The Tin Drum (1979)
Oskar Matzerath is a very unusual boy. Refusing to leave the womb until promised a tin drum by his mother, Agnes, Oskar is reluctant to enter a world he sees as filled with hypocrisy and injustice, and vows on his third birthday to never grow up. Miraculously, he gets his wish. As the Nazis rise to power in Danzig, Oskar wills himself to remain a child, beating his tin drum incessantly and screaming in protest at the chaos surrounding him.
The Last Emperor (1987)
A dramatic history of Pu Yi, the last of the Emperors of China, from his lofty birth and brief reign in the Forbidden City, the object of worship by half a billion people; through his abdication, his decline and dissolute lifestyle; his exploitation by the invading Japanese, and finally to his obscure existence as just another peasant worker in the People's Republic.
The Remains of the Day (1993)
A rule-bound head butler's world of manners and decorum in the household he maintains is tested by the arrival of a housekeeper who falls in love with him in post-WWI Britain. The possibility of romance and his master's cultivation of ties with the Nazi cause challenge his carefully maintained veneer of servitude.
Vienna Blood (1942)
Young Count Georg Wolkersheim is sent to the Congress of Vienna to represent the interests of his country, Reuss-Schleiz-Greiz. Tensions arise between the count, his wife Melanie, and their two chamberlains, and when the four attend a court ball, Melanie leaves Georg, assumes the identity of a famous actress, and attracts the affections of Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria.
Mirror (1975)
A dying man in his forties recalls his childhood, his mother, the war and personal moments that tell of and juxtapose pivotal moments in Soviet history with daily life.
The Devil's Backbone (2001)
Spain, 1939. In the last days of the Spanish Civil War, the young Carlos arrives at the Santa Lucía orphanage, where he will make friends and enemies as he follows the quiet footsteps of a mysterious presence eager for revenge.
Raptures (2025)
Rakel is a strict Christian believer living in the far north of 1930s Sweden. When her husband forms a sectarian movement, with directions straight from God, she has no choice but to join the increasingly explicit cult.
Scent of a Woman (1992)
Charlie Simms is a student at a private preparatory school who comes from a poor family. To earn the money for his flight home to Gresham, Oregon for Christmas, Charlie takes a job over Thanksgiving looking after retired U.S. Army officer Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade, a cantankerous middle-aged man who lives with his niece and her family.
Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
A former Prohibition-era Jewish gangster returns to the Lower East Side of Manhattan over thirty years later, where he once again must confront the ghosts and regrets of his old life.
Blood Story (1972)
A prohibition-themed gangster thriller, set in the 1930s in the United States. Following a failed heist, Sam's gang takes refuge in a small isolated town where another gang has already settled, together with a mysterious priest. The two bands decide to unite, but the wife of one of the gang bosses is attracted to a member of the other gang. They plan to escape and start a new life together. But who will survive the police assault on the town?
Lust, Caution (2007)
During World War II, a secret agent must seduce then assassinate an official who works for the Japanese puppet government in Shanghai. Her mission becomes clouded when she finds herself falling in love with the man she is assigned to kill.
You're Not Alone (2007)
Master painter Hans Moll and his wife, the television announcer Ms. Wellinek and her husband, and the German-Russian Jew Yevgenia have many things to live on: food, drink, an apartment. What they do not have is work. They all discover the yearning for a chance to start all over again and bring themselves back to life.
House of Cards (1968)
In 1960s Paris, an American boxer stumbles upon an international fascist conspiracy that aims to create a new world order.
Miss Osaka (2021)
Ines, who wants to change who she is and become someone else in order to cover up her insecurities. When she accompanies her boyfriend Lucas on a business trip to Norway, Ines meets a half-Japanese tourist, Maria, who instantly fascinates her. Suddenly Maria disappears, and Ines seizes the opportunity to replace her – she declares herself dead and travels to Japan in order to take over Maria's identity. There, she will get a job at Miss Osaka, the same nightclub where Maria used to work. A game of broken boundaries, lost identities and the dangerous balance between reality and the past has begun, and Ines must abide by the new rules by avoiding the more obscure paths.
For Love Alone (1986)
Teresa is a spirited young girl chafing under the oppressive attitudes of 1930s society, and her father in particular. She fancies her poverty-stricken Latin tutor Johnathan Crow, without realising he merely considers her a pleasant diversion and nothing more, and eventually follows him from Sydney to London. En route she meets the gentle banker James Quick. Whilst navigating her relationships in London, including with a political poet bound for the Spanish Civil War, she experiences a transformation in her understanding of love. Based upon Christina Stead's best-selling Australian novel.
Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002)
In 1931, three Aboriginal girls escape after being plucked from their homes to be trained as domestic staff, and set off on a trek across the Outback.
Empire of the Sun (1987)
Jamie Graham, a privileged English boy, is living in Shanghai when the Japanese invade and force all foreigners into prison camps. Jamie is captured with an American sailor, who looks out for him while they are in the camp together. Even though he is separated from his parents and in a hostile environment, Jamie maintains his dignity and youthful spirit, providing a beacon of hope for the others held captive with him.
Suzhou River (2000)
After getting out of prison, small-time crook Mardar stumbles upon a woman who looks exactly like his long-lost lover, who he attempted to kidnap 3 years ago.