Tags: movies similar to The Believer (2001) - full list
Mark | imdb: 6.6 |
Genre | drama, family |
Country | USA |
Duration | 01:39 |
Thanks to a strict Muslim upbringing that largely shielded him from the outside world, Tariq's first year of college proves transformative. That is, until the 9/11 terrorist attacks invite growing suspicion and distrust from his angry classmates.
Mark | imdb: 7.5 |
Genre | drama, biography, history |
Country | Germany |
Duration | 02:21 |
A Jewish woman named Jettel Redlich flees Nazi Germany with her daughter Regina, to join her husband, Walter, on a farm in Kenya. At first, Jettel refuses to adjust to her new circumstances, bringing with her a set of china dishes and an evening gown. While Regina adapts readily to this new world, forming a strong bond with her father's cook, an African named Owuor.
Mark | imdb: 6.5 |
Genre | melodrama, drama, military, biography, history |
Country | Brazil |
Based upon the true story of Olga Benário, the German-born wife of Brazilian communist leader Luís Carlos Prestes. During the dictatorship of Getúlio Vargas (1930-1945) she was arrested and sent to Nazi Germany, where she was put to death in a concentration camp. After World War II began, Vargas decided to uphold the Allies.
Mark | imdb: 7.3 |
Genre | drama |
Country | West Germany, France |
At an Austrian boys' boarding school in the early 1900s, shy, intelligent Törless observes the sadistic behavior of his fellow students, doing nothing to help a victimized classmate—until the torture goes too far. Adapted from Robert Musil's acclaimed novel, Young Törless launched the New German Cinema movement and garnered the 1966 Cannes Film Festival International Critics' Prize for first-time director Volker Schlöndorff.
Mark | imdb: 8.3 |
Genre | documentary |
Country | USA |
This film documents the coal miners' strike against the Brookside Mine of the Eastover Mining Company in Harlan County, Kentucky in June, 1973. Eastovers refusal to sign a contract (when the miners joined with the United Mine Workers of America) led to the strike, which lasted more than a year and included violent battles between gun-toting company thugs/scabs and the picketing miners and their supportive women-folk. Director Barbara Kopple puts the strike into perspective by giving us some background on the historical plight of the miners and some history of the UMWA.
Mark | imdb: 6.4 |
Genre | thriller, drama, crime |
Country | USA |
Duration | 02:25 |
Johnny Kovak joins the Teamsters trade-union in a local chapter in the 1930s and works his way up in the organization. As he climbs higher and higher his methods become more ruthless and finally senator Madison starts a campaign to find the truth about the alleged connections with the Mob.
Mark | imdb: 7 |
Genre | drama, military, history |
Country | France, Germany, Hungary |
Duration | 01:55 |
Joseph is eleven. And this June morning, he must go to school, a yellow star sown on his chest. He receives the support of a goods dealer. The mockery of a baker. Between kindness and contempt, Jo, his Jewish friends, their families, learn of life in an occupied Paris, on the Butte Montmartre, where they've taken shelter. At least that's what they think, until that morning on July 16th 1942, when their fragile happiness is toppled over.
Mark | imdb: 6.7 |
Genre | drama, music |
Country | USA |
Duration | 01:52 |
The story of a close-knit group of young kids in Nazi Germany who listen to banned swing music from the US. Soon dancing and fun leads to more difficult choices as the Nazi's begin tightening the grip on Germany. Each member of the group is forced to face some tough choices about right, wrong, and survival.
Mark | imdb: 7.5 |
Genre | drama, biography, history |
Country | United Kingdom, USA, France |
Duration | 02:08 |
"Selma," as in Alabama, the place where segregation in the South was at its worst, leading to a march that ended in violence, forcing a famous statement by President Lyndon B. Johnson that ultimately led to the signing of the Civil Rights Act.
Mark | imdb: 6.5 |
Genre | drama |
Country | USA |
In 1973, the Loud family became a television sensation of a new kind. It was long before a metal rock star showed his eccentric family on the small screen and decades before housewives had screaming matches with each other on camera in public. CINEMA VERITE tells the behind-the-scenes story of the groundbreaking documentary "An American Family," which chronicled the lives of the Louds in the early 1970s and catapulted the Santa Barbara family to notoriety while creating a new television genre: the reality TV series.
Mark | imdb: 8 |
Genre | drama, military |
Country | France, West Germany, Italy |
Duration | 01:44 |
Au revoir les enfants tells a heartbreaking story of friendship and devastating loss concerning two boys living in Nazi-occupied France. At a provincial Catholic boarding school, the precocious youths enjoy true camaraderie—until a secret is revealed. Based on events from writer-director Malle’s own childhood, the film is a subtle, precisely observed tale of courage, cowardice, and tragic awakening.
Mark | imdb: 6.8 |
Genre | drama |
Country | Sweden |
The story of a lone father's relationship with his daughter, of the destructive power of alcohol, of a child's vulnerability, but also of love, betrayal and socialist politics in 1970s Sweden. A unique and moving story freely based on Åsa Linderborg's best-selling novel.
Mark | imdb: 7.9 |
Genre | drama, western, history |
Country | USA |
Duration | 02:15 |
Filmed in the coal country of West Virginia, "Matewan" celebrates labor organizing in the context of a 1920s work stoppage. Union organizer, Joe Kenehan, a scab named "Few Clothes" Johnson and a sympathetic mayor and police chief heroically fight the power represented by a coal company and Matewan's vested interests so that justice and workers' rights need not take a back seat to squalid working conditions, exploitation and the bottom line.
Mark | imdb: 6.7 |
Genre | drama |
Country | USA |
A coming of age story set in 1975 working-class Brooklyn, in which two teenage brothers living with their abusive father and their well-meaning but ineffective mother are caught up in a life of petty crime. Older brother Danny concocts a daring scheme to steal enough money for the two to escape, timed around the chaos of an upcoming Rolling Stones concert. The sensitive younger brother, Brian, ultimately has a choice: remain loyal to the brother with whom he shares a powerful love-hate bond, or use his hidden talent as an artist as his own ticket out of their dead-end existence.
Mark | imdb: 6.1 |
Genre | drama, sport |
Country | Germany, USA |
Duration | 01:44 |
In this uplifting film based on a true story, coach Jim Ellis (Terrence Howard) shocks the community and changes lives when, aided by a local janitor (Bernie Mac), he sets out to form Philadelphia's first black swim team. But the odds are against them as they battle rigid rules, racism and more.
Mark | imdb: 7.3 |
Genre | drama, biography |
Country | USA, Republic of Ireland |
Duration | 02:14 |
Based on the best selling autobiography by Irish expat Frank McCourt, Angela's Ashes follows the experiences of young Frankie and his family as they try against all odds to escape the poverty endemic in the slums of pre-war Limerick. The film opens with the family in Brooklyn, but following the death of one of Frankie's siblings, they return home, only to find the situation there even worse. Prejudice against Frankie's Northern Irish father makes his search for employment in the Republic difficult despite his having fought for the IRA, and when he does find money, he spends the money on drink.
Mark | imdb: 6.9 |
Genre | drama, crime |
Country | USA |
Duration | 01:36 |
A group of high school friends discover that they are in the presence of a killer. One of them, Samson, has murdered his girlfriend Jamie. He brags to his friends about killing her, and when they discover he is telling the truth, their reactions vary.
Mark | imdb: 7.5 |
Genre | action, thriller, drama, crime |
Country | Norway, France, Sweden, Poland |
Duration | 01:56 |
Based on a true story: Norwegian winter, 1915. On the island Bastøy, outside Oslo, a group of young boys aged 11 to 18, are held in an institution for delinquent youth, notorious for its sadistic regime. One day a new boy, Erling, arrives, determined to escape from the island. After a tragic incident, he ends up leading the boys in a violent uprising. When the boys manage to take over the island, 150 soldiers are sent in to restore order.
Mark | imdb: 6.8 |
Genre | drama, military, history |
Country | Czech Republic, Slovakia |
Duration | 02:06 |
With the Nazi takeover of Europe underway, the Reich Protector Reinhard Heydrich arrives in Prague and his underlings begin enforcing his authority in the towns and villages across the occupied country. In Lidice, the film's main protagonist, František Šíma, is sent to prison following a family dispute that results in the accidental death of one of his sons.
Mark | imdb: 7.1 |
Genre | drama |
Country | Bulgaria, Sweden |
Two estranged brothers are brought together when they have opposite roles in a racist beating: while Georgi who's recently joined a neo-nazi group participates in the violence, Hristo witnesses and rescues a Turkish family. Only by reuniting will the two brothers be able to assess what they really want from life.
Mark | imdb: 6.4 |
Genre | drama, crime, biography |
Country | United Kingdom |
Duration | 01:48 |
The incredible true story of how an orphaned Jamaican baby, adopted by an elderly white couple and brought up in an all white area of London, became one of the most feared and respected men in Britain.
Mark | imdb: 6.8 |
Genre | thriller, drama |
Country | USA |
Duration | 01:47 |
Ad executive Bill Compton confronts and murders his daughter's drug-dealing boyfriend. Wandering into a local bar, Bill encounters a drunken, bigoted factory worker with a bloodlust, Joe Curran. When Bill confesses the murder to Joe, the two strike up an uneasy alliance, leading to a wild adventure.
Mark | imdb: 6.8 |
Genre | drama, history |
Country | France, Belgium |
Duration | 02:42 |
The true story of Saartjes Baartman, a black South African worker who moves to London with her master in the early 19th century. Although she dreams of being an artist, once in Europe she is exploited as a sideshow attraction due to her large buttocks and genitalia.
Mark | imdb: 7.4 |
Genre | drama, crime |
Country | USA |
Duration | 01:41 |
Richard Dadier is a teacher at North Manual High School, an inner-city school where many of the pupils frequently engage in anti-social behavior. Dadier makes various attempts to engage the students' interest in education, challenging both the school staff and the pupils. He is subjected to violence as well as duplicitous schemes.
Mark | imdb: 6.7 |
Genre | melodrama, drama |
Country | USA |
Duration | 01:46 |
Author Joel Garcia breaks his neck while hiking, and finds himself in a rehab center with Raymond, an exaggerating ladies man, and Bloss, a racist biker. Considerable tension builds as each character tries to deal with his new found handicap and the problems that go with it, especially Joel, whose lover Anna is having as difficult a time as he is.
Mark | imdb: 7.3 |
Genre | melodrama, drama, biography |
Country | United Kingdom |
Duration | 01:44 |
BELLE is inspired by the true story of Dido Elizabeth Belle, the illegitimate mixed race daughter of a Royal Navy Admiral. Raised by her aristocratic great-uncle Lord Mansfield and his wife, Belle's lineage affords her certain privileges, yet the color of her skin prevents her from fully participating in the traditions of her social standing. Left to wonder if she will ever find love, Belle falls for an idealistic young vicar's son bent on change who, with her help, shapes Lord Mansfield's role as Lord Chief Justice to end slavery in England
Mark | imdb: 7.1 |
Genre | drama, biography |
Country | Germany, Luxembourg, France, Israel |
Duration | 01:53 |
HANNAH ARENDT is a portrait of the genius that shook the world with her discovery of “the banality of evil.” After she attends the Nazi Adolf Eichmann’s trial in Jerusalem, Arendt dares to write about the Holocaust in terms no one has ever heard before. Her work instantly provokes a furious scandal, and Arendt stands strong as she is attacked by friends and foes alike. But as the German-Jewish émigré also struggles to suppress her own painful associations with the past, the film exposes her beguiling blend of arrogance and vulnerability — revealing a soul defined and derailed by exile.
Mark | imdb: 7.7 |
Genre | drama |
Country | USA |
Duration | 01:38 |
A chronicle of three weeks in the lives of several high school teachers, administrators and students through the eyes of substitute teacher, Henry Barthes. Henry roams from school to school, imparting modes of knowledge, but never staying long enough to form any semblance of sentient attachment.
Mark | imdb: 6.8 |
Genre | drama |
Country | United Kingdom, West Germany, USA |
Duration | 01:42 |
A gritty Brooklyn story about union corruption, violence, taboos and social norms. The stories told are of the sailors, the prostitute, the union bosses, the hooligans and the gay community set in the early 50s.
Mark | imdb: 5.1 |
Genre | thriller, drama, crime |
Country | USA |
Duration | 01:36 |
Forced to work under slave-like conditions in a "prison for profit" program, the inmates of a mostly-African-American female prison, Whitehead Correctional, try to take over the institution. At the core of the story is Frances, who finds herself in prison after being falsely convicted of murder, and who is told that her baby has been murdered, sparking her to lead her fellow inmates in the protest
Mark | imdb: 7.4 |
Genre | drama |
Country | USA |
Duration | 01:31 |
Based on the play of the same name by Pulitzer Prize Winner Cormac McCarthy, this searing two-character drama mixes humor and pathos while examining the relationship between strangers who are brought together by desperate circumstances. Set in a New York tenement apartment, the story focuses on two very different men - a deeply religious black ex-con who thwarts the suicide attempt of an asocial white college professor who tried to throw himself in front of an oncoming subway train, 'The Sunset Limited.' As the one attempts to connect on a rational, spiritual and emotional level, the other remains steadfast in his hard-earned despair. Locked in a philosophical debate, both passionately defend their personal credos and try to convert the other.
Mark | imdb: 7.1 |
Genre | drama, biography, history |
Country | United Kingdom, South Africa, France |
Duration | 02:21 |
A chronicle of Nelson Mandela's life journey from his childhood in a rural village through to his inauguration as the first democratically elected president of South Africa.