Movies like The World That Summer (1980)
The best movies like The World That Summer (1980) are Skin (2009), The German Lesson (2019) and Fog in August (2016). If The World That Summer hooked you with its drama, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Book Thief (2013)7.5/10 from 4,619 votes
- NewestTruth & Treason (2025)Released 2025
- In GermanThe German Lesson (2019)Also in German
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 thisThe German Lesson (2019)
In a small North German village a drama played out during and shortly after the Second World War about duty versus individual conscience and morality.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFog in August (2016)
A Yenish boy is placed in a mental hospital and experiences the Nazi euthanasia program. Aware of what was happening and attached to friends, the lad attempts to sabotage the program. The film addresses the complexities of the program director, the lives of the child victims, and the struggles of the child protagonist. More than five thousand children died in the Nazi euthanasia program.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Boy in the Woods (2023)
The remarkable true-life survival story of a Jewish boy hiding and being hunted in the forests of Nazi-occupied Eastern Europe, based on Maxwell Smart's memoir.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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 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 thisIn a Land That No Longer Exists (2022)
It's 1989 in East Berlin: Suzie is kicked out of school shortly before she graduates from high school and has to defend herself as a worker in the cable factory. However, a randomly taken photo leads her to the fashion world of the GDR. The editor-in-chief Elsa Wilbrodt put her on the cover of Sibylle, the fashion magazine of the GDR. In the Berlin underground scene she made the acquaintance of the gay fashion designer Rudi and the photographer Coyote. Suzie must decide if she's brave enough to leave the old strands behind forever.
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 Diary of Anne Frank (2016)
The story of Anne Frank, the Jewish girl who went into hiding with her family in Amsterdam and became a victim of the Holocaust.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Pawnbroker (1965)
A Jewish pawnbroker, a victim of Nazi persecution, loses all faith in his fellow man until he realizes too late the tragedy of his actions.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Book Thief (2013)
While subjected to the horrors of WWII Germany, young Liesel finds solace by stealing books and sharing them with others. Under the stairs in her home, a Jewish refugee is being sheltered by her adoptive parents.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTruth & Treason (2025)
In 1941 Nazi Germany, 16-year-old Helmuth Hübener begins questioning the regime after learning the truth about the war and seeing his Jewish friend persecuted. With two friends, he secretly listens to banned foreign broadcasts and distributes leaflets exposing Nazi lies. As the Gestapo closes in, the teenagers face mounting danger for choosing conscience over obedience. Based on the true story of one of Germany’s youngest resistance fighters.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies 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 thisMy Neighbor Adolf (2022)
South America, 1960. A lonely and grumpy Holocaust survivor convinces himself that his new neighbor is none other than Adolf Hitler. Not being taken seriously, he starts an independent investigation to prove his claim, but when the evidence still appears to be inconclusive, Polsky is forced to engage in a relationship with the enemy in order to obtain irrefutable proof.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSergio (2020)
A sweeping drama set in the chaotic aftermath of the US invasion of Iraq, where the life of top UN diplomat Brazilian Sérgio Vieira de Mello hangs in the balance during the most treacherous mission of his career.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisApt Pupil (1998)
One day in 1984, Todd Bowden, a brilliant high school boy fascinated by the history of Nazism, stumbles across an old man whose appearance resembles that of Kurt Dussander, a wanted Nazi war criminal. A month later, Todd decides to knock on his door.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhen Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit (2019)
In 1933 in Berlin. Anna is only nine years old when her life changes from the ground up. To escape the Nazis, her father Arthur Kemper, a well-known Jewish journalist, has to flee to Zurich. His family, Anna, her twelve-year-old brother Max and her mother Dorothea, follow him shortly thereafter. Anna has to leave everything behind, including her beloved pink rabbit, and to face a new life full of challenges and privations abroad.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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 thisEuropa Europa (1990)
A Jewish boy separated from his family in the early days of WWII poses as a German orphan and is taken into the heart of the Nazi world as a 'war hero' and eventually becomes a Hitler Youth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Island on Bird Street (1997)
Alex is an 11-year old boy who, during WWII, hides in the Jewish ghetto from Nazis after all his relatives have been sent to the concentration camp. The movie portrays the ghetto through his eyes.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The World That Summer?
The closest matches to The World That Summer are Skin (2009), The German Lesson (2019) and Fog in August (2016). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The World That Summer?
Start with Skin (2009), the closest match to The World That Summer.
What is the highest-rated movie like The World That Summer?
The Book Thief (2013), rated 7.5/10 by 4,619 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The World That Summer?
Truth & Treason (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there German movies like The World That Summer?
Yes: The German Lesson (2019), Fog in August (2016) and In a Land That No Longer Exists (2022).
How are movies similar to The World That Summer chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The World That Summer, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.