One of the benefits of filmmaking is that directors are able to reconstruct and re-examine history through biopics and period pieces. That’s why we’ll next look back to the past, with eight movies that either deal with real historic events or entertaining historical fiction. And since weighing historical accuracy vs. dramatic licensing is up to the individual viewer, we won’t deal with that too directly here.
We’ll examine masterworks from directors Akira Kurosawa, Spike Lee and Francis Ford Coppola. We’ll look at a pair of Best Picture winners, and at least one more that probably should’ve won Best Picture. Spanning from 1954 to 2015, each film makes a point to utilize history in entertaining and informative ways.
2:17 - 31:12: Seven Samurai (Parker Hoyt)
31:13 - 58:22: Apocalypse Now (Mark Loftus)
58:45 - 1:23:13: Malcolm X (Graham Cannon)
1:23:14 - 1:51:25: Forrest Gump (Tyler Jones)
