movie Database or UNC Media Resources Center.
The Crossing
Director: Robert Harmon, USA 2000, 89 minutes
In 1776, the Continental Army was on the brink of utter defeat. Low on men, cannons and supplies, General George Washington decides to risk everything on one last desperately daring attack on the town of Trenton where over 1000 of the feared Hessian mercenaries are garrisoned. However to do that, the army must cross the Delaware to a seemingly hopeless battle that would turn out to be more successful than Washington ever dreamed of.
For more see: Internet Movie Database or UNC Media Resources Center,
Culloden
Director: Peter Watkins, UK 1964, 69 minutes
A reconstruction of the Battle of Culloden, the last battle to take place on British soil, as if modern TV cameras were present. The battle occurred in 1746 and was the final clash between the French-backed Scottish Jacobites and the Hanoverian British Monarchy.
For more see: Internet Movie Database.
The Last of the Mohicans
Director: Michael Mann, USA 1992, 112 minutes
In 18th century North America during the French and Indian War, a white man adopted by the last members of a dying tribe called the Mohicans unwittingly becomes the protector of the two daughters of a British colonel, who have been targeted by Magua, a sadistic and vengeful Huron warrior who has dedicated his life to destroying the girls' father for a past injustice.
For more see: Internet Movie Database or UNC Media Resources Center.
Mary Silliman’s War
Director: Stephen Surjik, Canada 1994, 93 minutes
The film is based on the Revolutionary War diaries of Mary Silliman. The story is of the bitterness between those fighting for independence and those who remained loyal to the King and colonial authorities.
For more see: Internet Movie Database or UNC Media Resources Center
The Patriot
Director: Roland Emmerich, Germany/USA 2000, 165 minutes
After 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 when his son Gabriel enlists in the army to defend their new nation, America, against the British, Benjamin reluctantly returns to his old life to protect his son, now serving under his command, and his family from British tyranny.
For more see: Internet Movie Database or UNC Media Resources Center.
Revolution
Director: Hugh Hudson, Norway/UK/USA 1985, 124 minutes
New York trapper Tom Dobb becomes an unwilling participant in the American Revolution after his son Ned is drafted into the Army by the villainous Sergeant Major Peasy. Tom attempts to find his son, and eventually becomes convinced that he must take a stand and fight for the freedom of the Colonies, alongside the aristocratic rebel Daisy McConnahay.
For more see: Internet Movie Database or UNC Media Resources Center.
American Experience: John and Abigail Adams
USA 2007, PBS, 120 minutes
Relying on the correspondence between the second president and his wife, this joint biography sheds light on the characters of two remarkable people and tumultuous times through which they lived. The film provides an intimate look inside a marriage of companions, for whom life included the great events of history, but also laughter, affection and family tragedy.
For more see: Public Broadcasting Service.
Africans in America: America's Journey Through Slavery
USA 1998, part IV: Judgment Day
Judgment Day (1831-1865) tells of the years that lead up to the Civil War, as America is challenged as never before to end slavery. As the nation expands west, so does slavery. Black abolitionists like Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth agitate against southern slavery and northern racism. In the turmoil of the Civil War, slavery in the United States is finally abolished.
For more see: Internet Movie Database or UNC Media Resources Center
or Public Broadcasting Service.
Liberty! The American Revolution
USA 1997, Middlemarch Films, 360 minutes
Six-hour documentary on the American Revolution, from the passage of the Stamp Act (1765) through the ratification of the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights (1789). In addition to narration and interviews with historians, the series uses re-enactments of military engagements and excerpts from letters, diaries and other documents of the period, spoken by actors.
For more see: Internet Movie Database or UNC Media Resources Center.
The Slave Trade
USA 2007, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 57 minutes
Beginning with the American Revolution, this program explores the U.S. law of 1807 that abolished the transatlantic slave trade. Meet the people who were involved in or influenced by this pivotal legislation: the slaves, plantation owners, slave ship captains, common seamen, government officials, Navy officers, and antislavery activists.
For more see: Internet Movie Database.
Slavery and the Making of America
USA 2005, WNET 13, 240 minutes
The video offers a sharply nuanced look at American slavery, from the first Africans brought to British colonies in the early 17th century to the end of Reconstruction. Drawing on a wealth of recent scholarship, it looks at slavery as an integral part of a developing nation, challenging the long held notion that slavery was exclusively a Southern enterprise.
For more see: Internet Movie Database or UNC Media Resources Center or
Public Broadcasting Service.
Thomas Jefferson
Director: Ken Burns, USA 1997, American Lives Film Project, 180 minutes
Returning from France, Jefferson strives to preserve the fragile new US government and helps create the first political party. His Louisiana Purchase doubles the nation’s size, but he faces controversy and scandal. His last years are spent founding the University of Virginia.
For more see: Internet Movie Database.
Washington the Warrior
Director: Robert M. Wise, USA 2006, Lietuvos Kinostudija
The father of our country was first and foremost, a warrior. The film follows Washington's military life, from his first commission in the Virginia colonial militia through a "retirement," and his re-emergence as the soul of the American Revolution, and eventually as the nation's first president.
For more see: Internet Movie Database.