Movies like The Man Who Might Have Been: An Inquiry Into the Life and Death of Herbert Norman (1999)
The best movies like The Man Who Might Have Been: An Inquiry Into the Life and Death of Herbert Norman (1999) are Get Low (2010), North by Northwest (1959) and The Constant Gardener (2005). If The Man Who Might Have Been: An Inquiry Into the Life and Death of Herbert Norman hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedNorth by Northwest (1959)8.0/10 from 4,736 votes
- NewestThe Brink of War (2026)Released 2026
Get Low (2010)
A movie spun out of equal parts folk tale, fable and real-life legend about the mysterious, 1930s Tennessee hermit who famously threw his own rollicking funeral party... while he was still alive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNorth by Northwest (1959)
Advertising man Roger Thornhill is mistaken for a spy, triggering a deadly cross-country chase.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Constant Gardener (2005)
Justin Quayle is a low-level British diplomat who has always gone about his work very quietly, not causing any problems. But after his radical wife Tessa is killed he becomes determined to find out why, thrusting himself into the middle of a very dangerous conspiracy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Courier (2020)
Cold War spy Greville Wynne and his Russian source try to put an end to the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House (2017)
The story of Mark Felt, who under the name "Deep Throat" helped journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein uncover the Watergate scandal in 1974.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTo End All War: Oppenheimer & the Atomic Bomb (2023)
Explore how one man's relentless drive and invention of the atomic bomb changed the nature of war forever, led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people and unleashed mass hysteria.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Report (2019)
The story of Daniel Jones, lead investigator for the US Senate’s sweeping study into the CIA's Detention and Interrogation Program, which was found to be brutal, immoral and ineffective. With the truth at stake, Jones battled tirelessly to make public what many in power sought to keep hidden.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTelefon (1977)
Nicolai Dalchimski, a mad KGB agent steals a notebook full of names of "sleeping" undercover KGB agents sent to the U.S. in the 1950's. These agents got their assignments under hypnosis, so they can't remember their missions until they're told a line of a Robert Frost poem. Dalchimski flees to the U.S. and starts phoning these agents who perform sabotage acts against military targets.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWe Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks (2013)
Julian Assange. Bradley Manning. Collateral murder. Cablegate. WikiLeaks. These people and terms have exploded into public consciousness by fundamentally changing the way democratic societies deal with privacy, secrecy, and the right to information, perhaps for generations to come. We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks is an extensive examination of all things related to WikiLeaks and the larger global debate over access to information.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisArgo (2012)
As the Iranian revolution reaches a boiling point, a CIA 'exfiltration' specialist concocts a risky plan to free six Americans who have found shelter at the home of the Canadian ambassador.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Brink of War (2026)
President Ronald Reagan races against time to salvage a deal with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev that could dismantle nuclear arsenals—or ignite disaster. With pressure mounting on all sides, every word spoken brings the world closer to peace... or destruction.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Fourth Protocol (1987)
Led by Kim Philby, Plan Aurora is a plan that breaches the top-secret Fourth Protocol and turns the fears that shaped it into a living nightmare. A crack Soviet agent, placed under cover in a quiet English country town, begins to assemble a nuclear bomb, whilst an MI5 agent attempts to prevent its detonation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEraser (1996)
Eraser, an elite federal marshal who "erases" the pasts of jeopardized informers and relocates them into safe anonymity, must protect a moving target who stands to uncover a conspiracy that could shift the balance of power in the world forever.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies 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
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBridge of Spies (2015)
During the Cold War, the Soviet Union captures U.S. pilot Francis Gary Powers after shooting down his U-2 spy plane. Sentenced to 10 years in prison, Powers' only hope is New York lawyer James Donovan, recruited by a CIA operative to negotiate his release. Donovan boards a plane to Berlin, hoping to win the young man's freedom through a prisoner exchange. If all goes well, the Russians would get Rudolf Abel, the convicted spy who Donovan defended in court.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTopaz (1969)
Copenhagen, Denmark, 1962. When a high-ranking Soviet official decides to change sides, a French intelligence agent is caught up in a cold, silent and bloody spy war in which his own family will play a decisive role.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Ipcress File (1965)
Sly and dry intelligence agent Harry Palmer is tasked with investigating British Intelligence security, and is soon enmeshed in a world of double-dealing, kidnap and murder when he finds a traitor operating at the heart of the secret service.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAll the President's Men (1976)
During the 1972 elections, two reporters' investigation sheds light on the controversial Watergate scandal that compels President Nixon to resign from his post.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAir America (1990)
Air America was the CIA's private airline operating in Laos during the Vietnam War, running anything and everything from soldiers to foodstuffs for local villagers. After losing his pilot's license, Billy Covington is recruited, and ends up in the middle of a bunch of lunatic pilots, gun-running by his friend Gene Ryack, and opium smuggling by his own superiors.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisSpies Like Us (1985)
Two bumbling government employees think they are U.S. spies, only to discover that they are actually decoys for nuclear 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 The Man Who Might Have Been: An Inquiry Into the Life and Death of Herbert Norman?
The closest matches to The Man Who Might Have Been: An Inquiry Into the Life and Death of Herbert Norman are Get Low (2010), North by Northwest (1959) and The Constant Gardener (2005). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Man Who Might Have Been: An Inquiry Into the Life and Death of Herbert Norman?
Start with Get Low (2010), the closest match to The Man Who Might Have Been: An Inquiry Into the Life and Death of Herbert Norman.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Man Who Might Have Been: An Inquiry Into the Life and Death of Herbert Norman?
North by Northwest (1959), rated 8.0/10 by 4,736 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Man Who Might Have Been: An Inquiry Into the Life and Death of Herbert Norman?
The Brink of War (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Man Who Might Have Been: An Inquiry Into the Life and Death of Herbert Norman?
Yes: Get Low (2010), North by Northwest (1959) and The Constant Gardener (2005).
How are movies similar to The Man Who Might Have Been: An Inquiry Into the Life and Death of Herbert Norman chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Man Who Might Have Been: An Inquiry Into the Life and Death of Herbert Norman, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.