A sumptuous and sensual tale of intrigue, romance and betrayal set against the backdrop of a defining moment in European history: two beautiful sisters, Anne and Mary Boleyn, driven by their family's blind ambition, compete for the love of the handsome and passionate King Henry VIII.
Inspired by true events, THE CHILDREN OF HUANG SHI is a portrayal both sweeping and intimate of people who, thrown into an unexpected and desperate situation, discover their capacity for love and responsibility. It tells how a young Englishman, George Hogg came to lead sixty orphaned boys on an extraordinary journey of almost a thousand perilous miles across the snow-bound Liu Pan Shan mountains to safety on the edge of the Mongolian desert. And of how, in doing so, he came to understand the true meaning of courage. During his journey, Hogg learns to rely on the support of Chen, the leader of a Chinese partisan group who becomes his closest friend. He soon finds himself falling in love with Lee, a recklessly brave Australian adventurer whom war has turned into an unsentimental nurse on horseback. Along the way Hogg befriends Madame Wang, an aristocratic survivor who has also been displaced by war, who helps the young Englishman, his friends and their sixty war orphans make their way across awesome (and rarely filmed) mountain and desert regions to a place of safety near the western end of the Great Wall of China.
Sergeant Michael Dunne fights in the 10th Battalion, AKA The "Fighting Tenth" with the 1st Canadian Division and participated in all major Canadian battles of the war, and set the record for highest number of individual bravery awards for a single battle.
Germany in the 1970s: Murderous bomb attacks, the threat of terrorism and the fear of the enemy inside are rocking the very foundations of the yet fragile German democracy. The radicalised children of the Nazi generation lead by Andreas Baader, Ulrike Meinhof and Gudrun Ensslin are fighting a violent war against what they perceive as the new face of fascism: American imperialism supported by the German establishment, many of whom have a Nazi past. Their aim is to create a more human society but by employing inhuman means they not only spread terror and bloodshed, they also lose their own humanity. The man who understands them is also their hunter: the head of the German police force Horst Herold. And while he succeeds in his relentless pursuit of the young terrorists, he knows he's only dealing with the tip of the iceberg.
Hunger follows life in the Maze Prison, Northern Ireland with an interpretation of the highly emotive events surrounding the 1981 IRA Hunger Strike, led by Bobby Sands. With an epic eye for detail, the film provides a timely exploration of what happens when body and mind are pushed to the uttermost limit.
In the late 16th century, the British Empire faces a real threat: Spanish King Phillip II sends the greatest amount of ships, the Spanish Armada, to the British Isles. Queen Elizabeth (Cate Blanchett) is torn into pieces: on the one hand, she must lead her country and prepare people for defense; on the other hand, she must cope with her own feelings firstly because she falls in love with Sir Walter Raleigh (Clive Owen) who is likely to leave Britain and set up for a long travelling.
In February, 1945, one of the fiercest battles of the Pacific theater of World War II occurs on the tiny island of Iwo Jima. Thousands of Marines attack the stronghold maintained by thousands of Japanese, and the slaughter on both sides is horrific. Early in the battle, an American flag is raised atop the high point, Mount Suribachi, and a photograph of the raising becomes an American cause celebre. As a powerful inspiration to war-sick Americans, the photo becomes a symbol of the Allied cause. The three surviving flag raisers, Rene Gagnon, John Bradley, and Ira Hayes, are whisked back to civilization to help raise funds for the war effort. But the accolades for heroism heaped upon the three men are at odds with their own personal realizations that thousands of real heroes lie dead on Iwo Jima, and that their own contributions to the fight are only symbolic and not deserving of the singling out they are experiencing. Each of the three must come to terms with the honors, exploitation, and grief that they face simply for being in a photograph.
Based on the events of September 11, 2001, the drama tells the true-life story of courageous police officers John McLoughlin (Nicolas Cage) and Will Jimeno (Michael Pena) who rushed into the sprawling twin towers of the World Trade Center after they were hit by planes piloted by terrorists. John and Will tried desperately to rescue civilians, but became entombed under the rubble when the skyscrapers collapsed. Fortunately, these two were the eighteenth and nineteenth men of twenty to be pulled out alive.
In 480 BC, the Persian king Xerxes sends his massive army to conquer Greece. The Greek city of Sparta houses its finest warriors, and 300 of these soldiers are chosen to meet the Persians at Thermopylae, engaging the soldiers in a narrow canyon where they cannot take full advantage of their numbers. The battle is a suicide mission, meant to buy time for the rest of the Greek forces to prepare for the invasion. However, that doesn't stop the Spartans from throwing their hearts into the fray, determined to take as many Persians as possible with them.
The island of Iwo Jima stands between the American military force and the home islands of Japan. Therefore the Imperial Japanese Army is desperate to prevent it from falling into American hands and providing a launching point for an invasion of Japan. General Tadamichi Kuribayashi is given command of the forces on the island and sets out to prepare for the imminent attack. General Kuribayashi, however, does not favor the rigid traditional approach recommended by his subordinates, and resentment and resistance fester among his staff. In the lower echelons, a young soldier, Saigo, a poor baker in civilian life, strives with his friends to survive the harsh regime of the Japanese army itself, all the while knowing that a fierce battle looms. When the American invasion begins, both Kuribayashi and Saigo find strength, honor, courage, and horrors beyond imagination.
Ridley Scott's saga of a peasant blacksmith named Balian (Orlando Bloom), who has lost his family and nearly his faith. During the Crusades - the world shaping 200-year collision between Europe and the East, he wonders in a strange land, he serves a doomed king, falls in love with an exotic and forbidden queen and rises to knighthood. Balian meets a man revealing himself as his father. Ultimately, he must protect the people of Jerusalem from overwhelming forces - while trying to keep a fragile peace.
This film, based on the novel by Arthur Golden, unfolds from the perspective of Chiyo (Zhang Ziyi), a girl who, at the age of nine, is torn from her family to work as a maid in a geisha house in the early 1930s. Here, she goes through the training to become a geisha, and the life she leads as one. She learns that becoming a geisha can be the single path to wealth and independence for a woman. Despite a treacherous rival who nearly breaks her spirit, the girl blossoms into the legendary geisha Sayuri. She can play with the hearts of the mightiest men, but the only one she adores is beyond her reach. Sayuri must confront the possibility that history will leave all that she has worked for behind as World War II approaches, and as Japan stands at the brink of a new era.
Based on true events, the political drama portrays the confrontation between journalist Edward R. Murrow (David Strathairn) and U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin that shook the American society in 1954. America's freedom, values and ideals were threatened when Joseph McCarthy launched a massive campaign against communists. Murrow, a well-known host of the CBS television program, was the first person who drew the attention of the general public to ideological and political problems. Despite corporate pressure and the potential ramifications, the courageous journalist ventured to investigate and expose McCarthy and his dirty methods during his "witch-hunts."
Near the turn of the twentieth century, young Harry Vardon becomes a champion golfer but learns that his amazing skill is no match for the class boundaries that exclude him from "gentlemanly" English society. A dozen years later, a young American, Francis Ouimet, fights against the same prejudice, as well as his own father's disdain, for a chance to participate in the U.S. Open against his idol — Harry Vardon. The struggles of both men for acceptance provides the background for an amazing contest of skills.
The Roman Empire is stretched across many nations, including Britain. In their conquest for more land, the Romans went into Sarmatia where they fought the very brave Sarmatian cavalery. The Romans, impressed by the Sarmatian's weaponery and fighting skills, included them into their army as knights. After 15 years of serving and fighting for the Roman Empire the Sarmatian Knights, lead by Arthur/Artorious Castus, are about to receive their freedom as the Romans are leaving Britain. But the Knights must carry out one final order before they are free. A Roman priest and his family, especially his son Alecto, must be rescued from the invading Saxons. But there is another danger lurking on the road to freedom - the Woads, British rebels who hate the Romans.
Ten years ago some of the worst atrocities in the history of mankind took place in the country of Rwanda--and in an era of high-speed communication and round the clock news, the events went almost unnoticed by the rest of the world. In only three months, one million people were brutally murdered. In the face of these unspeakable actions, inspired by his love for his family, an ordinary man summons extraordinary courage to save the lives of over a thousand helpless refugees, by granting them shelter in the hotel he manages.
