Movies like Under the Wire (2018)
The best movies like Under the Wire (2018) are Jim: The James Foley Story (2016), Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud (2025) and Last Men in Aleppo (2017). If Under the Wire hooked you with its documentary, 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
- NewestArmed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud (2025)Released 2025
Jim: 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: Fans watch both · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisArmed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud (2025)
On March 13, 2022, filmmaker Brent Renaud was killed by Russian soldiers, the first American journalist to die while reporting on the war in Ukraine. His younger brother and collaborator, Craig Renaud, recovered Brent’s body and his final recordings from Ukraine and brought them back to their childhood home in Arkansas. As Brent’s journey to his final resting place unfolds, the film chronicles the years he and his brother spent covering some of the world’s most dangerous conflicts.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Last Men in Aleppo (2017)
A searing example of boots-on-the-ground reportage follows the efforts of the internationally recognized White Helmets, an organization consisting of ordinary citizens who are the first to rush towards military strikes and attacks in the hope of saving lives. Incorporating moments of both heart-pounding suspense and improbable beauty, the documentary draws us into the lives of three of its founders — Khaled, Subhi, and Mahmoud — as they grapple with the chaos around them and struggle with an ever-present dilemma: do they flee or stay and fight for their country?
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMidnight Traveler (2019)
In 2015, the Taliban put a price on the head of Hassan, a filmmaker, who was forced to flee Afghanistan with his wife and two young daughters. Using their camera phones, the fugitives show first-hand the many dangers refugees face when seeking asylum in a safe place.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
The Cave (2019)
Deep beneath the surface in the Syrian province of Ghouta, a group of female doctors have established an underground field hospital. Under the supervision of paediatrician Dr. Amani and her staff of doctors and nurses, hope is restored for some of the thousands of children and civilian victims of the ruthless Syrian civil war.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMosul (2019)
An Iraqi journalist joins an army of uneasy allies and unforgettable characters in the epic battle to liberate the city of Mosul from the Islamic State.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWhich Way Is The Front Line From Here? The Life and Time of Tim Hetherington (2013)
A portrait of photographer Tim Hetherington's work in war zones around the world.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Porcelain War (2024)
Under roaring fighter jets and missile strikes, Ukrainian artists Slava, Anya, and Andrey choose to stay behind and fight, contending with the soldiers they have become. Defiantly finding beauty amid destruction, they show that although it’s easy to make people afraid, it’s hard to destroy their passion for living.
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
City 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 documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Oath (2010)
Tells the story of two men, Abu Jandal and Salim Ahmed Hamdan, whose fateful encounter in 1996 set them on a course of events that led them to Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden, 9/11, Guantanamo, and the U.S. Supreme Court.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Escape from Kabul (2021)
Captured through rare archival footage and firsthand accounts, this documentary details the harrowing 18-day evacuation at Kabul airport in August 2021 from the perspectives of fleeing Afghan citizens, U.S. Marines, and Taliban fighters.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Stranger at the Gate (2022)
A U.S. Marine plots a terrorist attack on a small-town American mosque, but his plan takes an unexpected turn when he comes face to face with the people he sets out to kill.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Danger Close (2017)
Freelance female war reporter Alex Quade covers U.S. Special Operations Forces (SOF) on highly classified combat missions. Since 2001, she has embedded with elite SOF, including the U.S. Army Special Forces or Green Berets, Army Rangers, Navy Seals, and CIA clandestine operatives to tell their stories from the front lines. "Danger Close" follows Alex as she lives alongside these highly trained forces on some of the most daring missions ever documented in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Dissident (2020)
When Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi disappears after entering Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul, his fiancée and dissidents around the world are left to piece together the clues to a brutal murder and expose a global cover up perpetrated by the very country he loved.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHondros (2018)
HONDROS follows the life and career of famous war photographer Chris Hondros by exploring the poignant and often surprising stories behind this award-winning photojournalist's best-known photos. Driven by a commitment to bear witness to the wars of our time after the events of 9/11, Chris was among the first in a new generation of war photographers since Vietnam. HONDROS explores the complexities inherent in covering more than a decade of conflict, while trying to maintain a normal life. It also examines the unknowable calculus involved in making split-second life and death decisions -- before, during and after his photos were made. Chris was killed in Libya in 2011, but he left a lasting impact on his profession that is still felt today.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Watani: My Homeland (2016)
The story of one family's fight and struggle to survive the Syrian Civil War. Having lost her husband, the mother makes the heart achingly painful decision to leave her homeland, in search of safety and a brighter future for her children. Filmed over three years, the film chronicles the family's journey from the front-line in Aleppo, to a little town in Germany. Escaping the chaos and terror of their war torn homeland becomes a catalyst for a different kind of struggle; the struggle to understand your past and accept your present, to adapt to a new life, to hold on to hope, and the idea of belonging to a homeland.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country (2008)
Going beyond the occasional news clip from Burma, the acclaimed filmmaker, Anders Østergaard, brings us close to the video journalists who deliver the footage. Though risking torture and life in jail, courageous young citizens of Burma live the essence of journalism as they insist on keeping up the flow of news from their closed country.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFire at Sea (2016)
Capturing life on the Italian island of Lampedusa, a frontline in the European migrant crisis.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCries from Syria (2017)
An attempt to re-contextualize the European migrant crisis and ongoing hostilities in Syria, through eyewitness and participant testimony. Children and parents recount the revolution, civil war, air strikes, atrocities and ongoing humanitarian aid crises, in a portrait of recent history and the consequences of violence.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Only the Dead (2015)
A searing account of war correspondent Michael Ware's seven years reporting in Iraq--an extraordinary journey that takes him into the darkest recesses of the Iraq War and the human soul.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHe Named Me Malala (2015)
A look at the events leading up to the Taliban's attack on the young Pakistani school girl, Malala Yousafzai, for speaking out on girls' education and the aftermath, including her speech to the United Nations.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHuman Flow (2017)
More than 65 million people around the world have been forced from their homes to escape famine, climate change and war, the greatest displacement since World War II. Filmmaker Ai Weiwei examines the staggering scale of the refugee crisis and its profoundly personal human impact. Over the course of one year in 23 countries, Weiwei follows a chain of urgent human stories that stretch across the globe, including Afghanistan, France, Greece, Germany and Iraq.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHunger Ward (2020)
Filmed from inside two of the most active therapeutic feeding centers in Yemen, HUNGER WARD documents two female health care workers fighting to thwart the spread of starvation against the backdrop of a forgotten war. The film provides an unflinching portrait of Dr. Aida Alsadeeq and Nurse Mekkia Mahdi as they try to save the lives of hunger-stricken children within a population on the brink of famine.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Iraq in Fragments (2006)
An opus in three parts, Iraq In Fragments offers a series of intimate, passionately-felt portraits: A fatherless 11-year-old is apprenticed to the domineering owner of a Baghdad garage; Sadr followers in two Shiite cities rally for regional elections while enforcing Islamic law at the point of a gun; a family of Kurdish farmers welcomes the US presence, which has allowed them a measure of freedom previously denied. American director James Longley spent more than two years filming in Iraq to create this stunningly photographed, poetically rendered documentary of the war-torn country as seen through the eyes of Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
McCullin (2012)
Biographical documentary of the war photographer Don McCullin, with sections on his upbringing, early work for the Observer and extensive war reporting for the Sunday Times until the purchase of the newspaper by Rupert Murdoch in the 1980s.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTickling Giants (2017)
The Arab Spring in Egypt: From a dictator to free elections, back to a dictatorship. One comedy show united the country and tested the limits of free press. This is the story of Bassem Youssef, a cardiologist turned comedian, the Jon Stewart of Egypt, and his show "The Show".
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Notturno (2020)
Shot over three years on the borders between Iraq, Kurdistan, Syria and Lebanon, the film depicts the everyday struggles of people attempting to rebuild their lives amongst the devastating effects of civil wars, dictatorships, foreign invasions, and the deadly presence of ISIS.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSabaya (2021)
With just a mobile phone and a gun, Mahmud, Ziyad and their group risk their lives trying to save Yazidi women and girls being held by ISIS as Sabaya (abducted sex slaves) in the most dangerous camp in the Middle East, Al-Hol in Syria.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Like Under the Wire and something else?
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Under the Wire?
The closest matches to Under the Wire are Jim: The James Foley Story (2016), Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud (2025) and Last Men in Aleppo (2017). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Under the Wire?
People who watched Under the Wire most often go on to Jim: The James Foley Story (2016), Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud (2025) and Last Men in Aleppo (2017).
What is the highest-rated movie like Under the Wire?
For Sama (2019), rated 8.2/10 by 323 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Under the Wire?
Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Under the Wire?
Yes: Jim: The James Foley Story (2016), Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud (2025) and The Cave (2019).
How are movies similar to Under the Wire chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Under the Wire, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.