Movies like The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (2017)
The best movies like The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (2017) are All the Way (2016), The Scarlet and the Black (1983) and The Eichmann Show (2015). If The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks hooked you with its drama and history, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedOne Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)8.4/10 from 11,968 votes
- NewestGiant (2026)Released 2026
All the Way (2016)
Lyndon B. Johnson's amazing 11-month journey from taking office after JFK's assassination, through the fight to pass the 1964 Civil Rights Act and his own presidential campaign, culminating on the night LBJ is actually elected to the office – no longer the 'accidental President.'
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Scarlet and the Black (1983)
Fr. Hugh O'Flaherty is a Vatican official in 1943-45 who has been hiding downed pilots, escaped prisoners of war, and Italian resistance families. His activities become so large that the Nazis decide to assassinate him the next time he leaves the Vatican.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Eichmann Show (2015)
The behind-the-scenes true life story of a groundbreaking producer, Milton Fruchtman, and blacklisted TV director Leo Hurwitz who, overcoming enormous obstacles, set out to capture the testimony of one of the war's most notorious Nazis, Adolf Eichmann, who is accused of executing the 'final solution' and organising the murder of 6 million Jews. This is the extraordinary story of how the trial came to be televised and the team that made it happen.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBrexit: The Uncivil War (2019)
Political strategist Dominic Cummings leads a popular but controversial campaign to convince British voters to leave the European Union from 2015 up until the present day.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTalhotBlond (2012)
Thomas Montgomery, a married father of two young daughters, gets seduced by the world of online gambling and chat rooms where a virtual romance and sexual obsession ultimately leads to the murder of an innocent man.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisNormal (2003)
A Midwestern husband and father announces his plan to have a sex change operation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMary (2024)
A miraculous conception. A merciless king. A murderous pursuit. Mary's journey to give birth to Jesus unfolds in this biblical coming-of-age epic.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
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 thisMy Dinner with Hervé (2018)
An unlikely friendship evolves over one wild night in LA between a struggling journalist and actor Hervé Villechaize, the world's most famous gun-toting dwarf, resulting in life-changing consequences for both.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCheaters (2000)
In the fall of 1994, a teacher at Chicago's run-down Steinmetz High conspires with the school's academic decathlon team to cheat on an academic competition.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMr. Turner (2014)
Eccentric British painter J.M.W. Turner lives his last 25 years with gusto and secretly becomes involved with a seaside landlady, while his faithful housekeeper bears an unrequited love for him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSomething the Lord Made (2004)
A dramatization of the relationship between heart surgery pioneers Alfred Blalock and Vivien Thomas.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisMunich - The Edge of War (2021)
At the tense 1938 Munich Conference, former friends who now work for opposing governments become reluctant spies racing to expose a Nazi secret.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHow Sarah Got Her Wings (2015)
Good Samaritan Sarah Fitzpatrick has a fatal accident just before Christmas, and finds herself in the lobby before the gates of Heaven. Certain that she will be let in, she is shocked to find that her name is not on the reservation list. However, she is granted the chance to return to Earth as an "angel in training" with the requirement to help a soul in need. Sarah has the 12 days before Christmas to secure her place on the list leaving her in the race for her after-life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisBaywatch: Hawaiian Wedding (2003)
Mitch Buchannon, believed to have died in a boating accident survived and only has amnesia, he has been recovering in a Los Angeles hospital. His new fiancée, Allison Ford, resembles his old lover, Lt. Stephanie Holden who died years ago.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisInherit the Wind (1999)
Two great lawyers argue the case for and against a science teacher accused of the crime of teaching evolution.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGiant (2026)
Follows Prince Naseem Hamed from his humble beginnings on the tough working-class streets of Sheffield and his discovery by Ingle, himself a steel industry worker turned boxing trainer. Their unlikely partnership, Naz’s unorthodox style, cocky persona, and sheer dominance in the ring propelled them to the top of boxing’s elite and unprecedented levels of global superstardom, all in the face of the rampant Islamophobia and racism of ’80s and 90’s Britain.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMiss Marple: They Do It with Mirrors (1992)
At the insistence of Ruth Van Rydock, an old schoolfriend who is convinced that there is something wrong, Miss Marple agrees to visit 'Stonygates', the country house of Ruth's sister.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNurses on the Line: The Crash of Flight 7 (1993)
Student nurses join some doctors to work in a medical station a few hours flying-time from the Mexican town of Catamaco. One of their planes goes down due to an engine malfunction and crashes in the rain forest. This is the story of the attempts to save the lives of the passengers (both nurses and doctors).
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)
Jean-Dominique Bauby, editor-in-chief of French fashion bible Elle magazine, has a devastating stroke at age 43. The damage to his brain stem results in locked-in syndrome, with which he is almost completely paralyzed and only able to communicate by blinking an eye. Bauby painstakingly dictates his memoir via the only means of expression left to him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Theory of Everything (2014)
Once a healthy, active young man, Hawking received an earth-shattering diagnosis at 21 years of age. With Jane fighting tirelessly by his side, Stephen embarks on his most ambitious scientific work, studying the very thing he now has precious little of – time.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOne Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
A petty criminal fakes insanity to serve his sentence in a mental ward rather than prison. He soon finds himself as a leader to the other patients—and an enemy to the cruel, domineering nurse who runs the ward.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisExtreme Measures (1996)
Guy Luthan, a British doctor working at a hospital in New York, starts making unwelcome enquiries when the body of a man who died in his emergency room disappears. After the trail leads Luthan to the door of an eminent surgeon at the hospital, Luthan soon finds himself in extreme danger from people who want the hospital's secret to remain undiscovered.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisApothecary (2014)
Dr Vijay Nambiar (Suresh Gopi) is a famous neurosurgeon. His wife Dr Nalini Nambiar (Abhirami) is a gynecologist in the same hospital. They lead a contented and busy family life. 'Appothikkiri' plots the intriguing issues that affect their life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Red Beard (1997)
In this made-for-television movie, director Kazuyoshi Yoshikawa brought together Fujita Makoto and Masahiro Takashima for the remake of Akira Kurosawa’s Red Beard! A physician and his assistant work desperately to save lives in the face of budget cutbacks at their clinic.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Patch Adams (1998)
The true story of Dr. Hunter "Patch" Adams, who in the 1970s found that humor is the best medicine, and was willing to do just anything to make his patients laugh—even if it meant risking his own career.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBlur - Em Busca de Sentidos (2022)
BLUR tells the story of Iago, who's had health problems and speech impediments, until he meets Isabela, who will help him find meaning after surgery.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. (2003)
A gangster sets out to fulfill his father's dream of becoming a doctor.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks?
The closest matches to The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks are All the Way (2016), The Scarlet and the Black (1983) and The Eichmann Show (2015). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks?
Start with All the Way (2016), the closest match to The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks?
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), rated 8.4/10 by 11,968 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks?
Giant (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks?
Yes: All the Way (2016), The Scarlet and the Black (1983) and The Eichmann Show (2015).
How are movies similar to The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.