Movies like Digging to China (1997)
The best movies like Digging to China (1997) are More Beautiful for Having Been Broken (2020), Fathers and Daughters (2015) and Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story (2003). If Digging to China hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Green Mile (1999)8.5/10 from 20,124 votes
- NewestOmaha (2025)Released 2025
More Beautiful for Having Been Broken (2020)
Three women’s lives intersect at a lakeside resort and are forever changed by the love of a special needs boy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFathers and Daughters (2015)
A Pulitzer-winning writer grapples with being a widower and father after a mental breakdown, while, 27 years later, his grown daughter struggles to forge connections of her own.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHomeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story (2003)
Based on a true story. Liz Murray is a young girl who is taken care of by her loving, but drug-addicted parents. Liz becomes homeless at 15 and after a tragedy comes upon her, she begins her work to finish high school.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCreed III (2023)
After dominating the boxing world, Adonis Creed has thrived in his career and family life. When a childhood friend and former boxing prodigy, Damian Anderson, resurfaces after serving a long sentence in prison, he is eager to prove that he deserves his shot in the ring. The face-off between former friends is more than just a fight. To settle the score, Adonis must put his future on the line to battle Damian — a fighter with nothing to lose.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Parts You Lose (2019)
An unlikely friendship unfolds between a young deaf boy, Wesley, and a fugitive criminal who takes refuge in an abandoned barn on the family’s rural North Dakota farm.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAll Together Now (2020)
An optimistic, talented teen clings to a huge secret: she's homeless and living on a school bus. When tragedy strikes, can she learn to accept a helping hand?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRobinson Crusoe (1997)
Robinson Crusoe flees Britain on a ship after killing his friend over the love of Mary. A fierce ocean storm wrecks his ship and leaves him stranded by himself on an uncharted island. Left to fend for himself, Crusoe seeks out a tentative survival on the island, until he meets Friday, a tribesman whom he saves from being sacrificed. Initially, Crusoe is thrilled to finally have a friend, but he has to defend himself against the tribe who uses the island to sacrifice tribesman to their gods. During time their relationship changes from master-slave to a mutual respected friendship despite their difference in culture and religion.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOmaha (2025)
A young girl and her brother are awoken by their father and loaded into the car on an early morning in 2008. As they road trip across the American West, she discovers the truth about their seemingly spontaneous journey.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHello Sister, Goodbye Life (2006)
A college student must take care of her 7-year-old half sister after the death of their parents.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDancer in the Dark (2000)
Selma, a Czech immigrant on the verge of blindness, struggles to make ends meet for herself and her young son, who has inherited the same genetic disorder and will suffer the same fate without an expensive operation. When life becomes increasingly difficult, Selma learns to cope through her love of musicals, dreaming up little numbers to the rhythmic beats of her surroundings.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIn America (2003)
A family of Irish immigrants adjusts to life on the mean streets of Hell's Kitchen while also grieving the death of a child.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNell (1994)
In a remote woodland cabin, a small town doctor discovers Nell — a beautiful young hermit woman with many secrets.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisColossal (2017)
A woman discovers that severe catastrophic events are somehow connected to the mental breakdown from which she's suffering.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe True Adventures of Wolfboy (2019)
Follows a young boy who runs away from home in the search of his estranged mother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThird Star (2010)
James and his three closest lifelong friends go on an ill-advised trip to the stunning coastal area of Barafundle Bay in West Wales. What follows is a touching and comical adventure dealing with friendship, heroism and love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBang the Drum Slowly (1973)
The story of a New York pro baseball team and two of its players. Henry Wiggen is the star pitcher and Bruce Pearson is the normal, everyday catcher who is far from the star player on the team and friend to all of his teammates. During the off-season, Bruce learns that he is terminally ill, and Henry, his only true friend, is determined to be the one person there for him during his last season with the club. Throughout the course of the season, Henry and his teammates attempt to deal with Bruce's impending illness, all the while attempting to make his last year a memorable one.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisElephant Song (2015)
A psychiatrist is drawn into a complex mind game when he questions a disturbed patient about the disappearance of a colleague.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRadio (2003)
In the racially divided town of Anderson, South Carolina in 1976, football coach Harold Jones spots a mentally disabled African-American young man nicknamed Radio near his practice field and is inspired to befriend him. Soon, Radio is Jones' loyal assistant, and he becomes a student at T.L. Hanna High School. But things start to sour when Coach Jones begins taking guff from parents and fans who feel that his devotion to Radio is getting in the way of the team's quest for a championship.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Man from Colorado (1948)
Two friends return home after their discharge from the army after the Civil War. However, one of them has had deep-rooted psychological damage due to his experiences during the war, and as his behavior becomes more erratic--and violent--his friend desperately tries to find a way to help him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTrue Grit (1969)
The murder of her father sends a teenage tomboy on a mission of 'justice', which involves avenging her father's death. She recruits a tough old marshal, 'Rooster' Cogburn because he has 'true grit', and a reputation of getting the job done.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSummer Storm (2004)
Tobi and Achim, the pride of the local crew club, have been the best of friends for years and are convinced that nothing will ever stand in the way of their friendship. They look forward to the upcoming summer camp and the crew competition. Then the gay team from Berlin arrives and Tobi is totally confused. The evening before the races begin, the storm that breaks out is more than meteorological.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Green Mile (1999)
A supernatural tale set on death row in a Southern prison, where gentle giant John Coffey possesses the mysterious power to heal people's ailments. When the cell block's head guard, Paul Edgecomb, recognizes Coffey's miraculous gift, he tries desperately to help stave off the condemned man's execution.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisTough Enough (2006)
From the youth directed novel of the same name by Greogor Tressnow comes a film by Detlev Buck that is a realistic portrait of life in the section of Berlin called Neukölln. It’s about power and weakness, delinquents and victims, and the difficulties a 15-year-old faces in a poor and criminal environment.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHuman Nature (2001)
Obsessive scientist Nathan and his lover, the naturalist Lila, discover Puff: a man born and raised in the wild. As Nathan trains the wild man in the civilized ways of the world, Lila fights to preserve the man’s natural state. In the power struggle that ensues, an unusual love triangle emerges.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPopular Music (2004)
Matti and Niila, growing up in the mid-sixties in the harsh and conservative environment of a Finnish-speaking part of Tornedalen in Swedish Laponia, close to the Finnish border. Their big dream is to become rock stars. In the present the now grown-up Matti feels guilt for the death of his drug-addicted rock star friend Niila.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Idiots (1998)
A group of perfectly intelligent young people decide to react to society's cult of aimless, non-creative and non-responsible form intellect by living together in a community of 'idiots'. Their primary activity becomes going out into the world of 'normal' people and pretending to be mentally incompetent. They take advantage of this situation to create anarchy, and, by every possible means, to make those around them miserable.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAs It Is in Heaven (2004)
A musical romantic tragedy about a famous composer who moves back to his small hometown after having had heart troubles. His search for a simple everyday life leads him into teaching the local church choir, which is not easily accepted by the town yet the choir builds a great love for their teacher.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKilling Zoe (1993)
Zed is an American vault-cracker who travels to Paris to meet up with his old friend Eric. Eric and his gang have planned to raid the only bank in the city which is open on Bastille day. After offering his services, Zed soon finds himself trapped in a situation beyond his control when heroin abuse, poor planning and a call-girl named Zoe all conspire to turn the robbery into a very bloody siege.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSommerHundeSöhne (2005)
Summer is the time to travel, enjoy life, and do or leave what you want. A motor home with two occupants makes its way south. But the two travelers do not travel voluntarily, and certainly not together.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Reclaim Your Brain (2007)
Frustrated, because he is forced to produce bad TV-shows, a manager of a TV-station, enters the station and manipulates the ratings, to initiate a TV-revolution.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Digging to China?
The closest matches to Digging to China are More Beautiful for Having Been Broken (2020), Fathers and Daughters (2015) and Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story (2003). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Digging to China?
Start with More Beautiful for Having Been Broken (2020), the closest match to Digging to China.
What is the highest-rated movie like Digging to China?
The Green Mile (1999), rated 8.5/10 by 20,124 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Digging to China?
Omaha (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Digging to China?
Yes: More Beautiful for Having Been Broken (2020), Fathers and Daughters (2015) and Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story (2003).
How are movies similar to Digging to China chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Digging to China, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.