Best Danish history movies

Get ready to binge. We've found a collection of must-watch history films from Denmark, now streaming on Netflix, HBO, Hulu, Prime Video, and other top services!

  • Poster for Land of Mine

    Land of Mine 2015

    In the days following the surrender of Germany in May 1945, a group of young German prisoners of war is handed over to the Danish authorities and subsequently sent to the West Coast, where they are ordered to remove the more than two million mines that the Germans had placed in the sand along the coast. With their bare hands, crawling around in the sand, the boys are forced to perform the dangerous work under the leadership of a Danish sergeant.

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  • Poster for Borg vs McEnroe

    Borg vs McEnroe 2017

    The Swedish Björn Borg and the American John McEnroe, the best tennis players in the world, maintain a legendary duel during the 1980 Wimbledon tournament.

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  • Poster for Kon-Tiki

    Kon-Tiki 2012

    The true story about legendary explorer Thor Heyerdahl and his epic crossing of the Pacific on a balsa wood raft in 1947, in an effort to prove it was possible for South Americans to settle in Polynesia in pre-Columbian times.

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  • Poster for The Promised Land

    The Promised Land 2023

    Denmark, 1755. Captain Ludvig Kahlen sets out to conquer a Danish heath reputed to be uncultivable, with an impossible goal: to establish a colony in the name of the king, in exchange for a royal title. A single-minded ambition that the ruthless lord of the region will relentlessly seek to put down. Kahlen's fate hangs in the balance: will his endevours bring him wealth and honour, or cost him his life...?

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  • Poster for Against the Ice

    Against the Ice 2022

    In 1909, two explorers fight to survive after they're left behind while on a Danish expedition in ice-covered Greenland.

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  • Poster for A Royal Affair

    A Royal Affair 2012

    A young queen falls in love with her physician, and they start a revolution that changes their nation forever.

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  • Poster for The Shadow in My Eye

    The Shadow in My Eye 2021

    On March 21st, 1945, the British Royal Air Force set out on a mission to bomb Gestapo's headquarters in Copenhagen. The raid had fatal consequences as some of the bombers accidentally targeted a school and more than 120 people were killed, 86 of whom were children.

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  • Poster for The Look of Silence

    The Look of Silence 2014

    An optician grapples with the Indonesian mass killings of 1965-1966, during which his older brother was exterminated.

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  • Poster for The Girl with the Needle

    The Girl with the Needle 2024

    Struggling to survive in post-WWI Copenhagen, a newly unemployed and pregnant young woman is taken in by a charismatic elder to help run an underground adoption agency. The two form an unexpected bond, until a sudden discovery changes everything.

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  • Poster for Häxan

    Häxan 1922

    Grave robbing, torture, possessed nuns, and a satanic Sabbath: Benjamin Christensen's legendary film uses a series of dramatic vignettes to explore the scientific hypothesis that the witches of the Middle Ages suffered the same hysteria as turn-of-the-century psychiatric patients. But the film itself is far from serious-- instead it's a witches' brew of the scary, gross, and darkly humorous.

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  • Poster for Flame & Citron

    Flame & Citron 2008

    Gunman Flame and his partner Citron assassinate Nazi collaborators for the Danish resistance. Assigned targets by their Allies-connected leader, Aksel Winther, they relish the opportunity to begin targeting the Nazis themselves. When they begin to doubt the validity of their assignments, their morally complicated task becomes even more labyrinthine.

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  • Poster for Becoming Astrid

    Becoming Astrid 2018

    When Astrid Lindgren was very young something happened that affected her profoundly, and this combination of both miracle and calamity came to shape her entire life. It was an event that transformed her into one of the most inspiring women of our age and the storyteller a whole world would come to love. This is the story of when a young Astrid, despite the expectations of her time and religious upbringing, decided to break free from society's norms and follow her heart.

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  • Poster for April 9th

    April 9th 2015

    In the early morning of April 9, 1940, the Danish army is alerted: the Germans have crossed the border.

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  • Poster for Day of Wrath

    Day of Wrath 1943

    In a Danish village in the early 1600s, a young woman named Anne, whose mother was thought to be a witch, develops sympathy toward an old woman, Marte, who is accused of witchcraft. The intervention of Anne's older but kindly husband, Pastor Absalon saved her mother -- but now, urged on by his overbearing mother, he refuses to help Marte. When Absalon's son returns home and is attracted to Anne, it's a matter of time before her family destiny catches up with her.

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  • Poster for The Ambassador

    The Ambassador 2011

    Danish journalist Mads Brügger goes undercover as a Liberian Ambassador to embark on a dangerous yet hysterical journey to uncover the blood diamond trade in Africa.

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  • Poster for Arn: The Kingdom at Road's End

    Arn: The Kingdom at Road's End 2008

    Arn has served his term in the Holy land and returns home to be reunited with his beloved Cecilia. When he returns home, he discovers that political forces tries to separate him and Cecilia - but thanks to queen Blanka they can finally get married. Arn knows that war is looming and with his martial knowledge he starts to build an army at his new home at Forsvik.

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  • Poster for The Man Who Saved the World

    The Man Who Saved the World 2014

    The Man Who Saved the World is a feature documentary film about Stanislav Petrov, a former lieutenant colonel of the Soviet Air Defence Forces.

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  • Poster for Margrete: Queen of the North

    Margrete: Queen of the North 2021

    1402. Queen Margrete I has gathered the Nordic kingdoms in a union, ruled through her adopted son, Erik. But a conspiracy is in the making and Margrete finds herself in an impossible dilemma that could shatter her life's work: The Kalmar Union.

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  • Poster for Cold Case Hammarskjöld

    Cold Case Hammarskjöld 2019

    Ndola, Northern Rhodesia (currently Zambia), September 18, 1961. Swedish economist and diplomat Dag Hammarskjöld, Secretary General of the UN, dies mysteriously in a plane crash. Decades later, Danish journalist and filmmaker Mads Brügger and Swedish researcher Göran Björkdahl investigate the case in search of definitive closure.

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  • Poster for Song for a Raggy Boy

    Song for a Raggy Boy 2003

    William Franklin is a teacher who was born in Ireland and moved to the United States only to repatriate in 1939 after his leftist political views cause him to lose his job. Franklin becomes the first non-cleric instructor at St. Jude's, a school for wayward boys run by Brother John, who is a firm believer in strong discipline.

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  • Poster for Everlasting Moments

    Everlasting Moments 2008

    In a time of social change and unrest, war and poverty, a young working class woman, Maria, wins a camera in a lottery. The decision to keep it alters her whole life.

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  • Poster for Shadow World

    Shadow World 2016

    A detailed investigation into the political and economic interests that, since the beginning of the 20th century, have pulled the strings of the arms trade, hidden in the shadows, feeding the shameful corruption of politicians and government officials and promoting a state of permanent war throughout the world, while they cynically asked for a lasting and universal peace.

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  • Poster for Before It Ends

    Before It Ends 2023

    When a folk high school is turned into an internment camp for German refugees, the headmaster couple Jakob and Lis and their children are thrust into an impossible situation. Should the family help the refugees — or stand firm in the Danish resistance against the Germans?

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  • Poster for Simon & the Oaks

    Simon & the Oaks 2011

    Epic story about two families and their friendship and common destiny in Sweden's Gothenburg in the 1940s and 1950s. Told from the perspective of young Simon Larsson, who learns that he's an adopted child who has a Jewish father from Germany. After WWII Simon travels to explore his roots - a journey that leads to the basic mysteries of the human life. After the bestselling novel by Marianne Fredriksson.

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  • Poster for Into the Darkness

    Into the Darkness 2020

    Karlskov is a self made, successful owner of a large electronics factory, has a wife and five children. They live the good, privileged upper-class life on Strandvejen north of Copenhagen when the Nazis occupy Denmark in April 1940. Karl struggles to continue production at the factory, but to protect his family and employees he reluctantly begins to produce for the German market. It brings him into a controversial collaboration with the occupying power and causes painful breaks in the family.

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  • Poster for The LEGO® Story

    The LEGO® Story 2012

    As toy maker LEGO heads into its 80th year, Lego present this newly launched animated short film, which looks at the history of the iconic brand. A nicely produced look back at the brand LEGO.

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  • Poster for The Good Traitor

    The Good Traitor 2020

    The Danish ambassador to Washington declares himself to be the sole representative of a free Denmark during the Nazi occupation of the country.

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  • Poster for Dan Dream

    Dan Dream 2017

    A small group of eccentric pioneers join forces, in order to do the impossible and create world history in the early 1980s of Denmark

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  • Poster for The Kautokeino Rebellion

    The Kautokeino Rebellion 2008

    Religious and cultural reawakening inspires rebellion in a 19th century Norwegian village.

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  • Poster for The Day We Died

    The Day We Died 2020

    Film about the events surrounding the terrorist attacks in Copenhagen on February 14th and 15th 2015.

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  • Poster for Across the Waters

    Across the Waters 2016

    Fuglene Over Sundet is the gripping tale of the Danish Jews' escape to Sweden in October 1943.

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  • Poster for Leaves from Satan's Book

    Leaves from Satan's Book 1920

    The power of Satan is highlighted in four historical tales: the betrayal and subsequent arrest of Jesus, the Spanish Inquisition, the French Revolution and the execution of Marie Antoinette, and the Finnish War of Independence in 1918.

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  • Poster for Gold Coast

    Gold Coast 2015

    Young anti-colonial idealist Wulff leaves for Danish Guinea to set up a coffee plantation but not everything goes according to plan.

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  • Poster for Klubben

    Klubben 2023

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  • Poster for Winter Journey

    Winter Journey 2019

    Tucson, Arizona, September 1996. At the request of his son Martin, George Goldsmith tells him of his past in Nazi Germany as a member of a family of Jewish musicians and the strange history of the Jüdischer Kulturbund, a Jewish organization sponsored by Reichsminister Joseph Goebbels.

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  • Poster for Testimony

    Testimony 1988

    The story of the great Soviet composer Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) and his life and career during the rule of Stalin.

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  • Poster for The Video Diary of Ricardo Lopez

    The Video Diary of Ricardo Lopez 2000

    Intimate portrait of the social outcast Ricardo Lopez, chronicling the last days of his life in 1996 as he creates and sends a letter bomb rigged with sulfuric acid to Icelandic singer Björk and heads home to record his own suicide on video.

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  • Poster for Gods and Goddesses

    Gods and Goddesses 2006

    History Channel Presents Gods and Goddesses review For countless generations before Biblical times, tales of gods and goddesses were passsed down by storytellers and interwoven into traditions and philosophies. History Channel Presents Gods and Goddesses DVD Join The History Channel for this fascinating journey to discover the truth behind these compelling mythological tales. History Channel Presents Gods and Goddesses movie This History Channel program delves deep into the stories of the Greek Olympian pantheon. History Channel Presents Gods and Goddesses video In addition to thoroughly exploring the myths and traditions, GODS AND GODDESSES visits archeological sites, interviews experts, and speculates on the relevancy and continually changing perspective on the Greek myths.

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  • Poster for Eye of the Eagle

    Eye of the Eagle 1997

    In 1218 Danish king Valdemar sends his homonymous young son and heir in safety, as war is at the borders, to Erskil, the bishop of Ravensburg, who is instructed to see to the prince's education. Alas the bishop is the brain of a conspiracy to seize the crown for himself, as most of the nobles are dissatisfied with the endless wars that bring them no profit. The prince and kitchen-boy Aske accidentally fall out of the castle and overhear the conspirators, but are seen and pursued by the men of the One-eyed Man, a feared mercenary who is in the conspiracy to take mortal revenge on the king for leaving him behind on a battlefield where he lost an eye which was eaten by an eagle, which he tamed and now shares his sight with. Written by KGF Vissers

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  • Poster for The Swedish Torpedo

    The Swedish Torpedo 2024

    World War II is around the corner, but the only thing Sally Bauer can think of is the ocean. Her dream is to swim across the English Channel.

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  • Poster for The Greatest Thing

    The Greatest Thing 2001

    In the late 1860s, after becoming engaged to three bachelors in the town, Petra flees from an angry mob and seeks refuge in a rectory. Based on the Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson novel "Fiskerjænten".

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  • Gaston's War 1997

    Gaston Vandermeerssche is a young, resourceful Flemish action hero of the Belgian resistance during World War II: he coaches surviving allied pilots trough occupied Belgium and France to Spain so they can regain England, each time a dangerous adventure as their poor mastery of local languages and customs add to the ever-present risks of trying to outsmart the Nazi troops and Gestapo agents. After a mess-up in the coordination from London he himself gets caught by the dreaded secret police for ruthless interrogation...

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  • Poster for Christian IV

    Christian IV 2018

    The film depicts the last hours in the life of great Danish King Christian IV, told exclusively from a horse carriage. The focal point is Christian's tempestuous relationship to his second wife, Kirsten Munk, involving accusations of infidelity and attempted murder.

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  • Poster for The Genius' sister

    The Genius' sister 2025

    Hven 1588 – Sophie pursues a career in science but must break free from her brother's all-consuming ego. Over one fateful night at her brother's decadent lunar eclipse party, Sophie struggles to choose her own path in the world.

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  • Poster for La Tosca

    La Tosca 1908

    A courtly drama of a bridegroom arrested for being intimate with the queen. To secure his release, his future bride sleeps with his rival. The film is incomplete. Missing is the ending, where the bride obtains a forged letter of passage and murders the rival, but then has to watch as her betrothed is executed after the letter is found to be forged. The film includes a single rare hand-coloured scene. FRAGMENT. (stumfilm.dk)

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  • Poster for Peter von Scholten

    Peter von Scholten 1987

    He freed the slaves in 1848. He spoke out against the king and the government. He loved his wives equally. He was colorful, he was autocratic, he was Denmark's last governor-general of the West Indies, his name was Peter von Scholten. The film about him is a magnificent story of greatness, power, and stubbornness on the one hand, and of love, loyalty, and melancholy on the other. It is a colorful gallery of characters that depicts the times, the Dane in a foreign land—and the black man in relief to the white.

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  • Poster for The Vicar of Vejlby

    The Vicar of Vejlby 1931

    A tale of murder and marriage in 1625 Denmark.

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  • Poster for Portrait of God

    Portrait of God 2001

    Portrait of God is a documentary road movie about the manhunt for the most wanted person in the world. The film is constructed as a classic detective story. A middle-aged detective shadows the suspect through the highs and lows of South African society until he ends up in a gigantic prison in Cape Town bursting with murderers, thieves, and rapists.

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  • Poster for Addicted to Solitude

    Addicted to Solitude 1999

    I traveled to South Africa to find a white family living on a desolate farm. I wanted to film how they faced the new days of equality after the fall of Apartheid. But I soon lost my way both on the endless roads and in my way. Instead, the film became a story about two very different women who both experienced a tragic loss in the midst of a white community not too fond of the future.

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  • Et barns liv 1999

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  • Poster for Sorte Shara

    Sorte Shara 1961

    Based on a true story from the fateful day of August 29, 1943, when the Germans disarmed the Danish army and navy. The minesweeper MS 1 plays the leading role in the film about the ship that refused to surrender. The commander, Captain U.H. Gad, camouflaged the boat as a tugboat under the name 'Sorte Shara'. With Sweden as its destination, the boat set sail and experienced hours of excitement as it approached the German observation posts.

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  • Poster for Frihed forpligter

    Frihed forpligter 1951

    Danish social democratic propaganda film. During the Occupation, the young freedom fighter Søren had a good working relationship with a comrade in the resistance movement, despite the fact that Søren was a social democrat and his comrade a communist. After the liberation in May 1945, the differences that had been less important during the war begin to stand in Søren's way. Both his friendship with his comrade and his relationship with the wealthy Inger fall apart in the summer of liberation. But through his work in the Social Democratic Party, Søren experiences a renewed enthusiasm and resumes his relationship with Inger. Together, they actively engage in the party's work and both see it as an extension of the struggle for freedom during the occupation. Denmark's entry into NATO is particularly important.

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  • Witchfinder 0

    A fictionalized study of real-life witch hunter Matthew Hopkins and the heinous crimes he committed during the English Civil War in 1645.

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  • Poster for Tintomara

    Tintomara 1970

    In March 1792 the Swedish King Gustav III is murdered at a masked ball. Five young people are involved in the murder story, including Tintomara, a 17 year old inter-sex who dominates over the others.

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  • Poster for Agnes

    Agnes 1995

    In a barren land ruled by oppression and ignorance, a spirited woman driven by hope of a better life must fight against the odds. Agnes is a servant in the house of the county sheriff. There she is constantly sexually harassed by him and treated with contempt by his wife. Agnes falls in love with Natan, a self taught homoeopathic doctor. The sheriff takes revenge on Natan by making it illegal for him to practice his profession. The dramatic relationship between the three main characters ultimately leads to a fatal web of events where a love affair turns into a nightmare of brutality and destruction.

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  • Poster for The Soldier and the Woman

    The Soldier and the Woman 1962

    Set in the times of King Herod (73-4 b.c.), Rachel is a woman traumatized after her innocent son was slaughtered by Herod's men. When discovering an injured officer in the stable, she is determined to kill him. Then a soldier enters. Danish adaptation of Morgan's 1960 BBC Christmas play.

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