Movies like El blues del Orate (1987)
The best movies like El blues del Orate (1987) are Garage Olimpo (1999), The Last Castle (2001) and The Wild Geese (1978). If El blues del Orate hooked you, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedArgentina 1985 (2022)7.8/10 from 787 votes
- NewestFireflies at El Mozote (2025)Released 2025
- In SpanishGarage Olimpo (1999)Also in Spanish
Garage Olimpo (1999)
María is eighteen years old, she lives with her mother in an old house in Buenos Aires in 1978, subletting rooms and giving classes to poor illiterate adults. Suddenly she is abducted by a military squad and finds herself accused of subversion and submitted to torture in the hideous underground of the Garage Olimpo, while her mother desperately tries to find her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Last Castle (2001)
A court-martialed general rallies together 1200 inmates to rise against the system that put him away.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Wild Geese (1978)
A British multinational company seeks to overthrow a vicious dictator in central Africa. It hires a band of (largely aged) mercenaries in London and sends them in to save the virtuous but imprisoned opposition leader who is also critically ill and due for execution. Just when the team has performed a perfect rescue, the multinational does a deal with the vicious dictator leaving the mercenary band to escape under their own steam and exact revenge.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFreelance (2023)
An ex-special forces operative takes a job to provide security for a journalist as she interviews a dictator, but a military coup breaks out in the middle of the interview, they are forced to escape into the jungle where they must survive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Dictator (2012)
The heroic story of a dictator who risks his life to ensure that democracy would never come to the country he so lovingly oppressed.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLand of the Blind (2006)
A soldier recounts his relationship with a famous political prisoner attempting to overthrow their country's authoritarian government.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisArgentina 1985 (2022)
In the 1980s, a team of lawyers takes on the heads of Argentina's bloody military dictatorship in a battle against odds and a race against time.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Interview (2014)
Dave Skylark and his producer Aaron Rapaport run the celebrity tabloid show "Skylark Tonight". When they land an interview with a surprise fan, North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, they are recruited by the CIA to turn their trip to Pyongyang into an assassination mission.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLa Llorona (2019)
Accused of the genocide of Mayan people, retired general Enrique is trapped in his mansion by massive protests. Abandoned by his staff, the indignant old man and his family must face the devastating truth of his actions and the growing sense that a wrathful supernatural force is targeting them for his crimes.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFireflies at El Mozote (2025)
A boy seeks revenge after surviving El Mozote massacre in El Salvador, where government forces killed his family and destroyed his village - the deadliest civilian massacre in modern Latin America.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisUkraine on Fire (2016)
A Russian-backed conspiracy film produced by Oliver Stone, framing the Euromaidan protests and the ouster of Viktor Yanukovych as a Western-engineered coup.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisFor Whom the Bell Tolls (1943)
Spain in the 1930s is the place to be for a man of action like Robert Jordan. There is a civil war going on and Jordan—who has joined up on the side that appeals most to idealists of that era—has been given a high-risk assignment up in the mountains. He awaits the right time to blow up a crucial bridge in order to halt the enemy's progress.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Operative (2019)
A young Western woman is recruited by the Mossad to go undercover in Tehran where she becomes entangled in a complex triangle with her handler and her subject.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisSouth of the Border (2009)
A road trip across five countries to explore the social and political movements as well as the mainstream media's misperception of South America while interviewing seven of its elected presidents.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEncounter (2021)
A decorated Marine goes on a rescue mission to save his two young sons from an unhuman threat. As their journey takes them in increasingly dangerous directions, the boys will need to leave their childhoods behind.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAutumn Leaves (1956)
A woman falls for a younger man with severe mental problems.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Battle of Chile: Part I (1975)
The chronicle of the political tension in Chile in 1973 and of the violent counter revolution against the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSpooks: The Greater Good (2015)
During a handover to the head of counter-terrorism of MI5, Harry Pearce, a terrorist escapes custody. When Harry disappears soon after, his protégé is tasked with finding out what happened as an impending attack on London looms, and eventually uncovers a deadly conspiracy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSalting the Battlefield (2014)
David Hare concludes his trilogy of films about MI5 renegade Johnny Worricker with another fugue on power, secrets and the British establishment. Johnny Worricker goes on the run with Margot Tyrell across Europe, and with the net closing in, the former MI5 man knows his only chance of resolving his problems is to return home and confront prime minister Alec Beasley.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNineteen Eighty-Four (1954)
A man who works for 'The Party' (an all powerful empire led by a man known only as 'Big Brother') begins to have thoughts of rebellion and love for a fellow member. Together they look to help bring down the party.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisI Was, I Am, I Will Be (1974)
In the spring of 1974, a camera team from Studio H&S succeeded against the explicit orders of the Junta’s Chancellery, entered into two large concentration camps in the north of the country - Chacabuco and Pisagua - leaving with filmed sequences and sound recordings.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
The Fatal Encounter (2014)
Late 18th-century Joseon dynasty. The King is beleaguered and surrounded by traitors of the ruling elite. They plan to assassinate and replace him with a puppet. But the King has some aces up his sleeve that may help him defeat them all.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMissing (1982)
Based on the real-life experiences of Ed Horman. A conservative American businessman travels to Chile to investigate the sudden disappearance of his son after a military takeover. Accompanied by his son's wife he uncovers a trail of cover-ups that implicate the US State department which supports the dictatorship.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTower (2017)
Four siblings, whose father disappeared during Brazilian Military Dictatorship, report their childhood during the regime.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
American Coup (2010)
AMERICAN COUP tells the story of the first coup ever carried out by the CIA - Iran, 1953. Explores the blowback from this seminal event, as well as the coup's lingering effects on the present US-Iranian relationship. Includes a segment on the 1979 Iranian Hostage Crisis and its relation to the 1953 coup. Concludes with a section on the recent Iranian presidential election. Contains interviews with noted Middle East experts and historians and prominent public figures such as Stephen Kinzer (author, All The Shah's Men), Prof. Ervand Abrahamian, Trita Parsi, Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, Ted Koppel and Rep. Ron Paul of Texas. With Iranian cinematography by James Longley.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Exile Diaries (2019)
A documentary made with homemade videos of the spanish exiled due to the dictatorship in Spain from 1939 to 1977.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
The Last King of Scotland (2006)
Young Scottish doctor, Nicholas Garrigan decides it's time for an adventure after he finishes his formal education, so he decides to try his luck in Uganda, and arrives during the downfall of President Obote. General Idi Amin comes to power and asks Garrigan to become his personal doctor.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Blow: Chronicle of a Conspiracy (2006)
Argentina, 1973. The return of democracy marks the beginning of a new countdown to the next coup d'état: on March 24, 1976, the worst dictatorship in Argentine history is installed, the bitter fruit of a plot carefully hatched for months.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003)
A corrupt CIA agent Sands hires hitman El Mariachi to assassinate a Mexican general hired by a drug kingpin attempting a coup d'état of the President of Mexico.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like El blues del Orate?
The closest matches to El blues del Orate are Garage Olimpo (1999), The Last Castle (2001) and The Wild Geese (1978). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after El blues del Orate?
Start with Garage Olimpo (1999), the closest match to El blues del Orate.
What is the highest-rated movie like El blues del Orate?
Argentina 1985 (2022), rated 7.8/10 by 787 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like El blues del Orate?
Fireflies at El Mozote (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Spanish movies like El blues del Orate?
Yes: Garage Olimpo (1999), Argentina 1985 (2022) and La Llorona (2019).
How are movies similar to El blues del Orate chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside El blues del Orate, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.