The Filmmaker as Historian: The Age of Liberal Revolution on Screen

Justin Hardy and Laurence Brockliss — Palgrave Macmillan

The Filmmaker as Historian brings together the perspectives of a filmmaker and a historian to examine how cinema and television can contribute to historical knowledge. Rather than treating screen productions simply as illustrations of written scholarship, Justin Hardy and Laurence Brockliss investigate their potential as forms of historical inquiry. The book distinguishes between fiction set in the past and filmmaking that develops an evidence-based interpretation of historical events, asking how dramatic storytelling can remain accountable to the historical record. 

The research centres on detailed analyses of twelve films, organised around six historical themes spanning Britain, France and the United States between the American Revolution and the First World War. Subjects include the American and French Revolutions, Peterloo, slavery, the American Civil War and the British suffragettes. Each thematic chapter places two selected productions within a wider history of screen representations, examining what their approaches contribute to understanding the period. Through these comparisons, the authors challenge the assumption that audiovisual accounts are necessarily less valuable than conventional written history. 

A central argument concerns the possibilities of combining dramatic reconstruction with documentary methods. While recognising the strengths of presenter-led documentary in communicating historical evidence, the authors identify particular potential in productions that integrate documentary techniques into costume drama. Their proposed approach balances narrative engagement with the need to substantiate historical claims. The book ultimately presents filmed and written history as complementary practices, making a case for closer collaboration between filmmakers and historians.