Movies like The Cranes Call (2024)
The best movies like The Cranes Call (2024) are 20 Days in Mariupol (2023), A Toxic Love Story (2026) and 2000 Meters to Andriivka (2025). If The Cranes Call hooked you with its documentary, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedFor Sama (2019)8.2/10 from 323 votes
- NewestA Toxic Love Story (2026)Released 2026
20 Days in Mariupol (2023)
As the Russian invasion begins, a team of Ukrainian journalists trapped in the besieged city of Mariupol struggle to continue their work documenting the war's atrocities.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Absolute CinemaMovies 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 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 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 thisI Am Ali (2014)
Unprecedented access to Muhammad Ali's personal archive of "audio journals" as well as interviews and testimonials from his inner circle of family and friends are used to tell the legend's life story.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFather Soldier Son (2020)
When Sgt. First Class Brian Eisch is critically wounded in Afghanistan, it sets him and his sons on a journey of love, loss, redemption and legacy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Mole: Undercover in North Korea (2020)
A real-life undercover thriller about two ordinary men who embark on an outrageously dangerous ten-year mission to penetrate the world's most secretive and brutal dictatorship: North Korea.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Curse of the Dragon (1993)
A 1993 documentary film about Bruce Lee. The film includes interviews from some of his fellow students and opponents who worked alongside him in his movies.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWe Stand Alone Together: The Men of Easy Company (2001)
Over a period of two years, Mark Cowen and his crew travelled to thirty U.S. states and ten European cities, to interview the veterans of Easy Company. The stories told by the veterans themselves, create a history of the Second World War from the point of view of this heroic company of men, made famous in the mini-series Band of Brothers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Pigeon Tunnel (2023)
Academy Award winner Errol Morris pulls back the curtain on the storied life and career of David Cornwell, the former spy known to the literary world as John le Carré.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFilmworker (2018)
The story of Leon Vitali, who surrendered his promising acting career to become Stanley Kubrick's devoted right-hand man.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies 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 thisMurder to Mercy: The Cyntoia Brown Story (2020)
After 16-year-old Cyntoia Brown is sentenced to life in prison, questions about her past, physiology and the law itself call her guilt into question.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStrip Down, Rise Up (2021)
The feature documentary follows women of all walks of life, all ages and ethnic backgrounds, as they shed trauma, body image shame, sexual abuse and other issues locked in their bodies, and embark on a journey to reclaim themselves. The film also gives a rare window into the world of Pole artistry and expression.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFor Sama (2019)
A love letter from a young mother to her daughter, the film tells the story of Waad al-Kateab’s life through five years of the uprising in Aleppo, Syria as she falls in love, gets married and gives birth to Sama, all while cataclysmic conflict rises around her. Her camera captures incredible stories of loss, laughter and survival as Waad wrestles with an impossible choice– whether or not to flee the city to protect her daughter’s life, when leaving means abandoning the struggle for freedom for which she has already sacrificed so much.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisS4: The Bob Lazar Story (2026)
Over 35 years after Bob Lazar's revelations, this documentary exposes secrets of a facility the government still denies. Featuring Lazar's testimony, recreations, and new evidence, it reopens a case that continues to spark global curiosity
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisRoman Polanski: A Film Memoir (2012)
An interview with film director Roman Polanski conducted during his period of house arrest, discussing his life and work.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisStolen: Heist of the Century (2025)
Antwerp, 2003. A gang of thieves rob the impenetrable Diamond Center. Who was behind one of the world's biggest heists - and how did they pull it off?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Anthrax Attacks: In the Shadow of 9/11 (2022)
Days after 9/11, letters containing fatal anthrax spores spark panic and tragedy in the US. This documentary follows the subsequent FBI investigation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe long february - What happened in Bucha? (2025)
The Long February tells the story of the Russian occupation of the Bucha region through the eyes of those who survived it. Combining testimonies of civilians, police officers and artists with private footage shared by the participants themselves and archival material, the film explores not only the occupation itself but also its lasting human consequences. Rather than ending with Bucha's liberation, The Long February examines memory, trauma and resilience, revealing how the war continues to shape the lives of Bucha's residents.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Flight Dance Live (2023)
Stories about young Ukrainian dancers and their hasty flight to the Netherlands. You see their new life as refugees. The former conservatory in The Hague is a shelter for them where they collect their lives and find refuge in their profession: dance. The formation of a new ballet company, The United Ukrainian Ballet, is an important foothold in winning back their lives. They find comfort in each other and close friendships develop. In addition, there is the great love for ballet, for the dancers the best way to express themselves.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Breaking Point: The War for Democracy in Ukraine (2017)
The film looks at people transformed by a democratic revolution, who give up their normal lives to fight a Russian invasion, in a war which has killed 10,000 and displaced 1.9 million Ukrainians.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Thou Shalt Not Kill (1991)
Józef Gębski's film is a documentary reconstruction of the crime committed by NKVD officers against Polish officers imprisoned in Starobielsk and Kharkov in 1940. Accounts of historians and prosecutors are juxtaposed with the testimony of the then heads of the central and regional NKVD board.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Rescue (2026)
As the full-scale war in Ukraine forces millions to flee, rescuers move in the opposite direction - toward destroyed villages, active shelling, and mined roads - to save animals left behind when humans are forced to escape.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Hunting Down the Nazis (2007)
For the first time, a film recounts the story of the long pursuit of Nazis in hiding from 1945 to the present day. Sixty years of investigations, set-backs trials and dramas, brought about principally by three extraordinary individuals—the Austrian Simon Wiesenthal, and the German-French couple, Beate and Serge Klarsfeld.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Co mogą martwi jeńcy (2010)
A documentary about the modern controversy between Poland and Russia over Russian prisoners of war from the time when Poland regained its independence, after the First World War.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
17 dni września (1997)
On the basis of "Notes from the escape of Edmund K. (policeman)" and archival photos, the director reconstructed the "raid" in the Kielce-Katyn area in September 1939. The family of a policeman, along with a column of fugitives, loses their luggage, hopes and illusions along the way.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Film znaleziony w Katyniu (1992)
An account of Halina Borek's long 52-year search for the grave of her bestially murdered father. Her recollections are accompanied by excerpts from an original film shot during the exhumation of the remains of Polish officers. The film is narrated by archaeologist Zdzislaw Sawicki, who was one of the first to uncover the secrets of the Katyn graves.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Zbrodnia katyńska (1991)
Katyń. The name of this town was banned during the communist era in Poland. It appeared as an entry in only one edition of the PWN encyclopedia from 1958, where the Germans were blamed for the crimes. When, in 1989, one of the periodicals placed this word on the cover of its April issue in the context of National Remembrance Month, the publication provoked deep and loud outrage from Wiesław Górnicki, a publicist and official advisor to General Wojciech Jaruzelski. The name Katyń had been ruthlessly and consistently erased from the national memory.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Cranes Call?
The closest matches to The Cranes Call are 20 Days in Mariupol (2023), A Toxic Love Story (2026) and 2000 Meters to Andriivka (2025). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Cranes Call?
Start with 20 Days in Mariupol (2023), the closest match to The Cranes Call.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Cranes Call?
For Sama (2019), rated 8.2/10 by 323 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Cranes Call?
A Toxic Love Story (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Cranes Call?
Yes: 20 Days in Mariupol (2023), A Toxic Love Story (2026) and 2000 Meters to Andriivka (2025).
How are movies similar to The Cranes Call chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Cranes Call, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.