Movies like Ruf (1989)
The best movies like Ruf (1989) are Munich - The Edge of War (2021), Tsar (2009) and Adventures of a Mathematician (2021). If Ruf hooked you with its drama and history, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedKalashnikov AK-47 (2020)7.6/10 from 419 votes
- NewestOrigin (2023)Released 2023
Munich - The Edge of War (2021)
At the tense 1938 Munich Conference, former friends who now work for opposing governments become reluctant spies racing to expose a Nazi secret.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTsar (2009)
In 16th-century Russia in the grip of chaos, Ivan the Terrible strongly believes he is vested with a holy mission. Believing he can understand and interpret the signs, he sees the Last Judgment approaching. He establishes absolute power, cruelly destroying anyone who gets in his way. During this reign of terror, Philip, the superior of the monastery on the Solovetsky Islands, a great scholar and Ivan's close friend, dares to oppose the sovereign's mystical tyranny. What follows is a clash between two completely opposite visions of the world, smashing morality and justice, God and men. A grand-scale film with excellent leading roles by Mamonov and Yankovsky. An allegory of Stalinist Russia
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAdventures of a Mathematician (2021)
The warmhearted story of Polish immigrant and mathematician Stan Ulam, who moved to the U.S. in the 1930s. Stan deals with the difficult losses of family and friends all while helping to create the hydrogen bomb and the first computer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRadium Girls (2020)
Young women toiling in a factory are exposed to hazardous material which takes a disastrous toll on their health.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Book of Daniel (2013)
Taken into slavery after the fall of Jerusalem in 605 B.C., Daniel is forced to serve the most powerful king in the world, King Nebuchadnezzar. Faced with imminent death, Daniel proves himself a trusted Advisor and is placed among the king's wise men. Threatened by death at every turn Daniel never ceases to serve the king until he is forced to choose between serving the king or honoring God. With his life at stake, Daniel has nothing but his faith to stand between him and the lions' den.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSnow Flower and the Secret Fan (2011)
A story set in 19th century China and centered on the lifelong friendship between two girls who develop their own secret code as a way to contend with the rigid cultural norms imposed on women.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSuffragette (2015)
Based on true events about the foot soldiers of the early feminist movement, women who were forced underground to pursue a dangerous game of cat and mouse with an increasingly brutal State.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJulia (1977)
At the behest of an old and dear friend, playwright Lillian Hellman undertakes a dangerous mission to smuggle funds into Nazi Germany.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGagarin: First in Space (2013)
The film is dedicated to the first steps of mankind on the path of space exploration and direct the fate of the first cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. The main motif - the fight for the right to be first: the competition in the first cosmonaut, competition in missile technology, the confrontation of superpowers - the USSR and the USA. In the first group of astronauts were selected from three thousand fighter pilots across the country. In twenty of the legendary got the best of the best. Which of them will fly first, no one knew. In this way, had to contend not only with the pull of the earth ...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTchaikovsky's Wife (2022)
Antonina Milyukova is a beautiful and bright young woman, born in the aristocracy of 19th century Russia. She could have anything she'd want, and yet her only obsession is to marry Pyotr Tchaikovsky, with whom she falls in love from the very moment she hears his music. The composer finally accepts this union, but after blaming her for his misfortunes and breakdowns, his attempts to get rid of his wife are brutal. Consumed by her feelings for him, Antonina decides to endure and do whatever it takes to stay with him. Humiliated, disgraced and discarded, she is slowly driven to madness.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Pentagon Papers (2003)
This compelling political drama is based on the true story of high-ranking Pentagon official Daniel Ellsberg, who, during the Nixon era, strove to preserve American democracy by leaking top-secret documents to the New York Times and Washington Post. The documents in question would eventually become famous as the Pentagon Papers, which revealed the true reasons for U.S. involvement in Vietnam.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
SnoozefestMovies like thisOranges and Sunshine (2010)
The story of Margaret Humphreys, a social worker from Nottingham, who uncovers one of the most significant social scandals in recent times – the forced migration of children from the United Kingdom to Australia and other Commonwealth countries. Almost singlehandedly, Margaret reunited thousands of families, brought authorities to account and worldwide attention to an extraordinary miscarriage of justice.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPanther (1995)
In this sprawling, fictionalized history of the Black Panthers, 1960s Oakland becomes a war zone as the Panthers battle for the right to exist.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBelfast (2021)
Buddy is a young boy on the cusp of adolescence, whose life is filled with familial love, childhood hijinks, and a blossoming romance. Yet, with his beloved hometown caught up in increasing turmoil, his family faces a momentous choice: hope the conflict will pass or leave everything they know behind for a new life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisChevalier (2023)
The illegitimate son of an African slave and a French plantation owner, Joseph Bologne rises to improbable heights in French society as a celebrated violinist-composer and fencer, complete with an ill-fated love affair and a falling out with Marie Antoinette and her court.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisColette (2018)
After marrying a successful Parisian writer known commonly as Willy, Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette is transplanted from her childhood home in rural France to the intellectual and artistic splendor of Paris. Soon after, Willy convinces Colette to ghostwrite for him. She pens a semi-autobiographical novel about a witty and brazen country girl named Claudine, sparking a bestseller and a cultural sensation. After its success, Colette and Willy become the talk of Paris and their adventures inspire additional Claudine novels.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGoya's Ghosts (2006)
Painter Francisco Goya becomes involved with the Spanish Inquisition after his muse, Inés, is arrested by the church for heresy. Her family turns to him, hoping that his connection with fanatical Inquisitor Lorenzo, whom he is painting, can secure her release.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKalashnikov AK-47 (2020)
A Russian military propaganda film about the tank commander Kalashnikov, severely injured in battle in 1941. The accident leaves him incapacitated and unable to return to the front line. While recovering in the hospital, he begins creating the initial sketches of what will become one of the world’s most legendary weapons. A self-taught inventor is only 29 when he develops the now iconic assault riffle — the AK-47. Shot in occupied Crimea.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRichard Jewell (2019)
Richard Jewell thinks quick, works fast, and saves hundreds, perhaps thousands, of lives after a domestic terrorist plants several pipe bombs and they explode during a concert, only to be falsely suspected of the crime by sloppy FBI work and sensational media coverage.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOrigin (2023)
While investigating the global phenomenon of caste and its dark influence on society, a journalist faces unfathomable personal loss and uncovers the beauty of human resilience.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Ruf?
The closest matches to Ruf are Munich - The Edge of War (2021), Tsar (2009) and Adventures of a Mathematician (2021). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Ruf?
Start with Munich - The Edge of War (2021), the closest match to Ruf.
What is the highest-rated movie like Ruf?
Kalashnikov AK-47 (2020), rated 7.6/10 by 419 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Ruf?
Origin (2023) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to Ruf chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Ruf, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.