Movies like Purple Mountains (2020)
The best movies like Purple Mountains (2020) are 180° South (2010), An Inconvenient Truth (2006) and Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret (2014). If Purple Mountains hooked you with its documentary, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedStop Making Sense (1984)8.4/10 from 406 votes
- NewestFrance 2100, le pourquoi du comment (2026)Released 2026
180° South (2010)
The film follows adventurer Jeff Johnson as he retraces the epic 1968 journey of his heroes Yvon Chouinard and Doug Tompkins to Patagonia.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAn Inconvenient Truth (2006)
A documentary on Al Gore's campaign to make the issue of global warming a recognized problem worldwide.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret (2014)
Follow the shocking, yet humorous, journey of an aspiring environmentalist, as he daringly seeks to find the real solution to the most pressing environmental issues and true path to sustainability.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAn Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power (2017)
A decade after An Inconvenient Truth brought climate change into the heart of popular culture comes the riveting and rousing follow-up that shows just how close we are to a real energy revolution. Vice President Al Gore continues his tireless fight, traveling around the world training an army of climate champions and influencing international climate policy. Cameras follow him behind the scenes—in moments private and public, funny and poignant—as he pursues the empowering notion that while the stakes have never been higher, the perils of climate change can be overcome with human ingenuity and passion.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPrimary (1960)
Primary is a documentary film about the primary elections between John F. Kennedy and Hubert Humphrey in 1960. Primary is the first documentary to use light equipment in order to follow their subjects in a more intimate filmmaking style. This unconventional way of filming created a new look for documentary films where the camera’s lens was right in the middle of what ever drama was occurring. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with The Film Foundation in 1998.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Crash Reel (2013)
An escalating rivalry between snowboarder Kevin Pearce and his nemesis Shaun White in the run-up to the 2010 Olympics leaves Shaun on top of the Olympic podium and Kevin in a coma following a training accident in Park City, Utah. Kevin's tight-knit Vermont family flies to his side and helps him rebuild his life as a brain injury survivor. But when he insists he wants to return to the sport he still loves, his family intervenes. Will Kevin defy them and insist on pursuing his passion? How much risk is too much?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTread (2020)
Pushed to his breaking point, a master welder in a small town at the foot of the Rocky Mountains quietly fortifies a bulldozer with 30 tons of concrete and steel and seeks to destroy those he believes have wronged him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRacing Extinction (2015)
An unlikely team of activists and innovators hatches a bold mission to save endangered species.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStop Making Sense (1984)
A concert film documenting Talking Heads at the height of their popularity, on tour for their 1983 album "Speaking in Tongues." The band takes the stage one by one and is joined by a cadre of guest musicians for a career-spanning and cinematic performance that features creative choreography and visuals.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisEnd of the Century: The Story of the Ramones (2003)
A years-in-the-making documentary on the legendary punk band the Ramones. Through a mixture of archival footage, archival and new interviews with all members of the band's various lineups, and new interviews with a number of their contemporaries, the film traces the peaks and valleys the band experienced over the course of its 20-plus year career before disbanding in 1995.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCapital in the Twenty-First Century (2019)
Film adaptation of French economist Thomas Piketty's ground-breaking global bestseller of the same name: an eye-opening journey through wealth and power.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Biggest Little Farm (2019)
The successes and failures of a couple determined to live in harmony with nature on a farm outside of Los Angeles are lovingly chronicled by filmmaking farmer John Chester, in this inspiring documentary.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAir Force Elite: Thunderbirds (2025)
The elite pilots of the Air Force Thunderbirds display exceptional skill, trust and courage during a high-stakes training season.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Last Waltz (1978)
Martin Scorsese's documentary intertwines footage from The Band's incredible farewell tour with probing backstage interviews and featured performances by Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, Eric Clapton, and other rock legends.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOcean with David Attenborough (2025)
David Attenborough takes viewers on a breathtaking journey showing there is nowhere more vital for our survival, more full of life, wonder, or surprise, than the ocean. Through spectacular sequences featuring coral reefs, kelp forests and the open ocean, Attenborough shares why a healthy ocean keeps the entire planet stable and flourishing.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisNeil Young: Heart of Gold (2006)
In March 2005, Neil Young was diagnosed with a brain aneurysm. Four days before he was scheduled for a lifesaving operation, he headed to Nashville, where he wrote and recorded the country folk album Prairie Wind with old friends and family members. After the successful operation and recovery period, he returned to Nashville that August to play at the famed Ryman Auditorium, once again gathering together friends and family for this special performance.
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 thisEarth: One Amazing Day (2017)
An astonishing journey revealing the awesome power of the natural world. Over the course of one single day, we track the sun from the highest mountains to the remotest islands to exotic jungles.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKoyaanisqatsi (1983)
Takes us to locations all around the US and shows us the heavy toll that modern technology is having on humans and the earth. The visual tone poem contains neither dialogue nor a vocalized narration: its tone is set by the juxtaposition of images and the exceptional music by Philip Glass.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisEverest (1998)
An international team of climbers ascends Mt. Everest in the spring of 1996. The film depicts their lengthy preparations for the climb, their trek to the summit, and their successful return to Base Camp. It also shows many of the challenges the group faced, including avalanches, lack of oxygen, treacherous ice walls, and a deadly blizzard.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPresident (2019)
This documentary celebrates the life of former President Kim Dae-joong, who fought for democracy in South Korea and peace in the Korean Peninsula. It marks the 10th anniversary of his passing and covers his challenging journey, from his childhood on an island to his imprisonment, exile, near-death experiences, and ultimately becoming the president.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
France 2100, le pourquoi du comment (2026)
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
The Ants and the Grasshopper (2021)
Anita Chitaya has a gift: she can help bring abundant food from dead soil, she can make men fight for gender equality, and maybe she can end child hunger in her village. Now, to save her home in Malawi from extreme weather, she faces her greatest challenge: persuading Americans that climate change is real. Traveling from Malawi to California to the White House, she meets climate sceptics and despairing farmers. Her journey takes her across all the divisions that shape the USA: from the rural-urban divide, to schisms of race, class and gender, and to the American exceptionalism that remains a part of the culture. It will take all her skill and experience to help Americans recognise, and free themselves from, a logic that is already destroying the Earth.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing (2006)
Shut Up and Sing is a documentary about the country band from Texas called the Dixie Chicks and how one tiny comment against President Bush dropped their number one hit off the charts and caused fans to hate them, destroy their CD’s, and protest at their concerts. A film about freedom of speech gone out of control and the three girls lives that were forever changed by a small anti-Bush comment
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWarren Miller's Timeless (2019)
Kick off the season with Warren Miller’s Timeless, presented by Volkswagen, as we celebrate 70 years of ski cinematography and travel with top athletes across the globe to renowned mountain locations. Featuring ski legends like Glen Plake, alongside newcomers Caite Zeliff, Jaelin Kauf, and Baker Boyd. Road-trip with rippers from Arlberg to the Matterhorn, be immersed in the hometown hill of Eldora and discover a different side of Jackson Hole, plus much more.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
France, il était une fois demain (2026)
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Ainsi soit Macron (2017)
The meteoric path of Emmanuel Macron made him pass in three years of almost anonymity to the presidency of the Republic. Yet, even though the media have followed him every day during his campaign, no one really knows him. Politics has spoken, progressive, social and liberal at the same time, but man remains an enigma. Behind the official story-telling, what is the true personality of the one who is going to lead France? What are its strengths, its weaknesses? Thanks to unpublished images and exclusive testimonials, including that of his wife Brigitte, this film tells the pivotal moments of the new President's career and reveals the deep motivations that animate him. Investigation of a meteor become President.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Emmanuel Macron: Behind the Rise (2017)
Deputy General Secretary at the Elysée to candidate for the presidency of the Republic, the novice in politics went from the shadows to the light in a very short time. For 200 days, our cameras followed him behind the scenes of his campaign and his exceptional ascent. For eight months we were the only ones allowed to follow the candidate Emmanuel Macron with our camera behind the scenes of this exceptional campaign. From the announcement of his candidature until his election on May 7, we propose you an exclusive documentary allowing you to live from inside the campaign of Emmanuel Macron in the manner of a political thriller.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Patriot Game 2 - To Call a Deer a Horse (2019)
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Catch the Vapors (2007)
Standard Films spanned the globe this past winter documenting the best snowboarding in the greatest mountain ranges to catch the vapors. Witness pro snowboarders descend huge mountain peaks, drop endless pillows lines, boost off huge backcountry kickers, hit unique urban features and destroy custom resort parks. Catch the Vapors is the progression of All Terrain, Freestyle, All Mountain and Backcountry Snowboarding!
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Purple Mountains?
The closest matches to Purple Mountains are 180° South (2010), An Inconvenient Truth (2006) and Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret (2014). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Purple Mountains?
Start with 180° South (2010), the closest match to Purple Mountains.
What is the highest-rated movie like Purple Mountains?
Stop Making Sense (1984), rated 8.4/10 by 406 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Purple Mountains?
France 2100, le pourquoi du comment (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Purple Mountains?
Yes: 180° South (2010), An Inconvenient Truth (2006) and Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret (2014).
How are movies similar to Purple Mountains chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Purple Mountains, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.