Movies like Once Upon a Time in Palestine
The best movies like Once Upon a Time in Palestine are Exodus (1960), Palestine 36 (2025) and Shoshana (2024). If Once Upon a Time in Palestine hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedLawrence of Arabia (1962)8.0/10 from 3,673 votes
- NewestPalestine 36 (2025)Released 2025
Exodus (1960)
Ari Ben Canaan, a passionate member of the Jewish paramilitary group Haganah, attempts to transport 600 Jewish refugees on a dangerous voyage from Cyprus to Palestine on a ship named the Exodus. He faces obstruction from British forces, who will not grant the ship passage to its destination.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPalestine 36 (2025)
Year 1936. As villages across Palestine rise against British colonial rule, Yusuf drifts between his rural home and the restless energy of Jerusalem, longing for a future beyond the growing unrest. But history is relentless. With rising numbers of Jewish immigrants escaping antisemitism in Europe and some arriving with nefarious Zionist-colonial ambitions, and the Palestinian population uniting in the largest and longest uprising against Britain’s 30-year dominion, all sides spiral towards inevitable collision in a decisive moment for the British Empire and the future of the entire region.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisShoshana (2024)
In this edge-of-your-seat thriller inspired by real events, a British police officer and a Jewish woman fall in love amidst the political turmoil of 1930s Tel Aviv. With British control over Palestine precarious and conflict inevitable, everyone is forced to choose a side.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTheir Finest (2017)
During the Blitz of World War II, a female screenwriter works on a film celebrating England's resilience as a way to buoy a weary populace's spirits. Her efforts to dramatise the true story of two sisters who undertook their own maritime mission to rescue wounded soldiers are met with mixed feelings by a dismissive all-male staff.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUprising (2001)
In the Warsaw ghetto in 1943, Jews rise against the Nazis.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe World Will Tremble (2025)
The incredible, untold true story of how a group of prisoners attempt a seemingly impossible escape from the first Nazi death camp in order to provide the first eyewitness account of the Holocaust.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLiving (2022)
London, 1953. Mr. Williams, a veteran civil servant, is an important cog within the city's bureaucracy as it struggles to rebuild in the aftermath of World War II. Buried under paperwork at the office and lonely at home, his life has long felt empty and meaningless. Then a devastating medical diagnosis forces him to take stock, and to try and grasp some fulfilment before it passes permanently beyond reach.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFive Graves to Cairo (1943)
During the 1942 North African campaign, a British straggler passes as a waiter at the hotel commandeered as Erwin Rommel's headquarters. He has thoughts of assassinating Rommel but his cover may provide an even better use.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Railway Children Return (2022)
Follow a group of children who are evacuated to a Yorkshire village during the Second World War, where they encounter a young soldier who, like them, is far away from home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEsther (1999)
Esther, the beautiful queen of Persia, intervenes to save the Jewish people from a bloody massacre.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSkin (2009)
Based on the true story of a black girl who was born to two white Afrikaner parents in South Africa during the apartheid era.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Hill (1965)
North Africa, World War II. British soldiers on the brink of collapse push beyond endurance to struggle up a brutal incline. It's not a military objective. It's The Hill, a manmade instrument of torture, a tower of sand seared by a white-hot sun. And the troops' tormentors are not the enemy, but their own comrades-at-arms.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies 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
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLawrence of Arabia (1962)
During World War I, English officer Thomas Edward 'T.E.' Lawrence sets out to unite and lead the diverse, often warring, Arab tribes to fight the Turks.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisArarat (2002)
Interrogated by a customs officer, a young man recounts how his life was changed during the making of a film about the Armenian genocide.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEducation for Death: The Making of the Nazi (1943)
A propaganda film during World War II about a boy who grows up to become a Nazi soldier.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Boy in the Woods (2023)
The remarkable true-life survival story of a Jewish boy hiding and being hunted in the forests of Nazi-occupied Eastern Europe, based on Maxwell Smart's memoir.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies 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
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThreads (1984)
Documentary style account of a nuclear holocaust and its effect on the working class city of Sheffield, England; and the eventual long run effects of nuclear war on civilization.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBilly Lynn's Long Halftime Walk (2016)
19-year-old Billy Lynn is brought home for a victory tour after a harrowing Iraq battle. Through flashbacks the film shows what really happened to his squad – contrasting the realities of war with America's perceptions.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Once Upon a Time in Palestine?
The closest matches to Once Upon a Time in Palestine are Exodus (1960), Palestine 36 (2025) and Shoshana (2024). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Once Upon a Time in Palestine?
Start with Exodus (1960), the closest match to Once Upon a Time in Palestine.
What is the highest-rated movie like Once Upon a Time in Palestine?
Lawrence of Arabia (1962), rated 8.0/10 by 3,673 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Once Upon a Time in Palestine?
Palestine 36 (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Once Upon a Time in Palestine?
Yes: Exodus (1960), Palestine 36 (2025) and Shoshana (2024).
How are movies similar to Once Upon a Time in Palestine chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Once Upon a Time in Palestine, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.