20 best movies like Won't Back Down (2012)

List of the best movies like Won't Back Down (2012): Boychoir, Beyond the Blackboard, The Ron Clark Story, Detachment, Boundaries, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, A Child Is Waiting, The First Grader, Life of a King, Lean On Me.

Tags: movies similar to Won't Back Down (2012) - full list

Markimdb: 6.7
Genredrama, music
CountryUSA, Canada
Duration01:43

Stet, a troubled and angry 11-year-old orphan from a small Texas town, ends up at a Boy Choir school back East after the death of his single mom. Completely out of his element, he finds himself in a battle of wills with a demanding Choir Master who recognizes a unique talent in this young boy as he pushes him to discover his creative heart and soul in music.

Markimdb: 7.6
Genredrama, family
CountryUSA
Duration01:35

Inspired by a true story, “Beyond the Blackboard” is about a 24-year-old first-time teacher who makes a difference in the lives of the homeless children she teaches in a shelter’s makeshift classroom. Set in 1987 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, this movie tells the story a brand-new teacher and Mom who is given a tougher than expected teaching job and winds up teaching homeless children in a school that is housed in a room and called, literally, The School with No Name. She has some personal prejudicial hurdles to cross before she is able to be a true teacher for these children and of course there are hurdles like the lack of books and supplies.

Markimdb: 7.6
Genredrama, biography
CountryUSA, Canada
Duration01:30

Matthew Perry is real-life inspiration Ron Clark, a passionate and innovative teacher who leaves his small hometown to teach in one of Harlem's toughest schools. But to break through to this students, Clark must use unconventional methods, including his ground-breaking classroom rules, to drive them toward their potential.

Markimdb: 7.7
Genredrama
CountryUSA
Duration01:38

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.

Markimdb: 5.4
Genrecomedy, drama
CountryCanada, USA
Duration02:19

Single mom Laura, along with her awkward 14 year-old son Henry is forced to drive Jack, her estranged, care-free pot dealing father across country after he's kicked out of yet another nursing home.

Markimdb: 8
Genremelodrama, drama
CountryUSA
Duration02:09

In Brooklyn circa 1900, the Nolans manage to enjoy life on pennies despite great poverty and Papa's alcoholism. We come to know these people well through big and little troubles: Aunt Sissy's scandalous succession of "husbands"; the removal of the one tree visible from their tenement; and young Francie's desire to transfer to a better school...if irresponsible Papa can get his act together.

Markimdb: 7.2
Genredrama
CountryUSA
Duration01:42

Dr. Matthew Clark is the head of a state institution for intellectually disabled children. Jean Hansen, a former music teacher anxious to give her life some meaning, joins the staff of the hospital. Jean, who tries to shelter the children with her love, suspiciously regards Clark's stern training methods. She becomes emotionally involved with 12-year-old Reuben Widdicombe, who has been abandoned by his divorced parents.

Markimdb: 7.4
Genremelodrama, drama, biography
CountryUnited Kingdom, USA, Kenya, France

The true story of an 84 year-old Kenyan villager and ex Mau Mau freedom fighter who fights for his right to go to school for the first time to get the education he could never afford.

Markimdb: 6.9
Genredrama
CountryUSA

Life of a King is the true story of one man's mission to give inner city kids of Washington DC something he never had - a future. After being incarcerated for eighteen years, Eugene Brown established the Big Chair Chess Club to get kids off the streets and working towards lives they never believed they were capable of. This is his inspirational story.

Markimdb: 7.4
Genredrama
CountryUSA
Duration01:48

When principal Joe Clark takes over decaying Eastside High School, he's faced with students wearing gang colors and graffiti-covered walls. Determined to do anything he must to turn the school around, he expels suspected drug dealers, padlocks doors and demands effort and results from students, staff and parents. Autocratic to a fault, this real-life educator put it all on the lin

Markimdb: 6.4
Genredrama
CountryDenmark, Canada, Sweden, France, Germany, United Kingdom, USA

Clara and her two sons escape from her abusive husband with little more than their car and plan to start over in New York. After the car towed away, the family meets Alice, who gets them into an emergency shelter. While stealing food at a Russian restaurant called ‘Winter Palace’, Clara meets Marc, who has been given the chance to help the old eatery regain its former glory. The ‘Winter Palace’ soon becomes a place of unexpected encounters between people who are all undergoing some sort of crisis and whom fate has now brought together.

Markimdb: 7
Genrecomedy, drama, family
CountryUSA
Duration01:57

Teenager Homer Macauley stays at home in small-town Ithaca to support his family while his older brother Marcus prepares to go to war.

Markimdb: 6.9
Genredrama
CountryUSA
Duration01:49

William Hundert is a passionate and principled Classics professor who finds his tightly-controlled world shaken and inexorably altered when a new student, Sedgewick Bell, walks into his classroom. What begins as a fierce battle of wills gives way to a close student-teacher relationship, but results in a life lesson for Hundert that will still haunt him a quarter of a century later.

Markimdb: 7.6
Genredrama, biography, sport
CountryUSA
Duration02:09

    Oversized African-American, Michael Oher, the teen from across the tracks and a broken home, has nowhere to sleep at age 16. Taken in by an affluent Memphis couple, Michael embarks on a remarkable rise to play for the NFL.

    Markimdb: 6.9
    Genredrama, adventure, detective
    CountryUSA
    Duration02:09

    A year after his father's death, Oskar, a troubled young boy, discovers a mysterious key he believes was left for him by his father and embarks on a scavenger hunt to find the matching lock.

    Markimdb: 5.9
    Genredrama
    CountryAustralia, USA
    Duration01:44

    A young Aboriginal boy is torn between his unexpected love of acting and the disintegration of his family.

    Markimdb: 7.6
    Genredrama, family
    CountryUSA

    Welcome to Fuller Junction, Wisconsin, a friendly small town settled by Norwegian farmers. Here we see the exploits of two young cousins, Selma and Arnold, who learn about their world and experience the ups and downs of life as the season pass.

    Markimdb: 7.3
    Genredrama, biography
    CountryUSA
    Duration01:43

    Jaime Escalante is a mathematics teacher in a school in a hispanic neighbourhood. Convinced that his students have potential, he adopts unconventional teaching methods to try and turn gang members and no-hopers into some of the country's top algebra and calculus students.

    Markimdb: 5.5
    Genrefantasy, drama, detective
    CountryUSA
    Duration01:40

    No one seemed to care about Jamie Marks until after his death. Hoping to find the love and friendship he never had in life, Jamie’s ghost visits former classmate Adam McCormick, drawing him into the bleak world between the living and the dead.

    Markimdb: 8.1
    Genredrama, biography
    CountryUSA
    Duration01:46

    The true story of the frightening, lonely world of silence and darkness of 7-year-old Helen Keller who, since infancy, has never seen the sky, heard her mother's voice or expressed her innermost feelings. Then Annie Sullivan, a 20-year-old teacher from Boston, arrives. Having just recently regained her own sight, the no-nonsense Annie reaches out to Helen through the power of touch, the only tool they have in common, and leads her bold pupil on a miraculous journey from fear and isolation to happiness and light.

    Markimdb: 7.1
    Genrecomedy, drama, musical, family
    CountryUSA
    Duration01:33

    The classic Shirley Temple film in which a little girl goes in search of her father who is reported missing by the military during the Second Boer War.

    Markimdb: 7.4
    Genredrama
    CountryUSA
    Duration01:39

    Based on the Henry James novella, the story frames on 7-year-old Maisie, caught in a custody battle between her mother – a rock and roll icon – and her father. What Maisie Knew is an evocative portrayal of the chaos of adult life seen entirely from a child’s point of view.

    Markimdb: 6
    Genredrama, biography, history
    CountryUSA
    Duration01:35

    At an isolated log cabin in the harsh wilderness of Indiana circa 1817, the rhythms of love, tragedy, and the daily hardships of life on the developing frontier shaped one of our nation’s greatest heroes: Abraham Lincoln. Abe is a thoughtful and quiet boy who spends his days at the side of his beloved mother while learning to work the land from his stern father. When illness takes his mother, Abe's new guardian angel comes in the form of his new stepmother, who sees the potential in the boy and pushes for his further education.

    Markimdb: 5.8
    Genredrama
    CountryUSA
    Duration02:02

    A drama teacher's taboo relationship with an unstable student strikes a nerve in her jealous classmate, sparking a vengeful chain of events within their suburban high school that draws parallels to 'The Crucible'.

    Markimdb: 7.3
    Genredrama, biography
    CountryUSA, Republic of Ireland
    Duration02:14

    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.

    Markimdb: 7.4
    Genredrama, biography, sport
    CountryUSA
    Duration02:50

      A track coach in a small California town transforms a team of athletes into championship contenders.

      Markimdb: 6.4
      Genrefantasy, drama, music, biography
      CountryUSA
      Duration01:42

      The story follows 19-year-old Renee who has always loved fairy tales: the idea of a princess, a hero and a happily ever after. But Renee’s life is that of a darker tale: she’s a young woman battling addiction, depression and self-injury. In a creative blend of artistic fantasy balanced with harsh reality, the movie follows Renee on her courageous journey towards recovery.

      Markimdb: 6.2
      Genredrama, sport
      CountryUSA

      A teenager overcomes odds to run a 4-minute mile race.

      Markimdb: 6.7
      Genremelodrama, drama, crime
      CountryUSA
      Duration01:53

      An ex-convict is tracked down by his estranged teenage son, and the pair try to build a relationship and life together in Seattle.

      Markimdb: 6.1
      Genredrama, sport
      CountryGermany, USA
      Duration01:44

      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.

      Markimdb: 7.1
      Genrecomedy, melodrama, drama
      CountryUSA
      Duration01:39

        A hard-partying high school senior's philosophy on life changes when he meets the not-so-typical "nice girl."

        Markimdb: 7.2
        Genredrama
        CountryUSA
        Duration01:26

        A Brooklyn teenager juggles conflicting identities and risks friendship, heartbreak, and family in a desperate search for sexual expression.

        Markimdb: 5.8
        Genredrama, family, biography
        CountryUSA
        Duration01:40

        Heaven is for Real recounts the true story of a small-town father who must find the courage and conviction to share his son's extraordinary, life-changing experience with the world. Four-year-old Colton shares the details of his amazing journey with childlike innocence and speaks matter-of-factly about things that happened before his birth... things he couldn't possibly know.

        Markimdb: 5.9
        Genredrama
        CountryUSA
        Duration01:30

        Mark is a struggling actor stuck between the life he once knew and the one waiting for him. When the mother of his two-year-old son suddenly passes away, Mark is forced to confront his shortcomings. Their fates, now intertwined, hang in the balance as Mark grapples with his ability to grow up. When he meets Lydia, a young mother, he is no longer able to live in the comfort of denial.

        Markimdb: 5.9
        Genredrama
        CountryUSA
        Duration02:19

        When a pastor is shaken by the visible faith of a street-corner preacher, he is reminded that true belief always requires action. His response ignites a journey that impacts everyone it touches in ways that only God could orchestrate.

        Markimdb: 7
        Genrefantasy, drama
        CountryUSA
        Duration02:09

        As law enforcement officers, Adam Mitchell, Nathan Hayes, and their partners are confident and focused. They willingly stand up to the worst the streets have to offer. Yet at the end of the day, they face a challenge that none of them are truly prepared to tackle: fatherhood. They know that God desires to turn the hearts of fathers to their children, but their children are beginning to drift further and further away from them. When tragedy hits home, these men are left wrestling with their hopes, their fears, their faith, and their fathering. Can a new found urgency help these dads draw closer to God ... and to their children? COURAGEOUS is the fourth release of Sherwood Pictures, the movie making ministry of Sherwood Church in Albany, Georgia.

        Markimdb: 6
        Genredrama
        CountryUSA, Canada
        Duration01:35

        Linda and Michael, married for ten years, desperately want a baby and turn to an adoption agency which introduces them to Lucy, a teenage girl expecting her first baby. The three agree that Linda and Michael will adopt Lucy's baby and that Lucy will sign away custody. Things don't go quite to plan however..

        Markimdb: 6.5
        Genredrama, musical
        CountryUSA
        Duration01:48

        The chance to shine in a singing competition offers much-needed hope for a Southern middle-schooler who's drowning in worries, from bullies in the halls to turmoil at home -- and the news that his reservist father has been called back to Afghanistan.

        Markimdb: 6.9
        Genredrama, biography, sport
        CountryUSA
        Duration01:48

        A coming of age drama following the life of Matt Hamill, the first deaf wrestler to win a National Collegiate Wrestling Championship.

        Markimdb: 6.7
        Genredrama
        CountryUSA

        In the fall of 1994, a teacher at Chicago's run-down Steinmetz High conspires with the school's academic decathlon team to cheat on an academic competition.

        Markimdb: 6.6
        Genredrama, sport
        CountryUSA
        Duration01:37

        The coach of a women's swim team parlays her success into an opportunity to build her school's men's golf team.

        Markimdb: 6.3
        Genredrama, family
        CountryCanada, USA
        Duration01:47

        The team of people who saved Winter's life reassemble in the wake of her surrogate mother's passing in order to find her a companion so she can remain at the Clearwater Marine Hospital.

        Markimdb: 5.2
        Genredrama
        CountryUSA
        Duration01:35

        Set at a Southern college during the 1950s, three co-eds (Ally Sheedy, Virginia Madsen and Phoebe Cates) re-assess their values in light of the burgeoning civil rights movement.

        Markimdb: 5.9
        Genredrama, family
        CountryUSA

        After the unexpected death of their daughter, a couple work to build a state of the art children's hospital where families are welcomed into the healing process.

        Markimdb: 6.6
        Genredrama
        CountryUSA

        Lissa, a twenty-year-old girl trapped in rural Pennsylvania, grapples with sex, drugs, love and loss. When a possible pregnancy forces her to take a hard look at her life, both her and the structure of the film mature, illuminating a brighter path ahead.

        Markimdb: 5.7
        Genrecomedy, drama
        CountryUSA
        Duration02:27

        An inner-city high school teacher discovers she is pregnant at the same time as one of her most promising students and the two develop an unlikely friendship while struggling to navigate their unexpected pregnancies.

        Markimdb: 6.5
        Genredrama
        CountryUSA

        After running away from her abusive mother, a streetwise teen seeks refuge with her father, but he rejects her when he learns that she's pregnant.

        Markimdb: 7.6
        Genremelodrama, drama, musical, military, history
        CountryUnited Kingdom, USA
        Duration02:38

          An adaptation of the successful stage musical based on Victor Hugo's classic novel set in 19th-century France, in which a paroled prisoner named Jean Valjean seeks redemption.

          Markimdb: 6
          Genredrama
          CountryUSA
          Duration01:34

          After an overnight long-distance drive, Joby has a special meeting—with lawyers and his ex-wife. A struggling musician with the prerequisite tattoos, slimy hair, goatee, and his head firmly floating in the clouds, Joby hasn’t been around to be a dad. Now is his last chance to fight for shared custody of his daughter, Ellen.

          Markimdb: 7.6
          Genrecomedy, melodrama, drama
          CountryUnited Kingdom
          Duration01:56

          A headstrong young teacher in a private school in 1930s Edinburgh ignores the curriculum and influences her impressionable 12 year old charges with her over-romanticized world view.




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