Movies like Cry, the Beloved Country (1995)
The best movies like Cry, the Beloved Country (1995) are Disgrace (2008), Escape from Pretoria (2020) and Shepherds and Butchers (2017). If Cry, the Beloved Country hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedEmancipation (2022)7.7/10 from 1,324 votes
- NewestThe Stranger (2025)Released 2025
Disgrace (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 thisEscape 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: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisShepherds and Butchers (2017)
A lawyer takes on a case of a prison guard in South Africa who is traumatized by the executions he's witnessed.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTrees of Peace (2021)
Four women from different backgrounds forge an unbreakable sisterhood while trapped and in hiding during the genocide in Rwanda.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Birth of a Nation (2016)
Nat Turner, a former slave in America, leads a liberation movement in 1831 to free African-Americans in Virginia that results in a violent retaliation from whites.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSometimes in April (2005)
Two brothers are divided by marriage and fate during the 100 horrifying days of the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Dry White Season (1989)
During the 1976 Soweto uprising, a white school teacher's life and values are threatened when he asks questions about the death of a young black boy who died in police custody.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSarafina! (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: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBeasts of No Nation (2015)
Based on the experiences of Agu, a child fighting in the civil war of a West African country. Follows Agu's journey as he's forced to join a group of soldiers. While he fears his commander and many of the men around him, his fledgling childhood has been brutally shattered by the war raging through his country, and he is at first torn between conflicting revulsion and fascination.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEmancipation (2022)
Inspired by the gripping true story of a man who would do anything for his family—and for freedom. When Peter, an enslaved man, risks his life to escape and return to his family, he embarks on a perilous journey of love and endurance.
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 thisTrue Confessions (1981)
A cop clashes with his priest brother while investigating the brutal murder of a young prostitute.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Last King of Scotland (2006)
Young Scottish doctor, Nicholas Garrigan decides it's time for an adventure after he finishes his formal education, so he decides to try his luck in Uganda, and arrives during the downfall of President Obote. General Idi Amin comes to power and asks Garrigan to become his personal doctor.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Forgiven (2018)
After the end of Apartheid, Archbishop Desmond Tutu meets with a brutal murderer seeking redemption.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAdam Resurrected (2008)
After again attempting to commit murder, a Jewish man with a mysterious past and extraordinary intelligence, charisma, and body control returns to an insane asylum, where he makes a startling discovery.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Young One (1960)
A jazz musician seeks refuge from a lynch mob on a remote island, where he meets a hostile game warden and the young object of his attentions.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisShooting Dogs (2006)
Two westerners, a priest and a teacher find themselves in the middle of the Rwandan genocide and face a moral dilemna. Do they place themselves in danger and protect the refugees, or escape the country with their lives? Based on a true story.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBarron's Cove (2025)
When his young son is viciously murdered by a classmate, a grieving father with a history of violence kidnaps the child responsible, igniting a frenzied manhunt fueled by a powerful politician -- the father of the kidnapped boy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Great Debaters (2007)
The true story of a brilliant but politically radical debate team coach who uses the power of words to transform a group of underdog African-American college students into a historical powerhouse that took on the Harvard elite.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisShout at the Devil (1976)
During World War One an English adventurer, an American elephant poacher and the latter's attractive young daughter, set out to destroy a German battle-cruiser which is awaiting repairs in an inlet just off Zanzibar. The story is based on a novel by Wilbur Smith, which in turn is very loosely based on events involving the light cruiser SMS Königsberg, which was sunk after taking refuge in Rufigi delta in 1915.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBurning Rainbow Farm (TBA)
Tom Crosslin and Rollie Rohm, a couple in rural Michigan, build a peaceful, pot-friendly utopia called Rainbow Farm. When the two run afoul of local authorities and their young son is taken from them, a standoff ensues leading to one of the largest and most dramatic sieges America has ever seen.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Stranger (2025)
Algiers, 1938. Meursault, a quiet and unassuming employee in his early thirties, attends his mother's funeral without shedding a tear. The next day, he begins a casual affair with Marie, a work colleague. He quickly slips back into his usual routine.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this1922 (2017)
A simple yet proud rancher conspires to murder his wife for financial gain, convincing his teenage son to participate.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisBlack Beauty (1946)
Based on Anna Sewell's novel. In rural England of the 1880's, widower Squire Wendon is rearing his young daughter Anne. Her father has forbidden her to be present when their mare, "Duchess," gives birth. Anne sneaks out to the stable, however, and is discovered by her father who forbids her ever to ride Duchess again. Despite this punishment, he gives Anne Duchess's colt because it is her birthday, and she names him "Black Beauty."
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Rose Garden (1989)
In Germany, an old man attacks another old man and is arrested. The attacker refuses to speak. A female lawyer is appointed to him. She discovers that the attacker has numbers tattooed on his arm and the attacked man was a German officer.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Albatross (1998)
A ship sets sail on an epic voyage through malignant natural and supernatural elements from which one man alone survives. An adaptation of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner illustrated by19th Century wood engravings which are animated by scratching directly into the surface of color filmstock. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner with its message of ecological redemption has a curiously contemporary resonance, but it is at the level of the mythic that the poem has lasting relevance; for this epic tale of extraordinary events simply mirrors the struggle that each human being faces on their own in his or her life. -VDB
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
High-Rise (2015)
Life for the residents of a tower block begins to run out of control.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisSo Well Remembered (1947)
A mill-owner's ambitious daughter almost ruins her husband's political career.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Night the Angel Turned Away (1999)
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Mr. Perrin and Mr. Traill (1948)
A handsome young master at a boys school incurs the jealousy of an embittered colleague. From the novel by Hugh Walpole.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Cry, the Beloved Country?
The closest matches to Cry, the Beloved Country are Disgrace (2008), Escape from Pretoria (2020) and Shepherds and Butchers (2017). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Cry, the Beloved Country?
Start with Disgrace (2008), the closest match to Cry, the Beloved Country.
What is the highest-rated movie like Cry, the Beloved Country?
Emancipation (2022), rated 7.7/10 by 1,324 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Cry, the Beloved Country?
The Stranger (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Cry, the Beloved Country?
Yes: Disgrace (2008), Escape from Pretoria (2020) and Shepherds and Butchers (2017).
How are movies similar to Cry, the Beloved Country chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Cry, the Beloved Country, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.