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


Chernobyl: Abyss
2021 · 2h 16m
country: Russia
The aftermath of a shocking explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power station made hundreds of people sacrifice their lives to clean up the site of the catastrophe and to successfully prevent an even bigger disaster that could have turned a large part of the European continent into an uninhabitable exclusion zone. This is their story.


9th Company
2005 · 2h 19m
country: Finland
Russian army recruits complete training and take their posting in late 1980s Afghanistan, where the insurgents are slowly gaining the upper hand.


Mongol: The Rise of Genghis Khan
2007 · 2h 5m
country: Germany
The story recounts the early life of Genghis Khan, a slave who went on to conquer half the world in the 11th century.


Panfilov's 28 Men
2016 · 1h 45m
country: Russia
USSR, November, 1941. Based on the account by Vasiliy Koroteev this is the story of Panifilov's Twenty-Eight, a group of twenty-eight Red Army soldiers commanded by General Ivan Panfilov, that stopped the advance on Moscow of a column of fifty-four Nazi tanks of the 11th Panzer Division for several days. Though lightly armed they fight tirelessly and defiantly, with uncommon bravery and unwavering dedication, to protect Moscow and their Motherland.


Kalashnikov AK-47
2020 · 1h 45m
country: Russia
A Russian military propaganda film about the tank commander Kalashnikov, severely injured in battle in 1941. The accident leaves him incapacitated and unable to return to the front line. While recovering in the hospital, he begins creating the initial sketches of what will become one of the world’s most legendary weapons. A self-taught inventor is only 29 when he develops the now iconic assault riffle — the AK-47. Shot in occupied Crimea.


The Spacewalker
2017 · 2h 20m
country: Russia
March 1965. In the heat of the Cold War, the USA and the USSR are competing for supremacy in space. What both superpowers aim for in this race, is to be the first to have a man walk in outer space. To accomplish that, no price is too high and no risk is too great. Now it’s up to the unlikely duo of a seasoned war veteran and a hot-headed test-pilot to fulfill this mission. Two men in a tiny spaceship, without proper testing, facing the complete unknown. They were supposed to do what no man has done before—and no man imagined what would happen next.


The Pilot: A Battle for Survival
2021 · 1h 45m
country: Russia
December of 1941, Northwestern Front. A German tank column is moving towards Moscow. During a mission to stop the enemy advance, Nikolai Komlev's IL-2 is shot down. Komlev manages to crash-land his plane in a remote forest clearing. He's alive, but far from friendly territory. Ahead of him is a relentless trial of severe physical and mental endurance. After battling hunger and extreme cold, evading packs of wolves and detachments of Nazi soldiers, the wounded Komlev finally makes it back to safety. But there he faces another challenge, the most life-changing of them all.


The Last Frontier
2020 · 2h 10m
country: Russia
The story of the Podolsk cadets’ heroic stand outside Moscow in October 1941. Cadets were sent to the Ilyinsky line, fighting alongside units from the Soviet 43rd Army to hold back the German advance until reinforcements arrived. Hopelessly outnumbered, young men laid down their lives in a battle lasting almost two weeks to obstruct the far superior German forces advancing towards Moscow. Around 3,500 cadets and their commanding officers were sent to hold up the last line of defense outside Moscow. Most of them remained there for eternity.


The Barber of Siberia
1998 · 3h
country: France
Douglas is a foreign entrepreneur, who ventures to Russia in 1885 with dreams of selling a new, experimental steam-driven timber harvester in the wilds of Siberia. Jane is his assistant. On her travels, she meets two men who would change her life forever: a handsome young cadet Andrej Tolstoy with whom she shares a fondness for opera, and the powerful General Radlov who is entranced by her beauty and wants to marry her.


Nomad: The Warrior
2005 · 1h 52m
country: France
The Nomad is a historical epic set in 18th-century Kazakhstan. The film is a fictionalised account of the youth and coming-of-age of Ablai Khan, as he grows and fights to defend the fortress at Hazrat-e Turkestan from Dzungar invaders.


Silver Skates
2020 · 2h 16m
country: Russia
1899, the Christmas-time St.Petersburg. Ice-covered rivers and canals of the capital seethe with festive activities. On the eve of the new century those who should not be destined to meet, come together. They are people from different worlds: Matvey, the son of a lamplighter, whose only treasure is his silver-plated skates; Alice is the daughter of a high-ranking official dreaming of science. Each of them has his own difficult life-story, but having accidentally met they rush forward together in pursuit of their dreams.


Fierce Town
2025
country: Russia
By the middle of the 12th century, the borders of the Mongolian Empire stretched from the Adriatic and Mediterranean Seas in the west to the southern lands of China in the east. The Mongolian army, under Khan Batu’s command, was known for its invisibility, destroying anyone who dared to challenge them. Yet, even within their central territories, some areas refused to bow to the Genghisids. Kozelsk was one of them. The Mongolian armies bypassed the high walls of this small town, considering that "the skin of the wolf was not worth the risk of encountering its teeth".However, one of the Khan’s commanders harbored a grudge against the town's citizens. Now, the people of Kozelsk must face a battle against the strongest army in the world, with no hope of victory. This is a story about people facing their death. Some try to escape, others are willing to do anything to survive, but most are prepared to protect their city from the relentless storms of the Mongolian hordes.


Red Ghost
2021 · 1h 36m
country: Russia
December 30, 1941. Vyazma ('Vyazemsky cauldron') is a small detachment of Soviet soldiers, by fatal coincidence, in an unequal battle with a special unit of the Wehrmacht. However, none of them think about giving up. Each of them was ready to sacrifice his life in order to protect his native land. None of these brave people was born a hero. The myth of the red ghost is a heroic deed without a soldier's Soviet soldier in the Great Patriotic War who instilled in the animals, deadly fear of German soldiers. In place of one of the dead hero was inserted another, and the born myth of the invincible Soviet soldier. The film 'Red Ghost' is about the hope that each soldier will have.


Litvyak
2026 · 2h 44m
country: Russia
21-year-old Lidia Litvyak is a fighter pilot in an aviation regiment. Along with her comrades, she flies missions in the most intense sectors of the front, participating in fierce air battles and proving herself one of the most effective aces. In the regiment, she becomes involved with the pilot Alexei Solomatin. Combat victories, losses and personal torments do not change the heroine's strong character, which forever inscribes Lidia Litvyak's name in the history of aviation.


Viking
2016 · 2h 13m
country: Russia
The early Middle Ages. A time of heavy swords and dark blood law. The ruling clan is in discord. The guilt for the accidental death of the brother has fallen on the Grand Duke. According to the law, revenge must be taken by the younger brother, a bastard. For the refusal to kill, he has to pay with eve- rything he had, because “for peace you need more swords than for a war”...


Fortress of War
2010 · 2h 18m
country: Belarus
The film covers the heroic defence of the Brest Fortress, which was attacked during the first strike of German invaders on June 22 1941. The story describes the events of the first days of the defence, including the three main resistance zones, headed by the regiment commander, Pyotr Mikhailovich Gavrilov, the commissar Efim Moiseevich Fomin and the head of the 9th frontier outpost, Andrey Mitrofanovich Kizhevatov. Many years later veteran Alexander Akimov again recalls the memories of the time, when he, then a 15 year old Sasha Akimov was deeply in love with the beautiful Anya and suddenly found himself in the middle of the bloody events of war.


T-34
2018 · 2h 19m
country: Russia
In 1944, a courageous group of Russian soldiers managed to escape from German captivity in a half-destroyed legendary T-34 tank. Those were the times of unforgettable bravery, fierce fighting, unbreakable love, and legendary miracles.


Seven Versts Before Dawn
2026 · 1h 42m
country: Russia
In the early days of the Great Patriotic War old Kuzmich from the village of Kurakino guesses that a long war lies ahead. As the village falls under German occupation and repressions intensify, he keeps aloof, arousing suspicions. Following the execution of fellow villagers and accusations of betrayal, Kuzmich agrees to serve as a guide for the German detachment, ostensibly to get a horse and save his family. In reality, however, he is planning a sacrificial deception: through his grandson Vaska, he conveys information about the enemy's route to the Soviet troops. At the critical moment, Kuzmich leads the German mountain troopers into a trap, repeating the feat of Ivan Susanin. At the cost of his own life the old man leads the enemy to perdition, becoming a symbol of the people's resistance.


Secrets Shared with a Stranger
1996 · 1h 32m
country: Italy
In Russia, in 1907, a rich lenient husband of a loose unfaithful woman is brutally murdered. She and her two lovers are suspects, but what about the stranger she met just before the murder? With no friends left, she and the stranger bond.


1942: Unknown Battle
2019 · 1h 53m
country: Russia
WWII 1942: Rzhev, USSR. Stuck in a crucial strategical position, a small company from the Red Army does whatever it takes to fend off the Nazis.


Kaddish
2019 · 1h 27m
country: Belarus
The testament of a former concentration camp prisoner confronts and turns the lives of two young people from different worlds around, shedding light on the tragic history of their family.


Angels of War
2026 · 1h 50m
country: Russia
In November, at the very beginning of the terrible winter of 1941, when the blockade ring closes around Leningrad, a group of young iceboat athletes goes out onto the thin, not yet formed ice. The mission to deliver ammunition turns into an operation to save orphans from an orphanage who were not evacuated in time. Former rivals in regatta sports must now turn into a real united team in order to survive themselves and give hope to everyone else.


The Conquest of Siberia
2019 · 1h 49m
country: Russia
Ivan Demarin, a young officer of Peter the First’s new guards, follows the Tsar’s order and goes to the frontier town of Tobolsk, deep in the Siberian forest. There Ivan falls in love for the first time and he and his regiment happen to be involved in conspiracy of local princes who hunt for gold in the town of Yarkand. His fort is surrounded by hordes of wild Dzungars and there is no one to call for help…


Почтальон победы
2026 · 1h 22m
country: Belarus
Great Patriotic War. 18-year-old field postman Azamat delivers valuable cargo to the front line every day. He knows all the secret paths in the forest and in the swamp, dreams of the feat and love of the field doctor Masha. When a military plane on a secret mission crashes in the forests, Azamat alone knows how to get to the target the fastest and sneak a reconnaissance group there unnoticed.


Tankers
2018 · 1h 30m
country: Russia
The film is based on the true story about a Soviet KV-1 crew of a Soviet KV-1 tank, under the command of Semyon Konovalov , whom despite being heavily outnumbered by German forces, destroyed 16 tanks, 2 armored vehicles and 8 other enemy vehicles at the village of Nizhnemytyakin, Tarasovsky district, Rostov region on July 13th, 1942.


Russian Ark
2002 · 1h 39m
country: Russia
A ghost and a French marquis wander through the Winter Palace in St Petersburg, encountering scenes from many different periods of its history.


Dear Comrades!
2020 · 2h 1m
country: Russia
When the communist government raises food prices in 1962, rebellious workers from the small industrial town of Novocherkassk go on strike. The massacre that ensues is seen through the eyes of a devout party activist.


Mathilde
2017 · 2h 10m
country: Russia
It portrays the memories of Matilda Kshesinskaya and her love affair with the last Tsar of Russia, Nicholas II. Matilda, a Polish-born ballerina from the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, had a brief and intense romance with Nicholas between 1892 and 1894, before Nicholas married Alexandra Feodorovna and was crowned Tsar after his father's death. It also explores their relationship, facing societal pressures and interference from Nicholas's mother, Empress Maria Feodorovna, as well as Matilda's involvement with other members of the imperial family, the Romanovs, such as Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich and Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich.


Karina
2024 · 1h 31m
country: Russia
A film about the incredible story of Karina Chikitova. In August 2014, a three-year-old girl disappeared, but she was not immediately missed: people assumed she had left with her dad, who lived in a neighboring village. Only on the third day was it revealed that her dad had not picked her up. The village searched for her for 12 days and found her alive, thanks to a faithful friend — a puppy. In honor of Karina and her dog Naida, a monument was erected at the Yakutsk airport, and a book published called "Karina. 12 Days in the Taiga." This story dramatically changed the life of a little girl from a tiny village and her family. Today she is already 12 years old and studying at a ballet school.


Beauty
2026 · 1h 43m
country: Russia
December 1941. Leningrad. The story centers on the main character, who, together with other employees, saves zoo animals from shelling. The people themselves are on the brink of life and death, but they do not abandon the hippopotamus named Krasavitsa.


The Battalion
2015 · 2h
country: Russia
Russia, 1917, WWI. This is the story of the 1st Russian Women's Battalion of Death, formed as part of an ill-conceived propaganda ploy by the Russian Provisional Government in late May of 1917.


Luka
2013
country: Belarus
Year 1917. Young doctor Valentin Voyno-Yasenetskyj with his wife and four children moved to Tashkent, beset by civil war and intervention. Voyno-Yasenetskyj became head physician in the city hospital. He not only saves hundreds of patients every day, operating under the bullets of the permanent street battles, fighting for his life and life of his beloved wife, dying of TB. In the midst of persecution, he as alone with four children on the outskirts of the former empire, so he decides to become a priest. And since then, he never altered neither scalpel, nor cross, he goes with them through all their hard exiles and arduous life, treating both: body and soul.


Secret of Admiral Ushakov
2026 · 1h 46m
country: Russia
Russian Empire, 1812. While Napoleon gathers his troops, a French spy infiltrates Admiral Fyodor Ushakov's estate. The great naval commander is ready to rejoin the fray, and his weapons will be his faith and love for his homeland.


Save the Immortal
2026 · 1h 45m
country: Russia
A 20-year-old extreme sports blogger lives as if he's immortal. But he suddenly finds himself trapped in a mysterious time loop with no escape. Only a soldier who died 80 years ago can save him—but only after a young man from the future helps the soldier achieve immortality.


Sin
2019 · 2h 14m
country: Italy
The life of Michelangelo Buonarroti.


Roads of Victory
2025 · 1h 10m
country: Russia
About the Soviet railway workers who heroically kept watch on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War.


Siberian Sniper
2021 · 1h 35m
country: Russia
After months of exhausting trench warfare, most of Major Belyaev's battalion was destroyed. The area is ruled by German aces snipers. Hope for replenishment collapses when the convoy, in which the Soviet snipers were traveling, falls under a German airstrike. A handful of soldiers and a young hunter from Yakutia, Yegor Cheerin, survive.


Union of Salvation
2019 · 2h 10m
country: Russia
Russian troops occupied Paris. Russia became the first power in the world. Now everything seems possible. Young winners, guards officers, are sure that equality and freedom will come - here and now. For this they are ready to sacrifice everything - position, wealth, love, life ... and the country itself.


1612: Chronicles of the Dark Time
2007 · 2h 15m
country: Russia
The czar of Russia has died and a power vacuum has developed. This period in the late 16th and early 17th century has been called "The Time of Troubles." There are many impostors who claim to the right to rule, but there's only one heir, the Czarina Kseniya Godunova. She has married a Polish military leader who wants to claim the Russian throne in her name so he can rule all of Russia. As the Poles move in on Moscow in an attempt to install the czarina on the throne, Andrei, a serf with a life-long infatuation of the czarina attempts to save her from her brutal Polish husband.


Barabbas
2019 · 1h 55m
country: Russia
The unique view on the well-known story of Christ's death and resurrection, which we see with the eyes of brigand Barabbas who got away from death on the cross.
Russian and Soviet cinema produced the montage theory that underpins modern editing, along with Tarkovsky's long-form spiritual epics — two traditions about as far apart as film gets.
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.