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Movies like The Spirit That Wins (1918)

The best movies like The Spirit That Wins (1918) are Won't Back Down (2012), Eleanor the Great (2025) and All Together Now (2020). If The Spirit That Wins hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.

Quick picks

  1. Won't Back Down (2012)

    Jamie Fitzpatrick and Nona Alberts are two women from opposites sides of the social and economic track, but they have one thing in common: a mission to fix their community's broken school and ensure a bright future for their children. The two women refuse to let any obstacles stand in their way as they battle a bureaucracy that's hopelessly mired in traditional thinking, and they seek to re-energize a faculty that has lost its passion for teaching.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  2. Eleanor the Great (2025)

    94-year-old Eleanor Morgenstein tries to rebuild her life after the death of her best friend. As a result, she moves back to New York City after living in Florida for decades.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  3. All Together Now (2020)

    An optimistic, talented teen clings to a huge secret: she's homeless and living on a school bus. When tragedy strikes, can she learn to accept a helping hand?

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  4. Ice Castles (2010)

    Young, beautiful, talented Alexis Winston comes from nowhere to become a figure skating superstar. But her rise to stardom isn’t easy. She has to push herself, reinvent herself, and most painfully of all, leave her hometown boyfriend behind. When a tragic fall leaves her blind, she needs someone to believe in her, to love her; someone to convince her she has the strength to skate and dream again.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  5. The River (1984)

    Tom and Mae Garvey are a Tennessee farming couple battling violent floods to save their land. In addition to natural disasters, the Garveys fight to stop a selfish land developer and a local corporation from foreclosing on their farm. While Mae stays at home to care for their children and tend to the crops, Tom finds work as a scab at a steel mill to preserve his family's property.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  6. Hungry Hearts (2015)

    The relationship of a couple who meet by chance in New York City is put to the test when they encounter a life or death circumstance.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  7. Edie (2018)

    To try and overcome a lifetime of bitterness and resentment, 83-year-old Edie decides that it is never too late. After packing an old camping bag, she leaves her life behind and embarks on an adventure she never got to have... climbing the imposing Mount Suilven in Scotland.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  8. Omaha (2025)

    A young girl and her brother are awoken by their father and loaded into the car on an early morning in 2008. As they road trip across the American West, she discovers the truth about their seemingly spontaneous journey.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  9. A Corner in Wheat (1909)

    On a whim, a greedy tycoon decides to corner the world market in wheat. This doubles the price of bread, forcing grain producers into charity lines and others further into poverty. The film contrasts the differences between the lives of those who work to grow the wheat and the life of the man who dabbles in its sale for profit.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  10. Brand Upon the Brain! (2007)

    After returning home to his long-estranged mother upon a request from her deathbed, a man raised by his parents in an orphanage has to confront the childhood memories that have long haunted him.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  11. Sound of Christmas (2016)

    Lizzie is a young piano teacher working at a music school while trying to save enough money for a Steinway piano. The school is gearing up for their major Christmas fundraiser and she has committed much of her time to plan the event. One afternoon, she meets Brad who takes an interest in her playing and asks if she will teach his uninterested teenage daughter. She begins to break through to the young girl, and sparks begin to fly with Brad, but she is shocked to find out that his interest is not solely in her playing, but in the property that houses the music school. She sets out to save the school and the event, but can she work things out with Brad?

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  12. The Last Rifleman (2023)

    A WWII veteran escapes his care home in Northern Ireland and embarks on an arduous but inspirational journey to France to attend the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings, finding the courage to face the ghosts of his past.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  13. Battleground (1949)

    Members of the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division are fighting for their country amidst the rugged terrain of Bastogne, Belgium, in December 1944. Holley and his American compatriots have already seen one of their own, Roderigues, perish under enemy fire. The men try to rebuff another series of Nazi attacks, but what they really need is a change in the weather. Without clear skies, they'll never get the air support they need.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  14. Where the Red Fern Grows (1974)

    Billy Coleman works hard and saves his earnings for two years to achieve his dream of buying two red-bone coonhound pups. He develops a new trust in life as he faces overwhelming challenges in adventure and tragedy roaming the river bottoms of Cherokee country with his dogs, Old Dan and Little Ann.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  15. Return (2011)

    Back from a tour of duty, Kelli struggles to find her place in her family and the rust-belt town she no longer recognizes.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  16. Lady Driver (2020)

    When a rebellious teen embarks on a solo summer journey to connect with her roots, she finds herself in a new world, geared up for the ride of her life, and discovers she had the drive in her all along.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  17. Outside In (2018)

    An ex-con struggling to readjust to life in his small town forms an intense bond with his former high-school teacher.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  18. Good Day, Ramon (2013)

    After five failed attempts to go to the United States, 18-year-old Ramón decides to look for a friend’s aunt in Germany, but never finds her. With no papers or money, and without knowing the language, he barely survives living on the street until he meets Ruth, an old retired nurse who doesn’t speak Spanish. Beyond language barriers and prejudices, they discover that solidarity and humanity make life bearable.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  19. The Christmas Shoes (2002)

    Two separate stories mesh - in the first, a young music teacher, Maggie Andrews, begins dying of a heart condition and her son Nathan tries to get a pair of Christmas shoes for her before she dies. In the second, lawyer Robert Layton and his wife Kate are slowly drifting apart and the matter comes to a head during Christmas when Kate takes over for Maggie for the school choir.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  20. Little Lord Fauntleroy (1980)

    Young Cedric Errol and his widowed mother live in genteel poverty in 1880s Brooklyn after the death of his father. Cedric's grandfather, the Earl of Dorincourt, has long ago disowned his son for marrying an American. But after the death of the Earl's remaining son, he decides to accept Cedric as his heir.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  21. The Third Ingredient (1917)

    Hetty Pepper (a discharged department store worker) and Cecilie (a starving miniature-painter) try to make a beef and potato stew in a low-rent New York apartment building. While they have the meat and the potatoes, they desperately need an onion to tie the meal together—which serves as a metaphor for the human connection and grace needed to complete their lives.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  22. The Case of Lena Smith (1929)

    A peasant girl goes to great lengths to protect her child in 19th century Vienna. The film is considered lost, and only four minutes of footage are known to remain.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  23. The Poetic Justice of Omar Khan (1915)

    Betrayal and duplicity in the deserts of the Pasha before a happy resolution.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  24. Today and Tomorrow (1912)

    Today and Tomorrow (Hungarian: Ma és holnap) is a 1912 film directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Gyula Abonyi and Jenőné Veszprémy.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  25. The Scuttlers (1920)

    The Scuttlers is a lost 1920 American silent drama film produced and distributed by the Fox Film Corporation and directed by J. Gordon Edwards. William Farnum and Jackie Saunders star in this adventure.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  26. Freckles (1917)

    Freckles, a one-armed orphan tired of being tormented by others runs away eventually finding a place as a watchman in the timber camp, The Limberlost. He falls in love with Angel but feeling unworthy of her keeps his feelings silent until a near catastrophic incident reveals the bond between them.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  27. The Men of Zanzibar (1922)

    The American consul in Zanzibar is informed that a fugitive American has just reached the African coast, and becomes suspicious of a newly arrived man from Boston, Massachusetts.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  28. The Debt Repaid (1910)

    "Swift Arrow, a lithe and willowy Indian, leaving the encampment of his fellow braves, is well on his journey when he is thrown from his horse and receives a broken leg and injuries from which he is disabled and lies helpless and alone." -Moving Picture World Synopsis excerpt

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  29. Uncle Jim (1910)

    Bill and Jim are lifelong friends in love with Nellie, who marries Bill. After they have a daughter, Bill and his father-in-law tragically die in a mining accident. Six years later, Nellie is a hardworking widow, and Jim remains a devoted family friend. When their daughter falls down a cliff, Jim heroically rescues her. While the child recovers, Jim proposes to Nellie. Urged by her daughter, Nellie accepts, making Jim the protector of his late pal’s family.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  30. His Sergeant's Stripes (1910)

    A young corporal in the United States Cavalry in the Black Hills is very much in love with a young ranchman's daughter who lives near the military barracks. He asks her to marry him and she promises to do so when he has won his third stripe, making him sergeant. It is not long before he receives an assignment from his superior officer to carry an important dispatch to the commanding general at Fort Darrow. In the successful fulfillment of his mission he would be promoted to the office of sergeant, secure his third stripe and his girl.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

Like The Spirit That Wins and something else?

Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.

Frequently asked questions

What are the best movies like The Spirit That Wins?

The closest matches to The Spirit That Wins are Won't Back Down (2012), Eleanor the Great (2025) and All Together Now (2020). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.

What should I watch after The Spirit That Wins?

Start with Won't Back Down (2012), the closest match to The Spirit That Wins.

What is the highest-rated movie like The Spirit That Wins?

Little Lord Fauntleroy (1980), rated 7.3/10 by 326 TMDB users.

What is the newest movie like The Spirit That Wins?

Omaha (2025) is the most recent release on this list.

Are there English movies like The Spirit That Wins?

Yes: Won't Back Down (2012), Eleanor the Great (2025) and All Together Now (2020).

How are movies similar to The Spirit That Wins chosen?

First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Spirit That Wins, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.

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