Seven Extraordinary Historical Figures Depicted in Film

Following one of America’s greatest heroes, Harriet depicts the life and achievements of Harriet Tubman–from her escape from slavery to her work with the Underground Railroad in the 1850s. All in all, she traveled hundreds of miles in nineteen journeys to escort many enslaved people to freedom and is the most famous “conductor” of the Underground Railroad. Tubman would then go on to become a spy for the Union in the Civil War, and would live until her early nineties.

Cynthia Erivo’s outstanding performance earned her an Oscar nomination in 2020. Harriet Tubman truly lived an extraordinary life, and her bravery serves as an inspiration to all.

Willem Dafoe gives a noteworthy performance in this artistic biopic as the Dutch painter we all know and love: Vincent van Gogh. Throughout the movie, the viewer goes on a journey with Van Gogh himself, making for a creative and unique storytelling experience.

Picturesque settings throughout France, ripe with color and motion, mimic Van Gogh’s Post-Impressionist style of painting. When the film ended, I had a strong urge to visit IU’s Eskenazi Art Museum. While it does not feature a Van Gogh, it does hold paintings from many of his important contemporaries, including Claude Monet, and others such as Picasso and Pisarro who followed

This historical biopic follows Irish independence leader Michael Collins in his long and violent fight for Irish sovereignty in the early twentieth century. Collins successfully negotiated a peace treaty with the British, causing Ireland to be divided by a Civil War, pitting friends and family members against one another.

With a stellar performance by Liam Neeson and a score that enhances the enormity of Collins’ actions, watching this movie left me deeply moved and yearning to learn more about my own Irish ancestry.

Gandhi is one historical figure everyone has heard of. My father teaches seventh grade world history and shows this film every year. The story of Gandhi is surprisingly similar to that of Michael Collins–a relatively unknown person becomes a political leader and rises against British oppression, coordinating a pact which would then unfortunately lead to a partition of the country and even harsher violence and an assassination.

While Gandhi does gloss over aspects of racist ideas from his early adulthood in South Africa, the film tells a moving story of his leadership of the peaceful protests in India in the 1940s.

Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones star as Stephen Hawking and Jane Wilde in this biopic film based on their time at Cambridge University, where they both excelled in their coursework. When Stephen is diagnosed with motor neuron disease, their relationship is tested to its limits, making them even stronger together than before.

Stephen Hawking, who recently passed in 2018, was credited with pioneering many scientific discoveries, such as the Big Bang Theory, and broke many boundaries through his work with black holes. His wife, Jane Hawking, was also very accomplished and held a doctorate in Medieval Spanish poetry. This film is an excellent look into the sacrifices the pair made for each other, and how their lives were changed after Stephen’s diagnosis

Milk follows the story of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California, in his push for equal rights in 1970s San Francisco. Although he faced much opposition, Harvey persevered with great tenacity and implemented numerous progressive changes that gave hope to the LGBT community.

Sadly, Harvey was assassinated by fellow board supervisor Dan White, who then only served five years of a seven-year prison sentence after receiving the minimum punishment from a jury of his peers. Milk is an Oscar-winning, highly-praised film with stellar performances by Sean Penn, Diego Luna, and Josh Brolin.

The final figure on this list is “The Notorious” RBG, aka Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Ruth Bader Ginsburg. That’s a mouthful! On the Basis of Sex follows RBG’s struggles against a misogynistic system, and tells the story of her fight for women’s equality.

After being being declined by many law firms, Ruth becomes a professor and goes on to argue a case that would set the precedent for many discriminatory laws to be overturned. RBG, who recently passed in September, 2020, would serve as a justice for 27 years after being appointed in 1993 by Clinton. Through quiet confidence, RBG became a symbol for equality and women’s rights.