Movies like Secrets of the CIA (1998)
The best movies like Secrets of the CIA (1998) are Ukraine on Fire (2016), Avatar: The Deep Dive - A Special Edition of 20/20 (2022) and The Mole: Undercover in North Korea (2020). If Secrets of the CIA hooked you with its documentary, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedCitizenfour (2014)7.7/10 from 1,472 votes
- NewestA Toxic Love Story (2026)Released 2026
Ukraine on Fire (2016)
A Russian-backed conspiracy film produced by Oliver Stone, framing the Euromaidan protests and the ouster of Viktor Yanukovych as a Western-engineered coup.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
SnoozefestMovies like thisAvatar: The Deep Dive - A Special Edition of 20/20 (2022)
An inside look at one of the most anticipated movie sequels ever with James Cameron and cast.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Mole: Undercover in North Korea (2020)
A real-life undercover thriller about two ordinary men who embark on an outrageously dangerous ten-year mission to penetrate the world's most secretive and brutal dictatorship: North Korea.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMy Mom Jayne (2025)
Through deeply personal interviews with her siblings and an examination of the photographs, letters, and belongings left behind, Mariska assembles a new portrait of her mother Jayne Mansfield, an extraordinary and complex woman.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Absolute CinemaMovies 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 thisMea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God (2012)
Alex Gibney explores the charged issue of pedophilia in the Catholic Church, following a trail from the first known protest against clerical sexual abuse in the United States and all way to the Vatican.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisChadwick Boseman: A Tribute for a King (2020)
A tribute to Chadwick Boseman, celebrating his life and legacy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisZero Days (2016)
Alex Gibney explores the phenomenon of Stuxnet, a self-replicating computer virus discovered in 2010 by international IT experts. Evidently commissioned by the US and Israeli governments, this malware was designed to specifically sabotage Iran’s nuclear programme. However, the complex computer worm ended up not only infecting its intended target but also spreading uncontrollably.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisChris Brown: Welcome to My Life (2017)
This compelling Documentary moves beyond the spotlight and past the attention-grabbing headlines to give pop superstar Chris Brown a chance to tell his own story. New interviews with the international phenomenon reveal long-awaited answers about his passion for making music, his tumultuous and much publicized relationships, and the pitfalls of coming of age in the public eye. Also included is new concert footage, behind-the-scenes access, and special interviews from Usher, Jennifer Lopez, DJ Khaled, Mike Tyson, Jamie Foxx and others.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Battered Bastards of Baseball (2014)
Hollywood veteran Bing Russell creates the only independent baseball team in the country—alarming the baseball establishment and sparking the meteoric rise of the 1970s Portland Mavericks.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCitizenfour (2014)
In June 2013, Laura Poitras and reporter Glenn Greenwald flew to Hong Kong for the first of many meetings with Edward Snowden. She brought her camera with her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisI Am Heath Ledger (2017)
The life and career of an actor, artist, and icon. His own journey through his own camera.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFor the Love of Spock (2016)
The life of Mr. Spock, as well as that of Leonard Nimoy, the actor who played him for almost fifty years, written and directed by his son: Adam.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
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 thisAbove Majestic (2018)
A look at the origins, history and conspiracies behind the "Majestic 12", a clandestine group of military and corporate figureheads charged with reverse-engineering extraterrestrial technology.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies 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 thisThe Class of ‘92 (2013)
A detailing of the rise to prominence and global sporting superstardom of six supremely talented young Manchester United football players (David Beckham, Nicky Butt, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Phil and Gary Neville). The film covers the period 1992-1999, culminating in Manchester United's European Cup triumph.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLooking for Richard (1996)
Al Pacino's deeply-felt rumination on Shakespeare's significance and relevance to the modern world through interviews and an in-depth analysis of "Richard III."
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMurder to Mercy: The Cyntoia Brown Story (2020)
After 16-year-old Cyntoia Brown is sentenced to life in prison, questions about her past, physiology and the law itself call her guilt into question.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGilbert (2017)
The life and career of one of comedy's most inimitable modern voices, Mr. Gilbert Gottfried.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAgents of the Shadows (2017)
Thirteen intelligence agents who have worked on secret missions for Frances DGSE tell their accounts of recruitment, training, and their fears and victories of acting undercover, as well as the effects on their private and personal lives.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Railway Station (1980)
Warsaw's Central Railway Station. 'Someone has fallen asleep, someone's waiting for somebody else. Maybe they'll come, maybe they won't. The film is about people looking for something.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Putin's Bears - The Most Dangerous Hackers in the World (2024)
They call themselves Fancy Bear, Cozy Bear or Voodoo Bear. Elite units of the Russian secret services are hidden behind these code names. They are among the most dangerous hackers in the world. The bears were already in the computer of then-Chancellor Angela Merkel in 2015, interfered in the US election campaign in 2016 and are currently influencing the war in Ukraine. The makers of the successful YouTube channel “Simplicissimus” in co-production with funk and SWR are back and show the destructive potential of state hacking with this documentary. With the help of leading German hackers, cyberspace experts and a lot of humor, they delicately demystify the Russian bears: Who are the people behind them? How do they operate? And what makes them so incredibly dangerous?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
SR-71 Blackbird: The Secret Vigil (1990)
Few aircraft have attracted more attention than the ominous black supersonic jet that for years has ranged the world on reconnaissance missions. This is the definitive tribute to an extraordinary peacekeeper, the SR-71 Blackbird. The History. The Technology. The Missions. The Pilots. And compelling, gripping footage of the Blackbird itself, on its "rocket ride" through the world's airspace.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
The KGB Connections: An Investigation into Soviet Operations in North America (1981)
This 1982 film explains the KGB infiltration of America. Who they are, what they are doing, and how well they have infiltrated North America.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
A Good American (2015)
A Good American tells the story of the best code-breaker the USA ever had and how he and a small team within NSA created a surveillance tool that could pick up any electronic signal on earth, filter it for targets and render results in real-time while keeping the privacy as demanded by the US constitution.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Enemy of the State (2011)
The story of the complex man and 75-year-old writer named Paul Gratzik, who worked as a Stasi informant in the GDR and was known as a “man of extremes”. However, after spying on friends and colleagues for more than 20 years, Gratzik decided to voluntarily expose himself in the 1980s.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Closing Gambit: 1978 Korchnoi versus Karpov and the Kremlin (2018)
The story of the 1978 World Chess Championship between the Soviet Communist Party's protege, Anatoly Karpov and the traitor and Soviet defector, Viktor Korchnoi. One of those instances in life where truth is stranger than fiction.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Der Fall Assange: Eine Chronik (2021)
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
The Oppenheimer Case (2025)
When the USA was developing the atomic bomb in Los Alamos, New Mexico from 1943 to 45, J. Robert Oppenheimer, distinguished scientist and project leader, and his colleagues, were under close observation by the FBI as well as by spies from the Soviet Union. On the 80th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, this documentary reconstructs the Oppenheimer espionage case. Who passed top secret information to the Russians?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Secrets of the CIA?
The closest matches to Secrets of the CIA are Ukraine on Fire (2016), Avatar: The Deep Dive - A Special Edition of 20/20 (2022) and The Mole: Undercover in North Korea (2020). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Secrets of the CIA?
Start with Ukraine on Fire (2016), the closest match to Secrets of the CIA.
What is the highest-rated movie like Secrets of the CIA?
Citizenfour (2014), rated 7.7/10 by 1,472 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Secrets of the CIA?
A Toxic Love Story (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Secrets of the CIA?
Yes: Ukraine on Fire (2016), Avatar: The Deep Dive - A Special Edition of 20/20 (2022) and The Mole: Undercover in North Korea (2020).
How are movies similar to Secrets of the CIA chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Secrets of the CIA, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.