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
An Angel At My Table (1990)
7.6/10
Director: Jane Campion
Starring: Kerry Fox, Karen Fergusson, Alexia Keogh, Iris Churn
Jane Campion's remarkable award-winning film based on the autobiographical writing of Janet Frame is a portrait of a sweet-natured, imaginative, painf... Read more
Raging Bull (1980)
8.2/10
Director: Martin Scorsese
Starring: Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Cathy Moriarty
Robert De Niro gives an incredible performance as Jake LaMotta, the controversial middleweight fighter of the 1940's. 'Raging Bull' shows how LaMotta... Read more
The Dark Horse (2014)
7.5/10
Director: James Napier Robertson
Starring: Cliff Curtis, Miriama McDowell, Kirk Torrance, James Rolleston, Barry Te Hira, X...
Directed with assurance and sensitivity by James Napier Roberston, The Dark Horse stars Cliff Curtis in a performance of extraordinary tenderness and... Read more
Iris (2001)
7.1/10
Director: Richard Eyre
Starring: Judi Dench, Jim Broadbent, Kate Winslet, Hugh Bonneville
This compassionate true-life story centres on Iris Murdoch, the gifted British novelist and philosopher, whose latter years were ravaged by Alzheimer'... Read more
Battle Of Britain (1969)
7/10
Director: Guy Hamilton
Starring: Michael Caine, Laurence Olivier, Christopher Plummer, Robert Shaw, Trevor Howard...
Featuring a stellar cast, including Michael Caine, Trevor Howard, Laurence Olivier, Christopher Plummer, Michael Redgrave, Robert Shaw and Susannah Yo... Read more
Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
7.9/10
Director: Arthur Penn
Starring: Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, Michael J Pollard, Gene Hackman, Estelle Parsons, G...
Bank robbers Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow probably didn't deserve the cinematic immortality guaranteed by this masterwork directed by Arthur Penn, b... Read more
Schindler's List (1993)
8.9/10
Director: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, Ralph Fiennes, Caroline Goodall, Jonathan Sagalle, Em...
Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson) is a Nazi Party member out to profit from the war. The local Jewish population provide a ready source of cheap labour fo... Read more
The Straight Story (1999)
8/10
Director: David Lynch
Starring: Richard Farnsworth, Sissy Spacek, Everett McGill, Harry Dean Stanton
In a gentle, G-rated change of pace that still features his trademark fascination with rural American quirkiness, director David Lynch recounts the tr... Read more
A Year in Provence (1993)
7.6/10
Director: David Tucker
Starring: John Thaw, Lindsay Duncan
Having decided to leave their jobs, London and the rat race behind them, the Mayles head off to the South of France, seduced by the prospect of the id... Read more