| Rank | Title | Year | Director(s) | Overall Rank |
| 1 | Schindler's List | 1993 | Steven Spielberg | 21 |
| 2 | The Battleship Potemkin | 1925 | Sergei Eisenstein | 131 |
| 3 | The Passion of Joan of Arc | 1928 | Carl Theodor Dreyer | 152 |
| 4 | Aguirre: The Wrath of God | 1972 | Werner Herzog | 178 |
| 5 | 12 Years a Slave | 2013 | Steve McQueen | 235 |
| 6 | Shoah | 1985 | Claude Lanzmann | 254 |
| 7 | Andrei Rublev | 1966 | Andrei Tarkovsky | 264 |
| 8 | All the President's Men | 1976 | Alan J. Pakula | 282 |
| 9 | Persepolis | 2007 | Vincent Paronnaud and Marjane Satrapi | 334 |
| 10 | Spartacus | 1960 | Stanley Kubrick | 336 |
| 11 | The Leopard | 1963 | Luchino Visconti | 340 |
| 12 | Waltz with Bashir | 2008 | Ari Folman | 367 |
| 13 | Intolerance | 1916 | D.W. Griffith | 369 |
| 14 | The Thin Red Line | 1998 | Terrence Malick | 380 |
| 15 | Dunkirk | 2017 | Christopher Nolan | 460 |
| 16 | Letters from Iwo Jima | 2006 | Clint Eastwood | 475 |
| 17 | Night and Fog | 1956 | Alain Resnais | 490 |
| 18 | Downfall | 2004 | Oliver Hirschbiegel | 526 |
| 19 | Zero Dark Thirty | 2012 | Kathryn Bigelow | 549 |
| 20 | Malcolm X | 1992 | Spike Lee | 555 |
| 21 | Glory | 1989 | Edward Zwick | 562 |
| 22 | The Right Stuff | 1983 | Philip Kaufman | 589 |
| 23 | The Ten Commandments | 1956 | Cecil B. DeMille | 603 |
| 24 | Napoléon | 1927 | Abel Gance | 621 |
| 25 | The King's Speech | 2010 | Tom Hooper | 625 |
| 26 | Gandhi | 1982 | Richard Attenborough | 626 |
| 27 | Man on Wire | 2008 | James Marsh | 644 |
| 28 | The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford | 2007 | Andrew Dominik | 713 |
| 29 | Chimes at Midnight | 1965 | Orson Welles | 739 |
| 30 | JFK | 1991 | Oliver Stone | 745 |
| 31 | The Sorrow and the Pity | 1969 | Marcel Ophüls | 766 |
| 32 | Hidden Figures | 2016 | Theodore Melfi | 771 |
| 33 | The Last Emperor | 1987 | Bernardo Bertolucci | 779 |
| 34 | Hotel Rwanda | 2004 | Terry George | 794 |
| 35 | Selma | 2014 | Ava DuVernay | 796 |
| 36 | Day of Wrath | 1943 | Carl Theodor Dreyer | 799 |
| 37 | Milk | 2008 | Gus Van Sant | 811 |
| 38 | Daughters of the Dust | 1991 | Julie Dash | 814 |
| 39 | Black Hawk Down | 2001 | Ridley Scott | 837 |
| 40 | The Gospel According to St. Matthew | 1964 | Pier Paolo Pasolini | 845 |
| 41 | Apollo 13 | 1995 | Ron Howard | 857 |
| 42 | Woodstock | 1970 | Michael Wadleigh | 858 |
| 43 | The Longest Day | 1962 | Ken Annakin, Andrew Marton, and Bernhard Wicki | 864 |
| 44 | The Insider | 1999 | Michael Mann | 871 |
| 45 | Triumph of the Will | 1935 | Leni Riefenstahl | 877 |
| 46 | The Killing Fields | 1984 | Roland Joffé | 930 |
| 47 | The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara | 2003 | Errol Morris | 959 |
| 48 | Hacksaw Ridge | 2016 | Mel Gibson | 972 |
| 49 | The Irishman | 2019 | Martin Scorsese | 976 |
| 50 | Ivan the Terrible | 1944 | Sergei Eisenstein | 987 |
| 51 | Argo | 2012 | Ben Affleck | 1002 |
| 52 | The Devils | 1971 | Ken Russell | 1010 |
| 53 | In Cold Blood | 1967 | Richard Brooks | 1020 |
| 54 | Shakespeare in Love | 1998 | John Madden | 1026 |
| 55 | The Times of Harvey Milk | 1984 | Rob Epstein | 1028 |
| 56 | Zulu | 1964 | Cy Endfield | 1036 |
| 57 | Sergeant York | 1941 | Howard Hawks | 1056 |
| 58 | The Act of Killing | 2012 | Joshua Oppenheimer | 1070 |
| 59 | Alexander Nevsky | 1938 | Sergei Eisenstein and Dmitriy Vasilev | 1116 |
| 60 | Lincoln | 2012 | Steven Spielberg | 1122 |
| 61 | Gallipoli | 1981 | Peter Weir | 1137 |
| 62 | Cool Runnings | 1993 | Jon Turteltaub | 1144 |
| 63 | Eight Men Out | 1988 | John Sayles | 1185 |
| 64 | Miracle | 2004 | Gavin O'Connor | 1193 |
| 65 | Mutiny on the Bounty | 1935 | Frank Lloyd | 1211 |
| 66 | Tombstone | 1993 | George P. Cosmatos | 1213 |
| 67 | A Man for All Seasons | 1966 | Fred Zinnemann | 1237 |
| 68 | Russian Ark | 2002 | Aleksandr Sokurov | 1300 |
| 69 | O.J.: Made in America | 2016 | Ezra Edelman | 1302 |
| 70 | I Am Not Your Negro | 2016 | Raoul Peck | 1308 |
| 71 | Kagemusha | 1980 | Akira Kurosawa | 1326 |
| 72 | United 93 | 2006 | Paul Greengrass | 1380 |
| 73 | Capote | 2005 | Bennett Miller | 1406 |
| 74 | Inherit the Wind | 1960 | Stanley Kramer | 1430 |
| 75 | The Scarlet Empress | 1934 | Josef von Sternberg | 1434 |
| 76 | A City of Sadness | 1989 | Hsiao-hsien Hou | 1443 |
| 77 | Oppenheimer | 2023 | Christopher Nolan | 1446 |
| 78 | The Decline of Western Civilization | 1981 | Penelope Spheeris | 1461 |
| 79 | Henry V | 1944 | Laurence Olivier | 1503 |
| 80 | Europa Europa | 1990 | Agnieszka Holland | 1528 |
| 81 | Tom Jones | 1963 | Tony Richardson | 1531 |
| 82 | Lust, Caution | 2007 | Ang Lee | 1543 |
| 83 | Ivan the Terrible, Part II | 1958 | Sergei Eisenstein | 1555 |
| 84 | Topsy-Turvy | 1999 | Mike Leigh | 1573 |
| 85 | The Master | 2012 | Paul Thomas Anderson | 1578 |
| 86 | The Lion in Winter | 1968 | Anthony Harvey | 1596 |
| 87 | The Wind Rises | 2013 | Hayao Miyazaki | 1601 |
| 88 | The Tree of Wooden Clogs | 1978 | Ermanno Olmi | 1620 |
| 89 | The Travelling Players | 1975 | Theodoros Angelopoulos | 1627 |
| 90 | The New World | 2005 | Terrence Malick | 1630 |
| 91 | Seabiscuit | 2003 | Gary Ross | 1639 |
| 92 | Sherman's March | 1985 | Ross McElwee | 1644 |
| 93 | Hearts and Minds | 1974 | Peter Davis | 1659 |
| 94 | Exit through the Gift Shop | 2010 | Banksy | 1682 |
| 95 | The Human Condition I: No Greater Love | 1959 | Masaki Kobayashi | 1689 |
| 96 | Queen Christina | 1933 | Rouben Mamoulian | 1701 |
| 97 | Matewan | 1987 | John Sayles | 1757 |
| 98 | The Mystery of Kaspar Hausar | 1974 | Werner Herzog | 1763 |
| 99 | The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer | 1961 | Masaki Kobayashi | 1766 |
| 100 | Invictus | 2009 | Clint Eastwood | 1771 |
| 101 | Marie Antoinette | 2006 | Sofia Coppola | 1793 |
| 102 | 13th | 2016 | Ava DuVernay | 1803 |
| 103 | The Color of Pomegranates | 1969 | Sergei Parajanov | 1815 |
| 104 | Flags of Our Fathers | 2006 | Clint Eastwood | 1819 |
| 105 | Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) | 2021 | Questlove | 1820 |
| 106 | Henry V | 1989 | Kenneth Branagh | 1822 |
| 107 | Reds | 1981 | Warren Beatty | 1837 |
| 108 | Pride | 2014 | Matthew Warchus | 1864 |
| 109 | Chronicle of a Summer | 1961 | Edgar Morin and Jean Rouch | 1870 |
| 110 | Munich | 2005 | Steven Spielberg | 1883 |
| 111 | The Cove | 2009 | Louie Psihoyos | 1889 |
| 112 | Cleopatra | 1963 | Joseph L. Mankiewicz | 1904 |
| 113 | Battleground | 1949 | William A. Wellman | 1926 |
| 114 | October | 1928 | Grigoriy Aleksandrov and Sergei Eisenstein | 1939 |
| 115 | The Favourite | 2018 | Yorgos Lanthimos | 1946 |
| 116 | Quiz Show | 1994 | Robert Redford | 1956 |
| 117 | The Look of Silence | 2014 | Joshua Oppenheimer | 1971 |
| 118 | The Battle of Chile: Part 1 | 1975 | Patricio Guzmán | 1972 |
| 119 | Straight Outta Compton | 2015 | F. Gary Gray | 1986 |
| 120 | Gettysburg | 1993 | Ron Maxwell | 2000 |
| 121 | Salvador | 1986 | Oliver Stone | 2009 |
| 122 | Good Night, and Good Luck. | 2005 | George Clooney | 2012 |
| 123 | Captain Blood | 1935 | Michael Curtiz | 2016 |
| 124 | Elizabeth | 1998 | Shekhar Kapur | 2034 |
| 125 | Cyrano de Bergerac | 1990 | Jean-Paul Rappeneau | 2043 |
| 126 | 1900 | 1976 | Bernardo Bertolucci | 2059 |
| 127 | The Mission | 1986 | Roland Joffé | 2060 |
| 128 | The Hour of the Furnaces | 1968 | Octavio Getino and Fernando E. Solanas | 2087 |
| 129 | Changeling | 2008 | Clint Eastwood | 2089 |
| 130 | How to Survive a Plague | 2012 | David France | 2094 |
| 131 | Silkwood | 1983 | Mike Nichols | 2112 |
| 132 | A Bridge Too Far | 1977 | Richard Attenborough | 2141 |
| 133 | The Wild Child | 1970 | François Truffaut | 2151 |
| 134 | Heimat | 1984 | Edgar Reitz | 2163 |
| 135 | Won't You Be My Neighbor? | 2018 | Morgan Neville | 2172 |
| 136 | Public Enemies | 2009 | Michael Mann | 2188 |
| 137 | Hamilton | 2020 | Thomas Kail | 2199 |
| 138 | Bridge of Spies | 2015 | Steven Spielberg | 2216 |
| 139 | The Battle of Chile: Part 2 | 1976 | Patricio Guzmán | 2221 |
| 140 | Monterey Pop | 1968 | D.A. Pennebaker | 2225 |
| 141 | Platform | 2000 | Jia Zhang-ke | 2232 |
| 142 | The Celluloid Closet | 1995 | Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman | 2240 |
| 143 | The Dam Busters | 1955 | Michael Anderson | 2244 |
| 144 | The Iron Horse | 1924 | John Ford | 2246 |
| 145 | The Flowers of St. Francis | 1950 | Roberto Rossellini | 2275 |
| 146 | Los Angeles Plays Itself | 2003 | Thom Andersen | 2307 |
| 147 | Across the Universe | 2007 | Julie Taymor | 2358 |
| 148 | Salvatore Giuliano | 1962 | Francesco Rosi | 2361 |
| 149 | Marketa Lazarová | 1967 | Frantisek Vlácil | 2388 |
| 150 | Frost/Nixon | 2008 | Ron Howard | 2402 |
| 151 | Killers of the Flower Moon | 2023 | Martin Scorsese | 2409 |
| 152 | The Battle of Chile: Part 3 | 1979 | Patricio Guzmán | 2430 |
| 153 | Thirty Seconds over Tokyo | 1944 | Mervyn LeRoy | 2458 |
| 154 | The Saragossa Manuscript | 1965 | Wojciech Has | 2459 |
| 155 | Edvard Munch | 1974 | Peter Watkins | 2468 |
| 156 | Missing | 1982 | Costa-Gavras | 2477 |
| 157 | The Patriot | 2000 | Roland Emmerich | 2496 |
| 158 | 'Breaker' Morant | 1980 | Bruce Beresford | 2497 |
| 159 | My Winnipeg | 2007 | Guy Maddin | 2528 |
| 160 | Taxi to the Dark Side | 2007 | Alex Gibney | 2529 |
| 161 | Yellow Earth | 1984 | Kaige Chen | 2535 |
| 162 | Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room | 2005 | Alex Gibney | 2553 |
| 163 | Quo Vadis, Aida? | 2020 | Jasmila Zbanic | 2573 |
| 164 | The Bridge | 1959 | Bernhard Wicki | 2592 |
| 165 | The Garden of the Finzi-Continis | 1970 | Vittorio De Sica | 2593 |
| 166 | The Official Story | 1985 | Luis Puenzo | 2598 |
| 167 | Red Sorghum | 1988 | Yimou Zhang | 2620 |
| 168 | The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity | 1959 | Masaki Kobayashi | 2640 |
| 169 | Cabiria | 1914 | Giovanni Pastrone | 2692 |
| 170 | A Passage to India | 1984 | David Lean | 2717 |
| 171 | Wild River | 1960 | Elia Kazan | 2719 |
| 172 | A Night to Remember | 1958 | Roy Ward Baker | 2742 |
| 173 | Apollo 11 | 2019 | Todd Douglas Miller | 2748 |
| 174 | Evita | 1996 | Alan Parker | 2763 |
| 175 | She Done Him Wrong | 1933 | Lowell Sherman | 2766 |
| 176 | Nixon | 1995 | Oliver Stone | 2803 |
| 177 | The Robe | 1953 | Henry Koster | 2811 |
| 178 | Becket | 1964 | Peter Glenville | 2820 |
| 179 | The Round-up | 1966 | Miklós Jancsó | 2849 |
| 180 | El Cid | 1961 | Anthony Mann | 2872 |
| 181 | Silence | 2016 | Martin Scorsese | 2874 |
| 182 | Bloody Sunday | 2002 | Paul Greengrass | 2898 |
| 183 | The Ten Commandments | 1923 | Cecil B. DeMille | 2900 |
| 184 | Jesus Christ Superstar | 1973 | Norman Jewison | 2907 |
| 185 | The Rise of Louis XIV | 1966 | Roberto Rossellini | 2917 |
| 186 | Battle of Britain | 1969 | Guy Hamilton | 2918 |
| 187 | Cameraperson | 2016 | Kirsten Johnson | 2965 |
| 188 | In the Shadow of the Moon | 2007 | David Sington | 2979 |
| 189 | The Private Life of Henry VIII | 1933 | Alexander Korda | 3015 |
| 190 | Bill Cunningham New York | 2010 | Richard Press | 3022 |
| 191 | Mr. Turner | 2014 | Mike Leigh | 3031 |
| 192 | Foxcatcher | 2014 | Bennett Miller | 3033 |
| 193 | The Last King of Scotland | 2006 | Kevin Macdonald | 3040 |
| 194 | The Death of Stalin | 2017 | Armando Iannucci | 3042 |
| 195 | Riding Giants | 2004 | Stacy Peralta | 3050 |