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Movies like The People vs The Rainbow Nation (2016)

The best movies like The People vs The Rainbow Nation (2016) are The Bang Bang Club (2011), Endgame (2009) and The Giver (2014). If The People vs The Rainbow Nation hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.

Quick picks

  1. The Bang Bang Club (2011)

    In the early to mid '90s, when the South African system of apartheid was in its death throes, four photographers - Greg Marinovich, Kevin Carter, Ken Oosterbroek and João Silva - bonded by their friendship and a sense of purpose, worked together to chronicle the violence and upheaval leading up to the 1994 election of Nelson Mandela as president. Their work is risky and dangerous, potentially fatally so, as they thrust themselves into the middle of chaotic clashes between forces backed by the government (including Inkatha Zulu warriors) and those in support of Mandela's African National Congress.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  2. Endgame (2009)

    The time is the late '80s, a crucial period in the history of South Africa. President P.W. Botha is hanging on to power by a thread as the African National Congress (ANC) takes up arms against apartheid and the country tumbles toward insurrection. A British mining concern is convinced that their interests would be better served in a stable South Africa and they quietly dispatch Michael Young, their head of public affairs, to open an unofficial dialogue between the bitter rivals. Assembling a reluctant yet brilliant team to pave the way to reconciliation by confronting obstacles that initially seem insurmountable, Young places his trust in ANC leader Thabo Mbeki and Afrikaner philosophy professor Willie Esterhuyse. It is their empathy that will ultimately serve as the catalyst for change by proving more powerful than the terrorist bombs that threaten to disrupt the peaceful dialogue.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

  3. The Giver (2014)

    In a seemingly perfect community, without war, pain, suffering, differences or choice, a young boy is chosen to learn from an elderly man about the true pain and pleasure of the "real" world.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  4. Starter for 10 (2006)

    In 1985, against the backdrop of Thatcherism, Brian Jackson enrolls in the University of Bristol, a scholarship boy from seaside Essex with a love of knowledge for its own sake and a childhood spent watching University Challenge, a college quiz show. At Bristol he tries out for the Challenge team and falls under the spell of Alice, a lovely blond with an extensive sexual past.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  5. A 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

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  6. Sarafina! (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

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  7. Catch a Fire (2006)

    The true story of anti-apartheid activists in South Africa, and particularly the life of Patrick Chamusso, a timid foreman at Secunda CTL, the largest synthetic fuel plant in the world. Patrick is wrongly accused, imprisoned and tortured for an attempt to bomb the plant, with the injustice transforming the apolitical worker into a radicalised insurgent, who then carries out his own successful sabotage mission.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  8. Barney's Version (2010)

    The picaresque and touching story of the politically incorrect, fully lived life of the impulsive, irascible and fearlessly blunt Barney Panofsky.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  9. The Safety of Objects (2002)

    In a suburban landscape, the lives of several families interlace with loss, despair and personal crisis. Esther Gold has lost focus on all but caring for her comatose son, Paul, and neglects her daughter and husband. Lawyer Jim Train is devoted to his career, not his family. Helen Christianson wants to find a new spark in life, while Annette Jennings tries to rebuild hers.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  10. Bananas (1971)

    When a bumbling New Yorker is dumped by his activist girlfriend, he travels to a tiny Latin American nation and becomes involved in its latest rebellion.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  11. El Chicano (2019)

    A pair of twin brothers from East L.A. choose to live their lives differently and end up on opposite sides of the law.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  12. Call Me Crazy: A Five Film (2013)

    A psychotherapist helps a law student cope with schizophrenia in one of five interconnected tales dealing with mental illness.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  13. 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

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  14. All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (2022)

    The life of internationally renowned artist and activist Nan Goldin is told through her slideshows, intimate interviews, ground-breaking photography, and rare footage of her personal fight to hold the Sackler family accountable for the overdose crisis.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  15. The Girl in the Book (2015)

    The story of a young writer's transformation when her past invades her present.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

  16. Cry Freedom (1987)

    A dramatic story, based on actual events, about the friendship between two men struggling against apartheid in South Africa in the 1970s. Donald Woods is a white liberal journalist in South Africa who begins to follow the activities of Stephen Biko, a courageous and outspoken black anti-apartheid activist.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  17. Oh! What a Lovely War (1969)

    The working-class Smiths change their initially sunny views on World War I after the five boys of the family witness the harsh reality of trench warfare.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  18. One Week (2008)

    Ben Tyler has been diagnosed with cancer. With a grim chance of survival in the best case scenario even if he immediately begins treatment, he instead decides to take a motorcycle trip from Toronto through the Canadian prairies to British Columbia.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  19. The Trials of Cate McCall (2013)

    In order to be reinstated to the bar and recover custody of her daughter, a hotshot lawyer, now in recovery and on probation, must take on the appeal of a woman wrongfully convicted of murder.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  20. The Great Dictator (1940)

    Dictator Adenoid Hynkel tries to expand his empire while a poor Jewish barber tries to avoid persecution from Hynkel's regime.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Absolute CinemaMovies like this

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Frequently asked questions

What are the best movies like The People vs The Rainbow Nation?

The closest matches to The People vs The Rainbow Nation are The Bang Bang Club (2011), Endgame (2009) and The Giver (2014). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.

What should I watch after The People vs The Rainbow Nation?

Start with The Bang Bang Club (2011), the closest match to The People vs The Rainbow Nation.

What is the highest-rated movie like The People vs The Rainbow Nation?

The Great Dictator (1940), rated 8.3/10 by 3,876 TMDB users.

What is the newest movie like The People vs The Rainbow Nation?

All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (2022) is the most recent release on this list.

Are there English movies like The People vs The Rainbow Nation?

Yes: The Bang Bang Club (2011), Endgame (2009) and The Giver (2014).

How are movies similar to The People vs The Rainbow Nation chosen?

First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The People vs The Rainbow Nation, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.

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