Movies like The Writing on the Wall (1983)
The best movies like The Writing on the Wall (1983) are Belfast (2021), Bloody Sunday (2002) and Hidden Agenda (1990). If The Writing on the Wall 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 Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)7.5/10 from 283 votes
- NewestThe Ferryman (2025)Released 2025
- In FrenchWooden Crosses (1932)Also in French
Belfast (2021)
Buddy is a young boy on the cusp of adolescence, whose life is filled with familial love, childhood hijinks, and a blossoming romance. Yet, with his beloved hometown caught up in increasing turmoil, his family faces a momentous choice: hope the conflict will pass or leave everything they know behind for a new life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBloody Sunday (2002)
The dramatised story of the Irish civil rights protest march on January 30 1972 which ended in a massacre by British troops.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHidden Agenda (1990)
In Ireland, American lawyer Ingrid Jessner and her activist partner, Paul Sullivan, struggle to uncover atrocities committed by the British government against the Northern Irish during the "Troubles." But when Sullivan is assassinated in the streets, Jessner teams up with Peter Kerrigan, a British investigator acting against the will of his own government, and struggles to uncover a conspiracy that may even implicate one of Kerrigan's colleagues.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like this'71 (2014)
A young British soldier must find his way back to safety after his unit accidentally abandons him during a riot in the streets of Belfast.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHunger (2008)
The story of Bobby Sands, the IRA member who led the 1981 hunger strike during The Troubles in which Irish Republican prisoners tried to win political status.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisElephant (1989)
A chilling depiction of a series of violent killings during the Troubles in Northern Ireland.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWooden Crosses (1932)
The young and patriotic student Demachy joins the French army in 1914 to defend his country. But he and his comrades soon experience the terrifying, endless trench war in Champagne, where more and more wooden crosses have to be erected for this cannon fodder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOdd Man Out (1947)
Belfast police conduct a door-to-door manhunt for an IRA gunman wounded in a daring robbery.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSAS: Red Notice (2021)
An off-duty SAS soldier, Tom Buckingham, must thwart a terror attack on a train running through the Channel Tunnel. As the action escalates on the train, events transpire in the corridors of power that may make the difference as to whether Buckingham and the civilian passengers make it out of the tunnel alive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisFive Minutes of Heaven (2009)
The story of former Ulster Volunteer Force member Alistair Little. Twenty-five years after Little killed Joe Griffin's brother, the media arrange an auspicious meeting between the two.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Crying Game (1992)
Irish Republican Army member Fergus forms an unexpected bond with Jody, a kidnapped British soldier in his custody, despite the warnings of fellow IRA members Jude and Maguire. Jody makes Fergus promise he'll visit his girlfriend, Dil, in London, and when Fergus flees to the city, he seeks her out. Hounded by his former IRA colleagues, he finds himself increasingly drawn to the enigmatic, and surprising, Dil.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe General (1998)
The real-life story of Dublin folk hero and criminal Martin Cahill, who pulled off two daring robberies in Ireland with his team, but attracted unwanted attention from the police, the I.R.A., the U.V.F., and members of his own team.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBaltimore (2024)
Based on actual events that took place on 26 April 1974, former debutante turned IRA member Rose Dugdale and three comrades carried out an armed raid on Russborough House, Wicklow, in which nineteen masterpieces were stolen in an effort to support the IRA’s armed struggle. The film plays out over the course of the days following the raid, when Rose is in hiding in a remote cottage.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Lords of Discipline (1983)
Will arrives for his last year at Military Academy, in the Deep South USA, in the 1960's. A black student, Pearce, has been accepted, for the first time and Will is asked to keep an eye out for the inevitable racism. The racists come in the form of The Ten, a secret group of the elite students. They want Pearce to leave on his own free will, but are prepared to torture him to make it 'his free will'. Will is forced to help Pearce and he is prepared to risk his own career to do so.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Dry White Season (1989)
During the 1976 Soweto uprising, a white school teacher's life and values are threatened when he asks questions about the death of a young black boy who died in police custody.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Girl in the Book (2015)
The story of a young writer's transformation when her past invades her present.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Last Rifleman (2023)
A WWII veteran escapes his care home in Northern Ireland and embarks on an arduous but inspirational journey to France to attend the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings, finding the courage to face the ghosts of his past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBorstal Boy (2001)
Brendan Behan, a sixteen year-old IRA foot soldier, is going on a bombing mission from Ireland to Liverpool during the second world war. His mission is thwarted when he is apprehended, charged and imprisoned in Borstal, a reform institution for young offenders in East Anglia, England.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Way Ahead (1944)
A mismatched collection of conscripted civilians find training tough under Lieutenant Jim Perry and Sergeant Ned Fletcher when they are called up to replace an infantry battalion that had suffered casualties at Dunkirk.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisField of Lost Shoes (2015)
A group of teenage cadets sheltered from war at the Virginia Military Institute must confront the horrors of an adult world when they are called upon to defend the Shenandoah Valley.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Devil's Own (1997)
Frankie McGuire, one of the IRA's deadliest assassins, draws an American family into the crossfire of terrorism. But when he is sent to the U.S. to buy weapons, Frankie is housed with the family of Tom O'Meara, a New York cop who knows nothing about Frankie's real identity. Their surprising friendship, and Tom's growing suspicions, forces Frankie to choose between the promise of peace or a lifetime of murder.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Ferryman (2025)
When his brother’s body is unearthed, a grieving man faces an IRA agent determined to keep him quiet, testing where his loyalties truly lie.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Omagh (2005)
The movie starts at the 1998 bomb attack by the Real IRA at Omagh, Northern Ireland. The attack killed 31 people. Michael Gallagher one of the relatives of the victims starts an examination to bring the people responsible to court.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Long March (1980)
A woman returns to Belfast after ten years in England and becomes involved in the Maze prison protest.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Kissing Candice (2018)
Candice longs to escape the boredom of her seaside town, but when a boy she dreams about turns up in real life, she becomes involved with a dangerous local gang.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
My Boy Jack (2007)
Author Rudyard Kipling and his wife search for their 17-year-old son after he goes missing during WWI.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHamlet (2005)
A young Prince is visited by the Ghost of his father and compelled to vengeance - but can he stop thinking for long enough to do it?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)
General Candy, who's overseeing an English squad in 1943, is a veteran leader who doesn't have the respect of the men he's training and is considered out-of-touch with what's needed to win the war. But it wasn't always this way. Flashing back to his early career in the Boer War and World War I, we see a dashing young officer whose life has been shaped by three different women, and by a lasting friendship with a German soldier.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSea of Sand (1958)
A small British army team is sent deep behind enemy lines to destroy a German petrol dump as part of the preparation for a major attack in the North African campaign. Sea of Sand was distributed in the US in a shortened version, Desert Patrol.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Carve Her Name with Pride (1958)
London, England, during World War II. After living a tragic life experience, young Violette Szabo joins the Special Operations Executive and crosses the German enemy lines as a secret agent to aid a French Resistance group.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Writing on the Wall?
The closest matches to The Writing on the Wall are Belfast (2021), Bloody Sunday (2002) and Hidden Agenda (1990). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Writing on the Wall?
Start with Belfast (2021), the closest match to The Writing on the Wall.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Writing on the Wall?
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943), rated 7.5/10 by 283 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Writing on the Wall?
The Ferryman (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there French movies like The Writing on the Wall?
Yes: Wooden Crosses (1932).
How are movies similar to The Writing on the Wall chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Writing on the Wall, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.