Movies like Riefenstahl (2024)
The best movies like Riefenstahl (2024) are Hitler: A Career (1977), Paragraph 175 (2000) and The War Room (1993). If Riefenstahl hooked you with its documentary, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedO.J.: Made in America (2016)8.4/10 from 271 votes
- NewestIron Maiden: Burning Ambition (2026)Released 2026
- In GermanHitler: A Career (1977)Also in German
Hitler: A Career (1977)
A keen chronicle of the unlikely rise to power of Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) and a dissection of the Third Reich (1933-1945), but also an analysis of mass psychology and how the desperate crowd can be deceived and shepherded to the slaughterhouse.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisParagraph 175 (2000)
During the Nazi regime, there was widespread persecution of homosexual men, which started in 1871 with the Paragraph 175 of the German Penal Code. Thousands were murdered in concentration camps. This powerful and disturbing documentary, narrated by Rupert Everett, presents for the first time the largely untold testimonies of some of those who survived.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe War Room (1993)
A behind-the-scenes documentary about the Clinton for President campaign, focusing on the adventures of spin doctors James Carville and George Stephanopoulos.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMy Mom Jayne (2025)
Through deeply personal interviews with her siblings and an examination of the photographs, letters, and belongings left behind, Mariska assembles a new portrait of her mother Jayne Mansfield, an extraordinary and complex woman.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe U.S. vs. John Lennon (2006)
A documentary on the life of John Lennon, with a focus on the time in his life when he transformed from a musician into an antiwar activist.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSalinger (2013)
An in-depth investigation into the private world of the American writer J. D. Salinger (1919-2010), who lived most of his life behind the impenetrable wall of a self-imposed seclusion: how his dramatic experiences during World War II influenced his life and work, his relationships with very young women, his obsessive writing methods, his many literary secrets.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStan Lee (2023)
Celebrate the legacy of Stan Lee as the co-creator of such legendary characters as Fantastic Four, Iron Man, the X-Men, The Avengers, and hundreds more.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHeart of a Dog (2015)
Musician and performance artist Laurie Anderson reflects on the deaths of her husband Lou Reed, her mother and her beloved dog.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCuba and the Cameraman (2017)
This revealing portrait of Cuba follows the lives of Fidel Castro and three Cuban families affected by his policies over the last four decades.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMaria by Callas (2017)
Told through performances, TV interviews, home movies, family photographs, private letters and unpublished memoirs, the film reveals the essence of an extraordinary woman who rose from humble beginnings in New York City to become a glamorous international superstar and one of the greatest artists of all time.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisO.J.: Made in America (2016)
A chronicle of the rise and fall of O.J. Simpson, whose high-profile murder trial exposed the extent of American racial tensions, revealing a fractured and divided nation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisDeliver Us from Evil (2006)
Documentary filmmaker Amy Berg investigates the life of 30-year pedophile Father Oliver O'Grady and exposes the corruption inside the Catholic Church that allowed him to abuse countless children. Victims' stories and a disturbing interview with O'Grady offer a view into the troubled mind of the spiritual leader who moved from parish to parish gaining trust ... all the while betraying so many.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFrank and Ollie (1995)
Before computer graphics, special effects wizardry, and out-of-this world technology, the magic of animation flowed from the pencils of two of the greatest animators The Walt Disney Company ever produced -- Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston. Frank and Ollie, the talent behind BAMBI, PINOCCHIO, LADY AND THE TRAMP, THE JUNGLE BOOK, and others, set the standard for such modern-day hits as THE LION KING. It was their creative genius that helped make Disney synonymous with brilliant animation, magnificent music, and emotional storytelling. Take a journey with these extraordinary artists as they share secrets, insights, and the inspiration behind some of the greatest animated movies the world has ever known!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHyperNormalisation (2016)
We live in a world where the powerful deceive us. We know they lie. They know we know they lie. They do not care. We say we care, but we do nothing, and nothing ever changes. It is normal. Welcome to the post-truth world. How we got to where we are now…
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIron Maiden: Burning Ambition (2026)
With unprecedented access to the official archives and intimate recollections from the band, both current and past, Iron Maiden: Burning Ambition invites fans to experience one of the most iconic journeys in music history. Spanning five decades, this electrifying documentary charts the band’s rise from the pubs of East London to the world’s biggest stadiums. Featuring exclusive interviews with band members and contributors such as Javier Bardem, Lars Ulrich and Chuck D, as well as all-new animated sequences of the band's legendary mascot, Eddie, the film offers a rare and intimate look at Iron Maiden’s uncompromising vision and unwavering connection with their truly global army of fans.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisMisha and the Wolves (2021)
A woman’s Holocaust memoir takes the world by storm, but a fallout with her publisher-turned-detective reveals her story as an audacious deception created to hide a darker truth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisZeitgeist: The Movie (2007)
A documentary examining possible historical and modern conspiracies surrounding Christianity, the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and the Federal Reserve bank.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHarry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction (2013)
An impressionistic portrait of the iconic actor Harry Dean Stanton comprised of intimate moments, film clips from some of his 250 films and his renditions of American folk songs.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like this2000 Meters to Andriivka (2025)
Amid the failing counteroffensive, a journalist follows a Ukrainian platoon on their mission to traverse one mile of heavily fortified forest and liberate a strategic village from Russian occupation. But the farther they advance through their destroyed homeland, the more they realize that this war may never end.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisDiego Maradona (2019)
Constructed from over 500 hours of never-before-seen footage, this documentary centers on the personal life and career of the controversial football player Diego Maradona who played for SSC Napoli and Argentina in the 1980s.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGene Tierney: A Forgotten Star (2017)
Martin Scorsese is among those paying tribute to Gene Tierney, the Academy Award-nominated American actress who was a leading lady in Hollywood throughout the 1940s and '50s.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
The Massie Affair (2005)
In the waning days of summer 1931, Honolulu's tropical tranquility was shattered when a young Navy wife made a drastic allegation of rape against five nonwhite islanders. What unfolded in the following days and weeks was a racially-charged murder case that would make headlines across the nation, enrage Hawai'i's native population, and galvanize the island's law enforcers and the nation's social elite.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Who was Hitler (2017)
Hitler's biography told like never before. Besides brief historical localizations by a narrator, only contemporaries and Hitler himself speak: no interviews, no reenactment, no illustrative graphics and no technical gadgets. The testimonies from diaries, letters, speeches and autobiographies are assembled with new, often unpublished archive material. Hitler's life and work are thus reflected in a unique way in interaction with the image of the society in the years 1889 to 1945.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Romy Schneider, face à son destin (2023)
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
June 1940, the Great Chaos (2010)
From May 10, 1940, France is living one of the worst tragedies of it history. In a few weeks, the country folds, and then collapsed in facing the attack of the Nazi Germany. On June 1940, each day is a tragedy. For the first time, thanks to historic revelations, and to numerous never seen before images and documents and reenacted situations of the time, this film recounts the incredible stories of those men and women trapped in the torment of this great chaos.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Hitlers Traum von Micky Maus - Zeichentrick unterm Hakenkreuz (1999)
The order comes in the summer of 1941 from Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels himself: The best animators are summoned to Berlin. Their task: Producing feature-length cartoons in ‘Disney quality’ with the newly founded ‘Deutsche Zeichenfilm GmbH’. To get trained, the Disney movie “Snow White” is retraced frame by frame. After the final victory, one new feature-length production of quality shall be released every year from 1947 onwards – that is the plan. Only in 1943, the first production is completed: “Armer Hansi”, a 17-minute-long colour movie, realized with the effortful multiplane technology. The second film by the ‘Deutsche Zeichenfilm’ is only completed in 1946 – by DEFA. In the territories occupied by Germany, cartoons are produced as well, sometimes harmless ones, sometimes propagandistic ones. With excerpts from animated movies, live action film documents, and witness reports by contemporaries, this documentary draws a picture of the cartoon production in the Third Reich.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
John Wayne - America at All Costs (2019)
This is the story of a man who climbed the Hollywood ladder, one rung at a time, until he reached the top and became the most popular American actor of his era.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Beau comme un tracteur (2025)
A young city girl explores the idea of beauty with her uncle Michel, a retired farmer from the Beauce region. An amusing and touching encounter between two visions of art and the world.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Miss Americana (2020)
A raw and emotionally revealing look at one of the most iconic artists of our time during a transformational period in her life as she learns to embrace her role not only as a songwriter and performer, but as a woman harnessing the full power of her voice.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Veláquez Mystery (2025)
Diego Velásquez, painter of kings and commoners, master of the off-frame and mise-en-abyme, stands at the heart of a cinematic journey that challenges conventions. From the hypnotic depth of Las Meninas to the dizzying layers of meaning in The Spinners, The Vélasquez Mystery seeks to unravel a troubling question: how does this artist, admired by geniuses such as Manet and Dalí, remain so often on the margins of collective memory? Guided by the symbolic thread of water, a metaphor for movement and reflection, the film traverses centuries and continents, boldly blending historical narratives, contemporary interpretations, and reflections on the universal legacy of an unmatched master.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Riefenstahl?
The closest matches to Riefenstahl are Hitler: A Career (1977), Paragraph 175 (2000) and The War Room (1993). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Riefenstahl?
Start with Hitler: A Career (1977), the closest match to Riefenstahl.
What is the highest-rated movie like Riefenstahl?
O.J.: Made in America (2016), rated 8.4/10 by 271 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Riefenstahl?
Iron Maiden: Burning Ambition (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there German movies like Riefenstahl?
Yes: Hitler: A Career (1977), Paragraph 175 (2000) and Who was Hitler (2017).
How are movies similar to Riefenstahl chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Riefenstahl, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.