20 best movies like Painted Fire (2002)

List of the best movies like Painted Fire (2002): MacArthur, Nise: The Heart of Madness, The Agony and the Ecstasy, Malcolm X, Mr. Turner, Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi, Kundo: Age of the Rampant, The Face Reader, Truman, Fighter In The Wind.

Tags: movies similar to Painted Fire (2002) - full list

Markimdb: 6.5
Genredrama, military, biography, history
CountryUSA
Duration02:10

The film portrays MacArthur's (Gregory Peck) life from 1942, before the Battle of Bataan, to 1952, the time after he had been removed from his Korean War command by President Truman (Ed Flanders) for insubordination, and is recounted in flashback as he visits West Point.

Markimdb: 7.7
Genredrama, biography, history
CountryBrazil

After being released from prison, Dr. Nise da Silveira is back at work in a psychiatric hospital on the outskirts of Rio de Janeirom where she refuses to employ the new and violent electroshock in the treatment of schizophrenics. Ridiculed by doctors, she is forced to take on the abandoned Sector for Occupational Therapy, where she would start a revolution through paintings, animals and love.

Markimdb: 7.1
Genredrama, biography, history
CountryUSA
Duration02:18

Charlton Heston stars as Renaissance artist Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), who begrudgingly paints the Sistine Chapel for imperious Pope Julius II in this epic adaptation of Irvine Stone's novel directed by Carol Reed. While the novel covers Michelangelo's life from birth to death, the film focuses on the battle of wills between the perfectionist artist and the impatient Pope who commissions (and eventually commands) him to paint the famed chapel.

Markimdb: 7.7
Genredrama, biography, history
CountryUSA, Japan
Duration03:22

A tribute to the controversial black activist and leader of the struggle for black liberation. He hit bottom during his imprisonment in the '50s, he became a Black Muslim and then a leader in the Nation of Islam. His assassination in 1965 left a legacy of self-determination and racial pride.

Markimdb: 6.8
Genredrama, biography, history
CountryUnited Kingdom, France, Germany, USA
Duration02:30

Eccentric British painter J.M.W. Turner lives his last 25 years with gusto and secretly becomes involved with a seaside landlady, while his faithful housekeeper bears an unrequited love for him.

Markimdb: 6.4
Genreaction, drama, military, biography, history
CountryIndia

Story of Rani Lakshmibai, one of the leading figures of the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and her resistance to the British Rule.

Markimdb: 6.8
Genreaction, drama, history
CountrySouth Korea

Set in the 19th century, when lowly butcher Dol Moo-Chi refuses to carry out an assignment, his failure causes tragedy to unfold upon his family and himself. As Dol Moo-Chi is about to be executed, a group of righteous thieves known as Kundo arrive.

Markimdb: 6.8
Genredrama, biography, history
CountrySouth Korea
Duration02:22

An exceptionally talented face reader becomes entangled in a bloody power struggle between a child king and his uncle who plans to usurp the throne.

Markimdb: 7.1
Genredrama, biography
CountryUSA

Biographical account of America's President for the latter part of WWII. Shows Truman's rise from small-town nobody to leader of the USA, his decision to use the Atomic Bomb against Japan, and subsequent election as the US' post-war President.

Markimdb: 6.9
Genreaction, drama, biography, history
CountrySouth Korea
Duration02:00

An account of karate competitor Choi Yeung-Eui who went to Japan after World War II to become a fighter pilot but found a very different path instead. He changed his name to Masutatsu Oyama and went across the country, defeating martial artists one after another. This film concentrates on the period when he is still young, and developing his famous karate style, Kyokushin.

Markimdb: 7.4
Genremelodrama, drama, biography, history
CountryUSA, United Kingdom
Duration01:58

The true story of William Wilberforce and his courageous quest to end the British slave trade. Along the way, Wilberforce meets intense opposition, but his minister urges him to see the cause through.

Markimdb: 6.7
Genredrama, biography, history
CountryUnited Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, France, Belgium, Japan
Duration01:49

Jimmy Gralton returns from New York and reopens his beloved community hall, only to meet opposition from the local parish.

Markimdb: 7.9
Genredrama, biography, history
CountrySouth Korea
Duration01:50

May, 1980. Man-seob is a taxi driver in Seoul who lives from hand to mouth, raising his young daughter alone. One day, he hears that there is a foreigner who will pay big money for a drive down to Gwangju city. Not knowing that he’s a German journalist with a hidden agenda, Man-seob takes the job.

Markimdb: 7.3
Genredrama, history
CountryJapan, Turkey

Two historical incidents that deepened the friendship between Japan and Turkey are connected in this story of friendship and compassion: The sinking of the Turkish frigate Ertuğrul off the Japanese coast in 1890, and the evacuation of Japanese nationals from Iran in 1985. Virtuous director Mitsutoshi Tanaka's call for world peace received the VFX-JAPAN Award 2017 for Excellent Motion Picture and the 39th Japan Academy Film Prize in ten categories, including Best Art Direction, Best Sound Recording, Excellent Film and Excellent Director.

Markimdb: 7.8
Genredrama, biography, history, sport
CountryTaiwan

A Taiwanese high school baseball team travels to Japan in 1931 to compete in a national tournament.

Markimdb: 6.9
Genredrama, military, biography, history
CountryNetherlands

In Nazi-occupied Amsterdam, Walter Süskind is a member of the Dutch Jewish Council who rescues hundreds of children from the concentration camps.

Markimdb: 7
Genremelodrama, drama, biography, history
CountryFrance, United Kingdom, Thailand
Duration02:12

The story of Aung San Suu Kyi as she becomes the core of Burma's democracy movement, and her relationship with her husband, writer Michael Aris.

Markimdb: 5.9
Genredrama, biography, history
CountryNorway
Duration01:50

The true story of Sonja Henie, one of the world's greatest athletes and the inventor of modern figure skating, who decides to go to Hollywood in 1936 to become a movie star.

Markimdb: 7.5
Genreaction, drama, military, biography, history
CountrySoviet Union
Duration01:51

When German knights invade Russia, Prince Alexander Nevsky must rally his people to resist the formidable force. After the Teutonic soldiers take over an eastern Russian city, Alexander stages his stand at Novgorod, where a major battle is fought on the ice of frozen Lake Chudskoe. While Alexander leads his outnumbered troops, two of their number, Vasili and Gavrilo, begin a contest of bravery to win the hand of a local maiden.

Markimdb: 7
Genredrama, biography, history
CountryUnited Kingdom
Duration01:32

Political strategist Dominic Cummings leads a popular but controversial campaign to convince British voters to leave the European Union from 2015 up until the present day.

Markimdb: 7.1
Genredrama, biography, history
CountryUnited Kingdom, Australia
Duration01:45

The story of Margaret Humphreys, a social worker from Nottingham, who uncovers one of the most significant social scandals in recent times – the forced migration of children from the United Kingdom. Almost singlehandedly, Margaret reunited thousands of families, brought authorities to account and worldwide attention to an extraordinary miscarriage of justice.

Markimdb: 7.4
Genredrama, biography, history
CountryUSA
Duration01:58

Based on the book by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin, Game Change focuses on the Republican run of the 2008 Presidential election, when candidate John McCain picks a relative unknown, Alaskan governor Sarah Palin, to be his running mate. As the campaign kicks into high gear, her lack of experience, in both political and media savvy, becomes a drain upon McCain and his strategists. Directed by Jay Roach, who previously directed the HBO film Recount and the Austin Powers movies, Game Change premiered on HBO on March 10th, 2012.

Markimdb: 7.2
Genredrama, music, biography, history
CountryUSA, Germany
Duration02:45

Biographical miniseries chronicling the rise of American music icon Elvis Presley from his high school years to his international superstardom.

Markimdb: 6.5
Genredrama, biography, history
CountryAustria, Luxembourg

At the beginning of the 20th Century, Egon Schiele is one of the most provocative artists in Vienna. His life and work are driven by beautiful women and an era that is coming to an end. Two women will have a lasting impact on him - his sister and first muse Gerti, and 17-year-old Wally, arguably Schiele's one true love, immortalized in his famous painting 'Death and the Maiden'. Schiele's radical paintings scandalize Viennese society while daring artists like Gustav Klimt and art agents alike are sensing the exceptional. But Egon Schiele is also prepared to go beyond his own pain and to sacrifice love and life for his art.

Markimdb: 6.3
Genredrama, musical, biography, history
CountryUSA
Duration02:15

The hit musical based on the life of Evita Duarte, a B-movie Argentinian actress who eventually became the wife of Argentinian president and dictator Juan Perón, and the most beloved and hated woman in Argentina.

Markimdb: 7.3
Genreaction, drama, military, history
CountrySouth Korea
Duration02:00

A civil war broke out in the 1950s between North and South Korea which changed the country forever. 71: Into the Fire centers on the struggles of 71 student soldiers who fought through the Korean War. Using real people and events based on the opening moves of the Battle of P'ohang-dong, the film exposes the personal and physical conflicts that these students faced when finding themselves on the last line of defense at P'ohang-dong Girl's Middle School against the NKPA's advancement, needing to hold out until back up from other Korean troops and the Allies arrived.

Markimdb: 7.2
Genredrama, adventure, biography, history
CountryNorway, United Kingdom, Denmark, Germany, Sweden
Duration01:49

The true story about legendary explorer Thor Heyerdahl and his epic crossing of the Pacific on a balsa wood raft in 1947, in an effort to prove it was possible for South Americans to settle in Polynesia in pre-Columbian times.

Markimdb: 7.3
Genredrama, biography, history
CountryUSA
Duration02:00

The assassination of the would be ruler of Rome at the hands of Brutus and company has tragic consequences for the idealist and the republic.

Markimdb: 7.1
Genrethriller, drama, history
CountrySouth Korea
Duration01:44

Set in the late 1920s, The Age of Shadows follows the cat-and-mouse game that unfolds between a group of resistance fighters trying to bring in explosives from Shanghai to destroy key Japanese facilities in Seoul, and Japanese agents trying to stop them.

Markimdb: 6.6
Genredrama, biography, history
CountryUkraine

The Secret Diary of Simon Petliura takes an unprecedented look at the short-lived Ukrainian People's Republic, which declared an independent Ukraine in 1918, and the later assassination of the UNR's chairman, Symon Petliura in Paris in 1926, orchestrated by the Kremlin at the start of the Soviet occupation of Ukraine.

Markimdb: 5.9
Genredrama, biography, history
CountryUnited Kingdom

The story of Scottish psychiatrist RD Laing and his unique community at Kingsley Hall, East London in the 1960s.

Markimdb: 4.6
Genredrama, biography, history
CountryUSA
Duration00:30

Jesus of Nazareth’s life and ministry were subject to seismic social and political events that led to his execution and changed the world forever.

Markimdb: 7.4
Genredrama, biography, history
CountryUnited Kingdom
Duration02:31

A dramatic story, based on actual events, about the friendship between two men struggling against apartheid in South Africa in the 1970s. Donald Woods is a white liberal journalist in South Africa who begins to follow the activities of Stephen Biko, a courageous and outspoken black anti-apartheid activist.

Markimdb: 6.6
Genredrama, biography, history
CountryGermany, USA, Czech Republic, Italy
Duration02:03

During the early 16th Century idealistic German monk Martin Luther, disgusted by the materialism in the church, begins the dialogue that will lead to the Protestant Reformation.

Markimdb: 6.2
Genredrama, adventure, biography, history
CountryNorway
Duration02:05

Based on the true story of polar explorer, Roald Amundsen, this movie covers his life and the dangerous way to the pole.

Markimdb: 6.8
Genredrama, military, biography, history
CountryUSA
Duration01:40

The queen of Egypt barges the Nile and flirts with Mark Antony and Julius Caesar.

Markimdb: 6.3
Genredrama, military, biography, history
CountryUSA
Duration01:48

Battle Hymn was inspired by the true story of American minister Dean Hess, played here with rare sensitivity by Rock Hudson. A bomber pilot during World War II, Hess inadvertently releases a bomb which destroys a German orphanage. Tortured by guilt, Hess relocates in Korea after the war to offer his services as a missionary. Combining the best elements of Christianity and Eastern spiritualism, Hess establishes a large home for orphans. The preacher's efforts are threatened when the Korean "police action" breaks out in 1950.

Markimdb: 6.1
Genredrama, biography, history
CountryChina
Duration02:05

In 500 B.C., during Chinas famed 'Spring and Autumn Period', Kong Ze (Confucius), a commoner reverred for his outstanding wisdom, is made Minister of Law in the ancient Kingdom of Lu. Under his inspired leadership, Lu ascends to new heights but becomes a target of conquest for the warlike nation of Qi. Threatened with annihilation by their powerful neighbour, a desperate people turn to their greatest teacher to lead their most powerful army. When Confucius delivers a stunning victory against all odds, a jealous aristocracy sets out to destroy him, but they should never under-estimate a remarkable man whose wisdom is more powerful than the sword.

Markimdb: 6.9
Genreaction, drama, biography, sport
CountryIndia
Duration02:02

A chronicle of the life of Indian boxer 'Mary Kom' who went through several hardships before audaciously accomplishing her ultimate dream.

Markimdb: 6.3
Genredrama, adventure, military, history
CountryUSA
Duration02:18

An American Army officer is recruited by the yet to exist Israel to help them form an army. He is disturbed by this sudden appeal to his jewish roots. Each of Israel's Arab neighbors has vowed to invade the poorly prepared country as soon as partition is granted. He is made commander of the Israeli forces just before the war begins.

Markimdb: 6.8
Genredrama, military, biography, history
CountryUSA, Spain, France
Duration02:15

After the Cuban Revolution, Che is at the height of his fame and power. Then he disappears, re-emerging incognito in Bolivia, where he organizes a small group of Cuban comrades and Bolivian recruits to start the great Latin American Revolution. Through this story, we come to understand how Che remains a symbol of idealism and heroism that lives in the hearts of people around the world.

Markimdb: 7
Genrethriller, drama, detective, biography, history
CountryAustralia

As Indonesia prepares to invade the tiny nation of East Timor, five Australian based journalists go missing. Four weeks later, veteran foreign correspondent Roger East is lured to East Timor by the young and charismatic José Ramos-Horta to tell the story of his country and investigate the fate of the missing men. As East's determination to uncover the truth grows, the threat of invasion intensifie

Markimdb: 7
Genredrama, biography, history
CountrySouth Korea
Duration01:21

Under the oppressive Japanese colonial rule, Deok-hye, the last Princess of the declining Joseon Dynasty, is forced to move to Japan. She spends her days missing home, while struggling to maintain dignity as a princess. After a series of failed tries, Deok-hye makes her final attempt to return home with help of her childhood sweetheart, Jang-han.

Markimdb: 8.1
Genredrama, military, biography, history
CountryLebanon, Kuwait, Morocco, United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Egypt
Duration02:57

Handsomely-mounted historical epic concerns the birth of the Islamic faith and the story of the prophet Mohammed.

Markimdb: 6.7
Genreaction, drama, military, history
CountryUSA
Duration03:28

The theme is the founding of the state of Israel. The action begins on a ship filled with Jewish immigrants bound for Israel who are being off loaded on Cyprus. An Intelligence officer succeeds in getting them back on board their ship only to have the harbor blocked by the British with whom they must negotiate. The second part deals with declaring independence and the resulting warring.

Markimdb: 6.5
Genredrama, biography, history
CountryUSA
Duration03:45

From his birth in Bethlehem to his death and eventual resurrection, the life of Jesus Christ is given the all-star treatment in this epic retelling. Major aspects of Christ's life are touched upon, including the execution of all the newborn males in Egypt by King Herod; Christ's baptism by John the Baptist; and the betrayal by Judas after the Last Supper that eventually leads to Christ's crucifixion and miraculous return.

Markimdb: 5.9
Genredrama, biography, history
CountryRussia
Duration01:45

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Markimdb: 7.3
Genreaction, drama, military, history
CountrySouth Korea
Duration02:13

In 1951 ceasefire is declared, but two remaining armies fought their final battle on the front line Towards the end of the Korean War, a South Korean battalion is fiercely battling over a hill on the front line border against the North in order to capture a strategic point that would determine the new border between two nations. The ownership of this small patch of land would swap multiple times each day. Kang is dispatched to the front line in order to investigate the tacit case that’s been happening there. But he gets spiraled into the war that’s more terrifying than death itself when he meets his friend Kim, who has transformed into a war machine, and his unit. As the countdown for ceasefire begins, both sides become more vicious, resulting in deaths of countless lives until the last man could claim the land.

Markimdb: 6.2
Genredrama, biography, history
CountryFrance, Germany, Netherlands
Duration01:46

This French-German-Dutch biopic on the life of 17th century Dutch master Rembrandt van Rijn is told in flashbacks from the point-of-view of the aged artist. Soon after establishing his career as a painter in Amsterdam, he marries the radiant Saskia. As he makes a name for himself, he can soon afford to buy a large house by teaching wealthy aristocrats how to paint. However, the couple's happiness is short-lived; Saskia dies soon after bearing their son, Titus. Crushed, van Rijn seeks comfort first in the arms of his maid Geertje and then with his second wife, Hendrickje, who gives birth to a daughter. In spite of his genius, van Rijn's determinedly eccentric behavior alienates the very members of the elite who were paying his bills. At one point, the artist's home and belongings, including many of his paintings, are seized and sold for humiliatingly low prices in a rigged auction.

Markimdb: 7
Genrethriller, drama, crime, military, biography, history
CountryUSA, Russia, Hungary

The life and career of the brutal Soviet dictator, Josef Stalin.




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