Movies like Greetings from Aleppo (2017)
The best movies like Greetings from Aleppo (2017) are For Sama (2019), The Pirates of Somalia (2017) and The Old Oak (2023). If Greetings from Aleppo hooked you, these 20 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
- NewestI Was a Stranger (2025)Released 2025
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: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Pirates of Somalia (2017)
After an inspiring chance encounter with his idol, rookie journalist Jay Bahadur uproots his life and moves to Somalia looking for the story of a lifetime. Hooking up with a local fixer, he attempts to get embedded with the local Somali pirates, only to quickly find himself in over his head.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Old Oak (2023)
A pub landlord in a previously thriving mining community struggles to hold onto his pub. Meanwhile, tensions rise in the town when Syrian refugees are placed in the empty houses in the community.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPecker (1998)
A Baltimore teenager who picks up a second-hand camera starts snapping his way to stardom, soon turning into a nationwide sensation, with a fateful choice between his life and his art.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEyes of Laura Mars (1978)
A famous fashion photographer develops a disturbing ability to see through the eyes of a serial killer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisDaniel Isn't Real (2019)
A troubled college freshman resurrects his imaginary friend to help him cope with a violent trauma.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus (2006)
In 1958 New York Diane Arbus is a housewife and mother who works as an assistant to her husband, a photographer employed by her wealthy parents. Respectable though her life is, she cannot help but feel uncomfortable in her privileged world. One night, a new neighbor catches Diane's eye, and the enigmatic man inspires her to set forth on the path to discovering her own artistry.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Bang Bang Club (2011)
In the early to mid '90s, when the South African system of apartheid was in its death throes, four photographers - Greg Marinovich, Kevin Carter, Ken Oosterbroek and João Silva - bonded by their friendship and a sense of purpose, worked together to chronicle the violence and upheaval leading up to the 1994 election of Nelson Mandela as president. Their work is risky and dangerous, potentially fatally so, as they thrust themselves into the middle of chaotic clashes between forces backed by the government (including Inkatha Zulu warriors) and those in support of Mandela's African National Congress.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAll the Empty Rooms (2025)
A journalist and a photographer set out to memorialize the bedrooms left behind by children killed in school shootings.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLast Breath (2025)
Seasoned deep-sea divers battle the raging elements to rescue their crewmate trapped hundreds of feet below the ocean's surface.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKedi (2017)
A profile of Istanbul and its unique people, seen through the eyes of the most mysterious and beloved animal humans have ever known, the Cat.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBerlin Syndrome (2017)
A passionate holiday romance leads to an obsessive relationship when an Australian photojournalist wakes one morning in an abandoned Berlin apartment and is unable to leave.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBaraka (1992)
A paralysingly beautiful documentary with a global vision—an odyssey through landscape and time—that attempts to capture the essence of life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisJim: The James Foley Story (2016)
In August, 2014, a video of the public execution of American photojournalist James Foley rippled across the globe. Foley wore an orange jumpsuit as he knelt beside an ISIS militant dressed in black. That image challenged the world to deal with a new face of terror. And it tested one American family. Seen through the lens of filmmaker Brian Oakes, Foley’s close childhood friend, Jim takes us from small-town New England to the adrenaline-fueled front lines of Libya and Syria, where Foley pushed the limits of danger to report on the plight of civilians impacted by war.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisI Was a Stranger (2025)
A Syrian doctor and her daughter flee Aleppo, setting off a chain of events that binds five strangers together. A smuggler, a soldier, a poet, and a coast guard captain collide in a crisis that tests their courage, their choices, and their humanity.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPeeping Tom (1960)
Loner Mark Lewis works at a film studio during the day and, at night, takes racy photographs of women. Also he's making a documentary on fear, which involves recording the reactions of victims as he murders them. He befriends Helen, the daughter of the family living in the apartment below his, and he tells her vaguely about the movie he is making.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Midnight Meat Train (2008)
A photographer's obsessive pursuit of dark subject matter leads him into the path of a serial killer who stalks late night commuters, ultimately butchering them in the most gruesome ways.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Secret Life of Bees (2008)
Set in South Carolina in 1964, this is the tale of Lily Owens a 14 year-old girl who is haunted by the memory of her late mother. To escape her lonely life and troubled relationship with her father, Lily flees with Rosaleen, her caregiver and only friend, to a South Carolina town that holds the secret to her mother's past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNude (2017)
NUDE explores perceptions of nudity in art by chronicling the creative process of photographer David Bellemere as he's commissioned by NU Muses founder Steve Shaw to shoot a fine art calendar of nude photographs.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisCivil War (2024)
In the near future, a group of war journalists attempt to survive while reporting the truth as the United States stands on the brink of civil war.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Greetings from Aleppo?
The closest matches to Greetings from Aleppo are For Sama (2019), The Pirates of Somalia (2017) and The Old Oak (2023). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Greetings from Aleppo?
Start with For Sama (2019), the closest match to Greetings from Aleppo.
What is the highest-rated movie like Greetings from Aleppo?
For Sama (2019), rated 8.2/10 by 323 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Greetings from Aleppo?
I Was a Stranger (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to Greetings from Aleppo chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Greetings from Aleppo, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.