Movies like Desert One (2019)
The best movies like Desert One (2019) are One Day in September (1999), 9/11: Inside the President's War Room (2021) and Beyond Utopia (2023). If Desert One hooked you with its documentary and history, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedRonaldo (2015)7.0/10 from 432 votes
- NewestA Toxic Love Story (2026)Released 2026
One Day in September (1999)
The full story of the 1972 Munich Olympics Massacre and the Israeli revenge operation 'Wrath of God.' The 1972 Munich Olympics were interrupted by Palestinian terrorists taking Israeli athletes hostage. Besides footage taken at the time, we see interviews with the surviving terrorist, Jamal Al Gashey, and various officials detailing exactly how the police, lacking an anti-terrorist squad and turning down help from the Israelis, botched the operation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & history
Worth the HypeMovies like this9/11: Inside the President's War Room (2021)
Experience the events of September 11, 2001 through the eyes of President Bush and his closest advisors as they personally detail the crucial hours and key decisions from that historic day.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBeyond Utopia (2023)
A courageous pastor uses his underground network to rescue and aid North Korean families as they risk their lives to embrace freedom.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Untold History Of The United States (2012)
Oliver Stone charts the history of the United States from the Second World War to the present.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & history
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisCover-Up (2025)
He's devoted his career to uncovering stories the powerful want buried. From My Lai to Abu Ghraib, dig into the life's work of journalist Seymour Hersh.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple (2006)
Featuring never-before-seen footage, this documentary delivers a startling new look at the Peoples Temple, headed by preacher Jim Jones who, in 1978, led more than 900 members to Guyana, where he orchestrated a mass suicide via tainted punch.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRonaldo (2015)
Filmed over 14 months with unprecedented access into the inner circle of the man and the sport, this is the first official and fully authorised film of one of the most celebrated figures in football. For the first time ever, the world gets vividly candid and un-paralleled, behind-closed-doors access to the footballer, father, family-man and friend in this moving & fascinating documentary. Through in-depth conversations, state of the art football footage and never before seen archival footage, the film gives an astonishing insight into the sporting and personal life of triple Ballon D'Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo at the peak of his career. From the makers of ‘Senna’ and ‘Amy’, Ronaldo takes audiences on an intimate and revealing journey of what it’s like to live as an iconic athlete in the eye of the storm.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisApollo: Missions to the Moon (2019)
National Geographic's riveting effort recounts all 12 crewed missions using only archival footage, photos and audio.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisApollo 13: Survival (2024)
Using original footage and interviews, this documentary tells the nail-biting story of Apollo 13 and the struggle to bring its astronauts safely home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEx Libris: The New York Public Library (2017)
A documentary about how a dominant cultural and demographic institution both sustains their traditional activities and adapts to the digital revolution.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCome See Me in the Good Light (2025)
In an intimate and joyful story of love in the face of loss, celebrated poets Andrea Gibson and Megan Falley find strength—and unexpected hilarity—in what might be their final year together.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Toxic Love Story (2026)
A string of threatening emails escalates into a revenge plot involving a newly married US marshal and his ex-girlfriend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisShipwrecked: Nightmare at Sea (2026)
Never-before-seen footage and survivor accounts trace the 2012 shipwreck of a luxury cruise and the disaster that ensued, in this immersive documentary.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisS4: The Bob Lazar Story (2026)
Over 35 years after Bob Lazar's revelations, this documentary exposes secrets of a facility the government still denies. Featuring Lazar's testimony, recreations, and new evidence, it reopens a case that continues to spark global curiosity
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Captains (2011)
The Captains is a feature-length documentary film written and directed by William Shatner. The film follows Shatner as he interviews the other actors who have portrayed starship captains in the Star Trek franchise.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese (2019)
Part documentary, part concert film, part fever dream, this film captures the troubled spirit of America in 1975 and the joyous music that Dylan performed during the fall of that year.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWhat We Left Behind: Looking Back at Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (2018)
A documentary exploring the legacy of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the reasons it went from the black sheep of Star Trek to a beloved mainstay of the franchise, and a brainstorm with the original writers on what a theoretical eighth season of the show could look like.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTrainwreck: The Real Project X (2025)
A night of drunken chaos rocks a quiet Dutch town in this shocking documentary about a teen's birthday invite that accidentally went viral on Facebook.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe U.S. vs. John Lennon (2006)
A documentary on the life of John Lennon, with a focus on the time in his life when he transformed from a musician into an antiwar activist.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSouth of the Border (2009)
A road trip across five countries to explore the social and political movements as well as the mainstream media's misperception of South America while interviewing seven of its elected presidents.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStronger Than a Bullet (2017)
Iran, January 16th, 1979. Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi flees after being overthrown. Ayatollah Khomeini returns to Tehran and proclaims the Islamic Republic on April 1st, 1979. In the same year, Saddam Hussein seizes power in Iraq and, after several border skirmishes, attacks Iran on September 22nd, 1980, initiating a cruel war that will last eight years. Since its outbreak, correspondent Saeid Sadeghi documented it from its beginning to its bitter end.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary & history
American Coup (2010)
AMERICAN COUP tells the story of the first coup ever carried out by the CIA - Iran, 1953. Explores the blowback from this seminal event, as well as the coup's lingering effects on the present US-Iranian relationship. Includes a segment on the 1979 Iranian Hostage Crisis and its relation to the 1953 coup. Concludes with a section on the recent Iranian presidential election. Contains interviews with noted Middle East experts and historians and prominent public figures such as Stephen Kinzer (author, All The Shah's Men), Prof. Ervand Abrahamian, Trita Parsi, Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, Ted Koppel and Rep. Ron Paul of Texas. With Iranian cinematography by James Longley.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both history & documentary
Woman, Life, Freedom: An Iranian Revolution (2023)
On September 16, 2022, in Teheran, the murder by police of the young Mahsa Amini, arrested for "wearing a headscarf contrary to the law", sparked off an unprecedented insurrection. Within hours, a spontaneous movement formed around the rallying cry: "Woman, life, freedom". For the first time, women, joined by men and students, took the initiative and removed their veils, the hated symbol of the Islamic Republic. The Iranian population, from all regions and social categories, rose up in protest. Social networks went wild. The diaspora (between 5–8 million Iranians) took up the cause, and the whole world discovered the scale of this mobilization: could the theocratic regime be overthrown this time?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary & history
444 Days - The Iran Hostage Crisis (2022)
On January 20, 1981, 52 members of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran were released after 444 days of captivity. Told by those who lived through it, a crisis that traumatized America and upset the political balance in the Middle East.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary & history
The Tree That Remembers (2002)
The 1992 suicide of a young Iranian refugee in a small Canadian town prompted filmmaker Masoud Raouf to examine his own past as a political prisoner in Iran who helped fight for democracy, only to be persecuted by the ayatollah's regime. Raouf's documentary features historical footage and interviews with veterans of the 1979 revolution, who watched with dismay as their homeland traded a despot for a religious dictatorship.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Oriana Fallaci intervista Ayatollah Khomeini (1979)
Oriana Fallaci, the Italian journalist who is noted for her provocative interviews, interviews the leader of the Islamic Revolution, the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, on Sept 12, 1979. For 10 days Oriana Fallaci waited in the holy city of Qum for her interview with the 79 year old Ayatollah, who is the de facto ruler of Iran. On Sept. 12, she was led into the Faizeyah religious school, where Khomeini holds his audiences. She was accompanied by two Iranians Nyho and Iran prime minster Banisadr who had helped set up the interview and who served as translators. Oriana Fallaci, barefoot, enveloped in a chador, the head to toe veil of the Moslem woman, was seated on a carpet, when the Ayatollah entered, and the recorded interview could begin.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Sufi, Saint & Swinger (2020)
The tragic story of an American music virtuoso who found in 1970s Iran the love and acceptance he never received back home, and who was punished by his country upon his return after the Iranian revolution.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
I Am Trying to Remember (2021)
Pegah talks about Gholam, a man who’s not like her father, mother, uncles, or aunts, even though he’s always present at family gatherings. Gholam films these everyday scenes with his own camera. At the time, Pegah can’t imagine what the purpose of these films might be, but she’s happy to pose before the lens of this family friend, who she’s certainly very fond of.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Mother of Snow Cranes (2024)
Over 90 years old Ellen Vuosalo has lived many lives. First as a Finnish immigrant in Canada, then as a zoology student in California and finally as a mother of snow cranes in Iran. Iiris Härmä's Mother of Snow Cranes tells the story of an incredible woman's extraordinary life, from love to tragedy to revolution. It is a story about nature, humanity, and the role of women in both the West and Iranian culture. Or as Ellen herself says " What a life! What a world!"
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
The Dawn is Too Far: Stories of Iranian-American Life (2024)
The Dawn is Too Far: Stories of Iranian-American Life poetically narrates the story of a community of Iranian Americans who have made the San Francisco Bay Area their home over the past five decades. The film explores Iranian immigration through turbulent histories of dissent, revolution, war, and separation, and the reinvention of identity in a new land and culture. The Dawn is Too Far highlights how Iranian students, activists, and artists have navigated displacement while drawing on and influencing Bay Area culture. This community offers a more nuanced story of the Iranian diaspora—the ways that this community enriches the region where they live, work, and build families. The Dawn is Too Far undermines the tired and overplayed news headlines that are dominated by narratives of enmity and mistrust between the government of Iran and the U.S., to offer a more humane understanding of the how people's lives and the sacrifices they make are part of the larger story of immigration.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Desert One?
The closest matches to Desert One are One Day in September (1999), 9/11: Inside the President's War Room (2021) and Beyond Utopia (2023). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Desert One?
Start with One Day in September (1999), the closest match to Desert One.
What is the highest-rated movie like Desert One?
Ronaldo (2015), rated 7.0/10 by 432 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Desert One?
A Toxic Love Story (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Desert One?
Yes: One Day in September (1999), 9/11: Inside the President's War Room (2021) and Beyond Utopia (2023).
How are movies similar to Desert One chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Desert One, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.