Best movies like Malcolm X
Last updated March 2024
Looking for movies like Malcolm X? Offer your insights to direct others to films and tv shows you've already viewed that may also rivet them. Support widening the community of people alluding videos to one another. We appreciate your input!
Plot Summary:
A tribute to the controversial black activist and leader of the struggle for black liberation. He hit bottom during his imprisonment in the '50s, he became a Black Muslim and then a leader in the Nation of Islam. His assassination in 1965 left a legacy of self-determination and racial pride.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 100000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History
Country: USA, Japan
Duration: 202 min
Plot tags: inspirational, political, factual, intense, stylized, realistic, thought provoking, serious, captivating, emotional
Best tv shows and movies like Malcolm X (1992):
Similar in 81%
The Hurricane (1999)
Plot Summary:
The story of Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, a boxer wrongly imprisoned for murder, and the people who aided in his fight to prove his innocence.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 101000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 146 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, touching, inspirational, factual, motivational, epic, political, twisted, sincere, uplifting
Similar in 85%
Talk to Me (2007)
Plot Summary:
The story of Washington D.C. radio personality Ralph "Petey" Greene, an ex-con who became a popular talk show host and community activist in the 1960s.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, Music, War
Country: USA
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: sincere, inspirational, emotional, realistic, talky, touching, serious, witty, disturbing, crying
Similar in 88%
Rosewood (1997)
Plot Summary:
Spurred by a white woman's lie, vigilantes destroy a black Florida town and slay inhabitants in 1923.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Action, Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 140 min
Plot tags: disturbing, depressing, political, social, cult classic, tense, rough, thought provoking, touching, serious
Similar in 86%
The Rosa Parks Story (2002)
Plot Summary:
The story of the civil rights heroine whose refusal to obey racial bus segregation was just one of her acts in her fight for justice.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 990
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: uplifting, thought provoking, realistic, serious, gothic, political, emotional, black cinema
Similar in 83%
BlacKkKlansman (2018)
Plot Summary:
Ron Stallworth, an African-American police officer from Colorado, successfully manages to infiltrate the local Ku Klux Klan and become the head of the local chapter.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 285000
Genere: Biography, Comedy, Crime, Drama
Country: USA, China
Duration: 135 min
Plot tags: informative, political, dark comedy, inspirational, social, semi serious, rough, thought provoking, captivating, factual
Similar in 90%
Antwone Fisher (2002)
Plot Summary:
A sailor prone to violent outbursts is sent to a naval psychiatrist for help. Refusing at first to open up, the young man eventually breaks down and reveals a horrific childhood. Through the guidance of his doctor, he confronts his painful past and begins a quest to find the family he never knew.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 38000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: inspirational, psychological, sincere, touching, emotional, thought provoking, uplifting, sentimental, intense, compassionate
Similar in 77%
Straight Outta Compton (2015)
Plot Summary:
In 1987, five young men, using brutally honest rhymes and hardcore beats, put their frustration and anger about life in the most dangerous place in America into the most powerful weapon they had: their music. Taking us back to where it all began, Straight Outta Compton tells the true story of how these cultural rebels—armed only with their lyrics, swagger, bravado and raw talent—stood up to the authorities that meant to keep them down and formed the world’s most dangerous group, N.W.A. And as they spoke the truth that no one had before and exposed life in the hood, their voice ignited a social revolution that is still reverberating today.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 215000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 147 min
Plot tags: realistic, intense, hood, suspense, lyrical, talky, serious, captivating, clever, cult classic
Similar in 76%
Glory (1989)
Plot Summary:
Robert Gould Shaw leads the US Civil War's first all-black volunteer company, fighting prejudices of both his own Union army and the Confederates.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 142000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: USA
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: epic, inspirational, suspense, realistic, rough, factual, period piece, emotional, talky, serious
Similar in 84%
Judas and the Black Messiah (2021)
Plot Summary:
Bill O'Neal infiltrates the Black Panthers per FBI Agent Mitchell and J. Edgar Hoover. As Black Panther Chairman Fred Hampton ascends, falling for a fellow revolutionary en route, a battle wages for O’Neal’s soul.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 89000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 126 min
Plot tags: political, inspirational, philosophical, social, suspenseful, disturbing, suspense, thought provoking, bloody, dramatic
Similar in 90%
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (2013)
Plot Summary:
A chronicle of Nelson Mandela's life journey from his childhood in a rural village through to his inauguration as the first democratically elected president of South Africa.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 29000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History
Country: UK, France, South Africa
Duration: 141 min
Plot tags: emotional, serious, realistic, political, inspirational, educational, social, novela, cult classic, informative
Similar in 87%
Cry Freedom (1987)
Plot Summary:
A dramatic story, based on actual events, about the friendship between two men struggling against apartheid in South Africa in the 1970s. Donald Woods is a white liberal journalist in South Africa who begins to follow the activities of Stephen Biko, a courageous and outspoken black anti-apartheid activist.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History
Country: UK, Zimbabwe, USA
Duration: 157 min
Plot tags: inspirational, political, cult classic, political thriller, edutainment, tense, thought provoking, bleak, serious, captivating
Similar in 84%
Che: Part One (2008)
Plot Summary:
The Argentine, begins as Che and a band of Cuban exiles (led by Fidel Castro) reach the Cuban shore from Mexico in 1956. Within two years, they mobilized popular support and an army and toppled the U.S.-friendly regime of dictator Fulgencio Batista.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 48000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: France, Spain, USA
Duration: 134 min
Plot tags: political, talky, intense, sincere, captivating, thought provoking, serious, heroic, realistic, cerebral
Similar in 84%
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (2019)
Plot Summary:
Against all the odds, a thirteen year old boy in Malawi invents an unconventional way to save his family and village from famine.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 43000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History
Country: UK, Malawi
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: motivational, rough, inspirational, disturbing, touching, bleak, factual, psychological, uplifting
Similar in 81%
Amistad (1997)
Plot Summary:
In 1839, the slave ship Amistad set sail from Cuba to America. During the long trip, Cinque leads the slaves in an unprecedented uprising. They are then held prisoner in Connecticut, and their release becomes the subject of heated debate. Freed slave Theodore Joadson wants Cinque and the others exonerated and recruits property lawyer Roger Baldwin to help his case. Eventually, John Quincy Adams also becomes an ally.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 82000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 155 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, period piece, epic, dramatic, compassionate, factual, uplifting, serious, captivating
Similar in 81%
Remember the Titans (2000)
Plot Summary:
After leading his football team to 15 winning seasons, coach Bill Yoast is demoted and replaced by Herman Boone – tough, opinionated and as different from the beloved Yoast as he could be. The two men learn to overcome their differences and turn a group of hostile young men into champions.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 228000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: inspirational, sentimental, touching, uplifting, feel good, emotional, motivational, factual, sincere, sad
Similar in 78%
Catch a Fire (2006)
Plot Summary:
The true story of anti-apartheid activists in South Africa, and particularly the life of Patrick Chamusso, a timid foreman at Secunda CTL, the largest synthetic fuel plant in the world. Patrick is wrongly accused, imprisoned and tortured for an attempt to bomb the plant, with the injustice transforming the apolitical worker into a radicalised insurgent, who then carries out his own successful sabotage mission.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History
Country: France, UK, South Africa, USA
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: tense, political, factual, emotional, harsh, thought provoking, serious, disturbing, realistic, intense
Similar in 83%
Ghosts of Mississippi (1996)
Plot Summary:
Ghosts of Mississippi is a drama covering the final trial of the assassin, Bryon De La Beckwith, of the 60s civil rights leader Medgar Evers. It begins with the murder and the events surrounding the two initial trials which both ended in a hung jury. The movie then covers District Attorney, Bobby DeLaughters transformation and alliance with Myrlie Evers, wife of Medgar Evers, of the, as he becomes more involved with bringing Beckwith to trial for the third time 30 years later. Some of the characters are played by the actual participants in this story.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 130 min
Plot tags: inspirational, talky, factual, intense, compassionate, sincere, thought provoking, serious, political, political thriller
Similar in 80%
The Great Debaters (2007)
Plot Summary:
The true story of a brilliant but politically radical debate team coach who uses the power of words to transform a group of underdog African American college students into an historical powerhouse that took on the Harvard elite.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 62000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 126 min
Plot tags: inspirational, realistic, touching, political, emotional, entertaining, motivational, sentimental, sincere, feel good
Similar in 90%
Selma (2014)
Plot Summary:
"Selma," as in Alabama, the place where segregation in the South was at its worst, leading to a march that ended in violence, forcing a famous statement by President Lyndon B. Johnson that ultimately led to the signing of the Civil Rights Act.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 95000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History
Country: UK, France, USA
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: emotional, political, thought provoking, inspirational, sincere, uplifting, factual, serious, period piece, realistic
Similar in 82%
42 (2013)
Plot Summary:
The powerful story of Jackie Robinson, the legendary baseball player who broke Major League Baseball’s color barrier when he joined the roster of the Brooklyn Dodgers. The film follows the innovative Dodgers’ general manager Branch Rickey, the MLB executive who first signed Robinson to the minors and then helped to bring him up to the show.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 101000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: inspirational, sentimental, emotional, touching, factual, intense, serious, motivational, period piece, thought provoking
Similar in 76%
The Butler (2013)
Plot Summary:
A look at the life of Cecil Gaines who served eight presidents as the White House's head butler from 1952 to 1986, and had a unique front-row seat as political and racial history was made.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 119000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 132 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, inspirational, political, factual, uplifting, thought provoking, serious, disturbing, historical drama
Similar in 90%
The Best of Enemies (2019)
Plot Summary:
The story of the real-life unlikely relationship between an outspoken civil rights activist and a local Ku Klux Klan leader in 1971 North Carolina.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 19000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 133 min
Plot tags: rough, sincere, thought provoking, disturbing, motivational, inspirational, spiritual, political, social, period piece
Similar in 80%
12 Years a Slave (2013)
Plot Summary:
In the pre-Civil War United States, Solomon Northup, a free black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery. Facing cruelty as well as unexpected kindnesses Solomon struggles not only to stay alive, but to retain his dignity. In the twelfth year of his unforgettable odyssey, Solomon’s chance meeting with a Canadian abolitionist will forever alter his life.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 731000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 134 min
Plot tags: motivational, heartbreaking, disturbing, harsh, bleak, atmospheric, emotional, factual, brutal, rough
Similar in 77%
Something the Lord Made (2004)
Plot Summary:
A dramatization of the relationship between heart surgery pioneers Alfred Blalock and Vivien Thomas.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 15000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: emotional, sincere, uplifting, inspirational, serious, realistic, motivational, thought provoking, feel good, spiritual
Similar in 76%
Quiz Show (1994)
Plot Summary:
Quiz Show is a 1994 American historical drama film which tells the true story of the Twenty One quiz show scandal of the 1950s.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 72000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 133 min
Plot tags: intellectual, clever, period piece, talky, intense, realistic, serious, entertaining, game show, sincere
Similar in 80%
Gandhi (1982)
Plot Summary:
In the early years of the 20th century, Mohandas K. Gandhi, a British-trained lawyer, forsakes all worldly possessions to take up the cause of Indian independence. Faced with armed resistance from the British government, Gandhi adopts a policy of 'passive resistance', endeavouring to win freedom for his people without resorting to bloodshed.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 238000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History
Country: UK, India, USA, South Africa
Duration: 191 min
Plot tags: epic, spiritual, inspirational, political, uplifting, factual, motivational, touching, compassionate, emotional
Similar in 87%
Lincoln (2012)
Plot Summary:
A revealing drama that focuses on the 16th President's tumultuous final months in office. In a nation divided by war and the strong winds of change, Lincoln pursues a course of action designed to end the war, unite the country and abolish slavery. With the moral courage and fierce determination to succeed, his choices during this critical moment will change the fate of generations to come.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 270000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: USA, India
Duration: 150 min
Plot tags: political, period piece, emotional, epic, factual, thought provoking, suspense, sentimental, historical drama, captivating
Similar in 78%
Milk (2008)
Plot Summary:
The story of California's first openly gay elected official, Harvey Milk, who became an outspoken agent for change, seeking equal rights and opportunities for all. His great love for the city and its people brought him backing from young and old, straight and gay, alike – at a time when prejudice and violence against gays was openly accepted as the norm.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 178000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, political, realistic, sincere, touching, sad, inspirational, serious, contemplative, emotional
Similar in 87%
Game Change (2012)
Plot Summary:
Based on the book by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin, Game Change focuses on the Republican run of the 2008 Presidential election, when candidate John McCain picks a relative unknown, Alaskan governor Sarah Palin, to be his running mate. As the campaign kicks into high gear, her lack of experience, in both political and media savvy, becomes a drain upon McCain and his strategists. Directed by Jay Roach, who previously directed the HBO film Recount and the Austin Powers movies, Game Change premiered on HBO on March 10th, 2012.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 23000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: political, talky, intense, thought provoking, serious, realistic, captivating, clever, visually appealing, non fiction
Similar in 75%
Schindler's List (1993)
Plot Summary:
The true story of how businessman Oskar Schindler saved over a thousand Jewish lives from the Nazis while they worked as slaves in his factory during World War II.
IMDB Rating: 9.0
IMDB Votes: 14000000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 195 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, heartbreaking, realistic, thought provoking, poignant, black and white, dramatic, serious, sad