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

The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1974), Gladiator (2000), Django Unchained (2012), Sansho the Bailiff (1954), Santa Fe Trail (1940), Blade Runner (1982), 12 Years a Slave (2013), Glory (1989) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Slavery movies.

#2. Gladiator (2000)

Storyline: Maximus is a powerful Roman general, loved by the people and the aging Emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Before his death, the Emperor chooses Maximus to be his heir over his own son, Commodus, and a power struggle leaves Maximus and his family condemned to death. The powerful general is unable to save his family, and his loss of will allows him to get captured and put into the Gladiator games until he dies. The only desire that fuels him now is the chance to rise to the top so that he will be able to look into the eyes of the man who will feel his revenge.

Plot Keywords: gladiator, prince, emperor, senator, gritty, thrilling, rome ...

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#3. Django Unchained (2012)

Storyline: In 1858, a bounty hunter named Schultz seeks out a slave named Django and buys him because he needs him to find some men he is looking for. After finding them, Django wants to find his wife, Broomhilda, who along with him were sold separately by his former owner for trying to escape. Schultz offers to help him if he chooses to stay with him and be his partner. Eventually they learn that she was sold to a plantation in Mississippi. Knowing they can't just go in and say they want her, they come up with a plan so that the owner will welcome them into his home and they can find a way.

Plot Keywords: slave, bounty hunter, criminal, plantation owner, wife, servant, gritty ...

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#5. Santa Fe Trail (1940)

Storyline: After graduating from West Point, Jeb Stuart (Errol Flynn) and George Custer (Ronald Reagan) are both stationed to Fort Leavenworth in Kansas. Once there, they find that the violent abolitionist John Brown (Raymond Massey) has laid waste to the state, killing anyone who gets in the way of his anti-slavery crusade. While the duo must work together to battle the murderous revolutionary, they also come to blows over their competing love for Kit Carson Holliday (Olivia de Havilland).

Plot Keywords: abolitionist, soldier, woman, melodramatic, rousing, kansas, violence ...

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#7. 12 Years a Slave (2013)

Storyline: Based on an incredible true story of one man's fight for survival and freedom. In the pre-Civil War United States, Solomon Northup, a free black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery. Facing cruelty personified by a malevolent slave owner, as well as unexpected kindnesses, Solomon struggles not only to stay alive, but to retain his dignity. In the twelfth year of his unforgettable odyssey, Solomon's chance meeting with a Canadian abolitionist will forever alter his life.

Plot Keywords: slave, slave trader, abolitionist, master, african-american, love interest, dark ...

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#8. Glory (1989)

Storyline: Shaw was an officer in the Federal Army during the American Civil War who volunteered to lead the first company of black soldiers. Shaw was forced to deal with the prejudices of both the enemy (who had orders to kill commanding officers of blacks), and of his own fellow officers.

Plot Keywords: soldier, military officer, friend, slave, gravedigger, gutsy, inspiring ...

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#9. Captain Blood (1935)

Storyline: Arrested during the Monmouth Rebellion and falsely convicted of treason, Dr. Peter Blood is banished to the West Indies and sold into slavery. In Port Royal, Jamaica the Governor's daughter Arabella Bishop buys him for £10 to spite her uncle, Col. Bishop who owns a major plantation. Life is hard for the men and for Blood as well. By chance he treats the Governor's gout and is soon part of the medical service. He dreams of freedom and when the opportunity strikes, he and his friends rebel taking over a Spanish ship that has attacked the city. Soon, they are the most feared pirates on the seas, men without a country attacking all ships. When Arabella is prisoner, Blood decides to return her to Port Royal only to find that it is under the control of England's new enemy, France. All of them must decide if they are to fight for their new King.

Plot Keywords: doctor, pirate, lady, governor, government official, sailor, brash ...

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#10. The King and I (1956)

Storyline: Mrs. Anna Leonowens and her son Louis arrive in Bangkok, where she has been contracted to teach English to the children of the royal household. She threatens to leave when the house she had been promised is not available, but falls in love with the children. A new slave, a gift of a vassal king, translates "Uncle Tom's Cabin" into a Siamese ballet. After expressing her unhappiness at being with the King, the slave decides to make an attempt to escape with her lover. Anna and the King start to fall in love, but her headstrong upbringing inhibits her from joining his harem. She is just about to leave Siam but something important she finds out makes her think about changing her mind.

Plot Keywords: governess, king, child, slave, wife, son, moving ...

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#11. Amazing Grace (2006)

Storyline: In 1797, William Wilberforce, the great crusader for the British abolition of slavery, is taking a vacation for his health even while he is sicker at heart for his frustrated cause. However, meeting the charming Barbara Spooner, Wilberforce finds a soulmate to share the story of his struggle. With few allies such as his mentor, John Newton, a slave ship captain turned repentant priest who penned the great hymn, "Amazing Grace," Prime William Pitt, and Olaudah Equiano, the erudite former slave turned author, Wilberforce fruitlessly fights both public indifference and moneyed opposition determined to keep their exploitation safe. Nevertheless, Wilberforce finds the inspiration in newfound love to rejuvenate the fight with new ideas that would lead to a great victory for social justice.

Plot Keywords: prime minister, friend, servant, slave, love interest, activist, inspiring ...

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#12. The Mission (1986)

Storyline: Jeremy Irons plays a Spanish Jesuit who goes into the South American wilderness to build a mission in the hope of converting the Indians of the region. Robert DeNiro plays a slave hunter who is converted and joins Irons in his mission. When Spain sells the colony to Portugal, they are forced to defend all they have built against the Portuguese aggressors.

Plot Keywords: priest, native, criminal, cardinal, moving, passionate, spirited ...

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#13. The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994)

Storyline: Two drag-queens (Anthony/Mitzi and Adam/Felicia) and a transgender woman contract to perform a drag show at a resort in Alice Springs, a resort town in the remote Australian desert. They head west from Sydney aboard their lavender bus, Priscilla. En route, it is discovered that the woman they've contracted with is Anthony's wife. Their bus breaks down, and is repaired by Bob, who travels on with them.

Plot Keywords: boy, slave, father, con artist, young girl, partner, engaging ...

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#14. Manderlay (2005)

Storyline: After gangster Mulligan's (Willem Dafoe's) cars colony, fleeing northern justice, finds a hiding place in Alabama, spoiled, naive daughter Grace (Bryce Dallas Howard) refuses to travel on after seeing the Manderlay cotton plantation being run under slavery rules, called Mam's (Lauren Bacall's) law, including flogging. She keeps half of dad's goons as guard to force the dying matriarch-owner's heirs, which she shamelessly dispossesses and reduces to "staff", to taste destitution under absurd, gun-imposed contracts. The "slaves" are made free partners, supposed to vote for progress after lessons from Grace. But almost all of her democracy-pupils prove to be fickle, dumb, and selfish, except old Wilhelm (Danny Glover). Her and their ignorance in Southern planting and crafty Dixie ways means more problems are created then solved. By the time dad returns to pick her up or abandon her for good, she's the one who has learned and changed the most.

Plot Keywords: young woman, father, gunman, master, slave, elderly man, dark ...

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#15. Amistad (1997)

Storyline: Amistad is the name of a slave ship travelling from Cuba to the U.S. in 1839. It is carrying a cargo of Africans who have been sold into slavery in Cuba, taken on board, and chained in the cargo hold of the ship. As the ship is crossing from Cuba to the U.S., Cinque (Djimon Hounsou), who was a tribal leader in Africa, leads a mutiny and takes over the ship. They continue to sail, hoping to find their way back to Africa. Instead, they are misdirected and when they reach the United States, they are imprisoned as runaway slaves. They don't speak a word of English, and it seems like they are doomed to die for killing their captors when an abolitionist lawyer decides to take their case, arguing that they were free citizens of another country and not slaves at all. The case finally gets to the Supreme Court, where John Quincy Adams (Sir Anthony Hopkins) makes an impassioned and eloquent plea for their release.

Plot Keywords: judge, slave, lawyer, queen, politician, gripping, profound ...

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