A wonderful tale revolving round the atheistic female mathematician, philosopher and all-round genius Hypatia, the lover she spurned and the slave who adored her; Roman authority is collapsing, the end is nigh and the Talibanesque Christians are preparing to both sack and burn the great library at Alexandria, destroying the collective scientific work of centuries, setting back science and maths a millennium, and massacre thousands (including, of course, the Jews). This is an ambitious and swe find out more...

1560, Peru. In a beautiful poetic opening scene the conquistadors cross an Andes pass, situated between the peaks and the valleys, between conquered land and unexplored forests, between 'heaven' and 'earth', shrouded in mists, they make their way down a narrow path. Aguirre's meglomania grows as around him his comrades mutiny and die in his search for the lost city of El Dorado. Herzog's best film, an unforgetable tour de force. Made before the director himself gave in to meglomania on a later t find out more...

Inside this conventionally structured biopic resides an extraordinary story of an extraordinary man. William Wilberforce was the parliamentary spokesman for a group of radicalised young Evangelists (and Quakers), who despised the money politics and corruption of late 18th Century UK politics and who fought for many reformist policies, the most notable of which was the one this film annotates, the abolition of slavery, a process that took years of political skulduggery and the slow passage of find out more...

Back in 1348 the Black Death was ravaging England and, with superstition rampant, scapegoats were being sought. A young monk has a secret lover whom he advises to retreat to her native woods, but to follow her means abandoning his monastery and betraying God. His opportunity arises with the arrival a band of men (think the Inquisition), who seek out an isolated village near the woods where the locals have supposedly avoided death by following the practices of a necromancer. It is in this villa find out more...

The object of this massive tribute died as he had always lived, without wealth, without property, without official title or office. Mahatma Gandhi was not the commander of armies, nor the ruler of vast lands, he could not boast any scientific achievement or artistic gift, yet men, governments, dignitaries from all over the world, have joined hands today to pay homage to the little brown man in the loin cloth who led his country to freedom. This quote is from his funeral, one of the greatest s find out more...

Astonishingly rich and beautiful film, rightly acclaimed as one of the finest examples of Chinese cinema. A young girl becomes the fourth wife of a powerful clan chief and finds that life revolves around the jealousies of her rivals. A poignant study of one woman's fate under feudalism. find out more...

Jeremy Irons converts a tribe of heathen Indians in the name of God and likewise reforms the man (De Niro) who used to sell them into slavery. Their peaceful mission is shattered when the Christian church moves to exterminate their flock in the name of political expediency, how will these men of god react? Beautifully photographed, so beautiful that the cinematography is worth the watch alone. find out more...

From the best selling book by Umberto Eco comes this brilliant film adaptation. Father William of Baskerville arrives at a monastary to participate in a theological dispute. However murder and intrigue are afoot. William finds himself once again at odds with the Inquisition. Mediaeval whodunit! find out more...

Flighty upper class Londoner Kitty is desperate to escape her repressive family life and accepts the marriage proposal of uptight Shanghai based bacteriologist Walter. Quickly bored she instigates her husband's hatred by having an affair with promiscuous diplomat Charlie and, as if in revenge, Walter drags her off to work in a mountainous cholera infected province in rural China. Some couples grew apart, some together....highly recommended. find out more...

A young disgraced priest falls in with a small travelling theatre while roaming the countryside. Arriving in a small town the group are witness to the trial of a woman accused of witchcraft and murder. Suspicious that all is not as it would like to appear the actors decide to put on a play based on the events they have observed, a decision that begins to unravel the dark collusion surrounding the woman's trial. The Reckoning is a visually rich medieval whodunit that sits comfortably in the shado find out more...