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'
Robbery Under Arms (1985)
6.7/10
Director: Donald Crombie, Ken Hannam
Starring: Andy Anderson, Christopher Cummins, Jane Menelaus, Sam Neill, Liz Newman, Steven...
An adaptation of Rolf Bolderwood's 19th century outback adventure novel, Sam Neill stars as Captain Starlight, a gentleman rogue who pulls off one of... Read more
Robbery Under Arms: The Mini Series (1985)
6.7/10
Director: Donald Crombie, Ken Hannam
Starring: Robert Grubb, Sam Neill, Steven Vidler, Tommy Lewis, Jane Menelaus, Ed Devereaux...
An adaptation of Rolf Bolderwood's 19th century outback adventure novel, Sam Neill stars as Captain Starlight, a gentleman rogue who pulls off one of... Read more
Rocky Marciano (1999)
6.6/10
Director: Charles Winkler
Starring: Jon Favreau, Penelope Ann Miller, Judd Hirsch, George C Scott
Jon Favreau stars in this outstanding bio-pic about the only undefeated world heavyweight champion in the history of boxing. Cast includes Judd Hirsch... Read more
Rodin (2017)
4.7/10
Director: Jacques Doillon
Starring: Vincent Lindon, Izia Higelin, Severine Caneele
In 1880 Paris, 40 year-old sculptor Auguste Rodin finally receives his first state commission, "The Gates of Hell," which includes "The Kiss" and "The... Read more
Rogue Trader (1998)
6.3/10
Director: James Dearden
Starring: Ewan McGregor, Anna Friel
The collapse of London's famed Barings Bank is the focus of this intense drama starring Ewan McGregor as Nick Leeson, the son of a plasterer, who beco... Read more
Roman J. Israel, Esq. (2017)
6.4/10
Director: Dan Gilroy
Starring: Denzel Washington, Colin Farrell, Carmen Ejogo
Roman J. Israel, Esq., a driven, idealistic defense attorney, finds himself in a tumultuous series of events that lead to a crisis and the necessity f... Read more
Romero (1989)
7.2/10
Director: John Duigan
Starring: Ana Alicia, Eddie Velez, Raul Julia, Richard Jordan
The powerful account of a savage dictatorship that massacred and tortured hundreds of thousands. He spoke the truth in a country torn apart by social... Read more
Romulus, My Father (2007)
6.7/10
Director: Richard Roxburgh
Starring: Eric Bana, Franka Potente, Marton Csokas, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Russell Dykstra, Jac...
Eric Bana and Franka Potente star in this adaptation of Raimond Gaita's childhood memoir, relating the experience of his immigrant family's struggle f... Read more
Roots (1977)
8.4/10
Director: David Greene, Gilbert Moses, John Erman, Marvin Chomsky
Starring: John Amos, Maya Angelou, Edward Asner, Lloyd Bridges, Georg Stanford Brown, LeVa...
His name was Kunta Kinte. Kidnapped from Africa and enslaved in America in 1767, he refused to accept his slave name of Toby. Heirs kept his heroic de... Read more
Rosenstrasse (2003)
6.8/10
Director: Margarethe von Trotta
Starring: Katja Riemann, Maria Schrader, Martin Feifel, Jurgen Vogel, Jutta Lampe
Drawing on the true events of Spring 1943 when hundreds of German women protested the incarceration of their Jewish husbands in the Jewish Welfare Off... Read more