Movies like Big Mountain Soul: Ski Africa (2025)

Explorer: The Last Tepui (2022)

This documentary starring climber Alex Honnold and famous biologist Bruce Means document their expedition to the South American sky islands in search of new species and discoveries. Follows elite climber Alex Honnold and a world-class climbing team led by National Geographic Explorer and climber Mark Synnott on a grueling mission deep in the Amazon jungle as they attempt a first-ascent climb up a 1000 foot sheer cliff.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & adventure

Free Solo (2018)

Follow Alex Honnold as he attempts to become the first person to ever free solo climb Yosemite's 3,000 foot high El Capitan wall. With no ropes or safety gear, this would arguably be the greatest feat in rock climbing history.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & adventure

The Dawn Wall (2017)

In an unbelievable story of perseverance, free climber Tommy Caldwell and climbing partner Kevin Jorgeson attempt to scale the impossible 3000ft Dawn Wall of El Capitan.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & adventure

African Cats (2011)

African Cats captures the real-life love, humor and determination of the majestic kings of the savanna. The story features Mara, an endearing lion cub who strives to grow up with her mother’s strength, spirit and wisdom; Sita, a fearless cheetah and single mother of five mischievous newborns; and Fang, a proud leader of the pride who must defend his family from a once banished lion.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & adventure

The Eagle Huntress (2016)

Follow Aisholpan, a 13-year-old girl, as she trains to become the first female in twelve generations of her Kazakh family to become an eagle hunter, and rise to the pinnacle of a tradition that has been typically been handed down from father to son for centuries.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & adventure

Elephant (2020)

Disneynature’s Elephant follows African elephant Shani and her spirited son Jomo as their herd make an epic journey hundreds of miles across the vast Kalahari Desert. Led by their great matriarch, Gaia, the family faces brutal heat, dwindling resources and persistent predators, as they follow in their ancestors’ footsteps on a quest to reach a lush, green paradise.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & adventure

Atlantis Rising (2017)

James Cameron and Simcha Jacobovici go on an adventure to find the lost city of Atlantis by using Greek philosopher Plato as a virtual treasure map.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & adventure

Valley Uprising (2014)

In the shady campgrounds of Yosemite valley, climbers carved out a counterculture lifestyle of dumpster-diving and wild parties that clashed with the conservative values of the National Park Service. And up on the walls, generation after generation has pushed the limits of climbing, vying amongst each other for supremacy on Yosemite's cliffs. "Valley Uprising" is the riveting, unforgettable tale of this bold rock climbing tradition in Yosemite National Park: half a century of struggle against the laws of gravity -- and the laws of the land.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & documentary

Everest (1998)

An international team of climbers ascends Mt. Everest in the spring of 1996. The film depicts their lengthy preparations for the climb, their trek to the summit, and their successful return to Base Camp. It also shows many of the challenges the group faced, including avalanches, lack of oxygen, treacherous ice walls, and a deadly blizzard.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary

180° South (2010)

The film follows adventurer Jeff Johnson as he retraces the epic 1968 journey of his heroes Yvon Chouinard and Doug Tompkins to Patagonia.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary

Our Planet: Behind the Scenes (2019)

Years spent recording footage of creatures from every corner of the globe is bound to produce a bit of drama. Here's a behind-the-scenes look.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary

Mountain (2017)

An epic cinematic and musical collaboration between SHERPA filmmaker Jennifer Peedom and the Australian Chamber Orchestra, that explores humankind's fascination with high places.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary

The Crimson Wing: Mystery of the Flamingos (2008)

In the remote and forgotten wilderness of Lake Natron, in northern Tanzania, one of nature's last great mysteries unfolds: the birth, life and death of a million crimson-winged flamingos.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary

The 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

The Endless Summer (1966)

Documentary filmmaker Bruce Brown, himself a competition-level surfer, follows surfers Michael Hynson and Robert August on an around-the-world surfing adventure. With Brown's wry, sardonic narration and a twangy, guitar-driven instrumental soundtrack by The Sandals playing over the silent footage, Mike and Rob leave their California home to visit Hawaii, Australia, South Africa and other secluded surfing spots in a search for the surfer's holy grail that Brown dubs "The Perfect Wave.”

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary

Baraka (1992)

A paralysingly beautiful documentary with a global vision—an odyssey through landscape and time—that attempts to capture the essence of life.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary

Ghost Elephants (2026)

In Angola's mist-shrouded highlands, three KhoiSan master trackers embark on a spiritual quest to rediscover the legendary "ghost elephants" of Lisima, creatures presumed lost but remembered in ancestral trance, ritual, and memory.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary

Happy People: A Year in the Taiga (2010)

In the center of the story is the life of the indigenous people of the village Bakhtia at the river Yenisei in the Siberian Taiga. The camera follows the protagonists in the village over a period of a year. The natives, whose daily routines have barely changed over the last centuries, keep living their lives according to their own cultural traditions.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary

National Geographic: Journey to the Edge of the Universe (2008)

In one single, epic camera move we journey from Earth's surface to the outermost reaches of the universe on a grand tour of the cosmos, to explore newborn stars, distant planets, black holes and beyond.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary

Looking for Richard (1996)

Al Pacino's deeply-felt rumination on Shakespeare's significance and relevance to the modern world through interviews and an in-depth analysis of "Richard III."

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary

The Draconians (2023)

Sam Favret joined Nikolai Schirmer at his home in the far north in Norway to discover the secrets of narrow couloirs descended at full throttle, slopes that plunge straight down to the sea, and days that push back the nights.

Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure & documentary

Shanghai Noon (2000)

Chon Wang, a clumsy imperial guard, trails Princess Pei Pei when she's kidnapped from the Forbidden City and transported to America. Wang follows her captors to Nevada, where he teams up with an unlikely partner, outcast outlaw Roy O'Bannon, and tries to spring the princess from her imprisonment.

Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure

Forbidden Daughters (1927)

Alva receives news from her long-lost husband, Russell, and goes to Africa in search of him. There, she finds that her husband is being "held prisoner" by a naked native princess, called Loma. Now, in order to bring Russell back home, Alva must show that she's better than the princess.

Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure

I'm for the Hippopotamus (1979)

In 1950, in Africa. Tom organizes safaris for tourists, secretly equipping them with guns loaded with blanks. When Slim, Tom’s cousin—a sly slacker and staunch environmentalist—arrives, the two men come into conflict with Jack Ormond, a local animal trafficker. A doctor, a friend of the duo, denounces Mr. Ormond’s exploitation of animals in a newspaper, prompting Ormond to send his henchmen to destroy the clinic where the good doctor practices. But at the medical facility, Ormond’s henchmen find Tom and Slim waiting for them, and in the blink of an eye, the two cousins wipe out these thugs in a brawl. Ormond then tries to bribe the two cousins, and when that fails, has them imprisoned for a theft they never committed. After escaping from prison, the two men rush toward Ormond’s ship, beating the merchant’s men to a pulp...

Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure

White Man with Black Bread (2007)

Christof Wackernagel, best known in Germany as an actor and former member of the Red Army Faction ("RAF") lives in Mali. In his compelling portrait, Jonas Grosch shows a man who simply cannot stand still if he senses injustice. The courage to stand up for one’s beliefs coupled with vanity? However one chooses to look at it, it is easy to imagine what made him connect with the "RAF". With his irrepressible will for freedom, Christof Wackernagel gets entangled in the horrors of day-to-day life in Africa.

Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary

Zima v Československu (1964)

Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary

Roamers - Follow Your Likes (2021)

ROAMERS accompanies different characters on their way through the countries and social media feeds of this world: From the celebrated video blogger from Palestine who quit his lucrative job at PayPal in favor of as much life experience as possible, to the former young top manager who gave up her business in Switzerland and her marriage for the adventure of a round-the-world trip, to the Argentinean couple who use their computer science skills acquired at IBM to distribute self-produced porn videos online "on demand" and thus finance their trip around the world. As digital nomads who become the creators of their impressive life stories on their own initiative, they are all sounding out the boundaries of a new era: between personal freedom and the dependence on algorithms and wifi, between self-fulfillment and self- exploitation - in search of meaning and support in a world that offers ever more possibilities and yet also seems increasingly fragmented.

Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary

Who Am I? (1998)

A group of covert CIA operatives trailing a potential new energy source are double-crossed by corrupt agent Morgan, who causes a helicopter crash in remote South Africa. The sole survivor, suffering severe amnesia, is nursed to recovery by a kindly native tribe who call him "Whoami" after the question he keeps asking. With the help of a mysterious reporter Christine, Whoami pieces together his past and tracks the turncoat agent and his criminal cohorts.

Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure

Algeria in Flames (1958)

These are the first images shot in the ALN maquis, camera in hand, at the end of 1956 and in 1957. These war images taken in the Aurès-Nementchas are intended to be the basis of a dialogue between French and Algerians for peace in Algeria, by demonstrating the existence of an armed organization close to the people. Three versions of Algeria in Flames are produced: French, German and Arabic. From the end of the editing, the film circulates without any cuts throughout the world, except in France where the first screening takes place in the occupied Sorbonne in 1968. Certain images of the film have circulated and are found in films, in particular Algerian films. Because of the excitement caused by this film, he was forced to go into hiding for 25 months. After the declaration of independence, he founded the first Algerian Audiovisual Center.

Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary

Nanook of the North (1922)

This pioneering documentary film depicts the lives of the indigenous Inuit people of Canada's northern Quebec region. Although the production contains some fictional elements, it vividly shows how its resourceful subjects survive in such a harsh climate, revealing how they construct their igloo homes and find food by hunting and fishing. The film also captures the beautiful, if unforgiving, frozen landscape of the Great White North, far removed from conventional civilization.

Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary