Movies like Harlan County War (2000)
The best movies like Harlan County War (2000) are Bastard Out of Carolina (1996), Salt of the Earth (1954) and The Safety of Objects (2002). If Harlan County War hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedDogville (2003)7.7/10 from 2,826 votes
- NewestGoodbye June (2025)Released 2025
Bastard Out of Carolina (1996)
A poor, struggling South Carolinian mother and daughter face painful choices with their resolve and pride. Bone, the eldest daughter, and Anney her tired mother, grow both closer and farther apart: Anney sees Glen as her last chance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSalt of the Earth (1954)
At New Mexico's Empire Zinc mine, Mexican-American workers protest the unsafe work conditions and unequal wages compared to their Anglo counterparts. Ramon Quintero helps organize the strike, but he is shown to be a hypocrite by treating his pregnant wife, Esperanza, with a similar unfairness. When an injunction stops the men from protesting, however, the gender roles are reversed, and women find themselves on the picket lines while the men stay at home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Safety of Objects (2002)
In a suburban landscape, the lives of several families interlace with loss, despair and personal crisis. Esther Gold has lost focus on all but caring for her comatose son, Paul, and neglects her daughter and husband. Lawyer Jim Train is devoted to his career, not his family. Helen Christianson wants to find a new spark in life, while Annette Jennings tries to rebuild hers.
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 thisDogville (2003)
A woman on the run from the mob is reluctantly accepted in a small Colorado community in exchange for labor, but when a search visits the town, she learns that their support has a price.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMatewan (1987)
Filmed in the coal country of West Virginia, "Matewan" celebrates labor organizing in the context of a 1920s work stoppage. Union organizer, Joe Kenehan, a scab named "Few Clothes" Johnson and a sympathetic mayor and police chief heroically fight the power represented by a coal company and Matewan's vested interests so that justice and workers' rights need not take a back seat to squalid working conditions, exploitation and the bottom line.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEscape from Sobibor (1987)
The true story of WWII's notorious Sobibor Nazi death camp, where a courageous inmate orchestrates and leads the escape of over 300 prisoners.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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 thisStrange Weather (2016)
Years after her son's suicide, a woman longs to confront both the past and a friend of his who took his business idea.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisTopside (2022)
Deep in the underbelly of New York City, a five year-old girl and her mother live among a community that has claimed the abandoned subway tunnels as their home. After a sudden police-mandated eviction, the pair are forced to flee aboveground into a brutal winter night. Determined to return home, they fight to find shelter as their world is thrown into chaos.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSTRAW (2025)
What will be her last straw? A devastatingly bad day pushes a hardworking single mother to the breaking point — and into a shocking act of desperation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBlue Collar (1978)
Fed up with mistreatment at the hands of both management and union brass, and coupled with financial hardships on each man's end, three auto assembly line workers hatch a plan to rob a safe at union headquarters.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBurning Sands (2017)
Deep into Hell Week, a favored pledgee is torn between honoring his code of silence or standing up against the intensifying violence of underground hazing.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisHow Green Was My Valley (1941)
Huw Morgan, the academically inclined youngest son in a proud family of Welsh coal miners, witnesses the tumultuous events of his young life during a period of rapid social change. At the dawn of the 20th-century, a miners' strike divides the Morgans: the sons demand improvements, and the father doesn't want to rock the boat.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLucky Them (2013)
More interested in partying and flirting with young musicians than work, veteran rock journalist Ellie Klug has one last chance to prove her value to her magazine’s editor: a no-stone-unturned search to discover what really happened to long lost rock god, Matt Smith, who also happens to be her ex-boyfriend. Teaming up with an eccentric amateur documentary filmmaker, Ellie hits the road in search of answers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNight Hunter (2019)
A Minnesota police officer crosses paths with a committed and tireless vigilante as he follows the trail of a ruthless predator responsible for several abductions and murders.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHelen (2009)
On the outside, Helen has it all – a loving family and a successful career – but when her suppressed mental illness resurfaces, the world crumbles around her. Crippled by depression, Helen finds solace through her friendship with Mathilda, a kindred spirit struggling with bipolar disorder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGoodbye June (2025)
Four siblings' lives change drastically when their ailing mother takes a turn for the worse over the holiday season.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946)
Three childhood friends, Martha, Walter and Sam, share a terrible secret. Over time, the ambitious Martha and the pusillanimous Walter have married. She is a cold businesswoman; he is the district attorney: a perfect combination to dominate the corrupt city of Iverstown at will. But the unexpected return of Sam, after years of absence, deeply disturbs the life of the odd couple.
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 thisHulk (2003)
Bruce Banner, a genetics researcher with a tragic past, suffers massive radiation exposure in his laboratory that causes him to transform into a raging green monster when he gets angry.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Piano Teacher (2001)
Erika Kohut, a sexually repressed piano teacher living with her domineering mother, meets a young man who starts romantically pursuing her.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Matter of Sex (1984)
Dramatization of the true story of the so-called Willmar Eight, a group of Minnesota bank workers who braved freezing conditions whilst picketing their branch in a struggle for union rights.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Silkwood (1983)
Like most of the people in her town, Karen Silkwood works at the local nuclear plant producing highly radioactive plutonium. Exposed one day to a lethal dose of radiation, Karen faces the blank walls of corporate indifference and denial. As her illness increases, her protest grows louder and she becomes an obvious danger to the powers that be.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Room in Town (1982)
Set against the backdrop of an increasingly violent strike, a worker falls in love with the middle-class daughter of his landlady.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMy Turn (2017)
It's not her turn, but she's pregnant.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
A Day Before (2018)
Ji-eun, a part-timer at a convenience store, will be able to receive her much-awaited severance pay tomorrow.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Green Days (2018)
Sulan, who works in a factory in the summer of 1978, begins learning photos with other female workers from Seok-yoon, the owner of the photo studio across from the factory. Seok-yoon, who had been closed, began to open his heart to female workers, but began to feel uneasy about the female workers' labor movement.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Spirit of the Conqueror (1914)
The spirit of Napoleon returns to earth to solve the disputes between capital and labor.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Car Wash (1976)
This day-in-the-life cult comedy focuses on a group of friends working at Sully Boyar's Car Wash in the Los Angeles ghetto. The team meets dozens of eccentric customers -- including a smooth-talking preacher, a wacky cab driver and an ex-convict -- while cracking politically incorrect jokes to a constant soundtrack of disco and funk. Some of the workers find romance as the day moves along, but most are just happy to get through another shift.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Harlan County War?
The closest matches to Harlan County War are Bastard Out of Carolina (1996), Salt of the Earth (1954) and The Safety of Objects (2002). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Harlan County War?
Start with Bastard Out of Carolina (1996), the closest match to Harlan County War.
What is the highest-rated movie like Harlan County War?
Dogville (2003), rated 7.7/10 by 2,826 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Harlan County War?
Goodbye June (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Harlan County War?
Yes: Bastard Out of Carolina (1996), Salt of the Earth (1954) and The Safety of Objects (2002).
How are movies similar to Harlan County War chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Harlan County War, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.