Best movies like Purple Butterfly
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Ding Hui is a member of Purple Butterfly, a powerful resistance group in Japanese occupied Shanghai. An unexpected encounter reunites her with Itami, an ex-lover... and officer with a secret police unit tasked with dismantling Purple Butterfly.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: China, France
Duration: 127 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, serious, realistic, bleak, captivating, suspenseful, tense, atmospheric, non-linear
Best tv shows and movies like Purple Butterfly (2003):
Similar in 77%
The Resistance (2011)
Plot Summary:
In 1937, Japan began their invasion of China by murdering over 300,000 people in the capital of Nanjing. The atrocities committed against women and their daughters are especially barbaric. One of them is Xiaoyun, a peasant girl who fights with the Chinese resistance group. On her way to freedom she must fight against Japanese soldiers, ninjas, a killer geisha, Nazis, and the evil General of the Japanese imperial army.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, War
Country: China
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: exciting, captivating, tense, entertaining, serious, realistic
Similar in 90%
1898: Our Last Men in the Philippines (2016)
Plot Summary:
The Spanish troops in the Philippines Have to fight for their lives as they are forgot by the Spanish Empire.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Spain
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: perverse
Similar in 77%
Fighter in the Wind (2004)
Plot Summary:
An account of karate competitor Choi Yeung-Eui who went to Japan after World War II to become a fighter pilot but found a very different path instead. He changed his name to Masutatsu Oyama and went across the country, defeating martial artists one after another. This film concentrates on the period when he is still young, and developing his famous karate style, Kyokushin.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Action, Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: South Korea
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, spiritual
Similar in 82%
The Warring States (2011)
Plot Summary:
Rival Chinese military strategists Sun Bin (Sun Honglei) and Pang Juan (Francis Ng) clash in this historic war adventure set during the Era of Warring States.
IMDB Rating: 4.6
IMDB Votes: 569
Genere: Drama, War
Country: China
Duration: 126 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, captivating, suspenseful, stylized, epic, realistic
Similar in 89%
Forever Nevermore (2014)
Plot Summary:
A dramatic novel that presents the submission in a relationship between an Italian settler and a Brazilian woman in 1932. Luiza is a generation of women who were sent to convents to be educated, many of the high cost of permanency option ran out and became nuns ... Luiza was about to be forced to make this decision when it was delivered to marry with Domingos, who she would learn to live and love. For two years she suffer mistreatment and abuse from her husband. Living in a place away virtually inaccessible, she could not call for help. Her solitude was her most frequent company until they receive a visit from an official warning about the Constitutional Revolution, saying the Paulists approached that region to combat invading Minas Gerais, causing a reversal of their.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 29
Genere: Drama, History, Romance, War
Country: Brazil
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: serious, emotional, realistic, touching, gloomy, independent film
Similar in 75%
Caterpillar (2010)
Plot Summary:
During the Second Sino-Japanese War, in 1940, Lieutenant Kurokawa returns home as a honored and decorated soldier but deprived of his arms and legs lost in battle. All hopes, from the villagers and women to close family members, turn to Shigeko, the Lieutenant's wife. She must honor the Emperor and the country in setting an example for all by fulfilling her duty and taking care of the 'god soldier'. Kurokawa prior to leaving to fight in the war regularly beat and berated his wife for her barrenness and inability to bring him a son. When he returns home as an amputee with no hearing and no speech, his wife dutifully attends to him, even though he shows little appreciation for her dedicated care. His main concerns are getting fed and getting sex. Even in his own degraded condition, he manages to berate his wife. Eventually, though, his own memories infiltrate and he is haunted by his horrible, sadistic deeds, performed while in the duty of the Japanese military.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Japan
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, emotional, atmospheric, realistic, scary, depressing, contemplative, avant garde
Similar in 76%
Red Sorghum (1988)
Plot Summary:
An old leper who owned a remote sorghum winery dies. Jiu'er, the wife bought by the leper, and her lover, identified only as "my Grandpa" by the narrator, take over the winery and set up an idealized quasi-matriarchal community headed by Jiu'er. When the Japanese invaders subject the area to their rule and cut down the sorghum to make way for a road, the community rises up and resists as the sorghum grows anew.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Drama, History, Romance, War
Country: China
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: tense, depressing, manga, independent film, costume drama, mind blowing, psychological, sincere, epic, serious
Similar in 80%
The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer (1961)
Plot Summary:
His ideals challenged by life as a conscript in war-time Japan's military, a pacifist faces ever greater tests in his fight for survival.
IMDB Rating: 8.8
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Japan
Duration: 190 min
Plot tags: existential, art house, poetic, atmospheric, bleak, serious, captivating, realistic, cynical, gloomy
Similar in 80%
The Founding of a Republic (2009)
Plot Summary:
The Founding of a Republic is a Chinese historical film commissioned by China's film regulator and made by the state-owned China Film Group (CFG) to mark the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China. The film retells the tale of the Communist ascendancy and triumph.
IMDB Rating: 4.9
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: China
Duration: 138 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, rough, realistic, disturbing, bleak, banned
Similar in 84%
Sacrifice (2010)
Plot Summary:
For generations the Zhao family has wielded power, until their mortal enemy TU’AN GU slaughters the entire clan, determined to wipe out their influence forever. But one Zhao baby survives hidden by CHENG YING the doctor who delivered him. When Tu’an Gu learns of the baby’s escape he seizes every infant in the city, vowing to kill them all unless the Zhao baby is surrendered. As the tyrant’s soldiers arrive at Cheng Ying’s home the frantic doctor hides his wife with their own baby whilst surrendering the Zhao child as his own. But his family is discovered; his baby is presumed to be the Zhao heir and murdered along with his wife for harboring the infant. Now set on revenge Cheng Ying enrolls the Zhao orphan into the service of the Tu’an Gu household, plotting to use him as an instrument of vengeance when he comes of age.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: China
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: exciting, atmospheric, serious, suspenseful, captivating, stylized, epic, realistic, costume drama
Similar in 80%
The Message (2009)
Plot Summary:
1942, Nanjing (Nanking). Following a series of assassination attempts on officials of the Japanese-controlled puppet government, the Japanese spy chief gathers a group of suspects in a mansion house for questioning. A tense game of "cat and mouse" ensues as the Chinese code-breaker attempts to send out a crucial message while protecting his/her own identity.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller, War
Country: China
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: suspense, captivating, realistic, tense, psychological, controversial, serious, suspenseful, stylized
Similar in 80%
Joy Division (2006)
Plot Summary:
A teenage orphan fights against the Red Army at the end of WWII and in the aftermath is 'adopted' by a Commissar. Years later he is sent to London during the Cold war to work for the KGB, where he questions his life.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 992
Genere: Drama, War
Country: UK, Germany, Hungary
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, serious, captivating, disturbing, realistic, political, bleak, epic
Similar in 86%
Unfair Competition (2001)
Plot Summary:
Two linen fabric dealers with their shops close to one another, battle against each other for more and more costumers. Umberto constantly loses clients because of the tough competition brought by Leone, who offers the best prices in the neighborhood. But they leave differences aside when the rise of Fascism places Anti-Semitic politics which rigidly control business like the one conducted by the Jewish Leone, and those new regulations are viewed by Umberto as completely unfair. The long rivalry soon becomes a great friendship.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Italy, France
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, serious, bleak, captivating, realistic, disturbing, historical drama
Similar in 89%
Brothers War (2009)
Plot Summary:
The story is set in the latter days of World War 2, against the backdrop of fierce combat on the eastern front. Brother's War is based on real events.
IMDB Rating: 3.1
IMDB Votes: 890
Genere: History, War
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, realistic, suspenseful, bleak
Similar in 84%
The Rotterdam Bombing (2012)
Plot Summary:
A thrilling love story between the young boxer Vincent and the German Eva, who soon has to marry with the middle-aged Dirk to save her family. While the war starts in the Netherlands their impossible love inflames. May 14, 1940, the day that the centre of Rotterdam is bombed and the young lovers lose sight of each other.
IMDB Rating: 4.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Netherlands
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: realistic, touching, serious, emotional, suspenseful, captivating
Similar in 87%
The Holy Land of Tyrol (2010)
Plot Summary:
Set in the 1800s when Napoleon’s French ruled Europe, the film follows young Austrian carpenter Franz and his Bavarian wife, Katharina as an unforeseen event forces them to flee from Augsburg, Bavaria for Franz’s family home in Tyrol, Austria. Tyrolian sentiment is rising strongly against Napoleon and trouble is stirring. In no time it sweeps up Franz and his brothers along with the whole town.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 181
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Germany, Italy
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: epic, realistic, serious, captivating, psychological, exciting
Similar in 81%
The Iron Triangle (1989)
Plot Summary:
Based on the diary of an unknown Viet Cong soldier, this film provides a sympathetic look at a Viet Cong soldier who protected a captured American soldier whom he believed did not kill him when the American had the opportunity. Written by John Sacksteder.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 532
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: rough, realistic, suspenseful, exciting, serious, independent film, bleak, captivating, cult film
Similar in 82%
Fires on the Plain (2014)
Plot Summary:
In the final days of World War II, occupying Japanese forces in the Philippines face resistance from the local population and the American offensive. The dwindling Japanese soldiers attempt to survive through the horrors of war.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 831
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Japan
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, atmospheric, realistic, captivating, rough, bleak, serious, gloomy, cult film
Similar in 87%
Back to 1942 (2012)
Plot Summary:
In 1942, Henan Province was devastated by the most tragic famine in modern Chinese history, resulting in the deaths of at least three million men, women and children. Although the primary cause of the famine was a severe drought, it was exacerbated by locusts, windstorms, earthquakes, epidemic disease and the corruption of the ruling Kuomintang government.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: China
Duration: 145 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, captivating, bleak, realistic, intense
Similar in 80%
The Sleeping Voice (2011)
Plot Summary:
Pepita travels to Madrid to be near her sister Hortensia who is pregnant and in prison. Hortensia is sentenced to death. The execution will not be carried out until after the baby is delivered. Pepita tries everything to stay the execution, but when unsuccessful she goes to the prison everyday to make sure Hortensia's son goes with her and not into an orphanage.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Spain
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: captivating, serious, emotional, suspenseful, political, intense, bleak, realistic
Similar in 75%
City of Life and Death (2009)
Plot Summary:
City of Life and Death takes place in 1937, during the height of the Second Sino-Japanese War. The Imperial Japanese Army has just captured the then-capital of the Republic of China, Nanjing. What followed was known as the Nanking Massacre, or the Rape of Nanking, a period of several weeks wherein tens of thousands of Chinese soldiers and civilians were killed.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: China, Hong Kong
Duration: 132 min
Plot tags: disturbing, rough, bleak, black and white, tense, captivating, depressing, breathtaking, political, dark
Similar in 75%
Army of Crime (2009)
Plot Summary:
This gripping historical drama recounts the story of Armenian-born Missak Manouchian, a woodworker and political activist who led an immigrant laborer division of the Parisian Resistance on 30 operations against the Nazis in 1943. The Nazis branded the group an Army of Crime, an anti-immigrant propaganda stunt that backfired as the team's members became martyrs for the Resistance.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: France
Duration: 139 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic, disturbing, sincere, suspenseful, gloomy
Similar in 82%
The Children of Huang Shi (2008)
Plot Summary:
About young British journalist, George Hogg, who with the assistance of a courageous Australian nurse, saves a group of orphaned children during the Japanese occupation of China in 1937.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Australia, China, Germany, USA
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, captivating, inspirational, social, novela, realistic
Similar in 86%
Lust, Caution (2007)
Plot Summary:
During World War II a secret agent must seduce, then assassinate an official who works for the Japanese puppet government in Shanghai. Her mission becomes clouded when she finds herself falling in love with the man she is assigned to kill.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 45000
Genere: Drama, History, Romance, Thriller, War
Country: Taiwan, USA, Hong Kong, China
Duration: 157 min
Plot tags: sexual, disturbing, sexy, erotic, tense, neo noir, captivating, sensual, suspense, political
Similar in 81%
The Edelweiss Pirates (2004)
Plot Summary:
Im Kölner Stadtteil Ehrenfeld lebt eine Gruppe von Arbeiterkindern kurz vor Ende des Zweiten Weltkriegs ihren ganz eigenen Alltag. Die selbsternannten „Edelweißpiraten“ träumen von einer gerechten Welt und sehnen sich nach der unbeschwerten Vergangenheit. Sie rebellieren gegen das Naziregime. (http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edelwei%C3%9Fpiraten_(Film)).
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 565
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Germany, Netherlands
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, realistic, suspenseful, bleak, serious, independent film
Similar in 89%
Massacre in Rome (1973)
Plot Summary:
In the Nazi occupied city of Rome, an assault on an SS brigade draws retaliation from the military governship. "Massacre in Rome" is the true story of how this partisan attack led to the mass execution of Italian nationals under the orders of SS-Lieutenant Colonel Kappler.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Italy, France
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: rough, thought provoking, bleak, serious, captivating, realistic, disturbing, contemplative
Similar in 83%
Emperor (2012)
Plot Summary:
As the Japanese surrender at the end of WWII, Gen. Fellers is tasked with deciding if Emperor Hirohito will be hanged as a war criminal. Influencing his ruling is his quest to find Aya, an exchange student he met years earlier in the U.S.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 15000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Japan, USA
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: touching, captivating, sincere, thought provoking, retro, epic, social, sex comedy, patriotic, historical drama
Similar in 83%
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 83%
Texas '46 (2002)
Plot Summary:
Based on a true story its the untold story of Italian World War II POW"S in Jan 1946. Luca Zingaretti stars as one of over 50,000 Italian Prisoners of War detained at POW camps in the U.S. Roy Schneider stars as Colonel Gartner, the Commander of the camp. Things take a turn for the worse when Manin is brought back from his most recent escape by a patrol force, only to realize that the camp has been evacuated while he was gone. Gartner is forced to keep Manin at the camp until another patrol force can come pick him up. However, no one ever comes. The phone lines get cut, and the two men realize they are completely isolated from the outside world. It is up to each man now to escape the camp.An untold and rarely known fact of US held Italian POW"S.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 235
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: USA, Italy
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: rough, realistic, suspenseful, disturbing, exciting, bleak, serious, captivating
Similar in 85%
The Attic: The Hiding of Anne Frank (1988)
Plot Summary:
During the Nazi occupation of Amsterdam, Otto Frank decides to hide his family, who are Jewish, after his daughter Margot is called to appear for transport to a Nazi labour camp. Miep Gies, Otto Frank's office assistant hides them in the attic above the office. The film tells the true story of Gies' struggle to keep the family hidden and safe, as the Nazis turn Amsterdam upside-down. Based upon Gies' memoirs and Anne Frank's famous diary.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 483
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, bleak, serious, realistic, disturbing