Movies like Desierto (2023)
The best movies like Desierto (2023) are Chile '76 (2022), Under the Same Moon (2007) and In Her Place (2024). If Desierto hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedUnder the Same Moon (2007)8.0/10 from 378 votes
- NewestEDJOP (2026)Released 2026
- In SpanishChile '76 (2022)Also in Spanish
Chile '76 (2022)
Chile, 1976. Carmen heads off to her beach house. When the family priest asks her to take care of a young man he is sheltering in secret, Carmen steps onto unexplored territories, away from the quiet life she is used to.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUnder the Same Moon (2007)
Tells the parallel stories of nine-year-old Carlitos and his mother, Rosario. In the hopes of providing a better life for her son, Rosario works illegally in the U.S. while her mother cares for Carlitos back in Mexico.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisIn Her Place (2024)
After Chilean writer María Carolina Geel murders her lover, the case captivates shy legal secretary Mercedes, sparking a connection between the two women.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHounddog (2008)
A drama set in the American South, where a precocious, troubled girl finds a safe haven in the music and movement of Elvis Presley.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEma (2019)
Ema is a magnetic and impulsive dancer in a reggaeton troupe. Her toxic marriage to choreographer Gastón is beyond repair, following a decision to give up on their adopted child Polo. She sets out on a mission to get him back, not caring who she’ll need to fight, seduce or destroy to make it happen.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEl Polaquito (2003)
At age 13, a street kid known as "El Polaquito" makes his living mostly by singing tangos on Buenos Aires commuter trains. He falls in love with a 16 year old prostitute, also working for the Mafia controlling child exploitation in one of Argentina's busiest train stations. He tries to rescue her from this cruel life with no future. But to do so, he must confront the ruthless adult gang leaders, as well as the young kids who protect them, believing that this Mafia is truly their only option.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisArgentina 1985 (2022)
In the 1980s, a team of lawyers takes on the heads of Argentina's bloody military dictatorship in a battle against odds and a race against time.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIron Jawed Angels (2004)
Defiant young activists take the women's suffrage movement by storm, putting their lives at risk to help American women win the right to vote.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSky High (2020)
A commentary on Spanish society dressed as a thriller about the misadventures of a gang of young petty criminals after the real estate crash.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Dry White Season (1989)
During the 1976 Soweto uprising, a white school teacher's life and values are threatened when he asks questions about the death of a young black boy who died in police custody.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHotel Coppelia (2021)
1965, Dominican Republic. At a seaside brothel, the lives of a group of prostitutes take a dramatic turn when freedom fighters stage a revolutionary coup, making them realise they can have a better life and perhaps find love. But everything changes when the US army supresses the revolution and takes the brothel as a military base: the girls will have to face the dilemma of either sleeping with the enemy or protecting their dignity at all costs.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKamchatka (2002)
In 1976, Argentina fell into the hands of a de facto government. Thousands of citizens are persecuted and kidnapped. This is the case of the parents of two children, who, knowing they are wanted, decide to hide.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDeath and the Maiden (1994)
A political activist is convinced that her guest is a man who once tortured her for the government.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Clan (2015)
In Argentina, between 1982 and 1985, the Puccios, a well-established family of San Isidro, an upper-class suburb of Buenos Aires, kidnap several people and hold them as hostages for a ransom.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisXiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl (1998)
Young teen girl Xiu Xiu is sent away to a remote corner of the Sichuan steppes for manual labor in 1975 (sending young people to there was a part of Cultural Revolution in China). A year later, she agrees to go to even more remote spot with a Tibetan saddle tramp Lao Jin to learn horse herding.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Trials of Cate McCall (2013)
In order to be reinstated to the bar and recover custody of her daughter, a hotshot lawyer, now in recovery and on probation, must take on the appeal of a woman wrongfully convicted of murder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEl Chicano (2019)
A pair of twin brothers from East L.A. choose to live their lives differently and end up on opposite sides of the law.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPacto de Fuga (2020)
During the last years of Pinochet's military regime, a group of militants from the "Manuel Rodríguez Patriotic Front" plan a prison break of political prisoners, through a tunnel that will take them 18 months to dig.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGuilty by Suspicion (1991)
Owing to his alleged involvement with communist parties, film director David Merrill is forbidden from working in Hollywood. He decides to fight for his rights and faces numerous challenges.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBeast (2022)
Inspired by real events, "Bestia" enters the life of a secret police agent in the military dictatorship in Chile. The relationship with her dog, her body, her fears and frustrations, reveal a macabre fracture in her mind and a country.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Newcomers (2003)
The story of two brothers who get involved with a sexy stripper and her boss, the nightclub king of Santiago, as told from three perspectives.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Girls (2014)
Four lucid grandmothers tell their story forgotten by history: the militancy and resistance of the young women of the leftist youth against the dictatorship of Marcos Pérez Jiménez.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
EDJOP (2026)
Based on the life of Edgar Jopson, a young man from an affluent family, who became an underground activist and confronted President Ferdinand Marcos and his regime of terror.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The '70s (2002)
Set in the Philippines during martial law, the film follows the Bartolome family’s struggles over several years.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
In the Time of the Butterflies (2001)
Based on the book by Julia Alvarez. Three sisters become activists during the Dominican Republic's Trujillo regime when members of their family are killed by the government's troops.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this...And She Chose Hell (1957)
In Western Germany, two brothers and their organization help people escape to non-communist Germany. A policeman chasing them falls in love with the sister and feels divided between love and duty.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Olga (2004)
Based upon the true story of Olga Benário, the German-born wife of Brazilian communist leader Luís Carlos Prestes. During the dictatorship of Getúlio Vargas (1930-1945) she was arrested and sent to Nazi Germany, where she was put to death in a concentration camp. After World War II began, Vargas decided to uphold the Allies.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRachí (2024)
Combining modern footage with home movies and interviews, filmmaker María Casado's life is explored, focusing on themes of family, history, and belonging, with a particular emphasis on childhood experiences related to home.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
1976 (2019)
Argentina, 1976. Severina meets a mysterious girl in a cemetery. Together, they evade the danger of the green cars used by the military-civilian dictatorship to carry out kidnappings. Severina will discover a story that will change her life forever.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Garden of Foams (1971)
An ambassador from an outer (and rich) space comes to visit a poor planet, where he ends up being kidnapped.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Like Desierto and something else?
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Desierto?
The closest matches to Desierto are Chile '76 (2022), Under the Same Moon (2007) and In Her Place (2024). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Desierto?
Start with Chile '76 (2022), the closest match to Desierto.
What is the highest-rated movie like Desierto?
Under the Same Moon (2007), rated 8.0/10 by 378 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Desierto?
EDJOP (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Spanish movies like Desierto?
Yes: Chile '76 (2022), Under the Same Moon (2007) and In Her Place (2024).
How are movies similar to Desierto chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Desierto, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.