The 40 most popular mexican history movies, ranked. Click any film for ratings, reviews, trailers, and where to watch.


Outlaws - For Greater Glory
2012 · 2h 25m · MX
A chronicle of the Cristeros War (1926-1929), which was touched off by a rebellion against the Mexican government's attempt to secularize the country.


Red Bells Part I: Mexico in Flames
1982 · 2h 15m · IT
American journalist John Reed travels to Mexico during the Mexican Revolution and interviews Francisco Villa. At the same time, we learn about his relationship with his lover Mabel Dodge, his participation in the Patterson strike, and his work as a reporter during World War I.


In Exile: A Family Movie
2017 · 2h 4m · MX
The life stories of Juan Francisco's grandparents and parents, who arrived in Mexico in 1939 as refugees at the end of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). A family saga, from the beginning of the twentieth century to the present day.


Orphans
2014 · 2h 35m · MX
Orphans is the true story of a forbidden love affair set in the oppressive and violent atmosphere of nineteenth century Mexico. One man, Melchor Ocampo, driven by the twin passions of love and idealism, defies the stain of illegitimacy to shake off the crippling yoke of Spain and the Catholic Church. In so doing he becomes a founding figure of modern day Mexico.


Holy Pafnucio
1977 · 1h 40m · MX
Controversial, sexy and surreal tale of a messenger, his journey and encounters with many historical events and people such as Auschwitz, the Ku Klux Klan, Frida Kahlo, Cortés and Emiliano Zapata (as a beautiful woman!)


Mexico 86
2026 · 1h 35m · MX
When a last-minute chance to host the 1986 World Cup appears, a cunning Mexican bureaucrat, armed with nothing but guts and audacity, cons his way through FIFA to beat the United States, but in a country of power games, every victory has a price.


Baroque
1989 · 1h 55m · MX
A series of images, music and sounds which transport through Mexico's history, without any narrative sequence. The film spins constantly round the question 'Where are the singers from?'


Vieja moralidad
1988 · 52m · MX
The relationship between a nephew and his aunt in the begining of Mexico's 20th century.


Red Dawn
1990 · 1h 36m · MX
On October 2, 1968, a student uprising descends into violence after the Mexican government begins to use lethal force against the protesters.


La monja alférez
1944 · 1h 28m · MX
A 17th century woman, imprisoned for fighting in a bar, recounts her past to a priest. She tells of her father teaching her how to fence, of being sent to a convent by her aunt when her father died, of escaping by dressing as a man, and of her life as a man following the escape.


Lo negro del Negro
1985 · 1h 45m · MX
Based on the book by the same name, the film follows the exploits of Arturo "El Negro" Durazo, who was the head of the police department in Mexico City, we witness his crimes and his eccentric life, that will inevitably lead to his fall.


Mi Canción
2021 · MX
"Mi Canción" follows the rise of young Guadalajara rapper C-Kan, as he realizes the danger he put himself in by working with the local Cartel. After falling in love with Valeria, she convinces him to leave this llife of crime and pursue his dream and become a Rap star. Conflicted, he decides to stop working with the Cartel, but that is easier said than done!


Dance of the Forty One
2020 · 1h 39m · BR
Mexico City, November 1901. The police raid a private home where a secret party is being held. Among those attending is the son-in-law of President Porfirio Díaz.


Revoltoso
2016 · 30m · MX
Revoltoso | Set on 1913. Jabalito, a small one-eyed wild boar is on the scene of one of the first filmed wars in history: the Mexican Revolution. In the midst of the war he discovers cinema. Revoltoso is a stop-motion short film. The look and feel is inspired by Cubism.


For Young People: 20 Years After 2006
2026 · 2h 10m · MX
Combines archival material with half unpublished images recorded during the election campaign, the post-election conflict and the period of Andrés Manuel López Obrador.


El Esqueleto
1997 · 1h 22m · MX
It's the night of all souls and a group of teens play a prank on their friend the who goes by the name "El Esqueleto". That same night just happens to coincide with vengeance of the spirit of the Marquis De Gortari. The teenager named Sor Juana along with the help of her uncle the local Priest, must band together to save El Esqueleto's soul before it is too late.


Epitaph
2015 · 1h 22m · MX
Three Spanish conquistadors, Captain Diego de Ordaz, Gonzalo and Pedro, march to the summit of the great volcano Popocatepetl.


Memories of a Mexican
1950 · 1h 43m · MX
A history of the Mexican Revolution (1910-17), narrated through the striking images of the enormous film archive of Salvador Toscano (1872-1947), pioneer of Mexican cinema, compiled by his daughter, Carmen Toscano.


Panama II: El Retorno
1992 · 1h 22m · MX
No overview available


Tlön
2023 · 30m · MX
Jorge, an Argentinian writer in the 40ʼs, and Luis, a Mexican game developer in the 2020ʼs, investigate a mysterious question: What is Tlön? What is Uqbar? As each of them finds new answers, Tlön’s mystery will unveil bit by bit, exposing them to a revelation that will change their lives...


Panama: La Caida de Noriega
1990 · 1h 23m · MX
No overview available


Reed: Insurgent Mexico
1973 · 2h 4m · MX
A dramatization of John Reed's newspaper accounts of the Mexican Revolution. Considered the first real film in Mexican cinema to be made on the Mexican Revolution.


In the Time of the Butterflies
2001 · 1h 35m · MX
Based on the book by Julia Alvarez. Three sisters become activists during the Dominican Republic's Trujillo regime when members of their family are killed by the government's troops.


Even the Rain
2011 · 1h 43m · FR
As a director and his crew shoot a controversial film about Christopher Columbus in Cochabamba, Bolivia, local people rise up against plans to privatize the water supply.


Miracle Roses
1960 · 1h 30m · MX
Before the Spanish Conquest, an Aztec princess does the Romeo and Juliet thing with the Prince of a neighboring tribe. Sixty years later, a colonized subject has visions of the Virgin Mary.


The Airship
1994 · 1h 20m · CU
A French woman arrives in Montevideo, to meet poet Juan Carlos Onetti and investigate the story of the city. She is intrigued by the photograph of the day when president Bordaz was killed and a zeppelin flew above the city at the turn of the century. She is helped by a photographer and both fall into a police intrigue.


Cabeza de Vaca
1991 · 1h 51m · MX
In 1528, a Spanish expedition flounders off the coast of Florida with 600 lives lost. One survivor, Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, roams across the American continent searching for his Spanish comrades. Instead, he discovers the Iguase, an ancient Indian tribe. Over the next eight years, Cabeza de Vaca learns their mystical and mysterious culture, becoming a healer and a leader. But soon this New World collides with the Old World as Spanish conquistadors seek to enslave the Indians, and Cabeza de Vaca must confront his own people and his past.


Dog's Eyes
1983 · 1h 30m · MX
It presents the struggle of the first unionized workers, after a strike for the implantation of the eight-hour day and the union right, in the sugar valleys of Peru. It is the story of the first union in the city of Trujillo, organized in 1921.


One Man's Hero
1999 · 2h 1m · US
One Man's Hero tells the little-known story of the "St. Patrick's Battalion" or "San Patricios," a group of mostly Irish and other immigrants of the Catholic faith who deserted to Mexico after encountering religious and ethnic prejudice in the U.S. Army during the Mexican-American War. The plot centers around the personal story of John Riley, an Irishman who had been a sergeant in the American Army who is commissioned as a captain in the Mexican army and commands the battalion, as he leads his men in battle and struggles with authorities on both sides of the border


Ernesto Guevara, also known as "Che"
2015 · 7h 56m · AR
From millions of photos, posters, videos, t-shirts, postcards, records, books, phrases, testimonies, Che watches over us. Beyond all paraphernalia, he returns. Irreverent, mocking, stubborn - morally stubborn - Che will always be the subject of debate. The exclusive teleSUR series “Ernesto Guevara, also known as 'Che'”, aims to address the figure of Ernesto Guevara as it has never been told before. Conversing with the characters who were with him in important moments, visiting the real settings where Che spent his life.


Halcones: State Terrorism
2006 · 1h 11m · MX
Testimonies of surviving students and film and photographic material to reconstruct the events of the so-called Corpus Thursday Massacre or 'Halconazo'


Patria
2019 · 1h 29m · MX
Paco Ignacio Taibo II brings his book trilogy to life, highlighting Mexico's history in 1854-1867, a period he considers foundational to the country.


Tepeyac
1917 · 1h 3m · MX
A man (Arroyo Carrillo) is sent to Europe on a diplomatic mission. The ship in which he travels is sunk by a German submarine. In Mexico, his girlfriend Lupita (Cota) receives a telegram with the news and looks for relief in La Virgen de Guadalupe, saint patron of catholic mexicans. After reading a book about the Virgin legend, Lupita falls asleep. Next morning, she receives good news, her boyfriend is alive. Together they go to La Villa del Tepeyac (a church devoted to La Virgen de Guadalupe) and thank for the miracle.


Rock, Weed and Wheels
2025 · 1h 34m · MX
In 1971, two young entrepeneurs decide to organize a race car with lots of indie rock bands livening up the event in Avandaro, Mexico. When only 25 thousand tickets are sold but more than 200 thousand people arrive, things start to get out of control.


Saint Lucifer
1997 · 1h 41m · MX
A conflict arises between the people of the town and the local priest when they have to decide how to represent certain biblical episode.


MILVIO: Photographer of the Revolution
2026 · 1h 13m · DO
No overview available


México de mis recuerdos
1944 · 1h 31m · MX
After listening to the waltz "Carmelita", dedicated to his wife, President Diaz instructs Don Susanito seeking the composer Chucho Flores to give her a piano. Don Susanito located Chucho, a bohemian who lives drunk and surrounded by poets and artists. Don Susanito was named patron protector of artists and aspiring young stars of the stage, which leads to a series of adventures in the middle of songs, dances and loves.


¡Maten a Chinto!
1990 · 1h 25m · MX
Based on real events during Christmas of 1944 in the Pacific coast port city of Manzanillo. Hotel manager Chinto loses his temper and assaults "Inés," the homosexual cook. Inés complains to the police, but when several patrolmen come to arrest Chinto, he pulls a pistol and shoots them. The authorities soon lay seige to the hotel; Chinto's employees, follow his orders without question and assist him in barricading the hotel's doors and windows.


The Chosen
2016 · 1h 51m · MX
Spain, 1937. Ramón Mercader, a young communist combatant, is recruited and trained by the Soviet intelligence service to participate in a top secret mission ordered by the ruthless dictator Joseph Stalin: the assassination of his former political rival, Leon Trotsky, who is living in exile in Mexico.


Phantoms of the Sierra Madre
2024 · 1h 40m · FI
A Danish writer travels to Mexico with the purpose of locating a mysterious Apache tribe that fervently seeks to remain in obscurity.
Mexican cinema had a Golden Age in the 1940s and 50s and a second surge from the late 1990s, when Cuarón, del Toro, and Iñárritu moved between Mexican production and Hollywood without abandoning either.
Historical films reconstruct the past, whether faithfully or as deliberate myth-making. The genre attracts big budgets and big performances, and it reveals as much about the era that produced the film as the one on screen.