Movies like The Spirit of Cape Verde (1986)
The best movies like The Spirit of Cape Verde (1986) are Only the Strong (1993), God Is a Bullet (2023) and Beware Boiúna (2026). If The Spirit of Cape Verde hooked you, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedSans Soleil (1983)7.5/10 from 280 votes
- NewestBeware Boiúna (2026)Released 2026
Only the Strong (1993)
Former Green Beret Louis Stevens returns to his hometown of Miami after completing military service in Brazil, only to learn that his old high school has become a haven for gangs and drug dealers. After Stevens uses his capoeira skills to kick several drug dealers off of the school property, Kerrigan, one of Stevens' old teachers, sees the impact that Stevens has on the students. Kerrigan gives him the task of teaching Capoeira to a handful of the worst at-risk students at the school.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGod Is a Bullet (2023)
Vice detective Bob Hightower finds his ex-wife murdered and daughter kidnapped by a cult. Frustrated by the botched official investigations, he quits the force and infiltrates the cult to hunt down the leader with the help of the cult’s only female victim escapee, Case Hardin.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBeware Boiúna (2026)
A medical mission deep in the Amazon becomes a desperate fight for survival when a colossal ancient predator awakens, turning the jungle into a deadly battleground where nature decides who lives and dies.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJungle Cruise (2021)
Dr. Lily Houghton enlists the aid of wisecracking skipper Frank Wolff to take her down the Amazon in his dilapidated boat. Together, they search for an ancient tree that holds the power to heal – a discovery that will change the future of medicine.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDead Sea (2024)
Stranded in the open sea after a fatal accident, a young woman and her two friends are rescued by a fishing vessel's captain, unaware that the ship harbors a chilling secret.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEnd of the Spear (2005)
"End of the Spear" is the story of Mincayani, a Waodani tribesman from the jungles of Ecuador. When five young missionaries, among them Jim Elliot and Nate Saint, are speared to death by the Waodani in 1956, a series of events unfold to change the lives of not only the slain missionaries' families, but also Mincayani and his people.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCreature from the Black Lagoon (1954)
When scientists exploring the Amazon River stumble on a “missing link” connecting humans and fish, they plan to capture it for later study. But the Creature has plans of his own, and has set his sights on the lead scientist's beautiful fiancée, Kay.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Rundown (2003)
When Travis, the mouthy son of a criminal, disappears in the Amazon in search of a treasured artifact, his father sends in Beck, who becomes Travis's rival for the affections of Mariana, a mysterious Brazilian woman. With his steely disposition, Beck is a man of few words -- but it takes him all the discipline he can muster to work with Travis to nab a tyrant who's after the same treasure.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTrue Spirit (2023)
When the tenacious young sailor Jessica Watson sets out to be the youngest person to sail solo, nonstop and unassisted around the world, many expect her to fail. With the support of her sailing coach and mentor Ben Bryant and her parents, Jessica is determined to accomplish what was thought to be impossible, navigating some of the world’s most challenging stretches of ocean over the course of 210 days.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRace with the Devil (1975)
Two couples vacationing together in an R.V. from Texas to Colorado are terrorized after they witness a murder during a Satanic ritual.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMonstrous (2022)
Laura, traumatized by an abusive relationship, runs away from her former husband with her seven-year-old son Cody. But in their new, idyllic and remote sanctuary, they find they have another, bigger and more terrifying monster to deal with…
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisKings of the Sun (1963)
In order to flee from powerful enemies, young Mayan king Balam leads his people north across the Gulf of Mexico to the coast of what will become the United States. They build a home in the new land but come into conflict with a tribe of Native Americans led by their chief, Black Eagle, while both Balam and Black Eagle fall in love the beautiful Mayan princess Ixchel.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Big Sky (1952)
Two tough Kentucky mountaineers join a trading expedition from St. Louis up the Missouri River to trade whisky for furs with the Blackfoot Indians. They soon discover that there is much more than the elements to contend with.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJungle (2017)
In 1981, an enthusiastic young adventurer follows his dreams into the Bolivian Amazon jungle with two friends and a guide with a mysterious past. Their journey quickly turns into a terrifying ordeal as the darkest elements of human nature and the deadliest threats of the wilderness lead to an all-out fight for survival.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRetroactive (1997)
A psychiatrist makes multiple trips through time to save a woman that was murdered by her brutal husband.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIn Search of the Castaways (1962)
Two teenagers, Mary (Hayley Mills) and Robert (Keith Hamshere) are lead by Professor Paganel (Maurice Chevalier) on a search expedition for the children's shipwrecked sea captain father. This Disney film was based upon Jules Verne's 1868 adventure novel Captain Grant's Children.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRiver of Blood (2024)
Four kayakers take the wrong river into a jungle inhabited by a tribe of merciless cannibals.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Believers (1987)
Mourning the accidental death of his wife and having just moved to New York with his young son, laconic police psychologist Cal Jamison is reluctantly drawn into a series of grisly, ritualistic murders involving the immolation of two youths.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Last Run (1971)
A former mob getaway driver from Chicago has retired to a peaceful life in a Portuguese fishing village. He is asked to pull off one last job - to drive a dangerous crook and his girlfriend to France.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Never Promised You a Rose Garden (1977)
A disturbed and institutionalized 16-year-old girl struggles between fantasy and reality.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisAmílcar Cabral (2000)
Documentary about African freedom fighter Amílcar Cabral, whose story is told by his relatives and friends. Amílcar, besides being a humanist and nationalist, was also a brilliant poet.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
The Island of Contenda (1999)
Cape Verde, 1964. At the feet of a mighty volcano, the traditional Cape Verdean society is undergoing a steady change. The old land-owning aristocracy is disintegrating. A class of "mulattos" begins to emerge, with a trade-based financial power that threatens the landlords. A new identity arises, a mix of old and new, of African and Portuguese culture, sensual and dynamic. The songs of Cesária Évora follow this inevitable transformation. From the novel by Henrique Teixeira de Sousa.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
The Other Side of the Atlantic (2015)
The Other Side of the Atlantic is a documentary that builts a bridge in the ocean that separates Brazil and Africa. The film tackles the cultural exchanges, the imaginary created through the mirroring, the prejudice and dreams built in both sides of the atlantic through the life stories of the students of african countries in transit through Brazil.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Casa de Lava (1995)
The film tells a story of Mariana, a nurse who leaves Lisbon to accompany an immigrant worker in a comatose sleep on his trip home to Cape Verde. The devoted Portuguese nurse took a journey only to find herself lost in abstract drama.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
A Journey to Cape Verde (2010)
This is the story of a sixty day long walk in Cape Verde. No mobile phone, no watch, no plans for what to do next – only the bare essentials in the backpack. Out traveller explores the mountains, the villages, the sea, a talking tortoise, the goats, the music, the dry haze, the people of Cape Verde and an essential part of himself.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Sans Soleil (1983)
A woman narrates the thoughts of a world traveler, meditations on time and memory expressed in words and images from places as far-flung as Japan, Guinea-Bissau, Iceland, and San Francisco.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWith Almost Nothing (2000)
In Cape Verde, where the majority of the population is young, children use olive oil cans, bits of sandals, leftover tires and pieces of cardboard to build their own toys. The absence of a consumer society and the challenges posed by insularity have led them to invent their own recreational independence with almost nothing.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
The Victims of the East Wind (1987)
Film adaptation of a novel published in 1960 by Cape Verdean author Manuel Lopes.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Contract (2010)
This film explores aspects of the African Diaspora, history and culture that are not widely known or are normally overlooked in mainstream, popular and scholarly discourse. It tells the compelling story of two African countries(Cape Verde and Sao Tome & Principe) forever linked by a history of poverty and slavery, and two people forever linked by the unbreakable bond of family and love
Why it matches: Similar story and style
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Spirit of Cape Verde?
The closest matches to The Spirit of Cape Verde are Only the Strong (1993), God Is a Bullet (2023) and Beware Boiúna (2026). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Spirit of Cape Verde?
Start with Only the Strong (1993), the closest match to The Spirit of Cape Verde.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Spirit of Cape Verde?
Sans Soleil (1983), rated 7.5/10 by 280 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Spirit of Cape Verde?
Beware Boiúna (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Spirit of Cape Verde?
Yes: Only the Strong (1993), God Is a Bullet (2023) and Beware Boiúna (2026).
How are movies similar to The Spirit of Cape Verde chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Spirit of Cape Verde, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.