Movies like The Apostle (1997)
The best movies like The Apostle (1997) are Wise Blood (1979), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) and First Reformed (2018). If The Apostle hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedJesus (1979)8.3/10 from 258 votes
- NewestThe New Boy (2023)Released 2023
Wise Blood (1979)
A Southerner--young, poor, ambitious but uneducated--determines to become something in the world. He decides that the best way to do that is to become a preacher and start up his own church.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Last Temptation of Christ (1988)
Jesus, a humble Judean carpenter beginning to see that he is the son of God, is drawn into revolutionary action against the Roman occupiers by Judas -- despite his protestations that love, not violence, is the path to salvation. The burden of being the savior of mankind torments Jesus throughout his life, leading him to doubt.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFirst Reformed (2018)
A pastor of a small church in upstate New York starts to spiral out of control after a soul-shaking encounter with an unstable environmental activist and his pregnant wife.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJesus (1979)
Three and a half years of Jesus' ministry, as told in the Gospel of Luke.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisDoubt (2008)
In 1964 Bronx, two Catholic school nuns question the new priest's ambiguous relationship with a troubled African-American student.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHave a Little Faith (2011)
At age 82, Mitch Albom's former rabbi Albert Lewis wants the famous Detroit sportswriter to give his eulogy when the time comes. Albom makes a visit to his former home town in New Jersey, where Rabbi Lewis has served a congregation for about 50 years. Albom doesn't feel worthy, especially since he is no longer a practicing Jew and, in fact, he has married a Christian (who apparently isn't active either). Nevertheless, Rabbi Lewis says he is the one to do the job, and over the next eight years, Albom makes several visits back home and even attends some Sabbath services, where the good rabbi is determined to continue working and inspiring his flock even as his health declines.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Elmer Gantry (1960)
A charismatic charlatan begins a business — and eventually romantic — relationship with a roadside evangelist to sell religion to 1920s America. Based on Sinclair Lewis' novel of the same name.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGod's Not Dead 2 (2016)
When a high school teacher is asked a question in class about Jesus, her reasoned response lands her in deep trouble and could expel God from the public square once and for all.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCourageous (2011)
Law enforcement officers Adam Mitchell, Nathan Hayes, and their partners stand up to the worst the streets have to offer with confidence and focus. Yet at the end of the day, they face a challenge that none of them are truly prepared to tackle: fatherhood. They know that God desires to turn the hearts of fathers to their children, but their children are beginning to drift further and further away from them. When tragedy hits home, these men are left wrestling with their hopes, their fears, their faith, and their fathering. Can a newfound urgency help these dads draw closer to God... and to their children?
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLeap of Faith (1992)
Jonas Nightengale is a fraudulent Christian faith healer who makes a living travelling around America holding revival meetings and conducting 'miracles' with the help of his friend and manager, Jane, and their entourage.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Sunset Limited (2011)
A deeply religious black ex-con thwarts the suicide attempt of an asocial white college professor who tries to throw himself in front of an oncoming subway train, 'The Sunset Limited.' As the one attempts to connect on a rational, spiritual and emotional level, the other remains steadfast in his hard-earned despair. Locked in a philosophical debate, both passionately defend their personal credos and try to convert the other.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSister Aimee (2019)
In 1926 America’s most famous evangelist is a woman. And she’s looking for a way out. Fed up with her own success, she gets swept up in her lover’s daydreams about Mexico and finds herself on a wild road trip towards the border.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
The King (2006)
When Elvis Valderez is honourably discharged from the Navy, he heads to the small Texas town of Corpus Christi, where he introduces himself to Pastor David Sandow, his long-lost father, soon becoming a stalwart member of the church.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Master (2012)
Freddie, a volatile, heavy-drinking veteran who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, finds some semblance of a family when he stumbles onto the ship of Lancaster Dodd, the charismatic leader of a new "religion" he forms after World War II.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGod's Army (2000)
A newly ordained Mormon missionary struggles with a tragic past and a tough mentor.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Billy: The Early Years (2008)
Most of us know Billy Graham as the self-assured and charismatic preacher who became one of the most important figures of 20th Century Christianity. Now, with the release of Billy: The Early Years, we meet Billy as the earnest and promising young man at the crossroads of faith and doubt, ultimately facing the moment of decision that launched one of history’s most powerful evangelistic careers.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Gran Torino (2008)
Disgruntled Korean War veteran Walt Kowalski sets out to reform his neighbor, Thao Lor, a Hmong teenager who tried to steal Kowalski's prized possession: a 1972 Gran Torino.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisSilence (2016)
In the 17th century, two Portuguese Jesuit priests travel to Japan in an attempt to locate their mentor, who is rumored to have committed apostasy, and to propagate Catholicism.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThere Will Be Blood (2007)
Ruthless silver miner, turned oil prospector, Daniel Plainview, moves to oil-rich California. Using his son to project a trustworthy, family-man image, Plainview cons local landowners into selling him their valuable properties for a pittance. However, local preacher Eli Sunday suspects Plainview's motives and intentions, starting a slow-burning feud that threatens both their lives.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisMr. Church (2016)
A unique friendship develops when a little girl and her dying mother inherit a cook - Mr. Church. What begins as an arrangement that should only last six months, instead spans fifteen years.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Saint of Fort Washington (1993)
Matthew, a young schizophrenic, finds himself out on the street when a slumlord tears down his apartment building. Soon, he finds himself in even more dire straits, when he is threatened by Little Leroy, a thug who is one of the tough denizens of the Fort Washington Shelter for Men. He reaches out to Jerry, a streetwise combat veteran, who takes Matthew under his wing as a son. The relationship between these two men grows as they attempt to conquer the numbing isolation of homelessness.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCalvary (2014)
After being threatened during a confession, a good-natured priest must battle the dark forces closing in around him.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMud (2013)
Two teenage boys find a fugitive hiding out on an island in the Mississippi River and help him reunite with his lover and escape an avenging family and their armed posse.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Young Messiah (2016)
Tells the story of Jesus Christ at age seven as he and his family depart Egypt to return home to Nazareth. Told from his childhood perspective, it follows young Jesus as he grows into his religious identity.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe New Boy (2023)
In a remote monastery in 1940s Australia, a mission for Aboriginal children is run by a renegade nun, Sister Eileen. A new charge is delivered in the dead of night – a boy who appears to have special powers. When the monastery takes possession of a precious relic, a large carving of Christ on the cross, the new boy encounters Jesus for the first time and is transfixed. However, the boy’s Indigenous spiritual life does not gel with the mission’s Christianity and his mysterious power becomes a threat. Sister Eileen is faced with a choice between the traditions of her faith and the truth embodied in the boy, in this story of spiritual struggle and the cost of survival.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Father Stu (2022)
The true-life story of boxer-turned-priest. When an injury ends his amateur boxing career, Stuart Long moves to Los Angeles to find money and fame. While scraping by as a supermarket clerk, he meets Carmen, a Sunday school teacher who seems immune to his bad-boy charm. Determined to win her over, the longtime agnostic starts going to church to impress her. However, a motorcycle accident leaves him wondering if he can use his second chance to help others, leading to the surprising realization that he's meant to be a Catholic priest.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · 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: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisVirginia (2010)
A sheriff sees his state senate bid slide out onto the ice when his daughter begins to date the son of a charming but psychologically disturbed woman with whom the sheriff has engaged in a two-decade-long affair.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisCome Sunday (2018)
Evangelist Carlton Pearson is ostracized by his church for preaching that there is no Hell.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisWrestling Ernest Hemingway (1993)
Frank, a retired Irish seaman, and Walter, a retired Cuban barber, are two lonely old men trapped in the emptiness of their own lives. When they meet in a park Frank is able to start a conversation after several attempts. They begin to spend time together and become friends. But because of their different characters they often quarrel with each other and finally seperate after Frank misbehaves to Walter's friend Elaine.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Apostle?
The closest matches to The Apostle are Wise Blood (1979), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) and First Reformed (2018). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Apostle?
People who watched The Apostle most often go on to Wise Blood (1979), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) and First Reformed (2018).
What is the highest-rated movie like The Apostle?
Jesus (1979), rated 8.3/10 by 258 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Apostle?
The New Boy (2023) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Apostle?
Yes: Wise Blood (1979), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) and First Reformed (2018).
How are movies similar to The Apostle chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Apostle, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.