Movies like 40 Years a Prisoner (2020)
The best movies like 40 Years a Prisoner (2020) are I Got A Monster (2023), True Conviction (2017) and Yusuf Hawkins: Storm Over Brooklyn (2020). If 40 Years a Prisoner hooked you with its documentary, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- NewestA Toxic Love Story (2026)Released 2026
I Got A Monster (2023)
In March of 2017, Baltimore was rocked by one of the nation’s largest Police corruption scandals when seven members of the elite Gun Trace Task Force unit were federally indicted on racketeering charges. Defense attorney Ivan Bates wasn’t shocked by the news because for years he had been listening to the victims of these crimes and had been trying to bring down the corrupt sergeant. I GOT A MONSTER is the true story of a cat-and-mouse game in an upside-down world where the cops are also the robbers.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
True Conviction (2017)
There's a new detective agency in Dallas, Texas, started by three exonerated men, with decades in prison served between them. True Conviction is a character-driven documentary that follows these change-makers as they rebuild their lives and families, learn to investigate cases, and work to support one another.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Yusuf Hawkins: Storm Over Brooklyn (2020)
The 30-year legacy of the murder of black teenager Yusuf Hawkins by a group of young white men in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, as his family and friends reflect on the tragedy and the subsequent fight for justice that inspired and divided New York City.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Peace Officer (2015)
Peace Officer is a documentary about the increasingly militarized state of American police as told through the story of Dub Lawrence, a former sheriff who established his rural state's first SWAT team only to see that same unit kill his son-in-law in a controversial standoff 30 years later. Driven by an obsessed sense of mission, Dub uses his own investigation skills to uncover the truth in this and other recent officer-involved shootings in his community, while tackling larger questions about the changing face of peace officers nationwide.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
The Trials of Darryl Hunt (2007)
"The Trials of Darryl Hunt" is a feature documentary about a brutal rape/murder case and a wrongly convicted man, Darryl Hunt, who spent nearly twenty years in prison for a crime he did not commit. Both a social justice story and a personally driven narrative, the film chronicles this capital case from 1984 through 2004. With exclusive footage from two decades, the film frames the judicial and emotional response to a chilling crime - and the implications that reverberate from Hunt's conviction - against a backdrop of class and racial bias in the South and in the American criminal justice system.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
The Slow Hustle (2021)
After Baltimore Police Detective Sean Suiter is shot and found dead while on duty, the tragedy soon becomes enmeshed in a widening corruption scandal that threatens to unravel the public’s already strained relationship with law enforcement.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Baltimore Rising (2017)
In the wake of Freddie Gray's death in police custody, peaceful protests and destructive riots erupted as the city awaited the fate of six police officers involved in the incident. Follow the activists, police officers, community leaders and gang affiliates, who struggle to hold Baltimore together.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
The Central Park Five (2012)
In 1989, five black and Latino teenagers from Harlem were arrested and later convicted of raping a white woman in New York City's Central Park. They spent between 6 and 13 years in prison before a serial rapist confessed that he alone had committed the crime, leading to their convictions being overturned. Set against a backdrop of a decaying city beset by violence and racial tension, this is the story of that horrific crime, the rush to judgment by the police, a media clamoring for sensational stories and an outraged public, and the five lives upended by this miscarriage of justice.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLet the Fire Burn (2013)
Jason Osder delivers an account of the incidents leading up to and during the 1985 standoff between the extremist African-American organization MOVE and Philadelphia authorities. The dramatic clash would claim eleven lives and devastate an entire community.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Crime + Punishment (2018)
Over four years of unprecedented access, the story of a brave group of black and Latino whistleblower cops and one unrelenting private investigator who, amidst a landmark lawsuit, risk everything to expose illegal quota practices and their impact on young minorities.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
The Alabama Solution (2025)
Incarcerated men defy the odds to expose a cover-up in one of America’s deadliest prison systems.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCopwatch (2017)
The true story of We Copwatch, an organization whose mission is to film police activity as a non-violent form of protest and deterrent to police brutality. Around the country, a network of regular people take up cameras to bear witness to police actions and hold law enforcement to accountability.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Sound of the Police (2023)
This documentary examines the fraught relationship between African Americans and the police, often rife with tension, fear, suspicion and hostility on all sides. Framed by some of the most recent conflicts between Black Americans and police officers, which garnered national media attention, the film traces the country’s complex racial history that set the path for policing in Black communities and fuels the ongoing conflict between African American communities and law enforcement.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
12th & Delaware (2010)
The abortion battle continues to rage in unexpected ways on one corner in an American city.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson (2010)
Director Steve James returns to his home town of Hampton, Virginia to tell the story of how the trial of a young basketball star left a city divided.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
The Force (2017)
The Force presents a cinema vérité look deep inside the long-troubled Oakland Police Department as it struggles to confront federal demands for reform, a popular uprising following events in Ferguson, MO, and an explosive scandal.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Victim/Suspect (2023)
Investigative journalist Rae de Leon travels nationwide to uncover and examine a shocking pattern: Young women tell the police they’ve been sexually assaulted, but instead of finding justice, they’re charged with the crime of making a false report, arrested, and even imprisoned by the system they believed would protect them.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStrong Island (2017)
Examining the violent death of the filmmaker’s brother and the judicial system that allowed his killer to go free, this documentary interrogates murderous fear and racialized perception, and re-imagines the wreckage in catastrophe’s wake, challenging us to change.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThree Songs for Benazir (2021)
The story of Shaista, a young man who—newly married to Benazir and living in a camp for displaced persons in Kabul—struggles to balance his dreams of being the first from his tribe to join the Afghan National Army with the responsibilities of starting a family. Even as Shaista’s love for Benazir is palpable, the choices he must make to build a life with her have profound consequences.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLock-Up: The Prisoners of Rikers Island (1994)
If you're arrested in New York City and can't make bail, you'll be sent to Rikers Island -- a mammoth holding facility for 17,000 men and women awaiting trial. TV journalist Jon Alpert spent ten months filming there, coming away with a graphic and unblinking portrait of life inside America's largest jail complex, including a moving look at the human faces behind the statistics.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
ReMastered: The Miami Showband Massacre (2019)
Ambushed by Ulster loyalists, three members of the Miami Showband were killed in Northern Ireland in 1975. Was the crime linked to the government?
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Do Not Split (2020)
The story of the 2019 Hong Kong protests, told through a series of demonstrations by local protestors that escalate into conflict when highly armed police appear on the scene.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Valentine Road (2013)
On February 12, 2008, in Oxnard, California, eighth-grade student Brandon McInerney shot his classmate Larry King twice in the back of the head during first period. When Larry died two days later, his murder shocked the nation. Was this a hate crime, one perpetrated by a budding neo-Nazi whose masculinity was threatened by an effeminate gay kid who may have had a crush on him? Or was there even more to it?
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
77 Minutes (2016)
A documentary by Charlie Minn about the McDonalds Massacre from 1984, when a man walked into a McDonald's restaurant in San Diego armed with guns and shot 40 men, women, and children. It took law enforcement 77 minutes to end the siege. This documentary focuses on the victims of the attack and its effects.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Charm City (2018)
During three years of unparalleled violence in Baltimore, Charm City delivers an unexpectedly candid, observational portrait of those left on the frontlines. With grit, fury, and compassion, a group of police, citizens, and government officials grapple with the consequences of violence and try to reclaim their future.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
The Art of Political Murder (2020)
An investigation into the truth behind the murder of Guatemalan Bishop, Juan Gerardi, who was killed in 1998 just days after trying to hold the country's military accountable for the atrocities committed during its civil war.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
A 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 this35 Up (1991)
Director Michael Apted revisits the same group of British-born adults after a 7 year wait. The subjects are interviewed as to the changes that have occurred in their lives during the last seven years.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies 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 this21 Up (1977)
After another 7 year wait, director Michael Apted revisits the same group of British-born children from Seven Up! and 7 Plus Seven. The subjects are interviewed as to the changes that have occurred in their lives during the last seven years.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like 40 Years a Prisoner?
The closest matches to 40 Years a Prisoner are I Got A Monster (2023), True Conviction (2017) and Yusuf Hawkins: Storm Over Brooklyn (2020). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after 40 Years a Prisoner?
People who watched 40 Years a Prisoner most often go on to I Got A Monster (2023), True Conviction (2017) and Yusuf Hawkins: Storm Over Brooklyn (2020).
What is the newest movie like 40 Years a Prisoner?
A Toxic Love Story (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like 40 Years a Prisoner?
Yes: I Got A Monster (2023), True Conviction (2017) and Yusuf Hawkins: Storm Over Brooklyn (2020).
How are movies similar to 40 Years a Prisoner chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside 40 Years a Prisoner, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.