Movies like Leaving Afghanistan (2019)
The best movies like Leaving Afghanistan (2019) are Balkan Line (2019), 9th Company (2005) and Fire (2020). If Leaving Afghanistan hooked you with its drama and action, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedKalashnikov AK-47 (2020)7.6/10 from 420 votes
- NewestHunting Season (2025)Released 2025
Balkan Line (2019)
After the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999, the Yugoslav army pulls out of Kosovo region, leaving Serbian people at the mercy of the Albanian UCK. A small band of soldiers must take over the Slatina airport, and hold it until the Russian peacekeepers arrive.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & action
Worth the HypeMovies like this9th Company (2005)
Russian army recruits complete training and take their posting in late 1980s Afghanistan, where the insurgents are slowly gaining the upper hand.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both war & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFire (2020)
Fires are raging in the Moscow region, and the forest protection airbase is on a rotation. However, experienced firefighters are in short supply and team leader Andrey Pavlovich has to take on a new recruit, Roman.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both action & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWar (2002)
During the bloody war in Chechnya, a British couple and two Russian soldiers are taken hostage by Chechen rebels. Two of the hostages are then released to bring the money for the British woman who is forced to wait for the ransom.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both war & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBrother 2 (2000)
Arriving in Moscow, Chechen War veteran Danila meets Konstantin, an old friend who tells him that his twin brother has been forced into signing a crooked contract with a US ice hockey team. Soon after this meeting, Danila discovers Konstantin dead and he sets out to avenge his death; a journey that leads him to Chicago and a whole new experience.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both action & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Major (2013)
On a cold winter’s day Sergey Sobolev, a major at the local police office, is driving to the hospital where his wife is about to give birth to their child. High from happiness, he’s driving too fast and runs down a boy on a passage walk, who dies. Now the major has only two options: go to prison or conceal the crime. Sobolev decides to compromise with his conscience and calls on a colleague to help him out. But the case turns out to be messy and when Sobolev finally changes his mind and tries to make up for his deed, it’s already too late…
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Best in Hell (2022)
Movie about units of the "whites" (PMC "Wagner") who perform an assault operation to capture buildings. They are opposed by the "yellow" units, which have dug in these buildings and are also ready to fight to the end.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBastards (2006)
A "Hitlerjugend" kind of story, set in the Soviet Union during the Second World War, based on a fictitious story from the eponymous book by Vladimir Kunin.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Kill Team (2019)
When Andrew Briggman — a young soldier in the US Army during the invasion of Afghanistan — witnesses the murderous behavior of fellow soldiers, under the direction of a malevolent Sergeant, he faces a moral dilemma. His increasingly-violent platoon becomes suspicious that someone in their ranks has turned on them, and Andrew begins to fear for his safety. A fictionalized dramatization based on a true story.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Outpost (2020)
A small unit of U.S. soldiers, alone at the remote Combat Outpost Keating, located deep in the valley of three mountains in Afghanistan, battles to defend against an overwhelming force of Taliban fighters in a coordinated attack. The Battle of Kamdesh, as it was known, was the bloodiest American engagement of the Afghan War in 2009 and Bravo Troop 3-61 CAV became one of the most decorated units of the 19-year conflict.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWarhorse One (2023)
A gunned down Navy SEAL Master Chief must guide a child to safety through a gauntlet of hostile Taliban insurgents and survive the brutal Afghanistan wilderness.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDirty Angels (2024)
During the United States' 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan, a group of female soldiers posing as medical relief are sent back in to rescue a group of kidnapped teenagers caught between ISIS and the Taliban.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBeirut (2018)
In 1980s Beirut, Mason Skiles is a former U.S. diplomat who is called back into service to save a colleague from the group that is possibly responsible for his own family's death. Meanwhile, a CIA field agent who is working under cover at the American embassy is tasked with keeping Mason alive and ensuring that the mission is a success.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Pilot: A Battle for Survival (2021)
December of 1941, Northwestern Front. A German tank column is moving towards Moscow. During a mission to stop the enemy advance, Nikolai Komlev's IL-2 is shot down. Komlev manages to crash-land his plane in a remote forest clearing. He's alive, but far from friendly territory. Ahead of him is a relentless trial of severe physical and mental endurance. After battling hunger and extreme cold, evading packs of wolves and detachments of Nazi soldiers, the wounded Komlev finally makes it back to safety. But there he faces another challenge, the most life-changing of them all.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRed Scorpion (1988)
A Soviet commando is sent to eliminate a rebel leader in Africa. Soon he finds himself doubting his mission.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHunting Season (2025)
When a reclusive survivalist and his daughter rescue a mysterious, wounded woman from a river, they become entangled in a deadly web of violence and revenge, forcing them to confront a brutal criminal to survive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNowhere to Run (1993)
Escaped convict Sam Gillen single-handedly takes on ruthless developers who are determined to evict a widow with two young children.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRun (1991)
When a law student accidentally kills the son of a mob boss in a fight, he finds himself relentlessly pursued by the mob and the police.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKalashnikov AK-47 (2020)
A Russian military propaganda film about the tank commander Kalashnikov, severely injured in battle in 1941. The accident leaves him incapacitated and unable to return to the front line. While recovering in the hospital, he begins creating the initial sketches of what will become one of the world’s most legendary weapons. A self-taught inventor is only 29 when he develops the now iconic assault riffle — the AK-47. Shot in occupied Crimea.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBrothers (2009)
When his helicopter goes down during his fourth tour of duty in Afghanistan, Marine Sam Cahill is presumed dead. Back home, brother Tommy steps in to look over Sam’s wife, Grace, and two children. Sam’s surprise homecoming triggers domestic mayhem.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRise of the Footsoldier 3 (2017)
In the late 1980s, Pat Tate journeys from peddling pills in Marbella to his time in prison, where he solidifies his power before his release to reclaim his turf.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Beast of War (1988)
During the war in Afghanistan a Soviet tank crew commanded by a tyrannical officer find themselves lost and in a struggle against a band of Mujahadeen guerrillas in the mountains.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPlay Dirty (1969)
During World War II in North Africa, a group of British commandos disguised as Italian soldiers must travel behind enemy lines and destroy a vital Nazi oil depot.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIn a Valley of Violence (2016)
The story of a drifter named Paul who arrives in a small town seeking revenge on the thugs who murdered his friend. Sisters Mary Anne and Ellen, who run the town's hotel, help Paul in his quest for vengeance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 & action
SnoozefestMovies like thisProof of Life (2000)
When Peter Bowman, an American engineer working in a South American country, is captured by anti-government forces, the rebels learn his identity and demand $5 million for his safe return. However, his US employer is on the verge of insolvency and will not provide the ransom. Peter's wife Alice is forced to deal with the matter on her own and she retains the services of freelance professional hostage negotiator Terry Thorne.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJakarta (1988)
A CIA agent roams the streets of New York haunted by the death of the beautiful woman he fell in love with while on assignment in Jakarta. When he is kidnapped and drugged, the destination is Jakarta once again where he tries to unravel the mystery that is the city which broke him three years earlier.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action
Seance on a Wet Afternoon (1964)
Working-class British housewife Myra Savage reinvents herself as a medium, holding seances in the sitting room of her home with the hidden assistance of her under-employed, asthmatic husband, Billy. In an attempt to enhance her credibility as a psychic, Myra hatches an elaborate, ill-conceived plot to kidnap a wealthy couple's young daughter so that she can then help the police "find" the missing girl.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPirates of Silicon Valley (1999)
The story about the men who made the world of technology what it is today, their struggles during college, the founding of their companies, and the ingenious actions they took to build up the global corporate empires of Apple Computer Inc. and Microsoft Corporation.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMy Lucky Stars (1985)
Two Hong Kong cops are sent to Tokyo to catch an ex-cop who stole a large amount of money in diamonds. After one is captured by the Ninja-gang protecting the rogue cop, the other one gets his old Orphanage gang, dubbed the "Five Lucky Stars," to help him. They don't like this much, but they do it.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Leaving Afghanistan?
The closest matches to Leaving Afghanistan are Balkan Line (2019), 9th Company (2005) and Fire (2020). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Leaving Afghanistan?
People who watched Leaving Afghanistan most often go on to Balkan Line (2019), 9th Company (2005) and Fire (2020).
What is the highest-rated movie like Leaving Afghanistan?
Kalashnikov AK-47 (2020), rated 7.6/10 by 420 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Leaving Afghanistan?
Hunting Season (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to Leaving Afghanistan chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Leaving Afghanistan, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.