Movies like Control Room (2004)
The best movies like Control Room (2004) are Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004), Iraq in Fragments (2006) and Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism (2004). If Control Room hooked you with its documentary and war, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedFor Sama (2019)8.2/10 from 323 votes
- NewestLove+War (2025)Released 2025
Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004)
Michael Moore's view on how the Bush administration allegedly used the tragic events on 9/11 to push forward its agenda for unjust wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIraq in Fragments (2006)
An opus in three parts, Iraq In Fragments offers a series of intimate, passionately-felt portraits: A fatherless 11-year-old is apprenticed to the domineering owner of a Baghdad garage; Sadr followers in two Shiite cities rally for regional elections while enforcing Islamic law at the point of a gun; a family of Kurdish farmers welcomes the US presence, which has allowed them a measure of freedom previously denied. American director James Longley spent more than two years filming in Iraq to create this stunningly photographed, poetically rendered documentary of the war-torn country as seen through the eyes of Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism (2004)
This film examines how media empires, led by Rupert Murdoch's Fox News, have been running a "race to the bottom" in television news, and provides an in-depth look at Fox News and the dangerous impact on society when a broad swath of media is controlled by one person. Media experts, including Jeff Cohen (FAIR) Bob McChesney (Free Press), Chellie Pingree (Common Cause), Jeff Chester (Center for Digital Democracy) and David Brock (Media Matters) provide context and guidance for the story of Fox News and its effect on society. This documentary also reveals the secrets of Former Fox news producers, reporters, bookers and writers who expose what it's like to work for Fox News. These former Fox employees talk about how they were forced to push a "right-wing" point of view or risk their jobs. Some have even chosen to remain anonymous in order to protect their current livelihoods. As one employee said "There's no sense of integrity as far as having a line that can't be crossed."
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWar Made Easy (2007)
War Made Easy reaches into the Orwellian memory hole to expose a 50-year pattern of government deception and media spin that has dragged the United States into one war after another from Vietnam to Iraq. revealing in stunning detail how the American news media have uncritically disseminated the pro-war messages of successive presidential administrations.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
The War on Democracy (2007)
Set both in Latin America and the United States, the film explores the historic and current relationship of Washington with countries such as Venezuela, Bolivia and Chile. Pilger says that the film "...tells a universal story... analysing and revealing, through vivid testimony, the story of great power behind its venerable myths. It allows us to understand the true nature of the so-called "war on terror". According to Pilger, the film’s message is that the greed and power of empire is not invincible and that people power is always the "seed beneath the snow".
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary & war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisProgramming the Nation? (2011)
Programming the Nation? takes an encompassing look at the history of subliminal messaging in America. According to many authorities, since the late 1950s subliminal content has been tested and delivered through all forms of mass-media including Hollywood filmmakers Alfred Hitchcock and William Friedkin. Even our modern military has been accused of these practices in the "war on terror" against soldiers and civilians both abroad and at home. With eye-opening footage, revealing interviews, humorous anecdotes, and an array of visual effects, the film categorically explores the alleged usage of subliminals in advertising, music, film, television, anti-theft devices, political propaganda, military psychological operations, and advanced weapons development. Director Jeff Warrick makes it his personal mission to determine if these manipulative tactics have succeeded in "programming the nation?" Or, if subliminal messaging belongs in the category of what many consider urban legend.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Sir! No Sir! (2005)
Sir! No Sir! is a documentary film about the anti-war movement within the ranks of the United States Military during the Vietnam War. It consists in part of interviews with Vietnam veterans explaining the reasons they protested the war or even defected. The film tells the story of how, from the very start of the war, there was resentment within the ranks over the difference between the conflict in Vietnam and the "good wars" that their fathers had fought. Over time, it became apparent that so many were opposed to the war that they could speak of a movement.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary & war
The Ground Truth (2006)
Sometimes the greatest act of courage is to tell the truth. Hear and witness our soldiers in this penetrating film. The shocking Iraq War ground conflict is only a prelude to the even more challenging battles these reluctant heroes face upon their return home.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary & war
The War You Don't See (2010)
This film investigates how the media has reported war, from the First World War to the present day.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land (2004)
This video shows how the foreign policy interests of American political elites-working in combination with Israeli public relations stratgies-influence US news reporting about the Middle East conflict. Combining American and British TV news clips with observations of analysts, journalists and political activists, Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land provides a brief historical overview, a striking media comparison, and an examination of factors that have distorted U.S. media coverage and, in turn, American public opinion.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Hearts and Minds (1974)
Many times during his presidency, Lyndon B. Johnson said that ultimate victory in the Vietnam War depended upon the U.S. military winning the "hearts and minds" of the Vietnamese people. Filmmaker Peter Davis uses Johnson's phrase in an ironic context in this anti-war documentary, filmed and released while the Vietnam War was still under way, juxtaposing interviews with military figures like U.S. Army Chief of Staff William C. Westmoreland with shocking scenes of violence and brutality.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary & war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisManufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media (1992)
A film about the noted American linguist/political dissident and his warning about corporate media's role in modern propaganda.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLast Letters Home (2004)
Ten families read letters from their loved ones killed during Operation Iraqi Freedom in this powerful and moving HBO documentary by Oscar and Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Bill Couturie (Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam). Photos of the soldiers in military and civilian life are shown as family members read the final correspondence received from Iraq and share their thoughts and memories about the fallen troops and the realities of war.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary & war
Standard Operating Procedure (2008)
Investigating the infamous Abu Ghraib scandal, Errol Morris interviews American guards and Iraqi prisoners who were at the military jail before images of prisoner torture emerged in 2004. One female guard, who posed alongside fallen Iraqis in notorious images, tells Morris that her crimes were inspired by her love for another soldier, and another explains why she took photographs of her fellow troops. In the process, Morris suggests that the scandal resulted from systemic flaws in the military.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIraq for Sale: The War Profiteers (2006)
Documentary portraying the actions of U.S. corporate contractors in the U.S.-Iraq war. Interviews with employees and former employees of such companies as Halliburton, CACI, and KBR suggest that government cronyism is behind apparent "sweetheart" deals that give such contractors enormous freedom to profit from supplying support and material to American troops while providing little oversight. Survivors of employees who were killed discuss the claim that the companies cared more for profit than for the welfare of their own workers, and soldiers indicate that the quality of services provided is sub-standard and severely in contradiction to the comparatively huge profits being generated. Also depicted are the unsuccessful attempts by the filmmakers to get company spokesmen to respond to the charges made by the interviewees.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
No End in Sight (2007)
Chronological look at the fiasco in Iraq, especially decisions made in the spring of 2003 - and the backgrounds of those making decisions - immediately following the overthrow of Saddam: no occupation plan, an inadequate team to run the country, insufficient troops to keep order, and three edicts from the White House announced by Bremmer when he took over.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRestrepo (2010)
Directors Hetherington and Junger spend a year with the 2nd Battalion of the United States Army located in one of Afghanistan's most dangerous valleys. The documentary provides insight and empathy on how to win the battle through hard work, deadly gunfights and mutual friendships while the unit must push back the Taliban.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both war & documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIn the Year of the Pig (1969)
Both sober and sobering, producer-director Emile de Antonio’s In the Year of the Pig is a powerful and, no doubt for many, controversial documentary about the Vietnam War.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary & war
Martial Law 9-11: Rise of the Police State (2005)
Evil has spread across the land. Martial Law: 9/11 Rise of the Police State exposes the high-tech control grid that is being set up across America Out of the ashes of the September 11th tragedy, a dark empire of war and tyranny has risen. The Constitution has been shredded and America is now a Police State. This film exposes not just who was behind the 9-11 attacks, but the roots and history of its orchestrators.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary & war
Live from Baghdad (2002)
A group of CNN reporters venture to the Iraqi capital to cover the Gulf War.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTears of Gaza (2010)
In a rough style, by way of unique footage, the brutal consequences of modern wars are exposed. The film also depicts the ability of women and children to handle their everyday life after a dramatic war experience. Many of them live in tents or in ruins without walls or roofs. They are all in need of money, food, water and electricity. Others have lost family members, or are left with seriously injured children. Can war solve conflicts or create peace? The film follows three children through the war and the period after the ceasefire.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary & war
Brothers at War (2009)
BROTHERS AT WAR is an intimate portrait of an American family during a turbulent time. Jake Rademacher sets out to understand the experience, sacrifice, and motivation of his two brothers serving in Iraq. The film follows Jake’s exploits as he risks everything—including his life—to tell his brothers’ story.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
The Corridors of Power (2022)
How do the well-meaning and highly educated men and women of America’s foreign policy elite, dreaming of doing good in the world, so often find themselves presiding over disastrous wars and genocides? Master filmmaker Dror Moreh takes us deep inside the three decades of American foreign policy since the fall of the Berlin Wall, a period of almost constant war and mass killing
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Bitter Lake (2015)
An experimental documentary that explores Saudi Arabia's relationship with the U.S. and the role this has played in the war in Afghanistan.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBodyguard of Lies (2025)
Exposes the tangled web of deception spun by the U.S. government during its 20-year war in Afghanistan, revealing the campaign of lies and misinformation fed to the American public. Through shocking testimonies from government insiders, confidential documents, and private audio recordings of those at the highest levels of the military and elected leadership, this gripping documentary urges a reckoning with the wider implications of government deception on a global scale.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
The Fog of War (2003)
Former corporate whiz kid Robert McNamara was the controversial Secretary of Defense in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, during the height of the Vietnam War. Augmented by archival footage and cabinet conversation recordings, Errol Morris gives the conflicted McNamara a platform on which he attempts to confront his and the U.S. government's actions in Southeast Asia in light of the horrors of modern warfare, the end of ideology and the punitive judgment of history.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKorengal (2014)
Korengal picks up where Restrepo left off; the same men, the same valley, the same commanders, but a very different look at the experience of war.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLast Days in Vietnam (2014)
During the chaotic final weeks of the Vietnam War, the North Vietnamese Army closes in on Saigon as the panicked South Vietnamese people desperately attempt to escape. On the ground, American soldiers and diplomats confront a moral quandary: whether to obey White House orders to evacuate only U.S. citizens.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both war & documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFor Sama (2019)
A love letter from a young mother to her daughter, the film tells the story of Waad al-Kateab’s life through five years of the uprising in Aleppo, Syria as she falls in love, gets married and gives birth to Sama, all while cataclysmic conflict rises around her. Her camera captures incredible stories of loss, laughter and survival as Waad wrestles with an impossible choice– whether or not to flee the city to protect her daughter’s life, when leaving means abandoning the struggle for freedom for which she has already sacrificed so much.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary & war
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisLove+War (2025)
Pulitzer Prize-winning conflict photojournalist Lynsey Addario reflects on a career working in some of the world's most dangerous war zones, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary & war
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Control Room?
The closest matches to Control Room are Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004), Iraq in Fragments (2006) and Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism (2004). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Control Room?
People who watched Control Room most often go on to Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004), Iraq in Fragments (2006) and Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism (2004).
What is the highest-rated movie like Control Room?
For Sama (2019), rated 8.2/10 by 323 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Control Room?
Love+War (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Control Room?
Yes: Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004), Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism (2004) and War Made Easy (2007).
How are movies similar to Control Room chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Control Room, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.