Movies like Waitangi Day: What Really Happened (2011)
The best movies like Waitangi Day: What Really Happened (2011) are The World's Fastest Indian (2005), The Dark Horse (2014) and Radium Girls (2020). If Waitangi Day: What Really Happened hooked you with its history, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe World's Fastest Indian (2005)7.7/10 from 945 votes
- NewestI Remember My Mom (2025)Released 2025
The World's Fastest Indian (2005)
The life story of New Zealander Burt Munro, who spent years building a 1920 Indian motorcycle—a bike which helped him set the land-speed world record at Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats in 1967.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Dark Horse (2014)
One-time Maori speed-chess champ, Genesis Potini, lives with a bi-polar disorder and must overcome prejudice and violence in the battle to save his struggling chess club, his family and ultimately, himself.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRadium Girls (2020)
Young women toiling in a factory are exposed to hazardous material which takes a disastrous toll on their health.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHawaii (1966)
Abner Hale, a rigid and humorless New England missionary, marries the beautiful Jerusha Bromley and takes her to the exotic island kingdom of Hawaii, intent on converting the natives. But the clash between the two cultures is too great and instead of understanding there comes tragedy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOranges and Sunshine (2010)
The story of Margaret Humphreys, a social worker from Nottingham, who uncovers one of the most significant social scandals in recent times – the forced migration of children from the United Kingdom to Australia and other Commonwealth countries. Almost singlehandedly, Margaret reunited thousands of families, brought authorities to account and worldwide attention to an extraordinary miscarriage of justice.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Tracker (2002)
Somewhere in Australia in the early 20th century outback, an Aboriginal man is accused of murdering a white woman. Three white men are on a mission to capture him with the help of an experienced Indigenous man.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1978)
The true story of a part Aboriginal man who finds the pressure of adapting to white culture intolerable, and as a result snaps in a violent and horrific manner.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisConfirmation (2016)
Judge Clarence Thomas' nomination to the United States' Supreme Court is called into question when former colleague, Anita Hill, testifies that he had sexually harassed her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAustralia (2008)
Set in northern Australia before World War II, an English aristocrat who inherits a sprawling ranch reluctantly pacts with a stock-man in order to protect her new property from a takeover plot. As the pair drive 2,000 head of cattle over unforgiving landscape, they experience the bombing of Darwin by Japanese forces firsthand.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Untold History Of The United States (2012)
Oliver Stone charts the history of the United States from the Second World War to the present.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisA Call to Spy (2020)
The story of Vera Atkins, a crafty spy recruiter, and two of the first women she selects for Churchill's "secret army": Virginia Hall, a daring American undaunted by a disability and Noor Inayat Khan, a pacifist. These civilian women form an unlikely sisterhood while entangled in dangerous missions to turn the tide of the war.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRabbit-Proof Fence (2002)
In 1931, three Aboriginal girls escape after being plucked from their homes to be trained as domestic staff, and set off on a trek across the Outback.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history
Worth the HypeMovies like this7 Women (1965)
In a mission in China in 1935, a group of women are preyed on by Mongolian bandits, led by Warlord chief Tunga Khan.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Wind and the Lion (1975)
At the beginning of the 20th century an American woman is abducted in Morocco by Berbers, and the attempts to free her range from diplomatic pressure to military intervention.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlackadder: Back & Forth (1999)
What was a cunning plan from Lord Edmund Blackadder V to fake a time machine on his gullibly incompetent friends, turns out to be the real thing and hurls him and his imbecile underling, Baldrick, through the course of human history.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Bounty (1984)
An idyllic voyage to Tahiti in 1789 turns a crew aboard the H.M.S. Bounty against its captain when they find a tropical paradise.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMaking Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound (2019)
The history of cinematic sound, told by legendary sound designers and visionary filmmakers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTrue Spirit (2023)
When the tenacious young sailor Jessica Watson sets out to be the youngest person to sail solo, nonstop and unassisted around the world, many expect her to fail. With the support of her sailing coach and mentor Ben Bryant and her parents, Jessica is determined to accomplish what was thought to be impossible, navigating some of the world’s most challenging stretches of ocean over the course of 210 days.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEmperor (2012)
As the Japanese surrender at the end of WWII, Gen. Fellers is tasked with deciding if Emperor Hirohito will be hanged as a war criminal. Influencing his ruling is his quest to find Aya, an exchange student he met years earlier in the U.S.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAn Angel at My Table (1990)
Based on the autobiographical work of New Zealand writer Janet Frame, this production depicts the author at various stage of her life. Afflicted with mental and emotional issues, Frame grows up in an impoverished family and experiences numerous tragedies while still in her youth, including the deaths of two of her siblings. Portrayed as an adult by Kerry Fox, Frame finds acclaim for her writing while still in a mental institution, and her success helps her move on with her life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisI Remember My Mom (2025)
A childhood episode comes back to the memory of a man with no land
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both history
Rewi's Last Stand (1940)
Star-crossed lovers, Robert and Ariana, are caught up in the New Zealand wars of the 1860s. Ariana is claimed by the Maniapoto people as one of their own and, despite Robert's chivalrous defence, is taken by them and must help them prepare for war. Robert likewise must do his patriotic duty and enlists to fight on the other side. He volunteers to ride despatch, thinking it may give him an opportunity to see Ariana again, which it does, but their joy is short-lived; Maniapoto women fight beside their men, and furthermore she is a Rangitira (noble) and will not let her people down. The climax is the siege of Oraku Pa where 300 Maori hold off 2000 troops for three days. The Maniapoto are defeated, but Ariana, although wounded, survives to be reunited with Robert.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both history
Waiting for the Barbarians (2020)
At an isolated frontier outpost, a colonial magistrate suffers a crisis of conscience when an army colonel arrives looking to interrogate the locals about an impending uprising, using cruel tactics that horrify the magistrate.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both history
SnoozefestMovies like thisUtu (1983)
In New Zealand in the 1860s the native Māori people fought the British colonials to keep the land guaranteed to them by treaty. The warrior Te Wheke fights for the British until betrayal leads him to seek utu (revenge). The settler Williamson in turn seeks revenge after Te Wheke attacks his homestead. Meanwhile Wiremu, an officer for the British, seems to think that resistance is futile.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both history
Amos, une rivière, une forêt, des hommes (2006)
The history of Amos, a town in Abitibi-Témiscamingue (Quebec).
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both history
Fort Saganne (1984)
In 1911, a willful and determined man from peasant stock named Charles Saganne enlists in the military and is assigned to the Sahara Desert under the aristocratic Colonel Dubreuilh.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Nightmare on Every Street (2022)
David Bain is accused of killing his family in Dunedin, New Zealand.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both history
The Mission (1986)
When a Spanish Jesuit goes into the South American wilderness to build a mission in the hope of converting the Indians of the region, a slave hunter is converted and joins his mission. When Spain sells the colony to Portugal, they are forced to defend all they have built against the Portuguese aggressors.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFarha (2021)
Palestine, 1948. After the withdrawal of the British occupiers, tensions rise between Arabs and Jews. Meanwhile, Farha, the smart daughter of the mayor of a small village, unaware of the coming tragedy, dreams of going to study in the big city.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKillers of the Flower Moon (2023)
When oil is discovered in 1920s Oklahoma under Osage Nation land, the Osage people are murdered one by one—until the FBI steps in to unravel the mystery.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both history
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Waitangi Day: What Really Happened?
The closest matches to Waitangi Day: What Really Happened are The World's Fastest Indian (2005), The Dark Horse (2014) and Radium Girls (2020). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Waitangi Day: What Really Happened?
Start with The World's Fastest Indian (2005), the closest match to Waitangi Day: What Really Happened.
What is the highest-rated movie like Waitangi Day: What Really Happened?
The World's Fastest Indian (2005), rated 7.7/10 by 945 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Waitangi Day: What Really Happened?
I Remember My Mom (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Waitangi Day: What Really Happened?
Yes: The World's Fastest Indian (2005), The Dark Horse (2014) and Radium Girls (2020).
How are movies similar to Waitangi Day: What Really Happened chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Waitangi Day: What Really Happened, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.