Michael Peterson was born in 1952 into a well off Luton family, "As a boy he was a lovely lad. He was obviously bright and always good with children. He was gentle and mild-mannered, never a bully – he would defend the weak" (comments from his aunt). Somehow something went seriously wrong and he has spent 34 years incarcerated at Her Majesty's pleasure, 30 of them in solitary confinement. He has renamed himself Charles Bronson and is proud of the one thing he has in his life: his reputation as t find out more...

In 1959, Truman Capote, a popular writer for The New Yorker, learns about the horrific and senseless murder of a family of four in Halcomb, Kansas. Inspired by the story, Capote and his best friend, Harper Lee, travel to the town to research for an article. However, as Capote digs deeper into the gruesome tale, he is inspired to expand the project into what would be his greatest work, 'In Cold Blood'. Against Harper's advice Truman's visits with those responsible for the killings become increasi find out more...

Bobby Sands was the IRA member who led the 1981 Long Kesh hunger strike as part of a campaign to achieve the status of political prisoners and not that of criminals. The first section of film deals with daily prison life, the 'dirty' protest and the violence, the second is a long discussion on the meaning of life with a sympathetic priest and the third depicts the last weeks and death of a man voluntarily dying of starvation. find out more...

1959 Manhattan was a party, and none of the glitterati glittered brighter than Truman Capote. Then he saw a story in The New York Times: "Wealthy Farmer, 3 of Family Slain" and the party ended for Capote. He plunged into the murder case that inspired his great non-fiction novel 'In Cold Blood' and led him into a strange and impassioned relationship with one of the two killers. 'Infamous' is a fine re-imagining of events and if not for Seymour Hoffman's mesmerising performance in the very similar find out more...

Spike Lee's mainstream take on the ex-petty crook turned Islamic preacher and leading 60s Civil Rights spokesman Malcolm X. Washington's performance is riveting in this epic. find out more...

A pretty good dramatization of Nelson Mandela's extraordinary journey from childhood in a rural village through to his election as President of South Africa. It explores the Mandela unknown to most of the world; the lover of fancy cars, a lady's man, the boxing enthusiast and playboy, the skilful lawyer and a freedom fighter. An intriguing portrait of the making of a modern icon.

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A crackingly realised biog of a man who relentlessly dodged death with a cocky ambivalence that frankly defies credulity. 'Mesrine' is stylishly shot, smoothly directed and perfectly, charmingly, sociopathically performed by Cassell. A tight, pacey thriller considerably enhanced by the fact that it's based in, well…fact. This first film takes us from his brutal initiation as a soldier during the horrors of Algeria's fight for liberation to the end of the 1960s via France and French Canada. find out more...

The tale of two men banged up for years in the notorious French penal colony Devil's Island. Two escape bids by one of them results in years of solitary confinement but make him simply more determined to flee, even as old age approachs. The ultimate prison escape movie loosely based on a true story. find out more...

The tale of Albert Pierrepoint, Britain's last official executioner, a man who personally dispatched 608 men and women, including various Nazi war criminals, Timothy Evans and Ruth Ellis. Timothy Spall superbly pulls off how this rather ordinary, but distinctly odd, bloke coped emotionally and professionally with his job. An awesome period piece and a superb look into a very strange occupation. A must for anyone who liked Vera Drake. find out more...

A gripping, Oscar nominated, reconstruction of the rise of the Baader-Meinhof Group, a bunch of radical terrorists who rose in the mid-70s using military means, arson, bank raids, assassinations and kidnappings, to attempt the overthrow of the German state, many of whose personnel had their roots in the country's Nazi state. find out more...