Movies like The American Dream (2011)
The best movies like The American Dream (2011) are 5 Days of War (2011), Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk (2016) and Thank You for Your Service (2017). If The American Dream hooked you with its drama and war, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedBrothers (2009)7.3/10 from 4,075 votes
- NewestWaiting for Anya (2020)Released 2020
5 Days of War (2011)
An American journalist and his cameraman are caught in the combat zone during the first Russian airstrikes against Georgia. Rescuing Tatia, a young Georgian schoolteacher separated from her family during the attack, the two reporters agree to help reunite her with her family in exchange for serving as their interpreter. As the three attempt to escape to safety, they witness--and document--the devastation from the full-scale crossfire and cold-blooded murder of innocent civilians.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both war & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisBilly Lynn's Long Halftime Walk (2016)
19-year-old Billy Lynn is brought home for a victory tour after a harrowing Iraq battle. Through flashbacks the film shows what really happened to his squad – contrasting the realities of war with America's perceptions.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThank You for Your Service (2017)
A group of U.S. soldiers returning from Iraq struggle to integrate back into family and civilian life, while living with the memory of a war that threatens to destroy them long after they've left the battlefield.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStop-Loss (2008)
A veteran soldier returns from his completed tour of duty in Iraq, only to find his life turned upside down when he is arbitrarily ordered to return to field duty by the Army.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFaith of Our Fathers (2015)
With the Vietnam War raging in 1969, two young fathers report for duty. A man of great faith and a doubtful cynic. A quarter-century later, their sons, Wayne and John Paul (David A.R. White and Kevin Downes), meet as strangers. Guided by handwritten letters from their fathers from the battlefield, they embark on an unforgettable journey to The Wall-the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. Along the way, they discover the devastation of war cannot break the love of a father for his son.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both war & drama
Brothers (2009)
When his helicopter goes down during his fourth tour of duty in Afghanistan, Marine Sam Cahill is presumed dead. Back home, brother Tommy steps in to look over Sam’s wife, Grace, and two children. Sam’s surprise homecoming triggers domestic mayhem.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHyena Road (2015)
Three different men, three different worlds, three different wars – all stand at the intersection of modern warfare – a murky world of fluid morality where all is not as it seems. A unique and dramatic look at the Canadian Army in Afghanistan.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both war & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTaking Chance (2009)
Lt. Col. Michael Strobl, a volunteer military escort accompanies the body of Lance Cpl. Chance Phelps to his hometown in Wyoming.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFort Bliss (2014)
After returning home from an extended tour in Afghanistan, a decorated U.S. Army medic and single mother struggles to rebuild her relationship with her young son.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both war & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHome of the Brave (2006)
The day after they get the word they'll go home in two weeks, a group of soldiers from Spokane are ambushed in an Iraqi city. Back stateside we follow four of them - a surgeon who saw too much, a teacher who's a single mom and who lost a hand in the ambush, an infantry man whose best friend died that day, and a soldier who keeps reliving the moment he killed a civilian woman.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both war & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisA Private War (2018)
One of the most celebrated war correspondents of our time, Marie Colvin is an utterly fearless and rebellious spirit, driven to the frontlines of conflicts across the globe to give voice to the voiceless.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLive from Baghdad (2002)
A group of CNN reporters venture to the Iraqi capital to cover the Gulf War.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMan Down (2016)
When a U.S. Marine returns home from Afghanistan, he finds that the place he once called home is no better than the battlefields he fought on overseas. Accompanied by his best friend, he searches desperately for the whereabouts of his estranged son and wife. In their search, the two intercept a man carrying vital information about his family.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBoys of Abu Ghraib (2014)
An American soldier deployed at Abu Ghraib finds himself behind the walls of the infamous Hard Site, where he develops a secret friendship with an Iraqi detainee.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & war
SnoozefestMovies like thisIn the Land of Blood and Honey (2011)
During the Bosnian War, Danijel, a soldier fighting for the Serbs, re-encounters Ajla, a Bosnian who's now a captive in his camp he oversees. Their once promising connection has become ambiguous as their motives have changed.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & war
SnoozefestMovies like thisSergio (2020)
A sweeping drama set in the chaotic aftermath of the US invasion of Iraq, where the life of top UN diplomat Brazilian Sérgio Vieira de Mello hangs in the balance during the most treacherous mission of his career.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBrothers of War (2015)
When a bitter rivalry between two brothers finally erupts into bloody, life-changing violence it is younger bother Greg who signs up for frontline battle in France. Greg discovers a world of uncompromising brutality as we follow him on his journey through France at the outbreak of World War 2.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & war
Badland (2007)
Jerry (Jamie Draven) was an idealist when he served in the first Gulf War. But when he was later deployed to Iraq, Jerry was an older man, a father of three and embittered by broken promises and unfulfilled desires. When Jerry returns from Iraq he has been transformed by horrors that cannot be forgiven. He lives a life of poverty, his children afraid of him and his wife, Nora (Vinessa Shaw), unsympathetic and unhappy. When Jerry discovers that Nora has betrayed him, his anger and despair drive him to commit an act so heinous and irreversible that nothing he had experienced in combat could have prepared him for.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Brothers (2004)
A Danish officer, Michael, is sent away to the International Security Assistance Force operation in Afghanistan for three months. His first mission there is to find a young radar technician who had been separated from his squad some days earlier. While on the search, his helicopter is shot down and he is taken as a prisoner of war, but is reported dead to the family.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFar from Men (2015)
A French teacher in a small Algerian village during the Algerian War forms an unexpected bond with a dissident who is ordered to be turned in to the authorities.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Patience Stone (2013)
In a war-ridden country, a woman watches over her husband, comatose from a bullet in the neck and abandoned by Jihad companions and brothers. One day, the woman decides to say things to him she could never have done before.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSGT. Will Gardner (2019)
A troubled Iraq War veteran struggling to reintegrate into society sets out on a cross-country journey with the hope of reuniting with his young son.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both war & drama
Burn Country (2016)
A former war journalist now writing for a paper in Northern California is drawn into conflict at home.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & war
Killing Kennedy (2013)
Killing Kennedy follows the parallel lives of John F. Kennedy and Lee Harvey Oswald from the winter 1959-1960 to those fatal days in Dallas in November 1963, when they both died within two days after each other and were buried on the same day - John F. Kennedy in a state funeral in Washington D.C., broadcast live both to Europe and the Pacific, while Oswald was buried in Forth Worth at a small funeral where the attending reporters were asked to act as pallbearers.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisAn Ordinary Man (2017)
A war criminal in hiding forms a relationship with his only connection to the outside world - his maid.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOutlaws - For Greater Glory (2012)
A chronicle of the Cristeros War (1926-1929), which was touched off by a rebellion against the Mexican government's attempt to secularize the country.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJacknife (1989)
A conflict develops between a troubled Vietnam veteran and the sister he lives with when she becomes involved romantically with the army buddy who reminds him of the tragic battle they both survived.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell (1955)
A dramatization of the American general and his court martial for publically complaining about High Command's dismissal and neglect of the aerial fighting forces.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWaiting for Anya (2020)
During the harrows of WWII, Jo, a young shepherd along with the help of the widow Horcada, helps to smuggle Jewish children across the border from southern France into Spain.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBehold a Pale Horse (1964)
Manuel Artiguez, a famous bandit during the Spanish civil war, has lived in French exile for 20 years. When his mother is dying he considers visiting her secretly in his Spanish home town. But his biggest enemy, the Spanish police officer Vinolas, prepared a trap at the hospital as a chance to finally catch Artiguez.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The American Dream?
The closest matches to The American Dream are 5 Days of War (2011), Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk (2016) and Thank You for Your Service (2017). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The American Dream?
People who watched The American Dream most often go on to 5 Days of War (2011), Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk (2016) and Thank You for Your Service (2017).
What is the highest-rated movie like The American Dream?
Brothers (2009), rated 7.3/10 by 4,075 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The American Dream?
Waiting for Anya (2020) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The American Dream?
Yes: 5 Days of War (2011), Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk (2016) and Thank You for Your Service (2017).
How are movies similar to The American Dream chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The American Dream, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.