True Stories
True Stories are those based (sometimes loosely!) on fact. They cover topics as diverse as drug addiction, poverty, political unrest, the corruption of power, alcoholism, class divisions, sexual inequality, mental illness and other human struggles. Meet some of history's most intriguing characters, find out what it's really like to climb a mountain or paint a masterpiece. Truly, the True Story is one of cinema's most engaging and enthralling genres.
Bio-pics feature in this section and are also gathered together separately under the 'Biography' sublink left.
Pictured: Inside the Las Vegas mob, Scorsese's unromantic 'Goodfellas'
Heavenly Creatures (1994)
7.4/10
Director: Peter Jackson
Starring: Melanie Lynskey, Kate Winslet, Sarah Peirse, Diana Kent, Clive Merrison, Simon O...
The provocative, imaginative true-life story of how the intense and passionate relationship of 1950s Christchurch teenagers Pauline Parker and Juliet... Read more
Heavens Fall (2006)
6.7/10
Director: Terry Green
Starring: Timothy Hutton, Anthony Mackie, David Strathairn, Leelee Sobieski, Bill Sage, Az...
In 1931 two young white women accused nine black youths of sexually assaulting them on an Alabama train. They became known as the Scottsboro Boys, an... Read more
Helen Mirren Collection: Red King, White Knight / Cause Celebre (1987)
Director: Geoff Murphy
Starring: Helen Mirren, Tom Skerritt, Max von Sydow, Tom Bell, David Suchet, David Morriss...
'Red King, White Knight' (1989): Helen Mirren stars in a gripping political thriller about a plot to assassinate Mikhail Gorbachev at the beginning of... Read more
Hellcats of the Navy (1957)
5.4/10
Director: Nathan Juran
Starring: Ronald Reagan, Nancy Davis, Arthur Franz
Naval officers Charles Lockwood and Hans Christian Adamson wrote this WW II thriller chronicling the true story of one of the most daring submarine op... Read more
Hemingway and Gellhorn (2012)
Director: Philip Kaufman
Starring: Clive Owen, Nicole Kidman
Directed by Philip Kaufman ("The Unbearable Lightness of Being", "Henry and June"), "Hemingway & Gellhorn" recounts one of the great romances of the l... Read more
Hendrix (2000)
5.5/10
Director: Leon Ichaso
Starring: Wood Harris, Billy Zane, Dorian Harewood, Vivica A Fox
Decades after his 1970 death at the age of 27, his name remains synonymous with rock guitar innovation. Wood Harris stars as doomed 60's icon Jimi Hen... Read more
Henry and June (1990)
Director: Philip Kaufman
Starring: Fred Ward, Uma Thurman, Maria de Medeiros, Richard E Grant, Kevin Spacey
The life and times of America's most controversial writer, Henry Miller, and especially his stormy relationship with June Smith, a dance hall hostess... Read more
Henry VIII (2003)
7.3/10
Director: Pete Travis
Starring: Charles Dance, David Suchet, Helena Bonham Carter, Joss Ackland, Ray Winstone, S...
Wedded bliss didn't come easily to England's most infamous serial husband, Henry VIII. Desperate for a male heir, Henry (Ray Winstone) married then to... Read more
Her Majesty Mrs Brown (1997)
Director: John Madden
Starring: Judi Dench, Billy Connolly, Geoffrey Palmer
Dame Judi Dench is flawless as the morose Queen Victoria mourning the death of spouse Albert. Billy Connelly plays the plain-speaking John Brown, the... Read more
Hidden Figures (2016)
7.8/10
Director: Theodore Melfi
Starring: Kevin Costner, Kirsten Dunst, Mahershala Ali, Taraji P Henson, Jim Parsons, Octa...
In the early 1960s, Katherine (Taraji P. Henson), Dorothy (Octavia Spencer), and Mary (Janelle Monae) are three black women working at NASA, doing the... Read more