I Claudius might also be a bit too mature for a 15 year-old as well.

One old TV movie set in ancient times was Masada, about a Hebrew city under siege by the Romans.

I have also heard great things about Red Cliff, an epic historical film about political power struggle and warfare at the end of Han Dynasty, although I haven't seen it personally.

I only caught part of this. It's an excellent production, but not necessarily too historical. There was a battle of the Red Cliffs, but it's best known in China through a much later novel, The Romance of the Three Kingdoms. That book added some ahistorical elements to improve the narrative (and possibly to reflect current politics), and the movie is closer to the book than the original event.

Nonetheless, the goal of representing early Chinese history is a good one. I'll check with Biyi if there's anything else in that genre worth considering.

I don't know, Masada ends with hundreds of people defiantly committing group suicide as a solution to their problem with Roman authority. I wouldn't show that to a teenager.

Mmm, what about Monty Python and the Holy Grail? Or Life of Brian?

Oh, The 13th Warrior! It's kind of ludicrous, but it's based on an actual possibly-true story, I believe. Like, there may really have been a Spanish Moor who ended up visiting with Vikings for a while. (Certainly the Vikings got to Spain, and Russia, and Constantinople...)

I haven't even heard about it, but there is a trailer on IMBb and it looks pretty epic:

I highly recommend it. I saw it in the theater and it was spellbinding, but I think it would probably translate to smaller screens just fine.

I want to say Ran (I really want to say "any Kurosawa, just pick one at random" but I could say that to almost any question) - it doesn't narrate a historical event, I don't think, but I understand it's a good depiction of the period.

I can't think of any movies about ancient civilizations that aren't crap. if there are good ones I would be please to hear it!

Are those "Newscast from the Past" things available anywhere? I can't remember the context for them at all, except that I think they aired in the '90s, and were both entertaining and informative.

Are those "Newscast from the Past" things available anywhere? I can't remember the context for them at all, except that I think they aired in the '90s, and were both entertaining and informative.

Archive. org might have things like that.

Depends on Mac's taste in movies. From 8:00 p.m. Friday until 6:00 a.m. Tuesday, Turner Classic Movies is doing its regular Memorial Day war movie festival. They're going to show some of the movies mentioned above.

Some old movies provide great windows into the eras in which they were made. Casablanca could be a great springboard into WWII.

On ancient civilizations, the Taylor-Burton Cleopatra is great spectacle but crap history.

For TV, how about You Are There. I vaguely remember seeing reruns of a few episodes as a kid, and it may be as good as you can get in a half hour. Basically, it's historical recreations of events in history, with a reporter present to interview the principals and acts as Captain Exposition. Fairly U.S. centric, but a lot of episodes cover non-U.S. events (Hitler Invades Poland, The Death of Socrates).

I haven't seen it yet, but The Long Walk to Freedom is about Nelson Mandela (and stars Idris Elba). It's PG-13. [link]

All Quiet on the Western Front is a classic WWI movie, but might be a bit intense. [link]

My parents had recordings (audio only) of the You Are There broadcasts and I remember listening to them and being fascinated. Of course, I enjoyed history ... so Mac may not.