This list also contains autobiographical and semi-autobiographical films.
| Rank | Title | Year | Director(s) | Subject(s) | Overall Rank |
| 1 | Lawrence of Arabia | 1962 | David Lean | T.E. Lawrence | 9 |
| 2 | Raging Bull | 1980 | Martin Scorsese | Jake La Motta | 18 |
| 3 | Schindler's List | 1993 | Steven Spielberg | Oskar Schindler | 22 |
| 4 | Bonnie and Clyde | 1967 | Arthur Penn | Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker | 48 |
| 5 | The Sound of Music | 1965 | Robert Wise | The von Trapp Family | 79 |
| 6 | Braveheart | 1995 | Mel Gibson | William Wallace | 116 |
| 7 | Amadeus | 1984 | Milos Forman | Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri | 141 |
| 8 | The Passion of Joan of Arc | 1928 | Carl Theodor Dreyer | Joan of Arc | 143 |
| 9 | Life of Brian | 1979 | Terry Jones | ?!?!? | 147 |
| 10 | Aguirre: The Wrath of God | 1972 | Werner Herzog | Don Lope de Aguirre | 188 |
| 11 | Spartacus | 1960 | Stanley Kubrick | Spartacus | 211 |
| 12 | Andrei Rublev | 1966 | Andrei Tarkovsky | Andrei Rublev | 236 |
| 13 | Patton | 1970 | Franklin J. Schaffner | George S. Patton Jr. | 241 |
| 14 | Gandhi | 1982 | Richard Attenborough | Mohandas K. Gandhi | 251 |
| 15 | Napoléon | 1927 | Abel Gance | Napoleon Bonaparte | 264 |
| 16 | Yankee Doodle Dandy | 1942 | Michael Curtiz | George M. Cohan | 338 |
| 17 | Henry V | 1944 | Laurence Olivier | Henry V | 375 |
| 18 | The Elephant Man | 1980 | David Lynch | John Merrick | 421 |
| 19 | JFK | 1991 | Oliver Stone | Jim Garrison | 423 |
| 20 | Ivan the Terrible | 1944 | Sergei M. Eisenstein | Ivan IV | 453 |
| 21 | The Pianist | 2002 | Roman Polanski | Wladyslaw Szpilman | 470 |
| 22 | A Man for All Seasons | 1966 | Fred Zinnemann | Sir Thomas More | 482 |
| 23 | Casino | 1995 | Martin Scorsese | Frank Rosenthal | 488 |
| 24 | Ed Wood | 1994 | Tim Burton | Ed Wood | 497 |
| 25 | Out of Africa | 1985 | Sydney Pollack | Isak Dinesen | 498 |
| 26 | The Last Emperor | 1987 | Bernardo Bertolucci | Pu Yi | 546 |
| 27 | Crumb | 1994 | Terry Zwigoff | Robert Crumb | 550 |
| 28 | Malcolm X | 1992 | Spike Lee | Malcolm X | 582 |
| 29 | Reds | 1981 | Warren Beatty | Jack Reed | 588 |
| 30 | Downfall | 2004 | Oliver Hirschbiegel | Adolf Hitler | 600 |
| 31 | A Beautiful Mind | 2001 | Ron Howard | John Nash | 621 |
| 32 | Funny Girl | 1968 | William Wyler | Fanny Brice | 628 |
| 33 | The Insider | 1999 | Michael Mann | Lowell Bergman and Jeffrey Wigand | 647 |
| 34 | Erin Brockovich | 2000 | Steven Soderbergh | Erin Brockovich | 649 |
| 35 | The Gospel According to St. Matthew | 1964 | Pier Paolo Pasolini | Jesus of Nazareth | 660 |
| 36 | The Pride of the Yankees | 1942 | Sam Wood | Lou Gehrig | 671 |
| 37 | Camille | 1936 | George Cukor | Marie Duplessis | 681 |
| 38 | My Left Foot | 1989 | Jim Sheridan | Christy Brown | 683 |
| 39 | Young Mr. Lincoln | 1939 | John Ford | Abraham Lincoln | 725 |
| 40 | Lola Montès | 1955 | Max Ophüls | Lola Montez | 730 |
| 41 | The Straight Story | 1999 | David Lynch | Alvin Straight | 738 |
| 42 | Topsy-Turvy | 1999 | Mike Leigh | William S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan | 752 |
| 43 | Born on the Fourth of July | 1989 | Oliver Stone | Ron Kovic | 781 |
| 44 | Elizabeth | 1998 | Shekhar Kapur | Elizabeth I | 798 |
| 45 | Queen Christina | 1933 | Rouben Mamoulian | Christina of Sweden | 800 |
| 46 | Empire of the Sun | 1987 | Steven Spielberg | J. G. Ballard | 843 |
| 47 | The Mirror | 1975 | Andrei Tarkovsky | Andrei Tarkovsky | 887 |
| 48 | Sergeant York | 1941 | Howard Hawks | Alvin York | 919 |
| 49 | Ivan the Terrible, Part II | 1958 | Sergei M. Eisenstein and M. Filimonova | Ivan IV | 930 |
| 50 | Coal Miner's Daughter | 1980 | Michael Apted | Loretta Lynn | 935 |
| 51 | Il Postino | 1994 | Michael Radford | Pablo Neruda | 977 |
| 52 | Brian's Song | 1971 | Buzz Kulik | Gale Sayers and Brian Piccolo | 1006 |
| 53 | Ray | 2004 | Taylor Hackford | Ray Charles | 1007 |
| 54 | Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer | 1986 | John McNaughton | Henry Lee Lucas | 1010 |
| 55 | Shine | 1996 | Scott Hicks | David Helfgott | 1022 |
| 56 | The Mystery of Kaspar Hausar | 1974 | Werner Herzog | Kaspar Hausar | 1025 |
| 57 | The Life of Emile Zola | 1937 | William Dieterle | Emile Zola | 1027 |
| 58 | Silkwood | 1983 | Mike Nichols | Karen Silkwood | 1051 |
| 59 | Serpico | 1973 | Sidney Lumet | Frank Serpico | 1057 |
| 60 | Hotel Rwanda | 2004 | Terry George | Paul Rusesabagina | 1060 |
| 61 | My Brilliant Career | 1979 | Gillian Armstrong | Sybylla Melvyn | 1096 |
| 62 | The Color of Pomegranates | 1968 | Sergei Parajanov | Sayat Nova | 1121 |
| 63 | The Miracle Worker | 1962 | Arthur Penn | Helen Keller and Annie Sullivan | 1174 |
| 64 | Sid and Nancy | 1986 | Alex Cox | Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen | 1196 |
| 65 | American Splendor | 2003 | Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini | Harvey Pekar | 1209 |
| 66 | Finding Neverland | 2004 | Marc Forster | J.M. Barrie | 1219 |
| 67 | The Long Day Closes | 1992 | Terence Davies | Terence Davies | 1250 |
| 68 | Capturing the Friedmans | 2003 | Andrew Jarecki | The Friedman family | 1255 |
| 69 | An Angel at My Table | 1990 | Jane Campion | Janet Frame | 1265 |
| 70 | Papillon | 1973 | Franklin J. Schaffner | Henri Charriere | 1292 |
| 71 | Rudy | 1993 | David Anspaugh | Rudy Ruettiger | 1295 |
| 72 | Salvador | 1986 | Oliver Stone | Richard Boyle | 1349 |
| 73 | Gods and Monsters | 1998 | Bill Condon | James Whale | 1369 |
| 74 | 24 Hour Party People | 2002 | Michael Winterbottom | Tony Wilson | 1370 |
| 75 | Grizzly Man | 2005 | Werner Herzog | Timothy Treadwell | 1390 |
| 76 | October Sky | 1999 | Joe Johnston | Homer Hickam | 1392 |
| 77 | Cleopatra | 1963 | Joseph L. Mankiewicz | Cleopatra VII | 1397 |
| 78 | Walk the Line | 2005 | James Mangold | Johnny Cash | 1400 |
| 79 | Capote | 2005 | Bennett Miller | Truman Capote | 1425 |
| 80 | The Diary of Anne Frank | 1959 | George Stevens | Anne Frank | 1427 |
| 81 | Evita | 1996 | Alan Parker | Eva Perón | 1428 |
| 82 | The Sea Inside | 2004 | Alejandro Amenábar | Ramón Sampedro | 1431 |
| 83 | The Puppet Master | 1993 | Hsiao-hsien Hou | Tianlu Li | 1443 |
| 84 | What's Love Got to Do with It | 1993 | Brian Gibson | Tina Turner | 1451 |
| 85 | Nixon | 1995 | Oliver Stone | Richard M. Nixon | 1460 |
| 86 | The Diving Bell and the Butterfly | 2007 | Julian Schnabel | Jean-Dominique Bauby | 1467 |
| 87 | The Aviator | 2004 | Martin Scorsese | Howard Hughes | 1495 |
| 88 | Lust for Life | 1956 | Vincente Minnelli | Vincent Van Gogh | 1525 |
| 89 | Sherman's March | 1986 | Ross McElwee | Ross McElwee | 1529 |
| 90 | The Motorcycle Diaries | 2004 | Walter Salles | Che Guevara and Alberto Granado | 1531 |
| 91 | The Great Ziegfeld | 1936 | Robert Z. Leonard | Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. | 1562 |
| 92 | Without Limits | 1998 | Robert Towne | Steve Prefontaine | 1563 |
| 93 | Midnight Express | 1978 | Alan Parker | Billy Hayes | 1595 |
| 94 | Naked Lunch | 1991 | David Cronenberg | William S. Burroughs | 1618 |
| 95 | The Hurricane | 1999 | Norman Jewison | Rubin "Hurricane" Carter and Lesra Martin | 1619 |
| 96 | Cinderella Man | 2005 | Ron Howard | James J. Braddock | 1624 |
| 97 | The Queen | 2006 | Stephen Frears | Tony Blair and Elizabeth II | 1639 |
| 98 | Persepolis | 2007 | Vincent Paronnaud and Marjane Satrapi | Marjane Satrapi | 1651 |
| 99 | Ali | 2001 | Michael Mann | Muhammad Ali | 1657 |
| 100 | The Rise of Louis XIV | 1970 | Roberto Rossellini | Louis XIV | 1679 |
