American History, According to the Movies

This Independence Day, watch something other than ‘Independence Day.’ There are some truly worthwhile movies that shed light on our country’s sprawling history. Here are 13: one for each stripe on the U.S. flag.

The first great American story is that of Pocahontas (Q’orianka Kilcher) and John Smith (Colin Farrell), set during the 1607 founding of Jamestown, Virginia. Terrence Malick’s characteristically poetic retelling is both beautiful and gritty.

It’s curious that we don’t have more movies about the Revolutionary War, considering its enormous importance in our nation’s history. Until we do, this rousing if corny Mel Gibson/Heath Ledger vehicle will suffice.

This Best Picture Oscar winner paints a brutally honest picture of America’s ugly, complicated relationship with slavery. Chiwetel Ejiofor is heartbreaking as a free man forced into servitude; Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o steals the show.

There are many classic films about the Civil War, from 1939’s ‘Gone with the Wind’ to 1989’s ‘Glory.’ But as a portrait of Abraham Lincoln, you can’t beat Steven Spielberg’s drama – or Daniel Day Lewis’ performance as our 16th president.

It’s impossible to choose just one movie out of the countless Westerns produced over the years, but we’re going with this gorgeous, fact-based account of one of the Old West’s most famous outlaws, played by Brad Pitt in one of his best roles.

There aren’t many movies set during the complex period between the Old West and World War I. Possibly because the epic ‘Ragtime,’ with its blend of real and fictional characters, covers most of the bases. James Cagney’s last film; Jeff Daniels’ first.

Most movies set during the Great Depression are either rural human dramas or slick gangster pictures. The game-changing ‘Bonnie and Clyde,’ which made superstars out of Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway and Gene Hackman, is both.

Like the Western, there are too many great World War II movies to choose from. While 1946’s ‘The Best Years of Our Lives’ is an important depiction of postwar life, Steven Spielberg’s picture is a harrowing reenactment of the war itself.

Overlooked at Oscar time (despite a Best Picture nomination, and winning for Best Song), Ava DuVernay’s ‘Lincoln’-like approach to the strategies behind Martin Luther King’s (David Oyelowo) 1965 marches is both gripping and enlightening.

This tense dramatization of the 1962 standoff between the U.S. and the Soviet Union shows how John F. Kennedy (Bruce Greenwood) and his advisors narrowly averted World War III. One of the best nonfiction Cold War films by far.

Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman ooze star power as the two journalists who uncovered the infamous Watergate scandal, toppling the Nixon administration and setting the country on a new course of mistrust towards its leaders.

We’re serious about this one. After all, what has influenced American culture over the past decade as much as the Internet – and social networks in particular? Aaron Sorkin’s witty, Oscar-winning script exposes the machinations behind Facebook.

Are we destined to become the United States of Dumb? Mike Judge seems to think so, based on his endlessly quotable satire set 500 years in the future. And some people think we’re already there. Let’s hope not.