Ghetto Movies

List of the best ghetto movies selected by visitors to our site: City of God, Straight Outta Compton, Juice, Moonlight, Above the Rim, Fresh, The Pianist, Training Day, Hustle & Flow, Girlhood.

In the top there are new films of 2020, a plot description and trailers for films that have already been released.

Genre
Country
Markimdb: 8.6
Genredrama, crime
CountryBrazil, France
Duration02:10
CharactersGangsters, Gangsters, Photographers
PlotSurvival, Adventure
PlaceGhetto

Cidade de Deus is a shantytown that started during the 1960s and became one of Rio de Janeiro’s most dangerous places in the beginning of the 1980s. To tell the story of this place, the movie describes the life of various characters, all seen by the point of view of the narrator, Buscapé. Buscapé was raised in a very violent environment. Despite the feeling that all odds were against him, he finds out that life can be seen with other eyes...

Markimdb: 7.8
Genredrama, music, biography, history
CountryUSA
Duration01:35
CharactersGangsters, Musicians, Rappers, Friends, Terminally ill
PlotOn real events, Travel, Music, Art, Hip Hop
PlaceGhetto, USA, Night Clubs, Los Angeles
StyleFascinating, Serious

In 1987, five young men, using brutally honest rhymes and hardcore beats, put their frustration and anger about life in the most dangerous place in America into the most powerful weapon they had: their music. Taking us back to where it all began, Straight Outta Compton tells the true story of how these cultural rebels—armed only with their lyrics, swagger, bravado and raw talent—stood up to the authorities that meant to keep them down and formed the world’s most dangerous group, N.W.A. And as they spoke the truth that no one had before and exposed life in the hood, their voice ignited a social revolution that is still reverberating today.

Markimdb: 7.1
Genrethriller, drama, crime
CountryUSA, United Kingdom
Duration01:35
PlotFriendship, Hip Hop
PlaceGhetto, New York

Four Harlem friends -- Bishop, Q, Steel and Raheem -- dabble in petty crime, but they decide to go big by knocking off a convenience store. Bishop, the magnetic leader of the group, has the gun. But Q has different aspirations. He wants to be a DJ and happens to have a gig the night of the robbery. Unfortunately for him, Bishop isn't willing to take no for answer in a game where everything's for keeps.

Markimdb: 7.4
Genredrama
CountryUSA
Duration01:59
CharactersTeens, Gay
PlotMoney, Drug addict
PlaceGhetto, Beach, USA
StyleOscars, Heavy, Serious, Sad ones

The tender, heartbreaking story of a young man’s struggle to find himself, told across three defining chapters in his life as he experiences the ecstasy, pain, and beauty of falling in love, while grappling with his own sexuality.

Markimdb: 6.6
Genrethriller, drama, crime, sport
CountryUSA
Duration01:36
CharactersFriends, Trainers
PlotBasketball, Death, Hip Hop, Rivalry
PlaceGhetto
StyleAction, Gloomy, Touching, Serious, Disturbing

Story of a promising high school basketball star and his relationships with two brothers, one a drug dealer and the other a former basketball star fallen on hard times and now employed as a security guard.

Markimdb: 7.6
Genrethriller, drama, crime
CountryUSA, France
Duration01:54
PlotChess, Death
PlaceGhetto, New York
StyleAction, Atmospheric, Heavy, Touching, Depressive

Michael is a 12-year-old drug pusher who lives in a crowded house with his cousins and aunt. His father has become a street bum, but still meets with Fresh on occasion to play chess. Fresh is rather quiet in a crazy world. Fresh's sister is a junkie who sleeps with the dealers that Fresh sells for. As the story progresses Fresh realizes that he doesn't want to sell drugs anymore, he wants revenge.

Markimdb: 8.6
Genredrama, military, music, biography
CountryFrance, Poland, United Kingdom, Germany
Duration02:29
CharactersGeniuses, Musicians, Jews, Pianists
PlotWar, On real events, Survival, Music, Hunger
PlaceConcentration camp, Ghetto, Poland
TimeWorld War II
StyleExciting, Tense, Depressive, Heartbreaking, Worth watching

The true story of pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman's experiences in Warsaw during the Nazi occupation. When the Jews of the city find themselves forced into a ghetto, Szpilman finds work playing in a café; and when his family is deported in 1942, he stays behind, works for a while as a laborer, and eventually goes into hiding in the ruins of the war-torn city.

Markimdb: 7.7
Genrethriller, drama, crime
CountryUSA
Duration02:02
CharactersPolice
PlotSkirmishes, Revenge, Investigation, Drug addict, Mystery
PlaceGhetto, USA, Los Angeles
StyleAction, Atmospheric, Serious

On his first day on the job as a narcotics officer, a rookie cop works with a rogue detective who isn't what he appears.

Markimdb: 7.3
Genredrama, crime, music
CountryUSA
Duration01:56
CharactersMusicians, Rappers, Singers
PlotMusic, Friendship, Hip Hop, Dreams
PlaceGhetto
StyleSoulful, Heavy, Touching, Depressive, Serious

With help from his friends, a Memphis pimp in a mid-life crisis attempts to become a successful hip-hop emcee.

Markimdb: 6.9
Genredrama
CountryFrance
Duration01:53
CharactersTeens, Friends, Sisters, Girlfriends
PlotDancing, American Football, Friendship
PlaceSchool, Ghetto, France
StyleTo cry, Fascinating, Touching, Serious

Oppressed by her family setting, dead-end school prospects and the boys law in the neighborhood, Marieme starts a new life after meeting a group of three free-spirited girls. She changes her name, her dress code, and quits school to be accepted in the gang, hoping that this will be a way to freedom.

Markimdb: 6.8
Genredrama, crime, detective
CountryUSA
CharactersGangsters, Gangsters, Military, Soldier, Taxi drivers
PlotLove, War, Money, Investigation, Obsession
PlaceGhetto, Beach, New York
TimeWorld War II
StyleBy books, Fascinating, Serious, Noir

Lionel Essrog, a private detective living with Tourette syndrome, ventures to solve the murder of his mentor and best friend — a mystery that carries him from the gin-soaked jazz clubs of Harlem to the slums of Brooklyn to the gilded halls of New York's power brokers.

Markimdb: 5
Genrecomedy, melodrama
CountryUSA
CharactersFamily, Friends
PlotWedding, Friendship
PlaceGhetto
StyleSmart

Two pairs of best friends - Montel & Clyde and Brandy & Adina meet at the party, where Clyde makes Adina think he is very rich and gets her into bed the same evening. When Adina finds out that she's been fooled, she becomes Clyde's worst enemy. Meanwhile Montel and Brandy fall in love and plan to marry, and Adina and Clyde try to do everything to stop them.

Markimdb: 6
Genrethriller, drama, crime
CountryUSA
Duration02:24
PlotRevenge
PlaceGhetto, USA, Wall Street, New York
StyleAction, Twisted plot, Heavy, Tense, Serious

A big time drug dealer Victor Rosa is looking to get out of the game and sees his chance with a big deal with a new friend who happens to be a Wall St. stockbroker. Thinking this will be his chance to go out on top Victor soon finds out that he has been double crossed and his last option is to get revenge.

Markimdb: 7.5
Genrecomedy, drama, crime, biography
CountryUSA
Duration02:24
CharactersPolice, Jews, Students, Partners
PlotOn real events, Dancing, Investigation, Friendship, Weapon
PlaceUSA, Office
StyleOscars, Fascinating, Heavy, Makes me think

Colorado Springs, late 1970s. Ron Stallworth, an African American police officer, and Flip Zimmerman, his Jewish colleague, run an undercover operation to infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan.

Markimdb: 7.8
Genredrama, crime, biography
CountryUSA, United Kingdom
Duration02:37
CharactersMafia, Gangsters, Gangsters, Police, Lawyers
PlotOn real events, Investigation, Drug addict, Death, Pursuit
PlaceGhetto, USA, New York
TimeHoneymoon
StyleAction, Serious, Disturbing

Following the death of his employer and mentor, Bumpy Johnson, Frank Lucas establishes himself as the number one importer of heroin in the Harlem district of Manhattan. He does so by buying heroin directly from the source in South East Asia and he comes up with a unique way of importing the drugs into the United States. Based on a true story.

Markimdb: 7.2
Genredrama, music
CountryUSA
Duration01:50
CharactersRappers, Singers
PlotLove, Survival, Music, Political, Success
PlaceGhetto, USA
StyleGloomy

The setting is Detroit in 1995. The city is divided by 8 Mile, a road that splits the town in half along racial lines. A young white rapper, Jimmy "B-Rabbit" Smith Jr. summons strength within himself to cross over these arbitrary boundaries to fulfill his dream of success in hip hop. With his pal Future and the three one third in place, all he has to do is not choke.

Markimdb: 7.6
Genredrama, crime, biography
CountryGermany, USA
Duration02:03
CharactersTeachers, Difficult teens
PlotOn real events, Dreams
PlaceGhetto

A young teacher inspires her class of at-risk students to learn tolerance, apply themselves, and pursue education beyond high school.

Markimdb: 5.4
Genredrama, crime, music, biography
CountryUSA, Canada
Duration01:57
CharactersGangsters, Rappers
PlotRobbery, Music, Hip Hop, Overcoming difficulties
PlaceGhetto
StyleHeavy, Serious

A tale of an inner city drug dealer who turns away from crime to pursue his passion, rap music.

Markimdb: 9
Genredrama, military, biography, history
CountryUSA
Duration03:15
CharactersHeroes, Jews
PlotWar, On real events, Survival
PlaceConcentration camp, Ghetto, Germany
TimeWorld War II
StylePopular, Exciting, Fascinating, Touching, Depressive

The true story of how businessman Oskar Schindler saved over a thousand Jewish lives from the Nazis while they worked as slaves in his factory during World War II.

Markimdb: 7.8
Genredrama, crime
CountryUSA
Duration01:52
CharactersTeens, Rappers, Poor
PlotFriendship, Hip Hop
PlaceGhetto, Party, Los Angeles
StyleAction, Heavy, Explicit scenes, Makes me think

Boyz n the Hood is the popular and successful film and social criticism from John Singleton about the conditions in South Central Los Angeles where teenagers are involved in gun fights and drug dealing on a daily basis.

Markimdb: 6.6
Genrecomedy, crime
CountryUSA
Duration01:29
CharactersTeens, Gangsters, Friends, Fathers, Poets
PlotFriendship, Weapon
PlaceGhetto, Los Angeles
StyleFancy

When Ashtray (Shawn Wayans) moves to South Central L.A. to live with his father (who appears to be the same age he is) and grandmother (who likes to talk tough and smoke reefer), he falls in with his gang-banging cousin Loc Dog (Marlon Wayans), who along with the requisite pistols and Uzi carries a thermo-nuclear warhead for self-defense. Will Ashtray be able to keep living the straight life?

Markimdb: 7.7
Genredrama, crime
CountryUSA
Duration01:23
CharactersMafia, Gangsters, Criminals
PlotSkirmishes
PlaceUSA
StyleFascinating, Heavy, Serious

Two young Chicago hoodlums, Tom Powers and Matt Doyle, rise up from their poverty-stricken slum life to become petty thieves, bootleggers and cold-blooded killers. But with street notoriety and newfound wealth, the duo feels the heat from the cops and rival gangsters both. Despite his ruthless criminal reputation, Tom tries to remain connected to his family, however, gang warfare and the need for revenge eventually pull him away.

Markimdb: 6.5
Genredrama
CountryUnited Kingdom
PlotFriendship
PlacePrison

Ricky is just out of a young offenders institute, heading home to Hackney and determined to go straight. Instead, he heads straight for trouble when he becomes involved in a street confrontation, siding with his best friend Wisdom against a local rude boy. The trouble escalates into a series of tit-for-tat incidents that threaten to spiral out of control. Ricky's 12-year-old brother Curtis, hero-worships Ricky, though he appears smart enough to know he doesn't want to follow his example. Yet, despite the stern warnings from his mother and support from her friends in the community, might Ricky's bad boy allure be too attractive for Curtis to resist?

Markimdb: 8
Genrecomedy, drama
CountryUSA
Duration02:00
CharactersPunks, Friends, Losers
PlotMusic, Money, Hip Hop, Radio, Music group
PlaceUSA, New York
StyleExciting, Soulful, Atmospheric, Smart, Fancy

Salvatore "Sal" Fragione is the Italian owner of a pizzeria in Brooklyn. A neighborhood local, Buggin' Out, becomes upset when he sees that the pizzeria's Wall of Fame exhibits only Italian actors. Buggin' Out believes a pizzeria in a black neighborhood should showcase black actors, but Sal disagrees. The wall becomes a symbol of racism and hate to Buggin' Out and to other people in the neighborhood, and tensions rise.

Markimdb: 6.3
Genrethriller, drama, crime
CountryUSA
Duration01:35
CharactersGangsters
PlotOn real events, Boxing, Friendship, Chase, Undercover
PlaceGhetto
StyleExciting, Heavy, Tense, Serious, For men

A fearless cop is taking on a ruthless crimelord. He knew the risks. He just didn't know how far he would have to go.

Markimdb: 6.7
Genrefantastic, action, melodrama
CountryUSA
Duration01:49
CharactersThieves, Immortals, Poor
PlotLove, Survival, Robbery, Money, Revolution
PlaceGhetto, USA
TimeFuture
StyleTwisted plot, Philosophical, Tense, Cyberpunk, Serious

In the not-too-distant future the aging gene has been switched off. To avoid overpopulation, time has become the currency and the way people pay for luxuries and necessities. The rich can live forever, while the rest try to negotiate for their immortality. A poor young man who comes into a fortune of time, though too late to help his mother from dying. He ends up on the run from a corrupt police force known as 'time keepers'.

Markimdb: 7.3
Genrecomedy, drama
CountryUSA
Duration01:31
CharactersRappers, Friends, Partners
PlotDrug addict, Friendship, Hip Hop
PlaceGhetto, Los Angeles

Craig and Smokey are two guys in Los Angeles hanging out on their porch on a Friday afternoon, smoking and drinking, looking for something to do.

Markimdb: 7.2
Genreaction, melodrama, drama, crime
CountryUSA
Duration01:19
CharactersGangsters

A small-time hood shoots his way to the top, but how long can he stay there?

Markimdb: 7.6
Genreaction, thriller, adventure, crime
CountryUSA
Duration02:11
PlotRobbery, Skirmishes
StyleTwisted plot

New York detective John McClane is back and kicking bad-guy butt in the third installment of this action-packed series, which finds him teaming with civilian Zeus Carver to prevent the loss of innocent lives. McClane thought he'd seen it all, until a genius named Simon engages McClane, his new "partner" -- and his beloved city -- in a deadly game that demands their concentration.

Markimdb: 6.8
Genredocumentary, crime, music, biography
CountryUnited Kingdom
PlaceGhetto

In 1997, rap superstars Tupac Shakur and Christopher Wallace (aka Biggie Smalls, The Notorious B.I.G.) were gunned down in separate incidents, the apparent victims of hip hop's infamous east-west rivalry. Nick Broomfield's film introduces Russell Poole, an ex-cop with damning evidence that suggests the LAPD deliberately fumbled the case to conceal connections between the police, LA gangs and Death Row Records, the label run by feared rap mogul Marion "Suge" Knight.





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