Movies like Capital in the Twenty-First Century (2019)
The best movies like Capital in the Twenty-First Century (2019) are The Emperor's New Clothes (2015), Inequality for All (2013) and Finding the Money (2024). If Capital in the Twenty-First Century hooked you with its documentary, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedRequiem for the American Dream (2015)7.7/10 from 213 votes
- NewestThe Last Class (2025)Released 2025
The Emperor's New Clothes (2015)
An uproarious critique of the world financial crisis. Building on actor, comedian, and provocateur Russell Brand’s emergence as an activist following his 2014 book Revolution, where he railed against “corporate tyranny, ecological irresponsibility, and economic inequality".
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Inequality for All (2013)
Based on Reich's 2010 book Aftershock: The Next Economy and America's Future, the film examines widening income inequality in the United States. U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich tries to raise awareness of the country's widening economic gap. He publicly argued about the issue for decades, and producing a film of his viewpoints was a "final frontier" for him. In addition to being a social issue documentary, Inequality for All is also partially a biopic regarding Reich's early life and his time as Secretary of Labor under Bill Clinton's presidency. Warren Buffett and Nick Hanauer, two entrepreneurs and investors in the top 1%, are interviewed in the film, supporting Reich's belief in an economy that benefits all citizens, including those of the middle and lower classes.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFinding the Money (2024)
FINDING THE MONEY follows economist Stephanie Kelton on a journey through Modern Money Theory or “MMT”. Kelton provocatively asserts the National Debt Clock that ticks ominously upwards in New York City is not actually a debt for us taxpayers at all, nor a burden for our grandchildren to pay back. Instead, Kelton describes the national debt as simply a historical record of the number of dollars created by the US federal government currently being held in pockets, as assets, by the rest of us. MMT bursts into the media with journalists asking, “Have we been thinking about how the government spends money, all wrong?” But top economists from across the political spectrum condemn the theory as “voodoo economics”, “crazy” and “a crackpot theory”. FINDING THE MONEY traces the conflict all the way back to the story we tell about money, injecting new hope and empowering countries around the world to tackle the biggest challenges of the 21st century: from climate change to inequality.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Saving Capitalism (2017)
Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich meets with Americans from all walks of life as he chronicles a seismic shift in the nation's economy.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe China Hustle (2018)
An unsettling and eye-opening Wall Street horror story about Chinese companies, the American stock market, and the opportunistic greed behind the biggest heist you've never heard of.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRequiem for the American Dream (2015)
Through interviews filmed over four years, Noam Chomsky unpacks the principles that have brought us to the crossroads of historically unprecedented inequality – tracing a half-century of policies designed to favor the most wealthy at the expense of the majority – while also looking back on his own life of activism and political participation. He provides penetrating insight into what may well be the lasting legacy of our time – the death of the middle class, and swan song of functioning democracy.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFour Horsemen (2012)
Documentary about the modern apocalypse caused by a rapacious banking system. 23 leading thinkers – frustrated at the failure of their respective disciplines – break their silence to explain how the world really works.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe End of Poverty? (2008)
The End of Poverty? asks if the true causes of poverty today stem from a deliberate orchestration since colonial times which has evolved into our modern system whereby wealthy nations exploit the poor. People living and fighting against poverty answer condemning colonialism and its consequences; land grab, exploitation of natural resources, debt, free markets, demand for corporate profits and the evolution of an economic system in in which 25% of the world's population consumes 85% of its wealth. Featuring Nobel Prize winner Amartya Sen and Joseph Stiglitz, authors/activist Susan George, Eric Toussaint, Bolivian Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera and more.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
America's Burning (2024)
Narrated by Michael Douglas, America’s Burning calls on a remarkable range of expert perspectives from James Carville to Leon Panetta to Amy Chua as macroeconomist David Smick embarks on a searing dive into the precarious state of America’s seemingly unbridgeable economic divide — with a surprisingly optimistic outlook on its future.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
97% Owned (2012)
97% owned present serious research and verifiable evidence on our economic and financial system. This is the first documentary to tackle this issue from a UK-perspective and explains the inner workings of Central Banks and the Money creation process. When money drives almost all activity on the planet, it's essential that we understand it. Yet simple questions often get overlooked, questions like; where does money come from? Who creates it? Who decides how it gets used? And what does this mean for the millions of ordinary people who suffer when the monetary, and financial system, breaks down? Produced by Queuepolitely and featuring Ben Dyson of Positive Money, Josh Ryan-Collins of The New Economics Foundation, Ann Pettifor, the "HBOS Whistleblower" Paul Moore, Simon Dixon of Bank to the Future and Nick Dearden from the Jubliee Debt Campaign.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
The Shock Doctrine (2009)
An investigation of "disaster capitalism", based on Naomi Klein's proposition that neo-liberal capitalism feeds on natural disasters, war and terror to establish its dominance.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEnd of the Road: How Money Became Worthless (2012)
Wall Street is being occupied. Europe is collapsing in on itself. Around the world, people are consumed by fear and anger, and one question is on everyone's lips: Is the financial crisis over, or are we headed towards economic disaster? documentary that chronicles the global financial collapse. Told in an entertaining and easy to follow style, the film tells the story of how the world came to be in such a state, from the seeds sown after WW2, to the current troubles facing us today, and to the possible future that may await us all. Also asks influential members of the finance and investment communities for their predictions on the world's financial future.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
The Divide (2015)
The Divide tells the story of 7 individuals striving for a better life in modern day US and UK - where the top 0.1% owns as much wealth as the bottom 90%. By plotting these tales together, we uncover how virtually every aspect of our lives is controlled by one factor: the size of the gap between rich and poor.The film is inspired by "The Spirit Level" by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
The Spider's Web: Britain's Second Empire (2017)
At the demise of empire, City of London financial interests created a web of offshore secrecy jurisdictions that captured wealth from across the globe and hid it behind obscure financial structures in a web of offshore islands. Today, up to half of global offshore wealth may be hidden in British offshore jurisdictions and Britain and its offshore jurisdictions are the largest global players in the world of international finance. How did this come about, and what impact does it have on the world today? This is what the Spider's Web sets out to investigate.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Capitalism: A Love Story (2009)
Michael Moore comes home to the issue he's been examining throughout his career: the disastrous impact of corporate dominance on the everyday lives of Americans (and by default, the rest of the world).
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThrive: What on Earth Will it Take? (2011)
An unconventional documentary that lifts the veil on what's really going on in our world by following the money upstream - uncovering the global consolidation of power in nearly every aspect of our lives. Weaving together breakthroughs in science, consciousness and activism, THRIVE offers real solutions, empowering us with unprecedented and bold strategies for reclaiming our lives and our future.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Ascent of Money (2008)
British historian and author Niall Ferguson explains how big money works today as well as the causes of and solutions to economic catastrophes in this extended version The Ascent of Money documentary. Through interviews with top experts, such as former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker and American currency speculator George Soros, the intricate world of finance, including global commerce, banking and lending, is examined thoroughly.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005)
A documentary about the Enron corporation, its faulty and corrupt business practices, and how they led to its fall.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Flaw (2011)
The story of the credit bubble that caused the financial crash. Through interviews with some of the world's leading economists, including housing expert Robert Shiller, Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz, and economic historian Louis Hyman, as well as Wall Street insiders and victims of the crash including Ed Andrews - a former economics correspondent for The New York Times who found himself facing foreclosure - and Andrew Luan, once a bond trader at Deutsche Bank now running his own Wall Street tour guide business, the film presents an original and compelling account of the toxic combination of forces that nearly destroyed the world economy.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
HyperNormalisation (2016)
We live in a world where the powerful deceive us. We know they lie. They know we know they lie. They do not care. We say we care, but we do nothing, and nothing ever changes. It is normal. Welcome to the post-truth world. How we got to where we are now…
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Last Class (2025)
American political economist, professor, author, and social media sensation Robert Reich teaches his final "Wealth and Poverty" class to 1,000 students at UC Berkeley, ending a 40-year career that reached 40,000 students. One thousand fill the biggest lecture hall on the UC Berkeley campus, the last class to receive Reich's wisdom and exhortations not to accept that the world has to stay the way it is. His belief in the next generation's ability to take on the fight is inspiring.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Money for Nothing: Inside the Federal Reserve (2013)
Nearly 100 years after its creation, the power of the U.S. Federal Reserve has never been greater. Markets and governments around the world hold their breath in anticipation of the Fed Chairman's every word. Yet the average person knows very little about the most powerful - and least understood - financial institution on earth. Narrated by Liev Schreiber, Money For Nothing is the first film to take viewers inside the Fed and reveal the impact of Fed policies - past, present, and future - on our lives. Join current and former Fed officials as they debate the critics, and each other, about the decisions that helped lead the global financial system to the brink of collapse in 2008. And why we might be headed there again.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
In Debt We Trust: America Before the Bubble Bursts (2007)
Emmy-winning journalist Danny Schechter investigates America's mounting debt crisis in this latest hard-hitting expose. The film reveals the unknown cabal of credit card companies, lobbyists, media conglomerates and the Bush administration itself who have colluded to deregulate the lending industry, ensuring that a culture of credit dependency can flourish. Schechter exposes the hidden financial and political complex that allows the lowest wage earners to indebt themselves so heavily that even house repossessions are commonplace.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Margaret Atwood: A Word After a Word After a Word Is Power (2019)
The views and thoughts of Canadian writer Margaret Atwood have never been more relevant than today. Readers turn to her work for answers as they confront the rise of authoritarian leaders, deal with increasingly intrusive technologies, and discuss climate change. Her books are useful as survival tools for hard times. But few know her private life. Who is the woman behind the stories? How does she always seem to know what is coming?
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Master of the Universe (2013)
He was one of Germany's leading investment experts with an income of several million Euros per day. Now, he sits on one of the upper floors of an empty bank building in the middle of Frankfurt, overlooking a skyline of glass and steel. And talks. In an extended mix of a monologue and an in-depth interview, which is as frightening as it is fascinating, he shares his inside knowledge from a megalomaniac parallel world where illusions are the market's hardest currency. Marc Bauder's 'Master of the Universe' is based on meticulous research and provides us with geniune insight into the notoriously secretive and self-protective 'universe' of which our nameless protagonist experiences himself a master. Where other films on the financial meltdown have focused on the epic nature of larger-than-life business, Bauder probes the mentality that made it possible in the first place. A tense drama where psychology meets finance - two things that are more closely linked than you would like to believe.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
American Illuminati (2017)
This is the real history of America as you've never known it. The shocking truth of how America was engineered and controlled by a secret organization that has infiltrated religious groups, political parties, universities and corporations. Strategically placing their own people in positions of power and authority, they have controlled and manipulated the minds of the masses while concealing it from the very beginning. Explore how the Illuminati invaded and took control of the United States of America with the ultimate goal of a one-world government.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
The Queen of Versailles (2012)
With the epic dimensions of a Shakespearean tragedy, The Queen of Versailles follows billionaires Jackie and David’s rags-to-riches story to uncover the innate virtues and flaws of their American dream. We open on the triumphant construction of the biggest house in America, a sprawling, 90,000-square-foot mansion inspired by Versailles. Since a booming time-share business built on the real-estate bubble is financing it, the economic crisis brings progress to a halt and seals the fate of its owners. We witness the impact of this turn of fortune over the next two years in a riveting film fraught with delusion, denial, and self-effacing humor.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTrust Machine: The Story of Blockchain (2018)
Hacktivist and blockchain expert Lauri Love fights extradition in TRUST MACHINE—his computer skills a threat to the US government. Tech innovators strike a raw nerve as banks and network pundits rush to condemn volatile cryptocurrencies and their underlying blockchain technology. Why are banks terrified while UNICEF embraces it to help refugee children? Award–winning filmmaker Alex Winter reveals that proponents of blockchain—a verified digital ledger—are already using the technology to change the world; fighting income inequality, the refugee crisis and world hunger.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Fahrenheit 11/9 (2018)
Michael Moore's provocative documentary explores the two most important questions of the Trump Era: How did we get here, and how do we get out.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOut of Shadows (2020)
An exposé on how Hollywood and the mainstream media manipulate the multitudes by spreading propaganda throughout their content.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Capital in the Twenty-First Century?
The closest matches to Capital in the Twenty-First Century are The Emperor's New Clothes (2015), Inequality for All (2013) and Finding the Money (2024). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Capital in the Twenty-First Century?
People who watched Capital in the Twenty-First Century most often go on to The Emperor's New Clothes (2015), Inequality for All (2013) and Finding the Money (2024).
What is the highest-rated movie like Capital in the Twenty-First Century?
Requiem for the American Dream (2015), rated 7.7/10 by 213 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Capital in the Twenty-First Century?
The Last Class (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Capital in the Twenty-First Century?
Yes: The Emperor's New Clothes (2015), Inequality for All (2013) and Finding the Money (2024).
How are movies similar to Capital in the Twenty-First Century chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Capital in the Twenty-First Century, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.