Movies like Padre Padrone (1977)
The best movies like Padre Padrone (1977) are The Tree of Wooden Clogs (1978), Christ Stopped at Eboli (1979) and Three Brothers (1981). If Padre Padrone 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 Best of Youth (2003)8.0/10 from 625 votes
- NewestMe & You (2012)Released 2012
- In ItalianThe Tree of Wooden Clogs (1978)Also in Italian
The Tree of Wooden Clogs (1978)
On a turn-of-the-20th-century northern Italian farm, a group of sharecroppers eke out a threadbare existence. A priest advises Batisti and his wife Batistina that their young son Minec should be formally educated, so they sacrifice his help in the fields and send him to school. When Minec's wooden shoe breaks one day, Batisti--in an act of desperation--puts the family's future at risk to replace the clog.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisChrist Stopped at Eboli (1979)
In the fascist Italy of 1935, a painter trained as a doctor is exiled to a remote region near Eboli. Over time, he learns to appreciate the beauty and wisdom of the peasants, and to overcome his isolation.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThree Brothers (1981)
After their mother's death, three brothers return to their family home in southern Italy: Raffaele, a judge in Rome facing the threat of political violence; Rocco, a counselor for troubled youths in Naples; and Nicola, a factory worker in Turin struggling with labor disputes and a troubled marriage. As the family reunites in mourning, each brother reflects on his past and contemplates an uncertain future.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Leopard (1963)
As Garibaldi's troops begin the unification of Italy in the 1860s, an aristocratic Sicilian family grudgingly adapts to the sweeping social changes undermining their way of life.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Mass Is Ended (1985)
Young Father Giulio returns to Rome, where he was born and raised, to replace a priest who has left the clergy to start a family. He is delighted to reunite with his loved ones, especially his mother, sister, and old friends. Once radical leftists like Giulio himself, the latter are now each coping in their own way with the defeat of the revolution. Soon, however, Giulio realizes that despite his best efforts, he seems unable to solve the problems troubling those around him.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFrom the Clouds to the Resistance (1979)
Two segments. The first one arranges six stories from Cesare Pavese’s «Dialoghi con Leucò», taken from classical mythology. The second segment is taken from Pavese’s novel «La luna e i falò»: after World War II the emigrant «The Bastard» comes back to his village in the Langhe (northern Italy) to find out that everyone he knew has died, and that the war has deeply changed relationships between people.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Germany, Year Zero (1948)
In the ruins of post-WWII Berlin, a twelve-year-old boy is left to his own devices in order to help provide for his family.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Conformist (1971)
A weak-willed Italian man becomes a fascist flunky who goes abroad to arrange the assassination of his old teacher, now a political dissident.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMan, Woman and Beast (1977)
A small town in Italy is about to celebrate their patron saint. The city is full of people with different problems. A Communist in existentialist crisis that also must take care of his mentally ill wife. A woman who is tired of her husband's inability to show emotions and therefore more and more often slips into the world of dreams. A perverse butcher engaged in sex with the meat he sells when he's not peeping on young girls. A girl who became pregnant after having sex with her father. In this town a mysterious stranger show up and who turns on several of the inhabitants lives.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
La Terra Trema (1949)
In rural Sicily, the fishermen live at the mercy of the greedy wholesalers. One family risks everything to buy their own boat and operate independently.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Working Class Goes to Heaven (1971)
After losing a finger in a work accident, an Italian worker becomes increasingly involved in political and revolutionary groups.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like this1900 (1976)
The epic tale of a class struggle in twentieth century Italy, as seen through the eyes of two childhood friends on opposing sides.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Night of the Shooting Stars (1982)
The Night of San Lorenzo, the night of the shooting stars, is the night when dreams come true in Italian folklore. In 1944, a group of Italians flee their town after hearing rumours that the Nazis plan to blow it up and that the Americans are about to arrive to liberate them.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEverybody's Fine (1990)
Matteo Scuro is a retired Sicilian bureaucrat, a widower with five children, all of whom live on the mainland and hold responsible jobs. He decides to surprise each with a visit and finds none as he imagined.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Man Who Will Come (2009)
A group of Italian villagers struggle to survive during a tumultuous time in 1943, debating how much assistance to give the partisans with the impending arrival of the Germans. Based on True Events.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBandits of Orgosolo (1961)
A Sardinian peasant is implicated in the murder of a policeman and, although innocent, he doesn’t give himself up, lacking faith in the judicial system and fearing that he may lose his sheep while awaiting trial.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAccattone (1961)
A pimp with no other means to provide for himself finds his life spiralling out of control when his prostitute is sent to prison.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDisobedience (1981)
Luca Manzi is a fourteen year old boy when the Northern Italy Republic of Salò is governed by the Fascists. He becomes a partisan but when the war ends he is disappointed because things have not changed as he had hoped they wood, and he decides to let himself die. He is saved by Edith who tries to introduce him to sex. Based on the novel by Alberto Moravia.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
The Way We Laughed (1998)
Studying to become a teacher in 1950s Northern Italy, Sicilian immigrant Pietro is joined by his big brother Giovanni. Pietro shows considerable promise in his field, prompting illiterate Giovanni to take on even the toughest jobs in order to support his sibling's academic pursuits.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Stolen Children (1992)
Antonio, a policeman (carabiniere), has an order to take two children (Rosetta and her brother Luciano) from Milan to Sicily to an orphanage. Their mother has been arrested for forcing Rosetta (11 years old) to work as a prostitute. First the relation between Antonio and the children is tough, but it relaxes so they become temporary friends.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOpen Doors (1990)
Tommaso Scalia is a man who commits three murders: he kills his superior who sacked him, the man who replaced him and his wife. He wants a quick trial and an early execution, but an earnest, principled assistant judge looks for a way to save the murderer from being shot, because he does not belive in capital punishment.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMe & You (2012)
An introverted teenager tells his parents he is going on a ski trip, but instead spends his time alone in his mom's basement. But things didn't go as planned after his half sister joins him.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHands Over the City (1963)
Prior to a city council election, the collapse of a building leaves a land developer and his political backers defending themselves against a scandal.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Best of Youth (2003)
After a fateful encounter in the summer of 1966, the lifepaths of two brothers from a middle-class Roman family diverge, intersecting with some of the most significant events of postwar Italian history in the following decades.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisShoeshine (1946)
Two shoeshine boys in postwar Rome, Italy save up to buy a horse, but their involvement as dupes in a burglary lands them in juvenile prison; the experience take a devastating toll on their friendship.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAllonsanfan (1974)
After the 1815 Restoration, an aging revolutionary finds himself reluctantly involved in an attempted insurrection in Southern Italy while growing increasingly disillusioned with his cause.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSalvatore Giuliano (1962)
Sicilian bandit Salvatore Giuliano's bullet-riddled corpse is found facedown in a courtyard in Castelvetrano, a handgun and rifle by his side. Local and international press descend upon the scene, hoping to crack open the true story behind the death of this young man, who, at the age of twenty-seven, had already become Italy’s most wanted criminal and celebrated hero.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStromboli (1950)
After the end of WWII, a young Lithuanian woman and a young Italian man from Stromboli impulsively marry, but married life on the island is more demanding than she can accept.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPigsty (1969)
Two dramatic stories. In an undetermined past, a young cannibal (who killed his own father) is condemned to be torn to pieces by some wild beasts. In the second story, Julian, the young son of a post-war German industrialist, is on the way to lie down with his farm's pigs, because he doesn't like human relationships.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Stranger (1967)
Meursault is a man who feels utterly isolated from everyone and everything around him. This alienation results in sudden, inexplicable bursts of violence, culminating in murder.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Padre Padrone?
The closest matches to Padre Padrone are The Tree of Wooden Clogs (1978), Christ Stopped at Eboli (1979) and Three Brothers (1981). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Padre Padrone?
People who watched Padre Padrone most often go on to The Tree of Wooden Clogs (1978), Christ Stopped at Eboli (1979) and Three Brothers (1981).
What is the highest-rated movie like Padre Padrone?
The Best of Youth (2003), rated 8.0/10 by 625 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Padre Padrone?
Me & You (2012) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Italian movies like Padre Padrone?
Yes: The Tree of Wooden Clogs (1978), Christ Stopped at Eboli (1979) and Three Brothers (1981).
How are movies similar to Padre Padrone chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Padre Padrone, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.





























