Movies like 25 Years of Innocence (2020)
The best movies like 25 Years of Innocence (2020) are Irena's Vow (2024), Maze (2017) and A Short Film About Killing (1988). If 25 Years of Innocence hooked you with its drama and history, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Lion King (1994)8.3/10 from 20,403 votes
- NewestNational Theatre Live: Nye (2024)Released 2024
Irena's Vow (2024)
19 year old Irena Gut is promoted to housekeeper in the home of a highly respected Nazi officer in Poland when she finds out that the Jewish ghetto is about to be liquidated. Determined to help twelve Jewish workers, she decides to shelter them in the safest place she can think of – the basement of the German Major's house. Over the next eight months, Irena uses her wit, humour and immense courage to hide her friends as long as possible.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMaze (2017)
Inspired by the true events of the infamous 1983 prison breakout of 38 IRA prisoners from HMP Maze, which was to become the biggest prison escape in Europe since World War II.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
SnoozefestMovies like thisA Short Film About Killing (1988)
Jacek climbs into the taxi driven by Waldemar, tells him to drive to a remote location, then brutally strangles him, seemingly without motive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisReturn to Sender (2015)
A nurse mistakes a stranger who pays her a visit for her blind date and soon, the man rapes her and turns her life upside down. The woman works to reclaim her life and exact revenge on her assailant after he's paroled from prison.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisExtremities (1986)
A woman escapes from the man who is about to rape her, but leaves her purse behind. Afraid that her attacker might come after her, she goes to the police, but with no proof of the incident, they can do nothing. In fact, the man does use the information in her bag and comes to her apartment with the intent of rape, but she sprays him in the face with insect repellent, and then holds him captive. She is then faced with deciding whether to go to the police who might not believe her and release him, or to kill him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMidnight Express (1978)
Billy Hayes is caught attempting to smuggle drugs out of a country. The courts decide to make an example of him, sentencing him to more than 30 years in prison. Hayes has two opportunities for release: the appeals made by his lawyer, his family, and the American government, or the "Midnight Express".
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCaged (1950)
A single mistake puts a 19-year old girl behind bars, where she experiences the terrors and torments of women in prison.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCape Fear (1991)
Sam Bowden is a small-town corporate attorney. Max Cady is a tattooed, cigar-smoking, Bible-quoting, psychotic rapist. What do they have in common? 14 years ago, Sam was a public defender assigned to Max Cady's rape trial, and he made a serious error: he hid a document from his illiterate client that could have gotten him acquitted. Now, the cagey Cady has been released, and he intends to teach Sam Bowden and his family a thing or two about loss.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Woodsman (2004)
After twelve years in prison, Walter returns home. His family has abandoned him, save for his brother-in-law. Few know he's a sex offender and pedophile. Walter finds an apartment and is regularly visited by his parole officer. He gets a job at a lumber mill and starts seeing a coworker. Then his new world begins to unravel; as his past becomes known, he strikes up a high-risk friendship with a young girl and realizes that a man loitering near a schoolyard is a child molester prowling for his next victim.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBorn Innocent (1976)
A constant runaway is given over to the care of the state and finds herself in a remand centre for girls. She is soon caught between the uncaring bureaucracy, the sometimes brutal treatment from her peers and her own abusive family, and only one care worker sees her potential to rise above her tragic circumstances.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisShort Eyes (1977)
A young man who is charged with child molestation is placed in New York City’s infamous Tombs prison. When the other inmates in his cell block find out what he is charged with, life becomes extremely difficult for him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKiller: A Journal of Murder (1996)
Carl Panzram is sent to Leavenworth Prison for burglary. While there, he is brutally beaten by a guard. Neophyte guard Henry Lesser feels sympathy for Panzram, befriends him, and gets him to write his life story. Lesser learns that Panzram's past is much more violent than he thought, but also that he's capable of being a much better person than the rest of the prison staff believes - or so Lesser thinks.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisBullet (1996)
A tough, Jewish ex-con just released from prison crosses a powerful drug dealer and former prison rival in his return to a life of crime.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Unforgivable (2021)
A woman is released from prison after serving a sentence for a violent crime and re-enters a society that refuses to forgive her past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGirl in the Bunker (2018)
When Elizabeth is abducted by a fugitive sexual predator, she realizes she must take matters into her own hands and plot her escape. Based on a true story.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisUndisputed III: Redemption (2010)
Russian inmate Boyka, now severely hobbled by the knee injury suffered at the end of Undisputed 2. No longer the feared prison fighter he was, he has declined so far that he is now good only for cleaning toilets. But when a new prison fight tournament begins - an international affair, matching the best fighters from prisons around the globe, enticing them with the promise of freedom for the winner - Boyka must reclaim his dignity and fight for his position in the tournament.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFive Corners (1987)
A psychotic young man returns to his old neighborhood after release from prison. He seeks out the woman he previously tried to rape and the man who protected her, with twisted ideas of love for her and hate for him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisInterrogation (1989)
In Stalinist Poland, cabaret singer Tonia decides to spend the evening drinking with a group of friends. The next morning, she awakes to find that, for reasons unknown to her, she has been jailed as a political prisoner. As prison officials interrogate, torture and humiliate her, she fights for survival and to maintain her innocence by refusing to sign a false confession. As her years of imprisonment pass, her relationship with her captors grows more complicated.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Big House (1930)
Convicted of manslaughter for a drunken driving accident, Kent Marlowe is sent to prison, where he meets vicious incarcerated figures who are planning an escape from the brutal conditions.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCool Hand Luke (1967)
When petty criminal Luke Jackson is sentenced to two years in a Florida prison farm, he doesn't play by the rules of either the sadistic warden or the yard's resident heavy, Dragline, who ends up admiring the new guy's unbreakable will. Luke's bravado, even in the face of repeated stints in the prison's dreaded solitary confinement cell, "the box," make him a rebel hero to his fellow convicts and a thorn in the side of the prison officers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisShooting Dogs (2006)
Two westerners, a priest and a teacher find themselves in the middle of the Rwandan genocide and face a moral dilemna. Do they place themselves in danger and protect the refugees, or escape the country with their lives? Based on a true story.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisK-19: The Widowmaker (2002)
When Russia's first nuclear submarine malfunctions on its maiden voyage, the crew must race to save the ship and prevent a nuclear disaster.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both history & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNational Theatre Live: Nye (2024)
Confronted with death, National Health Service founder Aneurin 'Nye' Bevan's deepest memories lead him on a mind-bending journey back through his life; from childhood to mining underground, Parliament and fights with Winston Churchill.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both history & drama
Vier Tage Toskana (2008)
Because the late Berlin artist Dorn failed to pay his taxes or inform the family for years, his widow Erika and daughters must urgently sell the splendid estate in Tuscany they hardly visited since his death anyhow. Eldest daughter Valerie, junior partner in fiancé Andreas Imdahl's rising architects firm, travels ahead to negotiate with the suitable candidate Robert Beck, a fellow German, who agreed trough mayor-publican Fredo to keep on caretaker Antonio 'Toni' Gianni. By the time Andreas arrives, he finds Viviane unfaithful with her study lover Stefan Korten, but is interested by Toni's daughter. Second daughter Susi and her fellow arts student fiancé Bruno Tomasi have several announcements. Mother arrives stating she decided to sell the Cologne home instead, but Robert offers an alternative. Written by KGF Vissers
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Devil in a Blue Dress (1995)
In late 1940s Los Angeles, Easy Rawlins is an unemployed black World War II veteran with few job prospects. At a bar, Easy meets DeWitt Albright, a mysterious white man looking for someone to investigate the disappearance of a missing white woman named Daphne Monet, who he suspects is hiding out in one of the city's black jazz clubs. Strapped for money and facing house payments, Easy takes the job, but soon finds himself in over his head.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLittle Voice (1998)
After the death of her father, Little Voice or LV becomes a virtual recluse, never going out and hardly ever saying a word. She just sits in her bedroom listening to her father's collection of old records of Shirley Bassey, Marilyn Monroe and various other famous female singers. But at night time, LV sings, imitating these great singers with surprising accuracy. One night she is overheard by one of her mother's boyfriends, who happens to be a talent agent. He manages to convince her that her talent is special and arranges for her to perform at the local night club, but several problems arise.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Lion King (1994)
Young lion prince Simba, eager to one day become king of the Pride Lands, grows up under the watchful eye of his father Mufasa; all the while his villainous uncle Scar conspires to take the throne for himself. Amid betrayal and tragedy, Simba must confront his past and find his rightful place in the Circle of Life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005)
When a young girl called Emily Rose dies, everyone puts blame on the exorcism which was performed on her by Father Moore prior to her death. The priest is arrested on suspicion of murder. The trial begins with lawyer Erin Bruner representing Moore, but it is not going to be easy, as no one wants to believe what Father Moore says is true.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMonsieur Hawarden (1968)
A woman disguises herself as a man to avoid prosecution for murdering her lover fifteen years ago. She is the last living member of a wealthy Vienna family, and has spent the years after the murder traveling Europe with her female servant. Her travels provide her with an anonymous cloak that allows her freedom of movement but little peace of mind. Nearing middle age, the guilt and weariness of an empty life has her contemplating suicide as the only way out of her dilemma.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
En Route (2004)
A slightly sinister but charming young man falls in with a young mother and daughter and her boyfriend on a camping holiday and leads them astray.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like 25 Years of Innocence?
The closest matches to 25 Years of Innocence are Irena's Vow (2024), Maze (2017) and A Short Film About Killing (1988). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after 25 Years of Innocence?
Start with Irena's Vow (2024), the closest match to 25 Years of Innocence.
What is the highest-rated movie like 25 Years of Innocence?
The Lion King (1994), rated 8.3/10 by 20,403 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like 25 Years of Innocence?
National Theatre Live: Nye (2024) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to 25 Years of Innocence chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside 25 Years of Innocence, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.