Best movies like Hella W
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
The life of a heroine. The life and work of Hella Wuolijoki. A poet, spy and millionaire, she turned into an internationally acclaimed businesswoman, politician and playwright, who collaborated with Europe's leading writers such as Bertolt Brecht and Maxim Gorky, but faced the harshness of a changing world as the Finnish, Soviet and British secret services focus on her life, family and work.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 379
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: Finland, Estonia
Duration: 82 min
Plot tags: captivating, psychological, tense, factual
Best tv shows and movies like Hella W (2011):
Similar in 84%
Where Once We Walked (2011)
Plot Summary:
Otso "The Main Man" Hultkrantz is playing the leading role of the young Allu Kajander in Where We Once Walked, based on a novel about a civil war raging between the Red and the White in Finland.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 321
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Finland
Duration: 126 min
Plot tags: captivating, psychological, tense, factual, family saga
Similar in 84%
The Eternal Road (2017)
Plot Summary:
Based on true events an epic story of one man's struggle for survival. Jussi Ketola, returns to Finland from the great depression struck America only to face growing political unrest. One summer night of 1930, nationalist thugs violently abduct Ketola from his home. Beaten and forced to walk the Eternal Road towards a foreign Soviet Russia, where cruelty seems to know no end, his only dream is to return to his family cost it what it may. Hope dies last.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Finland, Estonia, Sweden
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: psychological, suspense, tense, rough, thought provoking, suspenseful, touching
Similar in 90%
And Give My Love to the Swallows (1972)
Plot Summary:
This film, chronicling the last days of Czech resistance fighter Maruska Kuderikova (played by Magda Vasaryova), is based on her diaries. Though she was tortured and eventually executed by the Nazis, her diaries indicate that she was optimistic for the humanity of her captors and did not by any means hate them. Told with simple dignity, this film makes clear why Maruska became a national hero.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 177
Genere: Biography, Drama, War
Country: Czechoslovakia
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: erotic, freeze frame
Similar in 81%
The Interrogation (2009)
Plot Summary:
Nuori nainen on saanut kutsun saapua poliisin kuultavaksi. Hän pelkää joutuvansa ansaan. Hän on täydellistä suomenkieltä puhuva Neuvosto-desantti, joka on varomattomuuttaan jättänyt vakoiluradionsa pesulaan säilytettäväksi.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 349
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Finland
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 82%
General Nil (2009)
Plot Summary:
Generał Nil is a Polish historical film, based on the life of general Emil August Fieldorf, pseudonym "Nil". The film was directed by Ryszard Bugajski and was released in 2009.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 869
Genere: Biography, Drama, History
Country: Poland
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, captivating, suspenseful
Similar in 85%
A Hidden Life (2019)
Plot Summary:
The Austrian Franz Jägerstätter, a conscientious objector, refuses to fight for the Nazis in World War II and is executed by them in 1943. Opening at Jägerstätter’s home in Austria’s countryside, the film follows Franz and his wife, Fani, along their path of resistance. Told through real wartime letters, this love story finds the couple in conflict with the members of their close-knit town, their church, their government, and even their friends — all of which brings them to a dramatic choice.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 27000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Romance, War
Country: USA, UK, Germany
Duration: 174 min
Plot tags: psychological, thought provoking, political, romantic, captivating, disturbing, retro, philosophical, sexy, depressing
Similar in 80%
Prisoners of Auschwitz (2013)
Plot Summary:
Arnost Lustig was one of the world's most renowned literary authors of our times. Lustig's novel 'A girl from Antwerp' upon which our film Colette is based, draws on the author's personal Nazi Concentration Camp experience and his own recollection of several escape attempts from the hell of Auschwitz. The story of The Pulitzer Prize nominee Lustig is about the power of love under an extreme life circumstances. It is a story of young lovers and their vigorous determination to escape from a hopeless life condition and theirs courage to face death.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 599
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, Romance, War
Country: Slovakia, Czech Republic
Duration: 126 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, tense, touching
Similar in 88%
The King's Choice (2016)
Plot Summary:
On 9 April 1940, German soldiers arrive in the city of Oslo. The King of Norway faces a choice that will change his country forever. The King's Choice is a story about the three most dramatic days in Norway's history, the royal family's escape and King Haakon's difficult choice after Nazi Germany's invasion of Norway.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Ireland
Duration: 133 min
Plot tags: exciting, suspenseful, tense, captivating, suspense, melancholic
Similar in 89%
De Gaulle (2020)
Plot Summary:
Paris, June 1940. The de Gaulle couple is confronted with the military and political collapse of France. Charles de Gaulle joins London while Yvonne, his wife, finds herself with her three children on the road of the exodus.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: France
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: captivating, suspense, suspenseful, psychological, exciting, tense, interesting
Similar in 81%
Jew Suss: Rise and Fall (2010)
Plot Summary:
This intricate historical drama tells the story of actor Ferdinand Marian (Tobias Moretti), who is ordered by Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels to star in the 1940 anti-Semitic film Jew Suss. Despite his cooperation, Ferdinand's actions have unexpected costs. Ferdinand's Jewish wife, Anna (Martina Gedeck), is sent to a concentration camp, and as World War II intensifies, he rebels against the Nazis, leading to the destruction of his career.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Biography, Drama, War
Country: Germany, Austria
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: realistic, captivating, psychological, factual, sad, serious, contemplative, hot
Similar in 75%
Inside the Third Reich (1982)
Plot Summary:
A dramatization of the life of Albert Speer, Hitler's young architect and onetime confidant, and his meteoric rise into the Nazi hierarchy. Based upon Speer's own monograph of the same title.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 678
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: USA
Duration: 240 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 78%
Eichmann (2007)
Plot Summary:
Based upon the final confession of Adolf Eichmann, made before his execution in Israel, of his role in Hitler's plan for the final solution.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: Hungary, UK
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: serious, tense, sincere, captivating, emotional, realistic, disturbing, political, detective, contemplative
Similar in 90%
Brecht (2019)
Plot Summary:
Bertolt Brecht, a theatre revolutionary, poet of the state, outsider, looks back on his life in 1956, the year of his death, in East Berlin: adolescent provocations in Augsburg during the First World War, early poetic and amorous flights of fancy in the Munich and Berlin of the 1920s, his escape from Hitler, returning from the US exile, followed by his later years caught in a dilemma between timeless classic and a failing GDR class fighter, an indefatigable free spirit and compromised artist.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 388
Genere: Biography, Drama, History
Country: Germany, Austria, Czech Republic
Duration: 187 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, thought provoking, disturbing, humorous, visually appealing, fun
Similar in 86%
Stefan Zweig: Farewell to Europe (2016)
Plot Summary:
Before Dawn charts the years of exile in the life of famous Jewish Austrian writer Stefan Zweig, his inner struggle for the "right attitude" towards the events in war torn Europe and his search for a new home.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History
Country: Austria, Germany, France
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: exciting, thought provoking, captivating, sincere, touching, visually appealing
Similar in 86%
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 84%
Milada (2017)
Plot Summary:
The story of communist show-trial victim Milada Horáková. Horáková was one of the first victims of the communist regime in Czechoslovakia. She opposed the communist coup in 1948 but did not leave the country. She was arrested and tried for treason on fabricated charges in a show trial that was broadcast on the radio and shown in film clips. The film focuses on the time from 1945 to 1950 when the communists took over, but also goes back a little further in Horáková's life into the late 1930s.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History
Country: Czech Republic, USA
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: exciting, suspenseful, tense, touching, captivating
Similar in 76%
1944: Forced to Fight (2015)
Plot Summary:
The events of the war in 1944, from the Blue Hills to Sõrve Peninsula. Shown through the eyes of Estonian soldiers who had to pick sides and fight against fellow brothers. Choices have to be made, not only by the soldiers, but also by their loved ones.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Estonia, Finland
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: tense, psychological, captivating, suspense
Similar in 79%
The Winter War (1989)
Plot Summary:
Russia attacked Finland in late November 1939. This film tells the story of a Finnish platoon of reservists from the municipality of Kauhava in the province of Pohjanmaa/Ostrobothnia who leave their homes and go to war. The film focuses on the farmer brothers Martti and Paavo Hakala.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Finland
Duration: 199 min
Plot tags: realistic, epic, tense, bleak, serious, captivating, emotional, suspenseful, light, brutal
Similar in 77%
Against the Sun (2014)
Plot Summary:
A WWII pilot, bombardier, and radioman find themselves adrift on a lifeboat without food or water after being forced to ditch their plane during a scouting mission.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Biography, Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, psychological, serious, realistic, minimal cast, independent film, suspenseful
Similar in 80%
The Scarlet and the Black (1983)
Plot Summary:
Fr. Hugh O'Flaherty is a Vatican official in 1943-45 who has been hiding downed pilots, escaped prisoners of war, and Italian resistance families. His diplomatic status in a Catholic country prevents Colonel Kappler from openly arresting him, but O'Flaherty's activities become so large that the Nazi's decide to assassinate him the next time he leaves the Vatican. O'Flaherty continues his work in a variety of disguises. Based on a true story. Written by John Vogel.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: USA, UK, Italy
Duration: 143 min
Plot tags: realistic, factual, tense, serious, suspenseful, christian film, psychological, captivating, period piece, spiritual
Similar in 84%
A Bag of Marbles (2017)
Plot Summary:
In occupied France, Maurice and Joseph, two young Jewish brothers left to their own devices demonstrate an incredible amount of cleverness, courage, and ingenuity to escape the enemy invasion and to try to reunite their family once again.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: France, Canada, Czech Republic
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, captivating, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing, art film
Similar in 90%
MacArthur (1977)
Plot Summary:
The film portrays MacArthur's (Gregory Peck) life from 1942, before the Battle of Bataan, to 1952, the time after he had been removed from his Korean War command by President Truman (Ed Flanders) for insubordination, and is recounted in flashback as he visits West Point.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: USA
Duration: 130 min
Plot tags: melancholic, epic, intense, realistic, serious, political, exciting, tense, sincere, rough
Similar in 76%
Beyond the Front Line (2004)
Plot Summary:
A movie based on real wartime diaries tells the story of the Swedish speaking Finns' infantry regiment 61. The story follows the regiment during the Continuation War from 1942 to 1944 and from Syväri to the Karelian Isthmus where they faced some of the most grueling battles against the Soviet Union.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Finland
Duration: 127 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, realistic, tense
Similar in 82%
The Counterfeit Traitor (1962)
Plot Summary:
Blacklisted in modern day WW2, a Swedish oil trader opts to assist British Allies, by means of infiltrating and surveying Nazi Germany.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, History, Thriller, War
Country: USA
Duration: 140 min
Plot tags: retro, political thriller, tense, bleak, serious, captivating, realistic, suspenseful, gloomy
Similar in 80%
The Zookeeper's Wife (2017)
Plot Summary:
The account of keepers of the Warsaw Zoo, Jan and Antonina Zabinski, who helped save hundreds of people and animals during the Nazi invasion.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 46000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: Czech Republic, UK, USA
Duration: 127 min
Plot tags: factual, rough, tense, suspense, sad, suspenseful, disturbing, costume drama, thought provoking, touching
Similar in 88%
Sophie Scholl: The Final Days (2005)
Plot Summary:
True story of Germany's most famous anti-Nazi heroine brought to thrilling, dramatic life. Sophie Scholl stars Julia Jentsch in a luminous performance as the fearless activist of the underground student resistance group, The White Rose. Armed with long-buried historical records of her incarceration, director Marc Rothemund expertly re-creates the last six days of Sophie Scholl's life.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 28000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama, History, Thriller, War
Country: Germany
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: touching, tense, sincere, suspenseful, emotional, political, disturbing, christian film, realistic, talky
Similar in 78%
Churchill (2017)
Plot Summary:
A ticking-clock thriller following Winston Churchill in the 24 hours before D-Day.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 16000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: UK
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: educational, factual, disturbing, political, independent film, extraordinary
Similar in 90%
Fat Man and Little Boy (1989)
Plot Summary:
This film reenacts the Manhattan Project, the secret wartime project in New Mexico where the first atomic bombs were designed and built.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: USA, Mexico
Duration: 127 min
Plot tags: factual, suspense, intense, serious, realistic, anamorphic, independent film, sincere, thought provoking, captivating
Similar in 84%
All Is True (2018)
Plot Summary:
A look at the final days in the life of playwright William Shakespeare.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History
Country: UK
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: captivating, psychological, tense, touching, sad, frightening, historical drama, period drama
Similar in 89%
Unknown Soldier (2017)
Plot Summary:
The film follows Finnish army machine gun company in Continuation War against Soviet Union, 1941–1944. Based on Väinö Linna's best selling novel Tuntematon Sotilas (The Unknown Soldier) and the novel's uncensored version, Sotaromaani (A War Novel).
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Finland, Belgium, Iceland
Duration: 180 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, thought provoking, captivating, realistic, suspenseful, disturbing, novela, historical drama