Best movies like Bethune: The Making of a Hero
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
True story of Norman Bethune, a medical doctor who fought for justice in China during Mao's rise to power.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 407
Genere: Biography, Drama, Romance, War
Country: Canada, China, France
Duration: 168 min
Plot tags: realistic, thought provoking, serious, epic, exciting, suspense, independent film, tense, sincere, uplifting
Best tv shows and movies like Bethune: The Making of a Hero (1990):
Similar in 90%
Antonieta (1982)
Plot Summary:
Anna is a psychologist undertaking research about famous suicidal women. She takes a specific interest in the case of Antonieta Rivas Mercado, who killed herself in 1931 in the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 396
Genere: Biography, Drama, War
Country: France, Mexico, Spain
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 84%
The Puppetmaster (1993)
Plot Summary:
In the first half of this century, young Li Tienlu joins a travelling puppet theatre and subsequently makes a career as one of Taiwan's leading puppeteers.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Biography, Drama, War
Country: Taiwan
Duration: 142 min
Plot tags: realistic, thought provoking, serious, sincere, slow cinema, aesthetic, epic, contemplative, stylized, crying
Similar in 83%
Coup de grâce (1976)
Plot Summary:
A countess loves her brother's Prussian-officer friend in the 1919 Baltic area.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: France, West Germany
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: serious, stylized, realistic, bleak, philosophical, depressing, political, sad, art house, black and white
Similar in 89%
The White Countess (2005)
Plot Summary:
The last movie from the team of Ismail Merchant, James Ivory, and Kazuo Ishiguro. Set in 1930s Shanghai, "The White Countess" is both Sofia (Natasha Richardson), a fallen member of the Russian aristocracy, and a nightclub created by a blind American diplomat named Jackson (Ralph Fiennes), who asks Sofia to be the centerpiece of the world he wants to create.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama, History, Romance, War
Country: UK, Germany, China, USA
Duration: 135 min
Plot tags: romantic, sentimental, emotional, atmospheric, period piece, costume drama, touching, lyrical, romantic drama, sincere
Similar in 83%
Pavilion of Women (2001)
Plot Summary:
With World War 2 looming, a prominent family in China must confront the contrasting ideas of traditionalism, communism and Western thinking, while dealing with the most important ideal of all: love and its meaning in society.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Romance, War
Country: China, USA
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: emotional, serious, realistic, tense, crying, intercultural
Similar in 81%
Come See the Paradise (1990)
Plot Summary:
Come See The Paradise is a deeply touching love story set against the backdrop of a dramatic and controversial period in American history, It follows the romance and eventual marriage of Jack McGurn (Dennis Quad), a hot blooded Irish American, and a beautiful Japanese American Lily Dawanura (Tamlyn Tomita), at the outset of World War II. The clash of cultures, at once painful for the two lovers, becomes insurmountable after the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor. Lily and the Kawamuras are relocated To a bleak, outdoor internment camp in California, Jack is drafted into the Army, powerless to help the woman he loves abandoning all hope of ever winning her family's approval.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Romance, War
Country: USA
Duration: 138 min
Plot tags: emotional, sincere, thought provoking, serious, realistic, contemplative, crying, sentimental, romantic, clever
Similar in 85%
Christ Stopped at Eboli (1979)
Plot Summary:
In the fascist Italy of 1935, a painter trained as a doctor is exiled to a remote region near Eboli. Over time, he learns to appreciate the beauty and wisdom of the peasants, and to overcome his isolation.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy, France
Duration: 150 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, sincere, uplifting, touching, serious, realistic, intellectual, crying, feel good
Similar in 76%
Head in the Clouds (2004)
Plot Summary:
A romantic drama set in 1930's England, Paris, and Spain. Gilda Bessé shares her Paris apartment with an Irish schoolteacher, Guy Malyon, and Mia, a refugee from Spain. As the world drifts toward war, Gilda defiantly pursues her hedonistic lifestyle and her burgeoning career as a photographer. But Guy and Mia feel impelled to join the fight against fascism, and the three friends are separated.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 16000
Genere: Drama, Romance, War
Country: UK, Canada
Duration: 132 min
Plot tags: sexy, romantic, sentimental, captivating, stylized, cult classic, romantic drama, serious, emotional, realistic
Similar in 76%
Zelary (2003)
Plot Summary:
A nurse and her surgeon-lover are part of a resistance movement in 1940s Czechoslovakia. When they are discovered, her lover flees and she must find a place to hide. A patient whose life she saved, a man from a remote mountain village where time stopped 150 years ago, agrees to hide her as his wife.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Romance, War
Country: Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria
Duration: 150 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, realistic, sincere, contemplative, epic, mysterious, serious, sentimental, romantic
Similar in 78%
Safe Conduct (2002)
Plot Summary:
The film is about the French film industry from 1942 to 1944 during the Nazi occupation. The film focuses on assistant director and resistance fighter Jean Devaivre and screenwriter Jean Aurenche. Aurenche is on the move so that he doesn't have to write anything collaborationist. Devaivre is in dangerous political activity. Devaivre also works for the German production company Continental where he is respected. On the other hand, Aurenche's scriptwriting doesn't help how he lives and he is a womanizer which causes him to procrastinate.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: France, Germany, Spain
Duration: 170 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, emotional, suspenseful, uplifting, thought provoking, serious, realistic, contemplative, epic
Similar in 78%
Circle of Deceit (1981)
Plot Summary:
Georg Laschen leaves his family in West Germany to go work as a war correspondent in Beirut during the fights between Christians and Palestinians.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 948
Genere: Drama, War
Country: West Germany, France
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: political, sincere, rough, thought provoking, bleak, serious, realistic, disturbing
Similar in 85%
An Unforgettable Summer (1994)
Plot Summary:
In 1925 Romania, young Marie-Therese Von Debretsy refuses the flirtatious advances of her husband's commanding officer. As a result, the cosmopolitan family is reassigned to a brutally bleak and dangerous outpost on the Bulgarian/Romanian frontier where both their relationship and humanity are severely tested.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Romance, War
Country: Romania, France
Duration: 82 min
Plot tags: meditative, light, atmospheric, melancholic, talky, serious, realistic, costume drama, bleak, romantic
Similar in 86%
Good (2008)
Plot Summary:
The rise of national socialism in Germany should not be regarded as a conspiracy of madmen. Millions of "good" people found themselves in a society spiralling into terrible chaos. A film about then, which illuminates the terrors of now.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Drama, Romance, War
Country: UK, Germany
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, disturbing, captivating, christian film, retro, political, sad, period piece, romantic drama
Similar in 87%
Path to War (2002)
Plot Summary:
From director John Frankenheimer ('The Manchurian Candidate') comes this powerful drama of soaring ambition and shattered dreams that takes a provocative insider's look at the way our country goes to war--as seen from inside the LBJ White House leading up to and during Vietnam.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Biography, Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 165 min
Plot tags: political, tense, serious, realistic, non fiction, cult classic, cult film, political drama
Similar in 87%
Haven (2001)
Plot Summary:
This is the true story of a woman named Ruth Gruber who travels to Europe to help escort 1000 Jewish War victims to the United States. She comes to love and feel sorry for them all, and fights for their rights to live in America.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 514
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 180 min
Plot tags: emotional, sincere, disturbing, serious, captivating, realistic, crying, uplifting
Similar in 86%
Perlasca: The Courage of a Just Man (2002)
Plot Summary:
It is the real story of Giorgio Perlasca (Luca Zingaretti). During the 1920s he was an Italian Fascist supporter, fighting in Africa an in the Spanish civil war where he deserved a safe conduct for Spanish embassies. After some years, disillusioned by fascism, he is a fresh supplier for the Italian army. In the war years he is in Budapest for his business. He lives an easy life there, well introduced into the Hungarian high society, without any problem coming from the war situation. When the Nazi occupied Hungary, in 1944, instead to leave (Italy had already surrendered to the Allies) he escaped to the Spanish embassy in Budapest using his old safe conduct and becoming a Spanish citizen, changing name into Jorge Perlasca. He starts working as a diplomat here. When Sanz Briz (Geza Tordy), the Spanish consul, is removed, Perlasca immediately substitutes him, like if he was officially appointed from Spanish authorities... Written by 1felco.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 540
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: Italy, France, Sweden, Hungary
Duration: 197 min
Plot tags: disturbing, uplifting, serious, emotional, captivating, realistic, epic
Similar in 89%
Hamsun (1996)
Plot Summary:
Knut Hamsun is Norway's most famous and admired author. Ever since he was young he has hated the English for the starvation they caused Norway during WWI. When the Germans occupy Norway 9 April 1940 he welcomes them and the protection they can give from Great Britain. He supports the national socialist ideals, but opposes the way these ideals are turned into action - that Norwegians are jailed and executed. His wife Marie travels in Germany during the war as a sign of support from Knut and herself.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Biography, Drama, War
Country: Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Germany
Duration: 159 min
Plot tags: sad, sincere, uplifting, serious, emotional, realistic, contemplative, talky, period drama
Similar in 75%
The Passion of Ayn Rand (1999)
Plot Summary:
The rather eccentric (especially in her thinking) author of "The Fountainhead" and "Atlas Shrugged" becomes involved with a much younger, and married man... to the dismay of those close to her.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Romance
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: political, independent film, sentimental, touching, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, sexual, intellectual
Similar in 82%
Che Guevara (2005)
Plot Summary:
When he is captured in Bolivia, the "Che" is conducted to prission, when he remembers his life facts, the revolution and the women.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 726
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, Romance, War
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: captivating, realistic, disturbing, serious, contemplative, crying, uplifting
Similar in 80%
The Soul Keeper (2002)
Plot Summary:
In the present days, Maria Spielrein and Fraser are in Russia making a research about the life of Sabina Spielrein. In the beginning of the Twentieth Century, this Russian girl was a patient treated by Dr. Jung and later they fall in love for each other and Sabina became his lover. While the researchers read the documents, the romance between Sabina and Dr. Jung is disclosed, in a time of revolution and war.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Romance, War
Country: Italy, France, UK
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: psychological, touching, serious, captivating, sexual, neurotic, erotic, spiritual, art house, epic
Similar in 90%
Talk of Angels (1998)
Plot Summary:
This is the story of a young Irish woman who comes to Spain to escape from the pressures she feels about her impending marriage to a political activist in Ireland. But in Spain in the 1930's, taking a job of governess in a wealthy family, she finds the same kinds of political unrest. In fact, it isn't long before she finds herself attracted to a married man who is similarly involved in the struggle against fascism and Franco. This awakens her to her nature that brings her to such men and resolves for her what she must do about the life she left in Ireland.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 893
Genere: Drama, Romance, War
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, sentimental, disturbing, independent film
Similar in 80%
To Live (1994)
Plot Summary:
Fugui and Jiazhen endure tumultuous events in China as their personal fortunes move from wealthy landownership to peasantry.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 20000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Hong Kong, China
Duration: 133 min
Plot tags: epic, family saga, sad, touching, emotional, sincere, depressing, independent film, mind blowing, tense
Similar in 78%
Good Evening, Mr. Wallenberg (1990)
Plot Summary:
Swedish account of Raoul Wallenberg, the man responsible for the largest rescue of Jews during World War II.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Biography, Drama, War
Country: Sweden, Hungary
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: uplifting, thought provoking, bleak, serious, emotional, realistic, contemplative, crying
Similar in 79%
The Truce (1997)
Plot Summary:
Although liberated from Auschwitz on January 27, 1945, Levi did not reach Turin until October 19 of that year. After spending some time in a Soviet camp for former concentration camp inmates, he embarked on an arduous journey home in the company of Italian former prisoners of war from the Italian Army in Russia. His long railway journey home to Turin took him on a circuitous route from Poland, through Russia, Romania, Hungary, Austria and Germany.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: sincere, historical drama, uplifting, bleak, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 89%
The Last Station (2009)
Plot Summary:
A historical drama that illustrates Russian author Leo Tolstoy's struggle to balance fame and wealth with his commitment to a life devoid of material things. The Countess Sofya, wife and muse to Leo Tolstoy, uses every trick of seduction on her husband's loyal disciple, whom she believes was the person responsible for Tolstoy signing a new will that leaves his work and property to the Russian people.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 19000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Romance
Country: Germany, UK, Russia
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: sentimental, emotional, factual, period piece, touching, melancholic, serious, costume drama, sexy, sweet
Similar in 88%
Steal This Movie (2000)
Plot Summary:
Five years after Yippie founder Abbie Hoffman goes underground to avoid a drug-related prison sentence, he contacts a reporter to get out the story of the FBI's covert spying, harassment and inciting of violence they then blame on the Left.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: melancholic, talky, stylized, serious, captivating, sincere, realistic, suspenseful, independent film, contemplative
Similar in 86%
John Rabe (2009)
Plot Summary:
A true-story account of a German businessman who saved more than 200,000 Chinese during the Nanjing massacre in 1937-38.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: France, China, Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain
Duration: 134 min
Plot tags: tense, realistic, disturbing, bleak, serious, uplifting, epic, edutainment, emotional, contemplative
Similar in 87%
The Quiet American (2002)
Plot Summary:
A stylish political thriller where love and war collide in Southeast Asia. Set in early 1950s Vietnam, a young American becomes entangled in a dangerous love triangle when he falls for the beautiful mistress of a British journalist. As war is waged around them, these three only sink deeper into a world of drugs, passion, and betrayal where nothing is as it seems.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 29000
Genere: Drama, Romance, Thriller, War
Country: UK, Germany, USA, Vietnam, Australia, France, Canada, New Zealand
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: realistic, political, atmospheric, talky, intense, thought provoking, serious, period piece, political thriller, sincere
Similar in 78%
Warm Springs (2005)
Plot Summary:
Franklin Roosevelt, left a paraplegic from polio at 39 years of age, seeks out a miracle cure in the backwoods of Georgia.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 121 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, uplifting, realistic, political, captivating, historical drama, historically accurate, touching, serious
Similar in 90%
The Last Sentence (2012)
Plot Summary:
Renowned journalist Torgny Segerstedt declares war against Hitler as he criticizes Swedish politicians who tried to look away from the tyranny of the Nazis with the good excuse of “neutralism”. His only weapon is his pen and his life is full of gossip such as an affair with his boss’ wife, a love scandal with a secretary younger than his daughter, and the suicide of his wife. However, he continues to fight a one man battle against Hitler and the Nazi regime until his death, throwing the question “Can one person really change history?” to the audience.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 839
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: Sweden, Norway
Duration: 126 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, touching, serious, uplifting, bleak, realistic, gloomy, period drama