Movies like The Barracks (1945)
The best movies like The Barracks (1945) are Skin (2009), What Maisie Knew (2013) and The River (1984). If The Barracks hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedWhat Maisie Knew (2013)7.1/10 from 466 votes
- NewestFarwell Cuba (2025)Released 2025
- In SpanishNothing in Return (2015)Also in Spanish
Skin (2009)
Based on the true story of a black girl who was born to two white Afrikaner parents in South Africa during the apartheid era.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhat Maisie Knew (2013)
In New York City, six-year-old Maisie is caught in the middle of a bitter custody battle between her self-absorbed parents—an aging rock singer mother and a distracted art dealer father. As both quickly marry new partners to strengthen their legal standing, Maisie is shuttled back and forth in an endless game of emotional point-scoring. Yet amid the chaos and upheaval, Maisie begins to find true comfort and affection in her new step-parents.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe River (1984)
Tom and Mae Garvey are a Tennessee farming couple battling violent floods to save their land. In addition to natural disasters, the Garveys fight to stop a selfish land developer and a local corporation from foreclosing on their farm. While Mae stays at home to care for their children and tend to the crops, Tom finds work as a scab at a steel mill to preserve his family's property.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisF.I.S.T. (1978)
Johnny Kovak joins the Teamsters trade-union in a local chapter in the 1930s and works his way up in the organization. As he climbs higher and higher his methods become more ruthless and finally senator Madison starts a campaign to find the truth about the alleged connections with the Mob.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe House on Carroll Street (1988)
A reporter, fired after refusing to give names to a 1951 House Un-American Activities Committee, takes a part-time job as companion to an old lady. While working she overhears a noisy argument in the neighboring house, being conducted largely in German and involving her HUAC prosecutor. She begins to investigate, enlisting the help of the FBI Agent initially detailed to surveil her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisVanya on 42nd Street (1994)
An uninterrupted rehearsal of Chekhov's 'Uncle Vanya' plays out by a company of actors. The setting: their run-down theater with an unusable stage and crumbling ceiling. The play is shown act by act with the briefest of breaks to move props or for refreshments. The lack of costumes, real props and scenery is soon forgotten.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisResurrecting the Champ (2007)
Up-and-coming sports reporter rescues a homeless man ("Champ") only to discover that he is, in fact, a boxing legend believed to have passed away. What begins as an opportunity to resurrect Champ's story and escape the shadow of his father's success becomes a personal journey as the ambitious reporter reexamines his own life and his relationship with his family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHurry Sundown (1967)
A ruthless Southern opportunist tries to buy his cousin's land, and when thwarted, brings several tragedies to the lives of his loved ones.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFast Girls (2012)
A street smart runner develops an intense rivalry with an equally ambitious wealthy young athlete.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Sound of Silence (2019)
A successful "house tuner" in New York City, who calibrates the sound in people's homes in order to adjust their moods, meets a client with a problem he can't solve.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisRosie (2019)
A mother strives to shield her young family from their new reality when their landlord sells the property and renders them homeless.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Visit (1964)
Carla Zachanassian had a child by Serge Miller as a teenager. When Serge refused to marry her, she was driven out of town. By her own wit and cunning, she has returned as a multi-millionaire for a visit. The town lays out the red carpet expecting big things from Carla, only to learn that her sole purpose is to see Serge Miller killed...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHome (2021)
An ex-felon returns home from prison and must confront the demons of his past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNothing in Return (2015)
One summer, Dario flees the hellish environment of his home. Luismi, unconditional friend, a poor devil with pretensions of winning, and Antonia, an old woman who collects abandoned his motorcar furniture, become his new family. Three generations living together in a city too big to be alone.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCome Sunday (2018)
Evangelist Carlton Pearson is ostracized by his church for preaching that there is no Hell.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisTigertail (2020)
A man reflects on the lost love of his youth and his long-ago journey from Taiwan to America as he begins to reconnect with his estranged daughter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHoly Lands (2019)
When lapsed Jew and former cardiologist Harry suddenly decides to spend his retirement as a pig farmer in Nazareth, Israel, the move deeply shocks his family and his new neighbours. Back in New York, Harry’s ex-wife Monica is trying to manage the lives of their adult children, Annabelle and David, as well as her own.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (1972)
Middle-aged widow Beatrice Hunsdorfer and her daughters Ruth and Matilda are struggling to survive in a society they barely understand. Beatrice dreams of opening an elegant tea room but does not have the wherewithal to achieve her lofty goal. Epileptic Ruth is a rebellious adolescent, while shy but highly intelligent and idealistic Matilda seeks solace in her pets and school projects, including one designed to show how small amounts of radium affect marigolds.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGigi & Nate (2022)
A young man with a bright future suffers a near-fatal accident and recreates his new life with the help of an unlikely animal friend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDirt (2018)
In search of a lifeline for his struggling off road racing team, a man takes on a young car thief looking for a second chance, but as their worlds collide, they must struggle to forge a successful alliance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisReeds and Mud (1954)
Province of Valencia, Spain, 19th century. Tonet lives an intense love story with Neleta, whom he has known since childhood, but is forced to leave her to serve in the war in Cuba.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Undertow (1996)
After his car breaks down, Jack seeks shelter, lost in a thunderstorm in a remote shack in the woods. He finds himself held at gunpoint by a deranged mountain man who lives there with his young wife. As the storm rages on, tension mounts in the small cabin. Matters reach a climax when Jack falls for the beautiful woman and tries persuading her to escape with him. Soon, the situation escalates into deadly violence...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Boom Town (1961)
Farmers and their families, engineers, technicians, criminals and prostitutes were acquired on the construction of industrial facilities in Zenica. Siba tries to help them, working with dedication and love that goes beyond his duty. It is difficult to satisfy everyone and achieve more in this scorching city and Siba makes mistakes, carried by desire to achieve the impossible. With great effort, the builders manage to overcome the maelstrom after the dam burst, and while the first iron runs from the new furnace, Siba, dismissed because of errors committed, leaves a boom town of Zenica.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Nayda (2023)
In a desperate attempt to make their voices heard by the government, two men and a woman, living in difficult circumstances in the Tin Shacks, take a diplomatic meeting with political officials, which turns into a hostage situation. Compelled by circumstances, they unwittingly find themselves cast in the role of terrorists, thereby exposing social inequalities and government indifference.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Wrath of the Wind (1970)
A mute gunslinger takes on an oppressive landlord in 19th century Valencia and falls in love with a local woman.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Arroz y tartana (2003)
Manuela de Fora, an elegant woman, widow of Pajares, lives with the sole obsession of marrying well her two daughters from her second marriage, Concha Blanca Jara and Amparo. She also has Juanito, son from her first marriage, but she despises him for wanting to be a merchant, like his father. Who really appreciates the laborious Juanito is his uncle Juan, a man of austere habits that blames his sister Manuela for wasting money to pretend being of high social position.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Lute: Forge On or Die (1987)
In Spain of the 1960s, a poor family of quinquis - a nomadic ethnic group with a tradition as old as that of the gypsises of Spain but with even more obscure origins - have a nomadic life marked by poverty. The son, Eleuterio Sánchez Rodriguez, nicknamed "El Lute", steals some chickens and is condemned to six months in jail. El Lute moves to the slum outskirts of Madrid with his common law wife, Chelo, starting an itinerant life as a peddler of pots and pans and living in a quinqui shantytown. He gradually embarks upon as life of petty criminality, eventually participating in the theft of a jewelry store during which a bystander is killed.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisMan's Castle (1933)
Bill takes Trina into his depression camp cabin. Later, just as he finds showgirl LaRue who will support him, Trina becomes pregnant.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Farwell Cuba (2025)
Caridad (Yuliet Cruz) is a Cuban playwright in exile in Valencia, Spain. She is committed to writing a play about the Cuban exodus from the island. To this end, she intends to engage in dialogue with women and men who recount their migratory experiences, during which they risked their lives. The film powerfully expresses her profound perspective on uprootedness, nostalgia, and loss.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Like The Barracks and something else?
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Barracks?
The closest matches to The Barracks are Skin (2009), What Maisie Knew (2013) and The River (1984). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Barracks?
Start with Skin (2009), the closest match to The Barracks.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Barracks?
What Maisie Knew (2013), rated 7.1/10 by 466 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Barracks?
Farwell Cuba (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Spanish movies like The Barracks?
Yes: Nothing in Return (2015), Reeds and Mud (1954) and Arroz y tartana (2003).
How are movies similar to The Barracks chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Barracks, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.