Best movies like Black Shack Alley
Last updated March 2024
Looking for movies related to Black Shack Alley? Leverage your knowledge to navigate others toward movies and tv series you've watched previously that may also preoccupy them. Support increasing the cohort of people bringing up videos among each other. We appreciate your contribution!
Plot Summary:
Martinique, in the early 1930s. Young José and his grandmother live in a small village. Nearly everyone works cutting cane and barely earning a living. The overseer can fine a worker for the smallest infraction. The way to advance is to do well in school. José studies hard and succeeds in an exam allowing him to attend school in the capital. With only a partial scholarship, the tuition is very costly. José and his grandmother move to Fort-de-France to make José's studies easier.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: France, Martinique
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic
![blank](http://wpfc.ml/b.gif)
Best tv shows and movies like Black Shack Alley (1983):
Similar in 79%
No and Me (2010)
Plot Summary:
At thirteen-years-old, with an unusually high IQ and a knack for observing things about other people, Lou Bertignac is not only the youngest in her class at school; she is also the most unusual. Painfully shy, she has few friends, save for Lucas, whose company helps her get through each day. At home, Lou's life is also difficult: Her mother hasn't left the house in years and her father spends his days crying in the bathroom. Lou's world is dark and sad... That is, until she meets No.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 523
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, teen, feel good
Similar in 79%
Morning Dew (2008)
Plot Summary:
The Ethiopian intellectual Anberber returns to his native country during the repressive totalitarian regime of Haile Mariam Mengistu and the recognition of his own displacement and powerlessness at the dissolution of his people's humanity and social values. After several years spent studying medicine in Germany, he finds the country of his youth replaced by turmoil. His dream of using his craft to improve the health of Ethiopians is squashed by a military junta that uses scientists for its own political ends. Seeking the comfort of his countryside home, Anberber finds no refuge from violence. The solace that the memories of his youth provide is quickly replaced by the competing forces of military and rebelling factions. Anberber needs to decide whether he wants to bear the strain or piece together a life from the fragments that lie around him.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 612
Genere: Drama
Country: Ethiopia, Germany, France
Duration: 140 min
Plot tags: captivating, serious, realistic, rough
Similar in 75%
My Friend Victoria (2014)
Plot Summary:
Aged eight, Victoria spends a night in the home of a wealthy white family; years later, she encounters them again and her life is changed forever.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 347
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Belgium
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, emotional, realistic
Similar in 86%
The Climb (1997)
Plot Summary:
Baltimore, 1959. Danny's dad is the only man in the neighborhood who didn't fight in World War II. Danny, who's 12, gets teased and folks make nasty cracks about cowards. An old radio tower on a nearby hill is about to be torn down, and Danny decides to climb it to prove his courage. Help comes from an aging neighbor, Old Man Langer, a former construction foreman who's dying of cancer and wants Danny to help him commit suicide. Langer rigs pulleys and weights to help the lad make the climb. Meanwhile, an aggressive and angry neighbor (an army vet) regularly gets drunk and shoots off his rifle, and Danny's dad must confront him. It all comes to a head one stormy night.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 422
Genere: Drama
Country: France, New Zealand, Canada
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: uplifting, touching, serious, realistic, independent film
![blank](http://wpfc.ml/b.gif)
Similar in 76%
Bad Seeds (2012)
Plot Summary:
Quiet 16-year-old Louis, the high school headmaster’s son, has never been in trouble. His best friend, 18-year-old Greg, however, is his polar opposite: provocative, angry, violent, he has been kicked out of school for physically threatening young English teacher Camille. When Greg asks Louis to help him take revenge on Camille, Louis accepts, fascinated.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 238
Genere: Drama
Country: Luxembourg, Belgium, France
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: realistic, suspenseful, tense, serious
Similar in 89%
Marvin & Tige (1983)
Plot Summary:
Marvin, a heavy-drinking widower meets Tige, an 11-year-old orphan. With nowhere else to go, Tige moves in with Marvin and they develop a close friendship. Marvin wants to adopt Tige but knows that he is too poor to give him a good home. Then he discovers who Tige's father is a rich suburbanite who doesn't even know Tige exists. Should Marvin, and can he, give up the boy he loves, and who loves him, in favor of a stranger with the right genes and bank balance?.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 238
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: independent film, psychological, sincere, touching, serious, emotional, realistic
Similar in 83%
Mondo (1995)
Plot Summary:
Mondo is a homeless young boy, with a big smile, who wanders around Nice looking for food and a place to sleep.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 610
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags: touching, feel good, serious, realistic
![blank](http://wpfc.ml/b.gif)
Similar in 90%
King of the Hill (1993)
Plot Summary:
Based on the Depression-era bildungsroman memoir of writer A. E. Hotchner, the film follows the story of a boy struggling to survive on his own in a hotel in St. Louis after his mother is committed to a sanatorium with tuberculosis. His father, a German immigrant and traveling salesman working for the Hamilton Watch Company, is off on long trips from which the boy cannot be certain he will return.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: touching, realistic, heartbreaking, serious, depressing, sentimental, atmospheric, sad, grim, mind twisting
Similar in 80%
Life, Above All (2010)
Plot Summary:
A touching mother-daughter relationship that reflects the modern South Africa.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: South Africa, Germany
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: touching, sincere, serious, emotional, psychological, realistic
Similar in 80%
Bad Hair (2013)
Plot Summary:
A nine-year-old boy’s preening obsession with straightening his hair elicits a tidal wave of homophobic panic in his hard-working mother, in this tender but clear-eyed coming-of-age tale.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Venezuela, Peru, Argentina, Germany
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, emotional, realistic, political, hispanic
Similar in 80%
The Price of Sugar (2013)
Plot Summary:
A story about two half-sisters life in the eighteenth century Suriname. There is Lynda, a white colonial and slave owner, and her slave Mini-Mini's. While Lynda is slowly embittered by the hard life in the colony, Mini-Mini gets a chance at her own happiness. The question is, if she dares to seize that chance, as this happiness is at the expense of her mistress and half sister?.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Netherlands, Germany, South Africa
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: touching, captivating, serious, realistic
Similar in 83%
Little Men (1998)
Plot Summary:
In this adaptation of the classic novel by Louisa May Alcott, two street kids from Boston find themselves at Plumfield, a rural boarding school run by Jo and her husband -- and they soon learn academic and life lessons they won't ever forget.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 615
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: juvenile, independent film, sentimental, uplifting, touching, feel good, serious, realistic, romantic, clever
![blank](http://wpfc.ml/b.gif)
Similar in 85%
The Rocket (2013)
Plot Summary:
Set against the lush backdrop of rural Laos, this spirited drama tells the story of scrappy ten-year-old Ahlo, who yearns to break free from his ill-fated destiny. After his village is displaced to make way for a massive dam, Ahlo escapes with his father and grandmother through the Laotian outback in search of a new home. Along the way, they come across a rocket festival that offers Ahlo a lucrative but dangerous chance to prove his worth.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: Australia, Thailand, Laos
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: captivating, realistic, sincere, touching, serious
Similar in 75%
David Copperfield (2000)
Plot Summary:
An orphan with a rough childhood becomes a barrister.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Ireland, USA
Duration: 180 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, captivating, costume drama, juvenile, period drama
![blank](http://wpfc.ml/b.gif)
Similar in 88%
The Boys of Paul Street (1968)
Plot Summary:
In Budapest, two rival gangs of young boys lay claim to a vacant lot. The hostilities escalate yet never quite boil over into actual violence. Just when things do get out of hand, however, the problem is "solved" by the city government, which takes over the lot for future development.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: Hungary, USA
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, sentimental, serious, realistic
![blank](http://wpfc.ml/b.gif)
Similar in 77%
Stella (2008)
Plot Summary:
1977. Stella entre en sixième, dans un grand lycée parisien. Stella entre dans le monde... Un nouveau monde, à l'opposé de celui qu'elle connaît. Presque un miracle. Elle, elle vit dans un café, un café d'ouvrier, à la frontière de Paris. Cette rentrée va changer sa vie.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: sentimental, semi serious, touching, humorous, realistic, teen
Similar in 89%
Amy & Isabelle (2001)
Plot Summary:
In 1971, in the small town of Shirley Falls, in Maine, the odd and lonely secretary Isabelle Goodrow raises her teenager daughter Amy alone. She has only two friends in her job among her gossiper colleagues. When her overprotected daughter is seduced by her mathematic teacher Peter Robertson, the world of Isabelle falls apart. She becomes lost and loses her confidence on Amy, spoiling their relationship. Their bond gets tied again when Isabelle discloses her inner secrets from the past to Amy.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 472
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, sexual, sexy
![blank](http://wpfc.ml/b.gif)
Similar in 86%
Abandoned (2001)
Plot Summary:
Áron is a happy child in his family. But at some point things take a different turn, and his mother starts to lose her health rapidly. As this happens, the man in charge decides what's best for Áron without consulting the young boy's opinion, and the boy finds himself thrown out of his warm home into an orphanage in the woods. He's utterly displeased by what's happening, without knowing he has yet to face much worse. After a hard time getting over the harrassment of his classmates and being accepted as one of them, another obstacle on the way to his peace of mind faces him: His obnoxious teachers. He has no intention of being bad, but it's beyond his ability to blend into the revolting place he's in. The nasty treatment of the teaching crew gets the better of him, and he's not all that calm and passive anymore. But that leads into unpleasant events which Áron himself wouldn't want.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 610
Genere: Drama
Country: Hungary
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: sincere, uplifting, touching, serious, art house, bleak, emotional, realistic
Similar in 82%
A Year in My Life (2006)
Plot Summary:
In 1950s France, a young boy is taken in by a couple after spending a few months in the care of social service.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 224
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: sentimental, uplifting, touching, sincere, captivating, feel good, serious, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 88%
The Tree of Wooden Clogs (1978)
Plot Summary:
The life inside a farm in Italy at the beginning of the century. Many poor country families live there, and the owner pays them by their productivity. One of the families has a very clever child. They decide to send him to school instead of make him help them, although this represents a great sacrifice. The boy has to wake up very early and walk several miles to get to the school. One day the boy's shoes break when returning home, but they do not have money to buy other. What can they do?.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Italy
Duration: 186 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, realistic, touching, serious, contemplative, spiritual, family saga, saga, slow cinema, period drama
Similar in 80%
Les Misérables (1995)
Plot Summary:
In France during World War II, a poor and illiterate man, Henri Fortin (Jean-Paul Belmondo), is introduced to Victor Hugo's classic novel Les Misérables and begins to see parallels between the book and his own life.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: France
Duration: 175 min
Plot tags: epic, emotional, fairy tale, anthology, serious, captivating, realistic, gloomy, sentimental, sexy
Similar in 80%
Snow Pirates (2015)
Plot Summary:
In the shadow of the military coup in 1980, these children aged 12-13, playing their childish games soon arrive at an understanding of life's responsibilities and are hastily introduced into the world of the grownups.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 334
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Turkey
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: sentimental, serious, realistic, captivating, bleak
Similar in 83%
Black Venus (2010)
Plot Summary:
The story of Saartjes Baartman, a Black domestic who, in 1808, left Southern Africa, then ruled by Dutch settlers, for Europe, following her boss Hendrick Caesar , hoping to find fame and fortune there. Once in London her master turned manager does nothing but exhibit her as a freak in a phony and humiliating carnival show. After a series of troubles caused by their act, Caesar, Saartje and their new friend, bear-tamer Réaux, head for Paris where once again, and against her will, she has to mimic savagery and expose her body, first in carnivals, then in the aristocratic salons of Paris, later on among the libertines and finally in brothels where she ends up being a prostitute. In the meantime, French anatomists will have taken an interest in her unusual anatomy (enormous buttocks and labia) only to declare her the missing link from ape to man. In 1815, aged only 27, she dies alone, of a combination of pneumonia and venereal disease.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: France, Belgium
Duration: 162 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, thought provoking, realistic, erotic, existential horror, gloomy, iconic, tragic
Similar in 75%
Machuca (2004)
Plot Summary:
Santiago, capital of Chile during the Marxist government of elected, highly controversial president Salvador Allende. Father McEnroe supports his leftist views by introducing a program at the prestigious "collegio" (Catholic prep school) St. Patrick to allow free admission of some proletarian kids. One of them is Pedro Machuca, slum-raised son of the cleaning lady in Gonzalo Infante's liberal-bourgeois home. Yet the new classmates become buddies, paradoxically protesting together as Gonzalo gets adopted by Pedro's slum family and gang. But the adults spoil that too, not in the least when general Pinochet's coup ousts Allende, and supporters such as McEnroe.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History
Country: Chile, Spain, UK, France
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: political, sincere, touching, emotional, thought provoking, serious, realistic, social, hispanic, sentimental
Similar in 90%
Carol's Journey (2002)
Plot Summary:
Carol, a 12 year old Spanish-American girl from New York, travels with her mother to Spain in the spring of 1938, at the height of the Civil War. Separated from her beloved father, Carol arrives in her mother's home village and transforms the secretive family environment. Her innocence and rebellious nature drive her at first to reject a world that is at once new and foreign. But she soon journeys into adulthood through a friendship with Maruja, the village teacher, and a young local boy, Tomiche.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Spain, Portugal
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, emotional, realistic
![blank](http://wpfc.ml/b.gif)
Similar in 89%
Miral (2010)
Plot Summary:
A drama centered on an orphaned Palestinian girl growing up in the wake of the first Arab-Israeli war who finds herself drawn into the conflict.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: France, Israel, Italy, India, USA
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: realistic, sentimental, emotional, stylized, inspirational, breathtaking, serious, gloomy, independent film
Similar in 80%
Song for a Raggy Boy (2003)
Plot Summary:
William Franklin is a teacher who was born in Ireland and moved to the United States only to repatriate in 1939 after his leftist political views cause him to lose his job. Franklin becomes the first non-cleric instructor at St. Jude's, a school for wayward boys run by Brother John, who is a firm believer in strong discipline.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Ireland, Denmark, UK, Spain
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, disturbing, bleak, serious, sincere, depressing, realistic
![blank](http://wpfc.ml/b.gif)
Similar in 79%
A Time in Quchi (2013)
Plot Summary:
Bao stays with his grandfather for the summer and is shocked to see there are no modern appliances.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 130
Genere: Drama
Country: Taiwan
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: realistic, touching, atmospheric, captivating, serious
Similar in 81%
Everybody Dies But Me (2008)
Plot Summary:
One Monday morning Katya, Vika and Zhanna learn that there will be a school disco, their first disco, on the coming Saturday night. The girls feverishly start preparing for the event, which rapidly becomes the most important moment ever in their universe, and looks like the ideal way to escape their daily lives.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: Russia
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags: serious, touching, realistic, suspense, psychological, rough, sincere, gloomy
![blank](http://wpfc.ml/b.gif)
Similar in 85%
Reunion (1989)
Plot Summary:
Two young boys from very different backgrounds become friends in 1933 Stuttgart. However, they don't realize how different they are until much later as one is the son of a well-to-do Jewish doctor and the other the son of a German aristocrat. After that summer and the election of Hitler, things change as antisemitism gains fervor. After the core of the film deals with that era, the film flashes to the present and the Jewish man now returns to his boyhood home and seeks his old friend with some surprises.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 557
Genere: Drama, History
Country: France, West Germany, UK
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: independent film, thought provoking, serious, realistic, disturbing