9 Epic (& Accurate) Period Dramas You Can Stream Right Now

9 Epic (& Accurate) Period Dramas You Can Stream Right Now

If realistic period dramas are your thing, look no further than these streamable (and accurate) historical films.

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Hollywood is known for throwing historical accuracy out the window in the pursuit of creating more wholesome and entertaining films based on true events. History buffs take issue with this, though, as the truth is usually more interesting than fiction.

While no dramatization will ever be 100% accurate, some Hollywood historical epics do it right. These films rely on facts, talented actors, and immersive set designs to bring their stories to life. Instead of being lured in by inaccurate, theatrical plot developments, audiences are wrapped up in reimaginings of what really transpired at various important moments in history. From NASA space exploration to the Titanic to the final days of Adolph Hitler’s reign of terror, the best period dramas are intimate, tense, and believable.

9 Glory (1989): Netflix

Despite being hailed as one of the best Civil War dramas ever made, Glory suffers from one major flaw: it makes a white commanding officer its main character in lieu of the black soldiers who are really at the center of its action. That being said, Glory gets a lot right about what happened to the black Massachusetts 54th Regiment on July 18, 1863, during the Second Battle of Fort Wagner in Charleston, South Carolina.

Glory, which won three Oscars, stars Matthew Broderick as Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, who oversees the all-volunteer 54th – known as one of the first all-black volunteer companies during the Civil War. Morgan Freeman and Denzel Washington co-star as soldiers who must contend with the looming shadow of slavery as well as racist ideologies within the Union Army.

8 A Night To Remember (1958): Criterion Channel

Forget James Cameron’s Titanic: the forgotten 1958 black-and-white film about the RMS Titanic’s ill-fated maiden voyage in 1915 is much more historically accurate and much less melodramatic. Roy Ward Baker’s masterpiece moves from passenger to passenger after the ship’s collision with an iceberg – exploring the range of emotions experienced by those wrapped up in disaster and tragedy.

A Night to Remember does its best to paint a realistic, absorbing portrait of life on board the Titanic in the hours before it eventually sank into the Atlantic ocean. Few films are as tense, heartbreaking, and class-conscious as this one.

7 All The President’s Men (1976): HBO Max

Journalists Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward wrote the 1974 book that is based on All The President’s Men, which digs into how the men uncovered the Watergate scandal that led to the impeachment of President Richard Nixon. Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford play Bernstein and Woodward, respectively, who were working for The Washington Post when the bombshell dropped.

What began as an investigation into a minor break-in at the Democratic Party National Headquarters leading up to the 1972 election evolved into a Republican plot to steal invaluable documents. In this case, the truth is as taut and suspenseful as any tale of political intrigue made up by Hollywood scriptwriters.

6 Downfall (2004): Amazon Prime

German actor Bruno Gantz plays Nazi leader Adolph Hilter in Downfall, a German-language retelling of the Battle of Berlin – one of the last major offensives in World War II that led to the fall of Berlin and the death of Hilter by his own hand. Set designers do a fantastic job recreating the look and feel of 1940s Germany in the film.

Based on accounts from Hilter’s real-life secretary, Traudl Junge, Downfall takes viewers on a very realistic journey. By contrasting intimate moments from Hilter’s final days with the larger demise of his Third Reich, Downfall emphasizes the political and social ramifications of Hilter’s notorious and genocidal dynasty.

5 Hidden Figures (2016): Disney+

While some of its white characters were created to represent amalgamations of people who worked at NASA, the vast majority of the events depicted in Disney’s inspirational Hidden Figures are real. The film stars Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, and Janelle Monae as former NASA mathematicians Katherine Goble Johnson, Dorothy Vaughn, and Mary Jackson – three Black women who worked behind-the-scenes to calculate important flight trajectories and space projects for their employer.

Johnson, in particular, is credited with solving many of the complex equations that made human space flight possible in the 1960s. The previously overlooked story of these women, known as “computers” during their tenures, is brought to life in Margot Lee Shetterly’s 2016 book, which is the basis for Hidden Figures.

4 Zodiac (2007): Amazon Prime

David Fincher spent 18 months conducting his own investigation into the Zodiac Killer, a serial slayer who terrorized San Francisco in the 1960s and 1970s, before making Zodiac. The research paid off, as the movie starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, and Robert Downey Jr. is a climactic, honest portrayal of the journalists and detectives who worked tirelessly on the still-unsolved case.

The film’s inspiration is the 1986 book of the same name written by Robert Graysmith, who is played by Gyllenhaal in the film. Graysmith, a cartoonist at the San Francisco Chronicle, became obsessed with the case after his newspaper received encrypted messages from the Zodiac Killer.

3 The Right Stuff (1983): HBO Max

Space exploration is exciting enough in its own right, so there’s little need for embellishment in The Right Stuff. This Phillip Kaufman film looks at the astronauts who participated in Project Mercury – the same NASA project in the 1950s and 1960s investigated in Hidden Figures.

An ensemble drama, The Right Stuff digs into the lives of astronauts Alan Shepherd, Gus Grissom, John Glenn, Deke Slayton, Scott Carpenter, and Wally Schirra. These men are portrayed by the likes of Dennis Quaid, Ed Harris, Lance Henriksen, and Scott Glenn.

2 12 Years A Slave (2013): Hulu

Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave is based on Solomon Northup’s 1853 slave memoir about the man’s experiences in bondage. After being abducted in Washington, D.C., Northup was sold to slaveholders in Louisiana – where he endured years of abuse and enslavement.

Chiwetel Ejiofor plays Northup, who strives to maintain his sense of self while he is passed from plantation owner to plantation owner. Eventually, he meets a Canadian abolitionist who offers him the opportunity to flee.

1 Come And See (1985): Criterion Channel

Even though it employs surrealistic and experimental filmmaking techniques, the Russian film Come and See offers up an accurate portrayal of what transpired on the Eastern Front during World War II. The movie’s plot unfolds in Belarus, which was occupied by Nazi Germany between 1941 and 1944.

Come and See’s protagonist is a boy named Florya, who joins war-weary resistance fighters hiding out in wooded areas. As Florya’s journey turns into a nightmare, the film raises philosophical questions about war, carnage, and generational trauma.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/best-accurate-period-drama-series-stream/

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