Movies like Back to 1942 (2012)
The best movies like Back to 1942 (2012) are Blind Shaft (2003), Hibiscus Town (1987) and Operation Mekong (2016). If Back to 1942 hooked you with its war and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedTo Live (1994)8.3/10 from 439 votes
- NewestHidden Blade (2023)Released 2023
- In ChineseBlind Shaft (2003)Also in Chinese
Blind Shaft (2003)
Two Chinese miners, who make money by killing fellow miners and then extorting money from the mine owner to keep quiet about the "accident", happen upon their latest victim. But one of them begins to have second thoughts.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHibiscus Town (1987)
Based on a novel by the same name written by Gu Hua, a melodrama about the life and travails of a young woman who lives through the turmoil of the Cultural Revolution.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisOperation Mekong (2016)
The Chinese government launches a daring operation to arrest a violent drug cartel following the discovery of thirteen Chinese crew members' bodies on two ships sailing through the Mekong River.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRed Cliff II (2009)
The battle of Red Cliff continues and the alliance between Xu and East Wu is fracturing. With Cao Cao's massive forces on their doorstep, will the kingdoms of Xu and East Wu survive?
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both war
Worth the HypeMovies like this24 City (2008)
As a decades-old state-run aeronautics munitions factory in downtown Chengdu, China is being torn down for the construction of the titular luxury apartment complex, director Jia Zhangke interviews various people affiliated with it about their experiences.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAsh Is Purest White (2018)
Set in China's underworld, this tale of love and betrayal follows a dancer who fired a gun to protect her mobster boyfriend during a fight. On release from prison 5 years later, she sets out to find him.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisForever Young (2018)
From World War, to revolution and ultimately rebirth, Forever Young is the story of four generations spanning a hundred years of modern Chinese history. Each generation faces its own unique set of challenges. Up against corporate corruption, the trials and tribulations of the cultural revolution, and one's duty to nation in time of war, they are faced with choosing their individual paths through history. But as the challenges and turmoil of each generation may differ as time changes, what was learned in the past cannot help but effect the choices that are made in the future as it is passed down from generation to generation. And that is the universal message that being true to yourself is precious. It is the source of strength that empowers one to become the person they want to be, to march forward as far as their hearts desire, into the future.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both war & drama
Last Train Home (2009)
A family embarks on an annual tormenting journey along with 130 million other peasant workers to reunite with their distant family, and to revive their love and dignity as China soars as the world's next super power.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Flowers of War (2011)
A Westerner finds refuge with a group of women in a church during Japan's rape of Nanking in 1937. Posing as a priest, he attempts to lead the women to safety.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Blue Kite (1994)
A young man recalls his childhood growing up in a poor alley in Beijing during the 1950s and 1960s.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe King of Masks (1995)
Wang Bianlian is an aging street performer known as the King of Mask for his mastery of Sichuan Change Art in a true story. His wife left him with and infant son over 30 years ago. The son died from illness at age 10. This left Wang a melancholy loner aching for a male descendent to learn his rare and dying art.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStill Life (2006)
A town in Fengjie county is gradually being demolished and flooded to make way for the Three Gorges Dam. A man and woman visit the town to locate their estranged spouses, and become witness to the societal changes.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBalzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress (2002)
During the Cultural Revolution, two young men are sent to a remote mining village where they fall in love with the local tailor's beautiful granddaughter and discover a suitcase full of forbidden Western novels.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTo Live (1994)
Married couple Fugui and Jiazhen endure tumultuous events in mid-20th century mainland China as their personal fortunes move from wealthy landownership to peasantry.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & war
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisA Touch of Sin (2013)
Four people in different provinces are driven to violent ends: An angry miner is enraged by corruption in his village. A migrant discovers the possibilities of owning a firearm. A receptionist is pushed beyond her limits by an abusive client. A young factory worker goes from one job to the next.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCrosscurrent (2016)
A voyage between a woman searching for the meaning of life and a man holding a book of poems on the longest river of Mainland China.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Cliff Walkers (2021)
In the puppet state of Manchukuo in the 1930s, four Communist party special agents, after returning to China, embark on a secret mission. Sold out by a traitor, the team find themselves surrounded by threats on all sides.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Founding of an Army (2017)
The Founding of an Army is a 2017 Chinese film commissioned by China's government to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the founding of the People's Liberation Army.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both war
Platform (2001)
China’s rapid changes from the late 1970s to the early 1990s, as seen through the lives of four performers in a theater troupe.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRailroad Tigers (2016)
A railroad worker in China in 1941 leads a team of freedom fighters against the Japanese in order to get food for the poor.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJohn Rabe (2009)
A true-story account of a German businessman who saved more than 200,000 Chinese during the Nanjing massacre in 1937-38.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCity of Life and Death (2009)
In 1937, during the height of the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Imperial Japanese Army has just captured Nanjing, then-capital of the Republic of China. What followed was known as the Nanking Massacre, or the Rape of Nanking, a six week period wherein tens of thousands of Chinese soldiers and civilians were killed.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFarewell My Concubine (1993)
In an epic tale of theater, gender, love and class, two Beijing opera actors navigate political turmoil as their friendship evolves over decades.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisLet the Bullets Fly (2010)
When circumstances force an outlaw to impersonate a county governor and clean up a corrupt town, the Robin Hood figure finds himself in a showdown with the local godfather.
Why it matches: Fans watch both
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDevils on the Doorstep (2001)
During the Japanese occupation of China, two prisoners are dumped in a peasant's home in a small town. The owner is bullied into keeping the prisoners until the next New Year, at which time they will be collected. The village leaders convene to interrogate the prisoners. The townspeople then struggle to accommodate the prisoners. One is a bellicose Japanese nationalist, the other a nervous translator. Will the townspeople manage to keep the prisoners until the New Year?
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & war
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisAftershock (2010)
Tangshan, 1976. Two seven-year-old twins are buried under the rubble of the deadliest earthquake of the 20th century. The rescue team explains to their mother that freeing either child will almost certainly result in the death of the other. Forced to make the most difficult decision of her life, she finally chooses to save her son. Though left behind as dead, the little girl miraculously survives, unbeknownst to her brother and mother.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Battle at Lake Changjin (2021)
Korean War, winter 1950. In the frozen and snowy area of Changjin Lake, a bloody battle is about to begin between the elite troops of the United States and China.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHidden Blade (2023)
Follows the story of underground workers who risked their lives to send intelligence and defend the motherland, set after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor when the Wang Jingwei regime declared war on Britain and the U.S.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisYouth (2017)
A group of performing art troupe members each face their own trials and tribulations in Chengdu; from escaping a family scandal to dealing with unrequited love, each experiences rejection that shapes their lives.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAssembly (2007)
Follows a soldier trying to gain recognition for comrades who died in 1948, at a turning point in the civil war between the communists and the nationalist forces of the Kuomintang.
Why it matches: Fans watch both
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Back to 1942?
The closest matches to Back to 1942 are Blind Shaft (2003), Hibiscus Town (1987) and Operation Mekong (2016). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Back to 1942?
People who watched Back to 1942 most often go on to Blind Shaft (2003), Hibiscus Town (1987) and Operation Mekong (2016).
What is the highest-rated movie like Back to 1942?
To Live (1994), rated 8.3/10 by 439 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Back to 1942?
Hidden Blade (2023) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Chinese movies like Back to 1942?
Yes: Blind Shaft (2003), Hibiscus Town (1987) and Operation Mekong (2016).
How are movies similar to Back to 1942 chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Back to 1942, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.