10 movies about true events not to be missed on Netflix

These days, Netflix is offering many wonderful movies, not only dedicated to art, but also to real historical events. Here is a selection of the ones we have seen and suggest!

1. The King’s Speech, by Tom Hooper, starring Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter, Guy Pearce, Timothy Spall (UK, 2010, running time 118 minutes)

The story of how Prince Albert, who became King of England as George VI (played by Colin Firth), was able to overcome his heavy stuttering problems thanks to an unorthodox-method speech therapist, Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush), becoming a respected ruler and succeeding in instilling courage and hope in his country at the time of Germany’s declaration of war in 1939. One of the most acclaimed films of the 2010 decade: it won four Oscars (including Best Picture), five British Independent Film Awards, the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Drama to Colin Firth.

2. Dunkirk, by Christopher Nolan, starring Kenneth Branagh, Tom Hardy, Fionn Whitehead, Jack Lowden, James D’Arcy, Cillian Murphy (UK, USA, Netherlands, France, 2017, running time 106 minutes)

One of the most important episodes of World War II, the evacuation of Dunkirk (Dunkirk in English) in May-June 1940 told through three points of view: that of soldiers waiting to be embarked on the Normandy beach to return to England and save themselves from certain capture by the Germans, that of two RAF pilots trying to protect the retreat of their countrymen, and that of a British citizen who sets off in his small pleasure boat to go and help rescue soldiers fighting for his nation. Spectacular film, innovative, lacking in narrative development, but capable of telling the story of the dramatic evacuation by using fiction with an almost documentary flair and yet seeking the emotional involvement of the viewer. Film winner of three Academy Awards.

3. The Spotlight Case, by Tom McCarthy, starring Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Liev Schreiber, Stanley Tucci (U.S., 2015, running time 127 minutes)

The true story of Team Spotlight, the team of journalists from the Boston Globe, led by Marty Baron, who in 2001, through an investigation, brought to light the pedophilia scandal in the Archdiocese of Boston: this is the story of a group of journalists with a very strong passion for their work who, heedless of the risks involved in their investigation, work day and night to bring the truth to light. Thanks to their investigation, the Boston Globe journalists in 2003 won the Pulitzer Prize. The film, on the other hand, won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 2016.

4. Summer ’92, by Kasper Barfoed, with Ulrich Thomsen, Mikkel Følsgaard, Cyron Melville, Esben Smed Jensen, Henning Jensen, Gustav Dyekjær (Denmark, 2015, running time 94 minutes)

One of the most extraordinary and unpredictable feats in sports history: Denmark’s victory in the 1992 European Championships. The team, coached by Richard Møller Nielsen, initially failed to qualify, but was later repechaged thanks to the non-participation of Yugoslavia, which had entered the war and was then disqualified. From being the tournament’s Cinderella, however, it surprisingly proved to be the team to beat, managing to make its way to the final, where it prevailed 2-0 over favored Germany. The film chronicles Denmark’s incredible ride, also delving into the stories of the players, such as the family drama of Kim Vilfort, who scored one of the two goals in the final.

5. The Two Popes, by Fernando Meirelles, with Jonathan Pryce, Anthony Hopkins, Juan Minujín, Renato Scarpa, Libero De Rienzo (USA, UK, Italy, Argentina, 2019, 125 minutes)

Events start in 2012, when Jorge Mario Bergoglio asks Pope Benedict XVI for permission to retire as a cardinal. A series of circumstances later lead him to become Pope Francis: the film chronicles the developments that led to Bergoglio’s election to the papal throne, and his love-hate relationship with Joseph Ratzinger. Many fictionalized details, three Oscar nominations (including best actor for Jonathan Pryce), four Golden Globe nominations, five BAFTA awards, but unfortunately for the film no statuette.

6. Pasolini, by Abel Ferrara, with Willem Dafoe, Giada Colagrande, Riccardo Scamarcio, Ninetto Davoli, Maria de Medeiros, Adriana Asti, Valerio Mastandrea, Andrea Bosca (Italy, Belgium, France, 2014, running time 86 minutes)

A masterful Willem Dafoe takes on the role of Pier Paolo Pasolini in the film that recounts the last moments of his life, ranging between images that reconstruct real episodes (such as his last interviews and his death on the beach at Ostia) and others that instead, like a dream, evoke his novel Petrolio and the subject of a film that was supposed to star Eduardo de Filippo. The connection between the real Pasolini and the Pasolini of the film also emerges from the participation of Ninetto Davoli, who plays the role of Eduardo de Filippo (while the Davoli of fiction is played by Riccardo Scamarcio).

7. The Photographer of Mauthausen, by Mar Targarona, with Mario Casas, Richard van Weyden, Alain Hernández, Stefan Weinert (Spain, 2018, running time 110 minutes)

Mauthausen, 1945: Francesc Boix is a young Catalan veteran of the Spanish war, a socialist, exiled to France. Captured by the Germans in 1940, he is interned in the concentration camp, where he is forced to put his talents as a photographer at the service of Nazi barbarism, documenting everything that happens in the camp. The advance of the Allies will necessitate the destruction of all the compromising material, but Francesc, together with some friends, manages to salvage what can be saved, ensuring the survival of the terrible images that will be most useful at the Nuremberg trial. The film tells the story of this extraordinary boy who hated the Nazis and who made the world aware of the terrible reality of Mauthausen.

8. The Polka King, by Maya Forbes, with Jack Black, Jenny Slate, Jason Schwartzman, Jacki Weaver (United States, 2017, running time 95 minutes)

Jan Lewan (a.k.a. Jan Lewandowski) is a Polish-born polka musician who emigrated to the United States after making a success with his little orchestra in Eastern European countries. Settling in Pennsylvania, he tries to follow up his career as a musician, but life in the United States is not as rosy as it seems, and his polka orchestra soon finds itself in financial trouble. To scrape together the sums needed to ensure the band’s survival, Jan Lewan asks friends, acquaintances, and supporters to invest in becoming his partners, with a promise to share the proceeds from events and sales of the family’s small gift store. Only Lewan gets carried away, and a Ponzi scheme ensues that first enriches him by greatly elevating his lifestyle, and then puts the U.S. IRS on his trail. That managed to catch him, and he got five years in prison. A story told lightly thanks in part to Joe Black’s strong comic vis.

9. Diaz - Don’t clean up this blood, by Daniele Vicari, with Claudio Santamaria, Jennifer Ulrich, Elio Germano, Davide Iacopini, Antonio Gerardi (Italy, France, Romania, 2012, running time 127 minutes)

The true story of the massacre at the Diaz school during the 2001 G8 in Genoa. The story is told through different points of view: those of a journalist from the Gazzetta di Bologna who decides to travel to Genoa after the death of Carlo Giuliani, that of a deputy police officer involved in the raid, that of two French youths passing through Genoa who decide to spend the night in the infamous school, that of an elderly militant of the CGIL. All find themselves involved in the tragic night of the furious beating. For the film four David di Donatello, three Silver Ribbons, three Ciak d’Oro and the Audience Award at the Berlin Film Festival.

10. Rush, by Ron Howard, with Chris Hemsworth, Daniel Brühl, Pierfrancesco Favino, Olivia Wilde, Alexandra Maria Lara (UK, Germany, USA, 2013, running time 123 minutes)

The rivalry between two Formula 1 champions of the 1970s, Britain’s James Hunt and Austria’s Niki Lauda, told through both their on-track and off-track battles, partly by virtue of their characters at opposite ends of the spectrum: histrionic, insolent and easygoing James Hunt, cold, reserved and calculating Niki Lauda. The events focus mainly on the 1976 championship, the one of the terrible Nurburgring accident from which Lauda miraculously survived, saved by his colleagues Guy Edwards, Harald Ertl, Brett Lunger and Arturo Merzario, who stopped at the crash site to help the Viennese champion. A fast-paced, fast-paced film to tell one of the most exciting stories in sports.

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10 movies about true events not to be missed on Netflix

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