Movies like Dirty Wars (2013)
The best movies like Dirty Wars (2013) are Voyeur (2017), Maternal Instinct (2026) and The Anthrax Attacks: In the Shadow of 9/11 (2022). If Dirty Wars hooked you with its documentary and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedAll the President's Men (1976)7.7/10 from 2,199 votes
- NewestMaternal Instinct (2026)Released 2026
Voyeur (2017)
Legendary journalist Gay Talese unmasks a motel owner who spied on his guests for decades. But his bombshell story soon becomes a scandal of its own.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisMaternal Instinct (2026)
Police pull over a woman who claims she just gave birth. But the baby — and the blood — aren't hers. Twisted lies unravel in this true-crime documentary.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & crime
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 & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOut of Thin Air (2017)
Set within the stark Icelandic landscape, OUT OF THIN AIR examines the 1976 police investigation into the disappearance of two men in the early 1970s.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisInto the Deep: The Submarine Murder Case (2020)
When journalist Kim Wall disappears after boarding inventor Peter Madsen's submarine, his changing story about her fate masks a terrifying truth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTed Bundy: Mind of a Monster (2019)
New exclusive access and never before heard testimony gives a unique insight into the mind of America's most notorious serial killer, Ted Bundy. Breathtaking archive from the time and the voice of Bundy himself, reveals the monster inside the man.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Accountant of Auschwitz (2018)
Oskar Gröning, known as the "Accountant of Auschwitz," was charged with the murder of 300,000 Jews. When he took the stand in 2015, at the age of 94, his trial made headlines worldwide.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHeroin(e) (2017)
This documentary follows three women — a fire chief, a judge, and a street missionary — as they battle West Virginia's devastating opioid epidemic.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCon Mum (2025)
A chef's life is upended when a jet-setting, champagne-sipping, hotel-hopping woman claims to be his long-lost mother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTyson (2008)
Director James Toback takes an unflinching, uncompromising look at the life of Mike Tyson--almost solely from the perspective of the man himself. TYSON alternates between the controversial boxer addressing the camera and shots of the champion's fights to create an arresting picture of the man.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChaos: The Manson Murders (2025)
In August 1969, Charles Manson's followers killed seven people on his orders. Why? Explore a conspiracy of mind control, CIA experiments, and murder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOklahoma City Bombing: American Terror (2025)
This gripping documentary revisits the shocking 1995 bombing of an Oklahoma City federal building, the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in US history.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBikram: Yogi, Guru, Predator (2019)
The spectacular rise and scandalous fall of hot-yoga evangelist Bikram Choudhury is chronicled through archival footage and extensive insider interviews.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLong Shot (2017)
When Juan Catalan is arrested for a murder he insists he didn't commit, he builds his case for innocence around unexpected raw footage.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWe Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks (2013)
Julian Assange. Bradley Manning. Collateral murder. Cablegate. WikiLeaks. These people and terms have exploded into public consciousness by fundamentally changing the way democratic societies deal with privacy, secrecy, and the right to information, perhaps for generations to come. We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks is an extensive examination of all things related to WikiLeaks and the larger global debate over access to information.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhitey: United States of America v. James J. Bulger (2014)
A documentary that captures the sensational trial of infamous gangster James 'Whitey' Bulger, using the legal proceedings as a springboard to explore allegations of corruption within the highest levels of law enforcement. Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Joe Berlinger examines Bulger's relationship with the FBI and Department of Justice that allowed him to reign over a criminal empire in Boston for decades.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRisk (2017)
Capturing the story of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange with unprecedented access, director Laura Poitras finds herself caught between the motives and contradictions of Assange and his inner circle in a documentary portrait of power, betrayal, truth and sacrifice.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAileen: Queen of the Serial Killers (2025)
Aileen Wuornos remains a rarity: a female serial killer. From childhood abuse to death-row revelations, this documentary revisits her life and crimes.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like this20,000 Days on Earth (2014)
A semi-fictionalized documentary about a day in the life of Australian musician Nick Cave's persona.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisScouts Honor: The Secret Files of the Boy Scouts of America (2023)
Survivors, whistleblowers, and experts recount the Boy Scouts of America's decadeslong cover-up of sexual abuse cases and its heartbreaking impact.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisArlington Road (1999)
Bedraggled college professor Michael Faraday has been vexed — and increasingly paranoid — since his wife's accidental death in a botched FBI operation. When a seemingly all-American couple set up house next door, Michael begins to suspect there’s more to them than meets the eye.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Man Who Would Be King (1975)
Tired of life as soldiers, Peachy Carnehan and Danny Dravot travel to the isolated land of Kafiristan, where they are ultimately embraced by the people and revered as rulers. After a series of misunderstandings, the natives come to believe that Dravot is a god, but he and Carnehan can't keep up their deception forever.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAll the President's Men (1976)
During the 1972 elections, two reporters' investigation sheds light on the controversial Watergate scandal that compels President Nixon to resign from his post.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Unforgettable Fire (2014)
Tells the story of a young student and his spanish journalist friend who, after being victims of violence, they decide to act and organize a movement through Mexico's internet, but this is mistaken for a terrorist organization.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Blood Diamond (2006)
An ex-mercenary turned smuggler. A Mende fisherman. Amid the explosive civil war overtaking 1999 Sierra Leone, these men join for two desperate missions: recovering a rare pink diamond of immense value and rescuing the fisherman's son, conscripted as a child soldier into the brutal rebel forces ripping a swath of torture and bloodshed countrywide.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMiss Congeniality (2000)
When the local FBI office receives a letter from a terrorist known only as 'The Citizen', it's quickly determined that he's planning his next act at the Miss America beauty pageant. Because tough-as-nails Gracie Hart is the only female agent at the office, she's chosen to go undercover as the contestant from New Jersey.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)
Raoul Duke and his attorney Dr. Gonzo drive a red convertible across the Mojave desert to Las Vegas with a suitcase full of drugs to cover a motorcycle race. As their consumption of drugs increases at an alarming rate, the stoned duo trash their hotel room and fear legal repercussions. Duke begins to drive back to L.A., but after an odd run-in with a cop, he returns to Sin City and continues his wild drug binge.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisZodiac (2007)
Police conduct a manhunt for the Zodiac Killer, a serial killer who terrorized the San Francisco Bay Area during the late 1960s and early 1970s, taunting police with letters, bloodstained clothing, and ciphers mailed to newspapers.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDocuments on Giuseppe Pinelli (1970)
The film examines the death of the anarchist Giuseppe Pinelli, who fell from the fourth floor of the police headquarters in Milan December 15, 1969, after being stopped following the Piazza Fontana bombing.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Lifeboat (1944)
During World War II, a small group of survivors is stranded in a lifeboat together after the ship they were traveling on is destroyed by a German U-boat.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Dirty Wars?
The closest matches to Dirty Wars are Voyeur (2017), Maternal Instinct (2026) and The Anthrax Attacks: In the Shadow of 9/11 (2022). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Dirty Wars?
Start with Voyeur (2017), the closest match to Dirty Wars.
What is the highest-rated movie like Dirty Wars?
All the President's Men (1976), rated 7.7/10 by 2,199 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Dirty Wars?
Maternal Instinct (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Dirty Wars?
Yes: Voyeur (2017), Maternal Instinct (2026) and The Anthrax Attacks: In the Shadow of 9/11 (2022).
How are movies similar to Dirty Wars chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Dirty Wars, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.