30 Best Slave Movies of All Time You Need to Watch
Slavery is perhaps the greatest blot on the existence of humanity. Macabre evil evokes the most heinous responses from people, even when brought up in retrospect. Thanks to the relentless efforts and efforts of the great Abraham Lincoln, the world moved in a direction that renounced the ironic comfort of slavery. Hollywood has been vocal and relentless in its stance against it. Fierce social campaigns and an awareness program were launched to eradicate slavery completely. They try to do it through movies and in this article, we are bringing you the best slave movies of all time.
Over the years, filmmakers have channeled their outrage and frustration with the subject and America’s pioneering role in establishing the concept through soul-stirring films about slavery. The emotional parts of cinema encourage challenging emotions that we all deal with at some point. So here is a list of the best slavery movies ever that might just break your heart. If you’re lucky, you might be able to find a few of these good slavery movies on Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon Prime.
I Am Slave (2010)
Twelve-year-old Malia (Wunmi Mosaku), daughter of tribal leader Baha (Isaach De Bankolé), is kidnapped from her village, which is located in the Nubar Mountains. The kidnappers, a pro-government militia, sold her into slavery in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum.
After six years, Malia is sent to London, where her name is changed, and her miserable life as a maid continues. Her passport was taken and she was told that if she decided to go to the authorities, her father would be executed. Fortunately, Malia meets a person who will restore her hope that one day she will see her father again.
Amistad (1997)
During a storm in the summer of 1839, near the coast of Cuba, 53 Africans, imprisoned on the Spanish ship “La Amistad,” manage to free themselves from their shackles and take over the ship. Having finally become the owners of their destiny, the former slaves have only one wish – to return home to Africa.
But returning to the homeland will prove to be a demanding task. Without any navigational knowledge, the Africans must rely on the two surviving crew members. But the Spanish let them down and the “Amistad” was caught off the coast of Long Island, and the Africans were accused of murder and piracy.
The Africans are defended in court by Theodore Joadson (Morgan Freeman), a passionate anti-slavery fighter, and the prosecutor is the young state attorney Roger Baldwin (Matthew McConaughey). And while the case becomes a symbol of a divided country, President Martin Van Buren (Nigel Hawthorne) is willing to sacrifice Africans in favor of his political goals. But he will be opposed by former US President John Quincy Adams (Anthony Hopkins), who will return from retirement only to defend convicts at the US Supreme Court.
Freedom (2014)
The film tells two stories in parallel. The first is the escape of a pre-Civil War Black family from slavery in Virginia to freedom in Canada, helped by the Underground Railroad, devout Quakers, and Frederick Douglass. The second story is about the travel of an ancestor from Africa (Gambia) to a British colony in the New World (South Carolina).
Amazing Grace (2006)
One man changed the lives of millions. Behind the song you love there is a story you will never forget. William Wilberforce, a member of the English Parliament in the 18th century, who decided to abolish slavery in British lands.
Supported by a small group of progressive thinkers and unexpected helpers, he proposes the abolition of slavery every year in parliament. Constant failures discourage him, but friends – among them a former slave ship captain, now a penitent, priest and author of the famous “Amazing Grace” – and newfound love inspire him to keep going.
12 Years a Slave (2013)
“12 Years a Slave” is a British-American historical drama, adapted from Solomon Northup’s 1853 autobiography of the same name, about the kidnapping of a free African-American man in Washington in 1841 and his sale into slavery where he spent 12 years working on a plantation.
Django Unchained (2012)
Dr. King Schultz (Waltz), a German bounty hunter and former dentist, buys the slave Django (Foxx) to help him identify a group of brutal killers whose identities only Django knows. Django soon begins to learn trade skills from Schultz, so together they go to Mississippi to free Django’s wife Broomhilda (Kerry Washington).
However, after a deal to buy his wife with ruthless plantation owner Calvin Candie (DiCaprio) falls through, Django will find himself drawn into a fight for his own life, the life of his wife, and the possibility of sweet revenge…
Skin Game (1971)
Quincy Drew (Garner) and Jason O’Rourke (Gossett) travel from town to town in the south of the United States during the slavery era. A flashback in the movie shows both men first met when Quincy sold Jason a horse that turned out to have been stolen from the local sheriff.
They meet again in jail after pulling various con jobs and develop a con together in which Quincy claims to be a down-on-his-luck slave owner who is selling his only slave, who is Jason. Quincy gets the bidding rolling, selling Jason, and the two later meet up to split the profit.
Jason was born a free man in New Jersey and is very well educated. The con is complicated by Jason being sold to a slave trader who is very savvy and intent on taking him down south to make a profit.
Gettysburg (1993)
The four and 1/4 hour depiction of the historical and personal events surrounding and including the decisive American civil war battle features thousands of civil war re-enactors marching over the exact ground that the federal army and the army of North Virginia fought on.
The defense of the Little Round Top and Pickett’s Charge are highlighted in the actual three-day battle which is surrounded by the speeches of the commanding officers and the personal reflections of the fighting men. Based upon the novel ‘The Killer Angels’.
Roots (1977)
The epic tale of celebrated Pulitzer-prize-winning author Alex Haley’s ancestors as portrayed in the acclaimed twelve-hour mini-series Roots, was first told in his 1976 bestseller Roots: The Saga of an American Family.
The docu-drama covers a period of history that begins in the mid-1700s in Gambia, West Africa, and concludes during the post-Civil War United States, over 100 years later. This 1977 miniseries eventually won 9 Emmy awards, a Golden Globe award, and a Peabody award, and still stands as the most-watched miniseries in U.S. history.
Goodbye Uncle Tom (1971)
The film is based on true events in which the filmmakers explore antebellum America, using period documents to examine in graphic detail the racist ideology and degrading conditions faced by Africans under slavery.
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1974)
The time is the early 1960s Civil Rights Movement. Jane, a former slave, is celebrating her 110th birthday. Two men tell her that a little girl is going to a segregated water fountain; she gets arrested because she is black.
The next day Jane is interviewed by a journalist and she tells the story of her life. The climax of the story shows Jane going to the water fountain to desegregate it; her lifespan has bridged the time of slavery and the Civil Rights Movement.
The Adventures of Huck Finn (1993)
Although the boy Huck Finn (E. Wood) lives comfortably with his two kind guardians, he spends his days running away from school, getting into fights and looking for trouble. One day his drunken father (R. Perlman) appears and kidnaps him in order to get the money left by his late mother.
Huck manages to escape and meets an escaped slave Jim (C.B. Vance) who wants to be free. Huck and Jim go on a raft trip down the Mississippi River together, meeting a number of interesting people and getting involved in several adventures.
In the film, for example, there is no Tom Sawyer character, but a successful look at human nature and slavery, all with a fine sense of humor and beautiful photography
Down in the Delta (1998)
When Rosa Lynn decides to send her two grandchildren and their alcoholic Chicago mother back home to Mississippi to her brother and his ailing wife, the three discover a new way of life, and the deep and enduring bonds of their origins.
Fantastic Planet (1973)
On the planet Ygam, the Draags, extremely technologically and spiritually advanced blue humanoids, consider the tiny Oms, human beings descendants of Terra’s inhabitants, as ignorant animals.
Those who live in slavery are treated as simple pets and used to entertain Draag children; those who live hidden in the hostile wilderness of the planet are periodically hunted and ruthlessly slaughtered as if they were vermin.
Spartacus (1960)
Spartacus (K. Douglas) is the legendary leader of the slave uprising that took place in 73 BC. Spartacus is originally a Thracian, who was in 80 B.C. captured by the Roman legions and then sold as a slave.
He escaped from slavery, joined the Thracian troops again, but was caught and sold as a gladiator in Capua, where, due to his courage, strength and exceptional dexterity, he was freed and in 73 BC. became a gladiator teacher.
In the same year, he escaped with a group of slaves and started a fight against the Roman army to bring most of the gladiators back to Gaul, the country where most of them were born. He died in 71 BC. in the decisive battle in Lucania.
Spartacus (2010–2013)
A Thracian warrior recruited to fight for the Romans has his fate sealed by one act of rebel violence. As punishment, he faces death by being forced to fight in a gladiatorial arena.
The series begins with an orgy of blood and violence in the gladiatorial arena.
An unnamed Thracian captive watches as another captive is torn to shreds. The view of the Thracian takes us from the dry sands of Capua to the rich hills of Thrace a few months before, as he bids farewell to his wife Sura. She tries to persuade him to stay with her, but he has pledged his sword to the Roman army. That same sword soon kills the barbarian from Getaen, but it is actually the Roman legate Claudius Glaberus who takes credit for the victory at the end of the battle.
Showing his authority, Glaber orders the Thracian and one of his companions to reconnoiter the enemy lines, then dismisses them when they return with news that the barbarians are advancing westward to threaten the Thracian villages. That night, Glaber’s spoiled, spoiled wife, Iliti, persuades him to seek greater fame.
After Glaber wakes up the soldiers the next morning, he announces to them that he will be marching east toward better battles. The Thracians protest vehemently, and he flees, knowing that his life is now worthless.
Lincoln (2012)
As the Civil War rages, the American president, played by the outstanding Daniel Day-Lewis, struggles with constant bloodshed on the battlefield and with major disagreements within his own cabinet over his intention to free all slaves. His courage, strong moral views and determination, his choices and decisions will change the fate of generations to come.
Keoma (1976)
Keoma (Franco Nero) returns to his hometown after serving in the American Civil War, which is now controlled by Caldwell (Donald O’Brien), an ex-Republican, with his gang. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Keoma realizes that his three half-brothers have joined him, making it clear that he’s not welcome here.
Meanwhile, the city is on the brink of ruin, without food or medicine, while the citizens die of the plague, and the sick are confined to the old mine. Keoma is preparing for bloody revenge to save the city and its inhabitants.
Free State of Jones (2016)
The film takes place during the Civil War, and follows the story of a defiant farmer, Newton Knight, and his rebellion against Southern politics and the entire state of America at the time. Knight flees the battlefield, teams up with a handful of small farmers and local slaves, and declares his own state in Jones County, Mississippi.
Friendly Persuasion (1956)
Southern Indiana, 1862. Jess Birdwell (G. Cooper) is the head of a Quaker family that also includes his attractive wife Eliza (D. McGuire), son Josh (A. Perkins) and daughter Mattie (Ph. Love), both of teenage age, and the youngest Little Jess (R. Eyer).
Eliza is a determined believer and minister of the local Quaker community, while Jess and the children are by no means religious dogmatists, because in addition to the unquestionable respect for the fundamental Quaker belief that all people are brothers or friends, respect for peace and love as fundamental values, their untamed individual nature occasionally pushes them out of of the desirable molds of the Quaker community.
It is the time of the Civil War and the Southern troops soon begin to threaten, but the Quakers still hold firmly to their pacifism. However, Josh is not so convinced that endangering his own home should be turned the other way. Mattie, on the other hand, is preoccupied with love feelings: she is in love with a young Union army officer, Guard Jordan (P. Mark).
Cobra Verde (1987)
The action of the film takes place at the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century. Cobra Verde (Klaus Kinski) is the nickname of the cruel and violent Francisco Manolo who lives in Brazil and works on a sugar cane plantation as an overseer and slave driver.
After fathering a child to all three daughters of the plantation owner, the latter decides to get rid of him in a cunning way… Due to several scenes of cruel tribal murders, the film is not recommended for younger people
Gone with the Wind (1939)
It’s the time before the Civil War, in the American South lives Scarlett O’Hara (V. Leigh), a spoiled and vain girl, one of the three daughters of plantation owner Gerald O’Hara (T. Mitchell), who teaches her about the importance of land. Scarlett is gorgeous, beautiful and smart, and has many suitors, but she is secretly in love with Ashley Wilkes (L. Howard), who intends to marry the modest and lovely Melanie Hamilton (O. De Havilland).
In protest and in defiance of Ashley’s decision, when many young men leave for the battlefield, Scarlett hastily decides to marry Melanie’s brother Charles. However, the young husband does not even survive the first battle, and Scarlett almost immediately becomes a widow. As she does not grieve at all, she soon catches the eye of the famous seducer Rhett Butler (C. Gable), a cynical and intelligent man who, despite her rejection, will not just give up.
Years pass. The maelstrom of war also dragged Scarlett into its events, and she will completely change from a manipulative, superficial, conceited brat and learn to care for others as well. Namely, she will help the pregnant Melanie during childbirth, take care of her estate after her mother’s death, and live and feed many others from persistent effort and work on her own land, which her father taught her to respect and love. When Ashley returns from the battlefield after the war, her happiness will not end. But Ashley still loves Melanie.
Queen (1993)
A plantation owner’s son falls in love with a slave named Easter and together they have a Biracial daughter named Queen. As Queen grows up, she faces the struggle of trying to fit into the troubled world around her.
She tries passing for white, but it leads to sorrow in post-Civil War America. Everywhere she goes, she faces obstacles and hardships while searching for happiness and a place to belong.
Belle (2013)
This movie was inspired by the true story of Dido Elizabeth Belle (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), the illegitimate mixed-race daughter of Royal Navy Captain Sir John Lindsay (Matthew Goode). Raised by her aristocratic great-uncle Lord William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield (Tom Wilkinson) and his wife (Emily Watson), Belle’s lineage affords her certain privileges, yet the color of her skin prevents her from fully participating in the traditions of her social standing.
Left to wonder if she will ever find love, Belle falls for an idealistic young vicar’s son bent on change, who, with her help, shapes Lord Mansfield’s role as Lord Chief Justice to end slavery in England.
Beloved (1998)
The year is 1873 and middle-aged Sethe (Oprah Winfrey) lives near Cincinnati with her teenage daughter Denver (Kimberly Elise).
Suddenly, her old friend Paul D (Danny Glover), whom she met when they were both slaves on a plantation in Kentucky, comes to visit her. Not long after Paul D moves into their home, a dirty and scared teenage girl (Thandie Newton), stuttering, suddenly appears at their door.
Thanks to Denver’s will and desire to help, the teenager, whom everyone calls “Beloved”, slowly begins to solve her problems. But, with the help of shocking flashbacks, we learn many details from Seth’s past and how she might be connected to “Beloved”.
The Horse Soldiers (1959)
It is the spring of 1863, the American Civil War is underway. General Grant orders Colonel Marlowe (J. Wayne) and Major Kendall (W. Holden) to take important action – to, with the help of three army troops from their base in northern Mississippi, penetrate deep into enemy territory and destroy the railroad between Newton Station and Vicksburg, thereby the most important road through which the southern army is supplied would be cut.
During the mission, Marlowe meets a beautiful Southern woman (C. Towers) who is loyal to their enemies, and he decides to keep an eye on her throughout the journey, so as not to secretly inform the allies about their plans. Kendall, the northern sergeant, and the raw, burdened by the whole event Marlowe have different views on some things and there will be a conflict between them.
The Birth of a Nation (2016)
Set in the antebellum South and based on true events, “The Birth of a Nation” follows Nat Turner, a literate slave and preacher whose owner Samuel Turner is in financial trouble and accepts an offer to use Nat’s preaching to calm restive slaves. As he witnesses countless atrocities against himself, his wife Cherry, and other slaves, Nat organizes a rebellion in hopes of leading his people to freedom.
Band of Angels (1957)
Living in Kentucky prior to the Civil War, Amantha Starr is a privileged young woman. Her widowed father, a wealthy plantation owner, dotes on her and sends her to the best schools.
When he dies suddenly Amantha’s world is turned upside down. She learns that her father had been living on borrowed money and that her mother was actually a slave and her father’s mistress.
Mandingo (1975)
Warren Maxwell (James Mason) and his son Hammond (Perry King) are cruel slave owners in the American South in 1840. Slaves are exploited in all ways, from sexual to physical. They have planned a “boxing career” for the slave Medea (Ken Norton) and invest the most in him.
When Hammond starts a relationship with a slave who doesn’t pay as much attention as she would like, he sleeps with Medea out of spite, with fatal consequences for everyone.
13th (2016)
An in-depth look at the prison system in the United States and how it reveals the nation’s history of racial inequality.
