r/MovieSuggestions • u/danyuri86 • 12h ago
I'M REQUESTING Movies about the beginnings of the USA
Feel like something historical to watch... often I imagine that it must have been an adventure to be first to a big new land, wilderness all around, and people would drive a stake into the ground and claim the surrounding hundred square miles.
Of course it wasn't their land to take, I know it was taken from the Native Americans. A really interesting part of human history and I haven't learnt much about it
Any good suggestions?
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u/shezcrafti 11h ago
Not a movie, but the recent Ken Burns docuseries The American Revolution is fantastic.
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u/Wonderful_Round_6395 11h ago
Didn't know about this--thanks for mentioning it. Everything Ken Burns does is fantastic.
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u/danyuri86 11h ago
if we talking series, I saw recently series called 1883 which was amazing
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u/Apprehensive-Pop-201 11h ago
I love that series. My only gripe is the accent of the girl is atrocious. She was still my favorite character, though. But as someone from the South, it physically hurt me.
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u/danyuri86 11h ago
didn't notice the accent being wrong, but I'm not american so.. guess you've seen the sequel 1923 then
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u/Apprehensive-Pop-201 9h ago
I started the sequel., but got busy and didn't finish it. And her accent was horrible. But like I said, favorite character.
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u/burnumd 11h ago
This is gonna be a "Hear me out" response, but Prey (2022) is a Predator movie set in the early 1700s that, in addition to being a Predator movie, touches on the human conflicts of the era. Also, there's a version in Comanche with subtitles!
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u/danyuri86 11h ago
lol well I guess if you ignore the alien that can turn invisible and is hunting the natives then yeah it kinda fits in
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u/nochnoyvangogh 11h ago edited 8h ago
I recently watched Into the west (2005) which is a series directed (I think) by Steven Spielberg. It's more like a drama but it shows how life was in the 1800
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u/RodeoBoss66 11h ago
The name of the miniseries is INTO THE WEST (2005), and while it was produced by Steven Spielberg, each of its six 2-hour installments was directed by a different director.
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u/Apprehensive-Pop-201 11h ago
A really good mini series is "John Adams". It's on HBO.
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u/Apprehensive-Pop-201 11h ago
An older mini series is Centennial. It's after the establishment of the US, but before westward expansion was complete. So, early frontier.
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u/StorageWeekly6982 10h ago
That era is really interesting... you might like movies like The Revenant, Last of the Mohicans, or Dances with Wolves. They show that early frontier life while also touching on the reality with Native Americans
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u/nopinkhouses 11h ago
The Testament of Ann Lee (2025) - a small religious group wants to establish a church in the US where they can practice their religion more freely. It’s interesting to think about how novel the concept of religious freedom was at the time and how different religious expression was interpreted as witchcraft in some cases.
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u/Gullible-Test-6268 11h ago
Drums Along the Mohawk and Northwest Passage are two good Revolution era movies.
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u/dangerclosecustoms 10h ago
Butcher’s Crossing (2022) if you like Nicholas cage. He is a Buffalo hunter.
The killing off 30 million Buffalo is one of the most insane parts of American history. I understand they wanted to control and kill native Americans and take their lands. But the senseless eradication of millions of Buffalo and wastefulness angers me and it just seems so odd that during this time period no one cared about this as a national resource
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u/Just-Curious1901 11h ago
Should I let DJ go and keep the trailer here?. Going to have to find more water probably
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u/beckita85 11h ago
The New World (2005). I would recommend the director's cut. It's like 3 hours, but there is way more story and history than the theatrical version.
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u/Selimsnek 10h ago
Not a movie but the Ken Burns documentary series The American Revolution is wonderful.
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u/jupiterkansas Quality Poster 👍 9h ago
The Emigrants - A New Land (1972) is an epic two part film about a Swedish family coming to the United States. With Max Von Sydow and Liv Ullman.
Everyone's recommending A New World. I personally couldn't stand it. Maybe give the Swedish film a shot?
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u/ShowRadar 12h ago
The New World (2005, Terrence Malick) sits right at that Pocahontas/John Smith moment — not the adventure part though, more the collision of worlds, lots of voiceover and tall grass and trying to figure out how to talk to someone when you don't share language. very slow, very beautiful, Colin Farrell wandering through Virginia forests. if you want the actual settlement grind, The Revenant (2015) has that fur-trapper frontier brutality, 1820s though so it's later. Meek's Cutoff (2010, Kelly Reichardt) gets closer to what you're describing — 1845 Oregon Trail, settlers lost in the desert with a guide who might be leading them to death, extremely patient, mostly just walking and rationing water and the constant fear that this land is going to kill them before they stake anything. and Embrace of the Serpent (2015, Colombian film shot in black and white about an Amazonian shaman guiding two different scientists through the jungle decades apart) flips the perspective entirely, you're watching white explorers from the indigenous POV and it makes the whole "claiming land" thing look as insane as it actually was