Movies like Heal America (2013)
The best movies like Heal America (2013) are 49 Up (2006), Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things (2015) and Chadwick Boseman: A Tribute for a King (2020). If Heal America hooked you with its documentary, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedMinimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things (2015)6.6/10 from 425 votes
- NewestThis Is an Address (2026)Released 2026
49 Up (2006)
49 Up is the seventh film in a series of landmark documentaries that began 42 years ago when UK-based Granada's World in Action team, inspired by the Jesuit maxim "Give me the child until he is seven and I will give you the man," interviewed a diverse group of seven-year-old children from all over England, asking them about their lives and their dreams for the future. Michael Apted, a researcher for the original film, has returned to interview the "children" every seven years since, at ages 14, 21, 28, 35, 42 and now again at age 49.In this latest chapter, more life-changing decisions are revealed, more shocking announcements made and more of the original group take part than ever before, speaking out on a variety of subjects including love, marriage, career, class and prejudice.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMinimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things (2015)
How might your life be better with less? The popular simple-living duo The Minimalists examines the many flavors of minimalism by taking the audience inside the lives of minimalists from various walks of life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChadwick Boseman: A Tribute for a King (2020)
A tribute to Chadwick Boseman, celebrating his life and legacy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisCome See Me in the Good Light (2025)
In an intimate and joyful story of love in the face of loss, celebrated poets Andrea Gibson and Megan Falley find strength—and unexpected hilarity—in what might be their final year together.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like this28 Up (1985)
Just two years away from turning 30, participants in Michael Apted's documentary series are facing serious questions of identity and purpose, wondering whether they've found their place in the world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies 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 thisA Toxic Love Story (2026)
A string of threatening emails escalates into a revenge plot involving a newly married US marshal and his ex-girlfriend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisVoyeur (2017)
Legendary journalist Gay Talese unmasks a motel owner who spied on his guests for decades. But his bombshell story soon becomes a scandal of its own.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
SnoozefestMovies like thisAvatar: The Deep Dive - A Special Edition of 20/20 (2022)
An inside look at one of the most anticipated movie sequels ever with James Cameron and cast.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Class of ‘92 (2013)
A detailing of the rise to prominence and global sporting superstardom of six supremely talented young Manchester United football players (David Beckham, Nicky Butt, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Phil and Gary Neville). The film covers the period 1992-1999, culminating in Manchester United's European Cup triumph.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDavid Byrne's American Utopia (2020)
A filmed version of David Byrne's Broadway show, a unifying musical celebration that inspires audiences to connect to each other and to the global community.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHarmontown (2014)
A comedic, brutally honest documentary following self-destructive TV writer Dan Harmon as he takes his live podcast on a national tour.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMarvel's Behind the Mask (2021)
A documentary special that explores the power of identity behind the iconic superheroes we know and love today. These legendary Marvel creations and stories have not only reflected the world outside our window – they have become a reflection of our own identities and who we truly are.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Last Repair Shop (2024)
In a warehouse in the heart of Los Angeles, a dwindling handful of devoted craftspeople maintain more than 80,000 student musical instruments, the largest remaining workshop in America of its kind. Meet four unforgettable characters whose broken-and-repaired lives have been dedicated to bringing so much more than music to the schoolchildren of this city.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies 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 thisStruggle: The Life and Lost Art of Szukalski (2018)
Artists in LA discover the work of forgotten Polish sculptor Stanislav Szukalski, a mad genius whose true story unfolds chapter by astounding chapter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNaqoyqatsi (2002)
A visual montage portrait of our contemporary world dominated by globalized technology and violence.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Battered Bastards of Baseball (2014)
Hollywood veteran Bing Russell creates the only independent baseball team in the country—alarming the baseball establishment and sparking the meteoric rise of the 1970s Portland Mavericks.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGod Grew Tired of Us (2006)
Filmmaker Christopher Quinn observes the ordeal of three Sudanese refugees -- Jon Bul Dau, Daniel Abul Pach and Panther Bior -- as they try to come to terms with the horrors they experienced in their homeland, while adjusting to their new lives in the United States.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Decline of Western Civilization Part III (1998)
A musical study of Los Angeles in the late 90s, where homeless teens roam the streets and profess to live a punk lifestyle of music, drugs, and flouting authority.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHOMELESS (2026)
HOMELESS is a documentary that humanizes unhoused people and explores their backgrounds, dreams and struggles to find the way home. The film aims to raise awareness and funds to end homelessness, which is an ever more urgent global challenge: The United Nations Human Settlements Program estimates that 1.6 billion people live in inadequate housing, and the best available data suggests that more than 100 million people have no housing at all.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Who Owns New Zealand Now? (2017)
Award-winning documentary maker Bryan Bruce investigates New Zealand's housing crisis and what might be done to solve it. Bruce consults with recognised world experts (in Canada, Ireland and Germany) to discuss their global research – this time on foreign capital and housing affordability and the effect of immigration on house prices. Bruce also looks at some of the many possible solutions (available particularly in Germany) that would provide families with stability of tenure that don’t involve private ownership.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Homeless Angels (2017)
Los Angeles MacArthur Park has a notorious reputation. Located right on a cross of different gang territories, it became associated with drugs, violence, and its diverse homeless population: undocumented immigrants, abandoned veterans, transgenders, people who lost their job, and people with disabilities who can’t afford healthcare. For a course of 3 months, I visited MacArthur Park filming those who live there. Many of those people came to the US with a dream to find heaven. And LA indeed looks like one. My goal was to show this dramatic contrast between heaven and its tragedy.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Unconventional: Living Life to the Max (2022)
Max Ramsey, an advocate for those experiencing poverty, uses what he has gone through to serve the impoverished community of Milwaukee despite internal struggles and disapproval from the city.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Petit Rempart (2025)
Mariem, 53, a former estate agent, has been living at a shelter for several months. Surrounded by women in far more precarious circumstances than herself, she tries to regard her unprecedented social downfall as an immersion in real life. By the time she leaves, Mariem’s view of the world will have changed forever, enriched by all the women she has met along the way.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
The Shelter (2014)
It is winter at an emergency shelter for the homeless in Lausanne. Every night at the door of this little-known basement facility the same entry ritual takes place, resulting in confrontations which can sometimes turn violent. Those on duty at the shelter have the difficult task of “triaging the poor”: the women and children first, then the men. Although the total capacity at the shelter is 100, only 50 “chosen ones” will be admitted inside and granted a warm meal and a bed. The others know it will be a long night.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
This Is an Address (2026)
Stonewall veterans (including prominent trans activist Sylvia Rivera) and HIV-positive New Yorkers take up residency on the Hudson River piers as cranes raze vacant buildings for a new skyline.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Streetwise (1984)
This documentary about teenagers living on the streets in Seattle began as a magazine article. The film follows nine teenagers who discuss how they live by panhandling, prostitution, and petty theft.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisUn jour ça ira (2018)
Djibi and Ange, two teenagers living on the streets, arrive at the Archipel, an emergency shelter in the heart of Paris. This documentary is a look at the Archipel, a shelter offering an innovative way to welcome families living on the streets.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Carts of Darkness (2008)
In the picture-postcard community of North Vancouver, filmmaker Murray Siple follows men who have turned bottle-picking, their primary source of income, into the extreme sport of shopping cart racing. Enduring hardships from everyday life on the streets of Vancouver, this sub-culture depicts street life as much more than stereotypes portrayed in mainstream media. The films takes a deep look into the lives of the men who race carts, the adversity they face, and the appeal of cart racing despite the risk.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Heal America?
The closest matches to Heal America are 49 Up (2006), Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things (2015) and Chadwick Boseman: A Tribute for a King (2020). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Heal America?
Start with 49 Up (2006), the closest match to Heal America.
What is the highest-rated movie like Heal America?
Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things (2015), rated 6.6/10 by 425 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Heal America?
This Is an Address (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Heal America?
Yes: 49 Up (2006), Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things (2015) and Chadwick Boseman: A Tribute for a King (2020).
How are movies similar to Heal America chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Heal America, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.