Highest-Rated Movies about 'Colonialism', Sort by Popularity

Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India (2001), Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), The Home and the World (1984), The Story of Qiu Ju (1992), Burn! (1969), The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1978), Lumumba (2000), The Hurricane (1937) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Colonialism movies.

#1. Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India (2001)

Storyline: This is the story about the resilience shown by the Indians when they were under the British Rule. They are already taxed to the bone by the British and their cronies, but when Jack Russell announces that he will double the Lagaan (tax) from all villagers, they decide to oppose it. Leading the villagers is a handsome young man named Bhuvan, who challenges them to a game of cricket, a game that is to be played by veteran British cricket players, versus villagers, including Bhuvan himself, who have never played this game before, and do not even know a bat from a piece of wood. As the challenge is accepted, the interest grows and attracts Indians from all over the region, as well as the British from all over the country - as everyone gathers to see the 'fair play' that the British will display against their counter-parts, who are aided by none other than the sister, Elizabeth, of Captain Rusell.—Sumitra (corrected by Sonia)

Plot Keywords: young man, indian, british government official, villager, cricket player, governor, inspiring ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#2. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)

Storyline: This swash-buckling tale follows the quest of Captain Jack Sparrow, a savvy pirate, and Will Turner, a resourceful blacksmith, as they search for Elizabeth Swann. Elizabeth, the daughter of the governor and the love of Will's life, has been kidnapped by the feared Captain Barbossa. Little do they know, but the fierce and clever Barbossa has been cursed. He, along with his large crew, are under an ancient curse, doomed for eternity to neither live, nor die. That is, unless a blood sacrifice is made.

Plot Keywords: pirate, blacksmith, governor, daughter, living dead, captain, witty ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#3. The Home and the World (1984)

Storyline: When the movie opens, a woman is recalling the events that molded her perspective on the world. Years ago, her husband, a wealthy Western-educated landowner, challenged tradition by providing her with schooling, and inviting her out of the seclusion in which married women were kept, to the consternation of more conservative relatives. Meeting her husband's visiting friend from college, a leader of an economic rebellion against the British, she takes up his political cause, despite her husbands warnings. As the story progresses, the relationship between the woman and the visitor becomes more than platonic, and the political battles, pitting rich against poor and Hindu against Moslem, turn out not to be quite as simple as she had first thought.—Anonymous

Plot Keywords: revolutionary, husband, wife, nanny, profound, emotional, fascinating ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#4. The Story of Qiu Ju (1992)

Storyline: A pregnant peasant woman seeks redress from the Chinese bureaucracy after the village chief kicks her husband in the groin in this comedy of justice. As she is frustrated by each level of the hierarchy and travels farther and farther away from the countryside the viewer is also provided with a look at the changing Chinese society through the verite camera used in most scenes.—Keith Loh <loh@sfu.ca>

Plot Keywords: peasant, pregnant woman, villager, husband, bureaucrat, gutsy, spirited ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#5. Burn! (1969)

Storyline: The professional mercenary Sir William Walker instigates a slave revolt on the Caribbean island of Queimada in order to help improve the British sugar trade. Years later he is sent back to deal with the same rebels that he built up because they have seized too much power that now threatens British sugar interests.—Anonymous

Plot Keywords: secret agent, general, plantation owner, dockworker, slave, engaging, powerful ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#7. Lumumba (2000)

Storyline: The true story of the rise to power and brutal assassination of the formerly vilified and later redeemed leader of the independent Congo, Patrice Lumumba. Using newly discovered historical evidence, Haitian-born and later Congo-raised writer and director Raoul Peck renders an emotional and tautly woven account of the mail clerk and beer salesman with a flair for oratory and an uncompromising belief in the capacity of his homeland to build a prosperous nation independent of its former Belgium overlords. Lumumba emerges here as the heroic sacrificial lamb dubiously portrayed by the international media and led to slaughter by commercial and political interests in Belgium, the United States, the international community, and Lumumba's own administration; a true story of political intrigue and murder where political entities, captains of commerce, and the military dovetail in their quest for economic and political hegemony.—L. J. Allen-2

Plot Keywords: prime minister, african, director, mailroom clerk, salesman, military officer, inspiring ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#8. The Hurricane (1937)

Storyline: In the Island of Manukura, a French colony in the South Seas, the joyful Terangi is a leader among the natives and the first mate of the Katopua, the tall ship of Captain Nagle. Terangi gets married with Marama and sooner he sails to Tahiti. While in a bar playing with other natives, Terangi is offended by an alcoholic racist French and he hits his face, breaking his jaw. Despite the testimony of Captain Nagle, Terangi is sentenced to six months of forced labor since the victim had political connections with the Powers That Be. Captain Nagle asks the Governor Eugene DeLaage to uses his influence to help Terangi, but the governor refuses. Terangi unsuccessfully tries to escape from the prison, and each attempt increases his sentence. Eight years later, he finally escapes and his jailbreak is celebrated in Manukura. Father Paul finds his canoe and brings Terangi to the island. But a devastating hurricane also arrives in the island threatening the dwellers.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Plot Keywords: islander, wife, governor, woman, priest, guard, melodramatic ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#9. Indochine (1992)

Storyline: This story is set in 1930, at the time when French colonial rule in Indochina is ending. A widowed French woman who works in the rubber fields, raises a Vietnamese princess as if she was her own daughter. She, and her daughter both fall in love with a young French navy officer, which will change both their lives significantly.

Plot Keywords: mother, daughter, lover, grandchild, revolutionary, colonist, brutal ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#10. Drums Along the Mohawk (1939)

Storyline: In Revolutionary America, Gil Martin takes his new wife Lana back to his farm in upstate New York. The area is remote and a distance from the fort but they are happy living in their one room cabin. With the declaration of independence, the settlers soon find themselves at war with the British and their Indian allies. Their farm is burned out and the Martins take work with Sarah McKlennar. The war continues however as the Martins try to make a new life.—garykmcd

Plot Keywords: husband, wife, widow, native american, patriotic, thrilling, albany, n.y. ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#11. Guns at Batasi (1964)

Storyline: Regimental Sergeant Major Lauderdale (Sir Richard Attenborough) is a by-the-book, strict disciplinarian, who seems like an anachronism in a sleepy peacetime African outpost of the modern British commonwealth. Ridiculed behind his back by his subordinate N.C.O.s, he must play host to a liberal women M.P. making a tour of the base. However, when an ambitious African officer, who happens to be a protegè of the M.P., initiates a coup d'etat against Captain Abraham (Earl Cameron), the lawful African commandant, the resourceful Sergeant Major uses all of his military training to save his men from a certain firing squad.—Gabe Taverney (duke1029@aol.com)

Plot Keywords: rebel, soldier, sergeant, british soldier, african, tense, frenetic ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#12. Unconquered (1947)

Storyline: In 1763, felon Abby Hale is sentenced to slavery in America. In Virginia, heroic Capt. Holden buys her, intending to free her, but villain Garth foils this plan, and Abby toils at Dave Bone's tavern. Garth is fomenting an Indian uprising to clear the wilderness of settlers, giving him a monopoly of the fur trade. Holden discovers Garth's treachery, but cannot prove anything against him. Can Holden and Abby save Fort Pitt from the Senecas? Many hairbreadth escapes.—Rod Crawford <puffinus@u.washington.edu>

Plot Keywords: captain, slave trader, heroine, slave, native american, friend, tense ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#13. Carry On ... Up the Khyber (1968)

Storyline: Sir Sidney Ruff-Diamond looks after the British outpost near the Khyber Pass. Protected by the kilted Third Foot and Mouth regiment, you would think they were safe. But the Khazi of Kalabar has other ideas. He wants all the British dead! But his troops fear the "skirted-devils"; they are rumoured not to wear anything underneath. Then one is caught with his pants on...—Simon N. McIntosh-Smith <Simon.N.Smith@cs.cf.ac.uk>

Plot Keywords: british colonial official, wife, husband, officer, indian, amusing, charming ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#14. Shakespeare Wallah (1965)

Storyline: The story of a family troupe of English actors in India. They travel around the towns and villages giving performances of Shakespearean plays. Through their travels we see the changing face of India as the old is replaced by the new, Maharajas become hotel owners, sports become more important than culture and the theater is replaced by Bolliwood movies. Based on the travels of Geoffrey Kendal with his daughter Felicity Kendal.—Steve Crook <steve@brainstorm.co.uk>

Plot Keywords: actor, wife, playboy, daughter, movie star, emotional, striking ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#15. Black and White in Color (1976)

Storyline: French colonists in Africa, several months behind in the news, find themselves at war with their German neighbors. Deciding that they must do their proper duty and fight the Germans, they promptly conscript the local native population. Issuing them boots and rifles, the French attempt to make "proper" soldiers out of the Africans. A young, idealistic French geographer seems to be the only rational person in the town, and he takes over control of the "war" after several bungles on the part of the others.—Carl Seiler <lcs9549@tamsun.tamu.edu>

Plot Keywords: sergeant, schoolteacher, priest, african, idealist, trader, amusing ...

Movie Details Click Here!