10 Best historical dramas on Netflix right now

Exploring different timelines, centuries and decades, historical dramas have garnered a good fan following for themselves no matter what events they individually deal with. What fascinates the viewership is the insight of a world that is long gone, the way things were done, the way the world used to look like and the fact that none of it will come back.

Looking back in the history gives us moments to ponder on good and bad of each time and what we can learn from them and Netflix is all ready to give us some lessons with a never ending list of historical shows.

Here we have picked a list of 10 historical dramas that are absolutely worth one’s time and thoughts.

The Zookeeper’s wife (2017)

The film narrates the true story of the couple, Jan and Antonina Żabiński who saved hundreds of Polish Jews from the Germans by hiding them in their Warsaw zoo during World War II. Starring Jessica Chastain, Johan Heldenbergh, Daniel Brühl and Michael McElhatton, the movie in its best form conveys the brutality against the Jews during the time of invasion in Poland and the way certain people look straight in the eyes of death just to do what’s right.

Manto (2018)

The Bollywood film is based on the character of Indo-Pakistani author Saadat Hasan Manto played by Nawazuddin Siddiqui. The story highlights how deeply the country’s brutal partition affected the sanity of an otherwise exceptionally rational person. The movie includes five of his stories impeccably intertwined with the the portrayal of Manto’s life and depicts how progressive he wrote at a time where the bittersweet truths of the world were deliberately shadowed in the name of ‘morality’.

A Twelve Year Night (2018)

A Twelve Year Night is an Uruguayan drama which portrays the lives of three political prisoners under the civic-military dictatorship rule in the 70s and 80s. As the ruling party was under international pressure, they couldn’t kill any of the prisoners, instead they chose to mentally torment them which was far too intense than any physical punishment.  One of the three prisoners was Jose Mujica who later became the President of Uruguay from 2010 to 2015.

Elisa and Marcela (2019)

Elisa and Marcela is a 2019 Spanish movie based on the first same sex marriage recorded in Spain. The story revolves around Elisa Sánchez Loriga and Marcela Gracia Ibeas, who met at school in the year 1898 and their friendship started budding into a romance which was highly unacceptable by society and punishable by law, still they tried their level best to tackle the obstacles and make their relationship work.

Mudbound (2017)

Mudbound is an American historical drama that focuses on post-war PTSD and racism in America. the movie tells a tale of two World War II soldiers, Jamie and Ronsel, a white and a black American respectively. After they return from war, Jamie struggles with war PTSD and Ronsel has a difficult time getting used to the deep rooted racism in Mississippi which he didn’t face during the war in Europe.

The King (2019)

The film deals with the rise of Henry ‘Hal’ V , played by Timothee Chalamet, the eldest son of King Henry IV who was made the king overnight after the death of his father and younger brother who the throne was promised to earlier. Initially his peaceful actions were taken as his weakness and were openly mocked but Hal declared war when King Charles IV of France sent an assassin to kill him. The movie deals with the political dynamics, both on inside the court and war fronts.

Troy (2004)

Troy is one of the best historical movies available on Netflix. It gives a detailed account of what eventually led to the Sack of Troy. The movie revolves around Paris, youngest son of King Priam who fell in love with Helen, the wife of King of Sparta and smuggles her into the city of Troy without anyone’s knowledge, which led to the war between Greek and Trojan armies including the great warrior Achilles. The performances of the actors have been critically appreciated and the action sequences have been impeccably choreographed.

Suffragette (2015)

Starring Carey Mulligan, Helena Bonham Carter, Brendan Gleeson, Anne-Marie Duff, Ben Whishaw, and Meryl Streep, Suffragette is a British historical drama that traces the women’s suffrage movement (demanding the right to vote) in 1910s. The protagonist of the film is a woman named Maud Watts who joins the movement to fight against the oppressions of patriarchy after getting inspired by Emmeline Pankhurst. However the suffragettes were targeted by the police and the establishment as well as suffered serious consequences in their personal lives, even then they stood firm and willingly risked everything to in order to change the society for them and the upcoming generation.

The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020)

Starring Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Sacha Baron Cohen, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Michael Keaton, Frank Langella, John Carroll Lynch, Eddie Redmayne, Mark Rylance, Jeremy Strong, and Ben Shenkman, The Trial of the Chicago 7 is a historical legal drama that revolves around Chicago 7, an anti Vietnam War group that was accused of attempting to start a riot.

The Red Sea Diving Resort (2020)

It is a spy thriller film that narrates the story of an Israeli Mossad Agent who has taken up a covert operation in order to rescue Ethiopian Jews from Sudan from the mass persecution happening in the country. The Agent makes a base in an abandoned resort on the Red sea coast but things go haywire when the secrets come out in open and everyone including agents get surrounded by danger.