Movies like The Ring of the Buddha (2003)
The best movies like The Ring of the Buddha (2003) are Antarctica: A Year on Ice (2013), Beyond the Edge (2013) and Ten Minutes Older: The Trumpet (2002). If The Ring of the Buddha hooked you with its adventure and documentary, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Dawn Wall (2017)8.0/10 from 378 votes
- NewestRace to the Summit (2023)Released 2023
- In GermanRace to the Summit (2023)Also in German
Antarctica: A Year on Ice (2013)
Filling the giant screen with stunning time-lapse vistas of Antarctica, and detailing year-round life at McMurdo and Scott Base, Anthony Powell’s documentary is a potent hymn to the icy continent and the heavens above.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & adventure
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBeyond the Edge (2013)
A 3D feature film about Sir Edmund Hillary's monumental and historical ascent of Mt. Everest in 1953 - an event that stunned the world and defined a nation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTen Minutes Older: The Trumpet (2002)
Ten Minutes Older is a 2002 film project consisting of two compilation feature films entitled The Trumpet and The Cello. The project was conceived by the producer Nicolas McClintock as a reflection on the theme of time at the turn of the Millennium. Fifteen celebrated film-makers were invited to create their own vision of what time means in ten minutes of film.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRace to the Summit (2023)
Fearless alpine climbers Ueli Steck and Dani Arnold enter into a death-defying rivalry to set speed records on the Swiss Alps' great north faces.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFree 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
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisDetainment (2018)
Two ten year-old boys are detained by police under suspicion of abducting and murdering a toddler.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe 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
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe 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
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisOperation Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal (2021)
An examination that goes beyond the celebrity-driven headlines and dives into the methods used by Rick Singer, the man at the center of the shocking 2019 college admissions scandal, to persuade his wealthy clients to cheat an educational system already designed to benefit the privileged.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisValley 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
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTop Gear: The Perfect Road Trip (2013)
The aim: to select the ideal mode of transport for each leg of a pilgrimage from Venice, Italy to Pau in France – home to a legendary street circuit and the origins of Grand Prix racing. On the way we prepare by taking to the track at Monza – the home of Italian Formula One. We try to get noticed on the road course in Monaco in a Bugatti, a Lamborghini and a Model T Ford. After cruising the canals in Venice we take to the tarmac and things look good - thanks to the Ferrari F12 Berlinetta and Mercedes SLS Black. Throw in a Pagani Huayra, Porsche Cayman S and a GT3 as well as the Aston Martin Vanquish centenary edition, Bentley V8 convertible, Rolls Royce Phantom coupe and the face-bending BAC Mono all seems pretty perfect to us.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAtlantis 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
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRacing Extinction (2015)
An unlikely team of activists and innovators hatches a bold mission to save endangered species.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisExplorer: 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
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBorn to Be Wild (2011)
Born to Be Wild observes various orphaned jungle animals and their day-to-day behavioural interactions with the individuals who rescue them and raise them to adulthood. The film unfurls in two separate geographic spheres. Half of it takes place in the rain forests of Borneo, where celebrated primatologist Dr. Birute Galdikas assists baby orangutans; the other half takes place on the arid savannahs of Kenya, where zoologist Dame Daphne Sheldrick works with baby elephant calves.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & adventure
Worth the HypeMovies like thisShowbiz Kids (2020)
A documentary chronicling the shared experiences of prominent former child stars and the personal and professional price of fame and failure on a child.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNanook 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: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisElephant (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
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKilling Lincoln (2013)
April 14, 1865. One gunshot. One assassin hell-bent on killing a tyrant, as he charged the 16th President of the United States. And in one moment, our nation was forever changed. This is the most dramatic and resonant crime in American history—the true story of the killing of Abraham Lincoln.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLife in a Day (2011)
A documentary shot by filmmakers all over the world that serves as a time capsule to show future generations what it was like to be alive on the 24th of July, 2010.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Peanut Butter Falcon (2019)
A down-on-his-luck crab fisherman embarks on a journey to get a young man with Down syndrome to a professional wrestling school in rural North Carolina and away from the retirement home where he’s lived for the past two and a half years.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBuddha Wild: Monk in a Hut (2008)
Buddhist monks open up about the joys and challenges of living out the precepts of the Buddha as a full-time vocation. Controversies swirling within modern monastic Buddhism are examined, from celibacy and the role of women to racism and concerns about the environment.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure & documentary
The Defiant Ones (1958)
Two convicts—one white, one black—escape while chained to each other.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & adventure
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBird Trap (TBA)
Hala, an 8-year-old girl, lives a difficult life with her brother Amir and their cruel stepmother. To escape her painful reality, Hala retreats into a fantasy world, finding solace from the harshness around her. However, one question continues to haunt her: Do the dead fly?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Hart's War (2002)
When Col. William McNamara is stripped of his freedom in a German POW camp, he's determined to keep on fighting even from behind enemy lines. Enlisting the help of a young lieutenant in a brilliant plot against his captors, McNamara risks everything on a mission to free his men and change the outcome of the war.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisZorba the Greek (1964)
An uptight English writer traveling to Crete on a matter of business finds his life changed forever when he meets the gregarious Alexis Zorba.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Chase (1994)
Jack Hammond is sentenced to life in prison, but manages to escape. To get away from the police he takes a girl as hostage and drives off in her car. The girl happens to be the only daughter of one of the richest men in the state. In a while the car chase is being broadcast live on every TV-channel.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure
SnoozefestMovies like thisD'Artagnan's Daughter (1994)
It is 1654, in the South of France. When horsemen follow a runaway slave into the convent where he's taken sanctuary and kill both the fugitive and the Mother Superior, they little realise that one of the novices is the spirited daughter of retired musketeer D'Artagnan.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure
SnoozefestMovies like thisEscape from Alcatraz (1979)
San Francisco Bay, January 18, 1960. Frank Lee Morris is transferred to Alcatraz, a maximum security prison located on a rocky island. Although no one has ever managed to escape from there, Frank and other inmates begin to carefully prepare an escape plan.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Gesar Bard's Tale (2013)
As a boy, Dawa was an illiterate Tibetan nomad whose life revolved around herding yaks. At 13, his life changed: through a series of visions, Dawa acquired the gift of telling the epic story of Tibet’s King Gesar. Now, at 35, Dawa receives a salary from the government as a guardian of national cultural heritage and is regarded as a holy man by his community. When an earthquake reduces his hometown to rubble, redevelopment of the region takes a giant leap forward. In the midst of such seismic shifts, Dawa seeks healing from King Gesar and other divine protectors of the land.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Ring of the Buddha?
The closest matches to The Ring of the Buddha are Antarctica: A Year on Ice (2013), Beyond the Edge (2013) and Ten Minutes Older: The Trumpet (2002). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Ring of the Buddha?
Start with Antarctica: A Year on Ice (2013), the closest match to The Ring of the Buddha.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Ring of the Buddha?
The Dawn Wall (2017), rated 8.0/10 by 378 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Ring of the Buddha?
Race to the Summit (2023) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there German movies like The Ring of the Buddha?
Yes: Race to the Summit (2023).
How are movies similar to The Ring of the Buddha chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Ring of the Buddha, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.