Movies like This Is Congo (2017)
The best movies like This Is Congo (2017) are Virunga (2014), No Fire Zone: In the Killing Fields of Sri Lanka (2013) and Love+War (2025). If This Is Congo hooked you with its documentary and war, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedFor Sama (2019)8.2/10 from 323 votes
- NewestMaternal Instinct (2026)Released 2026
Virunga (2014)
Virunga in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is Africa's oldest national park, a UNESCO world heritage site, and a contested ground among insurgencies seeking to topple the government that see untold profits in the land. Among this ongoing power struggle, Virunga also happens to be the last natural habitat for the critically endangered mountain gorilla. The only thing standing in the way of the forces closing in around the gorillas: a handful of passionate park rangers and journalists fighting to secure the park's borders and expose the corruption of its enemies. Filled with shocking footage, and anchored by the surprisingly deep and gentle characters of the gorillas themselves, Virunga is a galvanizing call to action around an ongoing political and environmental crisis in the Congo.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary & war
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisNo Fire Zone: In the Killing Fields of Sri Lanka (2013)
The final awful months of the Sri Lankan Civil War, told by the people who lived through it.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary & war
Love+War (2025)
Pulitzer Prize-winning conflict photojournalist Lynsey Addario reflects on a career working in some of the world's most dangerous war zones, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary & war
City of Joy (2016)
The Democratic Republic of Congo has endured 20 years of devastating violence. Rape has been used as a weapon of war to destroy community and access precious minerals. Congo is often referred to as “the worst place in the world to be a woman.” "City of Joy" tells a different story of the region. The film focuses on Jane, a student at a center where women who have suffered unimaginable abuse join together to become leaders. We also meet the founders of the center: a devout Congolese Doctor, a Congolese activist, and a radical N.Y. playwright. The film weaves between joy and pain as these individuals band together to demand hope in a place so often deemed hopeless.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Drone (2014)
DRONE is a documentary about the covert CIA drone war. Through voices on both sides of this new technology, DRONE reveals crucial information about the drone war in Pakistan and offers unique insights into the nature of drone warfare.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary & war
Restrepo (2010)
Directors Hetherington and Junger spend a year with the 2nd Battalion of the United States Army located in one of Afghanistan's most dangerous valleys. The documentary provides insight and empathy on how to win the battle through hard work, deadly gunfights and mutual friendships while the unit must push back the Taliban.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both war & documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKorengal (2014)
Korengal picks up where Restrepo left off; the same men, the same valley, the same commanders, but a very different look at the experience of war.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKingdom of Shadows (2015)
KINGDOM OF SHADOWS follows three people grappling with the hard choices and destructive consequences of the U.S.-Mexico “drug war”. Filmmaker Bernardo Ruiz weaves together the seemingly disconnected stories of an activist nun in deeply scarred Monterrey, Mexico, a U.S. Federal agent on the border, and a former Texas smuggler to reveal the human side of an often-misunderstood conflict that has resulted in the “disappearance” of more than 23,000 people in Mexico—a growing human rights crisis that only recently has made international headlines.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Point and Shoot (2014)
At first glance, Matthew VanDyke—a shy Baltimore native with a sheltered upbringing and a tormenting OCD diagnosis—is the last person you’d imagine on the front lines of the 2011 Libyan revolution. But after finishing grad school and escaping the U.S. for "a crash course in manhood," a winding path leads him just there. Motorcycling across North Africa and the Middle East and spending time as an embedded journalist in Iraq, Matthew lands in Libya, forming an unexpected kinship with a group of young men who transform his life. Matthew joins his friends in the rebel army against Gaddafi, taking up arms (and a camera). Along the way, he is captured and held in solitary confinement for six terrifying months.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
For Sama (2019)
A love letter from a young mother to her daughter, the film tells the story of Waad al-Kateab’s life through five years of the uprising in Aleppo, Syria as she falls in love, gets married and gives birth to Sama, all while cataclysmic conflict rises around her. Her camera captures incredible stories of loss, laughter and survival as Waad wrestles with an impossible choice– whether or not to flee the city to protect her daughter’s life, when leaving means abandoning the struggle for freedom for which she has already sacrificed so much.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary & war
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisCity of Ghosts (2017)
With unprecedented access, this documentary follows the extraordinary journey of “Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently”—a group of anonymous citizen journalists who banded together after their homeland was overtaken by ISIS—as they risk their lives to stand up against one of the greatest evils in the world today.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both war & documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNo Greater Love (2017)
No Greater Love explores a combat deployment through the eyes of an Army chaplain, as he and his men fight their way through a hellish tour in one of the most dangerous places in Afghanistan and then as they struggle to reintegrate home.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary & war
The Real Black Panther (2020)
In the Nagarhole Tiger Reserve, there is a kingdom named Kabini, which is home to a rogue confederation of animal tribes vying for dominance. But, a lone black panther named Saya is challenging the status quo by staking his claim to the throne.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
The Longest War (2020)
The human stories and drama behind America's involvement in Afghanistan, now the longest war in U.S. history. First-hand witnesses — ranging from U.S. intelligence operatives, to soldiers and their families, Afghan officials, journalists, top government and military officials — bring their experiences to life through emotional interviews.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary & war
Rise of the Warrior Apes (2017)
Filmed over 23 years, Rise of the Warrior Apes tells the epic story of an extraordinary troop of chimpanzees in Ngogo, Uganda – featuring four mighty warriors who rule through moral ambiguity, questionable politics, strategic alliances and destroyed trust.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
The World Before Her (2012)
Moving between two extremes - the intimate verite drama of the Miss India pageant's rigorous beauty "bootcamp" and the intense regime of a militant Hindu fundamentalist camp for young girls. The World Before Her delivers a provocative portrait of India and its current cultural conflicts during a key transitional era in the country's modern history.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Bobi Wine: The People's President (2023)
Uganda has one the youngest populations in the world and one of its most flagrantly anti-democratic governments. These are ingredients for revolution, and Bobi Wine and his wife Barbie Kyagulanyi are stirring the pot. When the charismatic Bobi, a musician and member of parliament, announces his campaign for president, Uganda’s youth are ecstatic, filling parks and streets for every speech, and singing Bobi’s anthems of peace and freedom. But then comes the crackdown, orchestrated by Yoweri Museveni, a brutal dictator who has ruled Uganda for 36 years. Bobi and his crew survive arrests, beatings, torture, riots and raids.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Men of War (2024)
Jordan Goudreau finds himself in over his head and on the run after mounting the failed Venezuela coup and being chased by the American government who he spent his life fighting for.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
The True Story of Black Hawk Down (2003)
On October 3rd, 1993, 120 Delta Force Commandos and Army Rangers were dropped into the heart of Mogadishu, Somalia. Their mission was a fast daylight raid to kidnap lead terrorist Mohammed Farrah Aidid, who had been killing U.N. workers delivering food to starving Somalis. Aidid’s goal was to control the country by controlling all the food. The mission abruptly changed to a rescue operation. Surrounded by Somali militia, a fierce firefight ensued that left American troops trapped and fighting for their lives. The ordeal left 18 American men dead, 70 wounded, with 3,000 Somalis casualties. This brilliant documentary tells the true story of "Black Hawk Down" through the memories and voices of the American Special Forces survivors. Also included are Somali militiamen as they recount their harrowing experiences of battle.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
The Diplomat (2015)
The life and legacy of Richard Holbrooke, whose singular career spans fifty years of American foreign policy, is told in this documentary from Holbrooke's eldest son David.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
The Hornet's Nest (2014)
Armed only with their cameras, Peabody and Emmy Award-winning conflict Journalist Mike Boettcher, and his son, Carlos, provide unprecedented access into the longest war in U.S. history: they are embed with U.S. troops during nine days of intense combat in Afghanistan.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both war & documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMore Than I Want to Remember (2022)
One night at her home in southeastern Congo, 14-year-old Mugeni awakes to the sounds of bombs. As her family scatters to the surrounding forests to save themselves, Mugeni finds herself completely alone.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
The Betrayal – Nerakhoon (2008)
Co-directed by acclaimed cinematographer Ellen Kuras and subject Thavisouk Phrasavath, this haunting documentary chronicles a refugee family’s epic journey from Laos in the aftermath of the secret war waged by the United States there to New York, where they find themselves fighting a different kind of war on the streets of Brooklyn. Filmed over the course of 23 years, THE BETRAYAL is a visually and emotionally stunning look at the complex ways in which the political shapes the personal.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Hell on Earth: The Fall of Syria and the Rise of ISIS (2017)
A look at the current state of Syria amidst war and chaos in 2017, featuring stories of survival and observations by political experts from around the world.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Father Soldier Son (2020)
When Sgt. First Class Brian Eisch is critically wounded in Afghanistan, it sets him and his sons on a journey of love, loss, redemption and legacy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like this20 Days in Mariupol (2023)
As the Russian invasion begins, a team of Ukrainian journalists trapped in the besieged city of Mariupol struggle to continue their work documenting the war's atrocities.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & war
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe War on Democracy (2007)
Set both in Latin America and the United States, the film explores the historic and current relationship of Washington with countries such as Venezuela, Bolivia and Chile. Pilger says that the film "...tells a universal story... analysing and revealing, through vivid testimony, the story of great power behind its venerable myths. It allows us to understand the true nature of the so-called "war on terror". According to Pilger, the film’s message is that the greed and power of empire is not invincible and that people power is always the "seed beneath the snow".
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThey Shall Not Grow Old (2018)
A documentary about World War I with never-before-seen footage to commemorate the centennial of Armistice Day, and the end of the war.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMaternal Instinct (2026)
Police pull over a woman who claims she just gave birth. But the baby — and the blood — aren't hers. Twisted lies unravel in this true-crime documentary.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOut of Thin Air (2017)
Set within the stark Icelandic landscape, OUT OF THIN AIR examines the 1976 police investigation into the disappearance of two men in the early 1970s.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like This Is Congo?
The closest matches to This Is Congo are Virunga (2014), No Fire Zone: In the Killing Fields of Sri Lanka (2013) and Love+War (2025). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after This Is Congo?
People who watched This Is Congo most often go on to Virunga (2014), No Fire Zone: In the Killing Fields of Sri Lanka (2013) and Love+War (2025).
What is the highest-rated movie like This Is Congo?
For Sama (2019), rated 8.2/10 by 323 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like This Is Congo?
Maternal Instinct (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like This Is Congo?
Yes: Virunga (2014), No Fire Zone: In the Killing Fields of Sri Lanka (2013) and Love+War (2025).
How are movies similar to This Is Congo chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside This Is Congo, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.