Movies like Boesman and Lena (1973)
The best movies like Boesman and Lena (1973) are Skin (2009), Disgrace (2008) and The Pumpkin Eater (1964). If Boesman and Lena hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Boesman and Lena
Quick picks
- Highest ratedRemember the Titans (2000)7.7/10 from 3,137 votes
- NewestThe Smell of Apples (2026)Released 2026
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 thisDisgrace (2008)
Disgrace is the story of a South African professor of English who loses everything: his reputation, his job, his peace of mind, his good looks, his dreams of artistic success, and finally even his ability to protect his cherished daughter. After having an affair with a student, he moves to the Eastern Cape, where he gets caught up in a mess of post-apartheid politics.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Pumpkin Eater (1964)
Jo, the mother of seven children, divorces her second husband in order to marry Jake, a successful but promiscuous screenwriter. Though they are physically and emotionally compatible, they are slowly torn apart.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNight Always Comes (2025)
Facing eviction in a city her family can no longer afford, a woman plunges into a desperate and increasingly dangerous all-night search to raise $25,000.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Color of Friendship (2000)
Mahree Bok lives on a farm in South Africa. Her father is a policeman who cannot hide his joy when activist Steve Biko is caught by the South African authorities. Piper Dellums is the daughter of a US congressman from California and who lives in a nice home in Washington DC. When Mahree is chosen to spend a semester at the Dellums' house, she doesn't expect that her host family would be black. Nor do her hosts suspect that she is not a black South African.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLittle Lord Fauntleroy (1980)
Young Cedric Errol and his widowed mother live in genteel poverty in 1880s Brooklyn after the death of his father. Cedric's grandfather, the Earl of Dorincourt, has long ago disowned his son for marrying an American. But after the death of the Earl's remaining son, he decides to accept Cedric as his heir.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCatch a Fire (2006)
The true story of anti-apartheid activists in South Africa, and particularly the life of Patrick Chamusso, a timid foreman at Secunda CTL, the largest synthetic fuel plant in the world. Patrick is wrongly accused, imprisoned and tortured for an attempt to bomb the plant, with the injustice transforming the apolitical worker into a radicalised insurgent, who then carries out his own successful sabotage mission.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHands of Stone (2016)
The legendary Roberto Duran and his equally legendary trainer Ray Arcel change each other's lives.
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 thisEleanor the Great (2025)
94-year-old Eleanor Morgenstein tries to rebuild her life after the death of her best friend. As a result, she moves back to New York City after living in Florida for decades.
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 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 thisBastard 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 thisGirl in the Box (2016)
The true story of 20-year-old Colleen Stan, a hitchhiking woman abducted by a young couple and held captive for seven years, during which time she's tortured and forced to live as a slave to her captors.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCardboard Boxer (2016)
Gentle and broken, a homeless man fights others on video for money but soon finds comfort in an unlikely friend and the lost diary of a young girl.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEl Chicano (2019)
A pair of twin brothers from East L.A. choose to live their lives differently and end up on opposite sides of the law.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisNowhere to Run (1993)
Escaped convict Sam Gillen single-handedly takes on ruthless developers who are determined to evict a widow with two young children.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Am Elizabeth Smart (2017)
The story of Elizabeth Smart's kidnapping and captivity, as told from her perspective.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHardball (2001)
An aimless young man who is scalping tickets, gambling and drinking, agrees to coach a Little League team from the Cabrini Green housing project in Chicago as a condition of getting a loan from a friend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNothing But The Truth (2009)
A South African librarian prepares for the return of the remains of his brother who died in exile.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Remember the Titans (2000)
After leading his football team to 15 winning seasons, coach Bill Yoast is demoted and replaced by Herman Boone – tough, opinionated and as different from the beloved Yoast as he could be. The two men learn to overcome their differences and turn a group of hostile young men into champions.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCry, the Beloved Country (1995)
A South-African preacher goes to search for his wayward son who has committed a crime in the big city.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Gandhi (1982)
In the early years of the 20th century, Mohandas K. Gandhi, a British-trained lawyer, forsakes all worldly possessions to take up the cause of Indian independence. Faced with armed resistance from the British government, Gandhi adopts a policy of 'passive resistance', endeavouring to win freedom for his people without resorting to bloodshed.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Road Home (TBA)
Exiled from his native South Africa, South African jazz legend Hugh Masekela is pulled between two worlds. In the late 1980s, the Anti-Apartheid Movement, led by his mentor and fierce Anti-Apartheid advocate Archbishop Trevor Huddleston, launches a boycott against Hugh’s friend Paul Simon over his township music-inspired album 'Graceland', accusing Simon of violating the United Nations’ Cultural Boycott. Miriam ‘Mama Africa’ Makeba joins forces with Masekela — who sees music as a powerful weapon in the struggle — to create the Graceland band, a supergroup designed to bring South Africa’s voice to the world.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Smell of Apples (2026)
In the insulated bubble of white Apartheid South Africa, Marnus, a sheltered 11-year old boy accuses the grandson of his family’s domestic worker of steeling his fishing rod. A brutal chain of events is set in motion, shattering the illusion of his family’s wholesome facade.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Sarafina! (1992)
A Soweto schoolgirl named Sarafina is galvanized to protest apartheid after her teacher is arrested for her activism, leading her to join the student resistance movement.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAfrican Gothic (2013)
On an isolated farm in Apartheid South Africa two lovers find themselves at risk of losing everything to a big city lawyer; they will stop at nothing to prevent him from exposing a dark family secret.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Inside (1996)
A South African political prisoner is tortured to obtain information on apartheid conspirators. Ten years later, the head officer in charge of the questioning is similarly held as prisoner and questioned about his past offenses.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Escape from Pretoria (2020)
South Africa, 1978. Tim Jenkin and Stephen Lee, two white political activists from the African National Congress imprisoned by the apartheid regime, put a plan in motion to escape from the infamous Pretoria Prison.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Boesman and Lena?
The closest matches to Boesman and Lena are Skin (2009), Disgrace (2008) and The Pumpkin Eater (1964). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Boesman and Lena?
Start with Skin (2009), the closest match to Boesman and Lena.
What is the highest-rated movie like Boesman and Lena?
Remember the Titans (2000), rated 7.7/10 by 3,137 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Boesman and Lena?
The Smell of Apples (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Boesman and Lena?
Yes: Skin (2009), Disgrace (2008) and The Pumpkin Eater (1964).
How are movies similar to Boesman and Lena chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Boesman and Lena, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.