Best movies like Strange Gardens
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Lucien, 14, can’t understand why his father, a serious and respected teacher, makes a fool of himself by dressing up as a clown and giving a show. André, Lucien’s father’s best friend, feels for the teenager and decides to reveal something from their mutual past that will explain the reason for Lucien’s father’s strange behavior.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: France
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, suspense, disturbing
Best tv shows and movies like Strange Gardens (2003):
Similar in 79%
Burning at Both Ends (2021)
Plot Summary:
The movie follows a group of resistance radio broadcasters in Nazi-occupied France as they evade capture alongside a Jewish family.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 560
Genere: Drama, Thriller, War
Country: USA
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: captivating, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 90%
Hanagatami (2017)
Plot Summary:
Spring, 1941. Sixteen-year-old Toshihiko attends school in the coastal town of Karatsu, where his aunt cares for his ailing cousin. Immersed in the seaside's nature and culture, Toshihiko soon befriends the town's other extraordinary adolescents as they all contend with the war's gravitational pull.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 749
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Japan
Duration: 169 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, captivating, suspense, surreal, disturbing
Similar in 76%
Summer Solstice (2015)
Plot Summary:
Coming of Age Drama in rural Poland in the summer of 1943.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 423
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Poland, Germany
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, suspense, disturbing, period piece
Similar in 84%
Our Time Will Come (2017)
Plot Summary:
In Japanese-occupied Hong Kong, a school teacher and her would-be-fiancé link up with Chinese guerrilla fighters, forging their own path to freedom.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 995
Genere: Drama, War
Country: China, Hong Kong
Duration: 130 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 77%
The Breitner Commando (2019)
Plot Summary:
1959, France. Colonel Breitner is given a secret mission : find the body of his former aide, Colonel Delignières, who is reported missing in French Algeria, before the French army burns the whole place to the ground. Breitner puts together a team of five outlaws, who are promised freedom if the mission succeeds.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 415
Genere: Drama, War
Country: France
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, disturbing
Similar in 83%
The Network of Freedom (2017)
Plot Summary:
France, beginning of World War II. Hélène Studler is a nun who has been dedicated to the care of orphans and the abandoned people. But the times have changed, the people are living a whole revolt, the Germansoldiers have entered their city and the reality that now faces far exceeds the harshness to which they are accustomed: Hélène discovers that near her locality, the Nazis have installed a concentration camp. Along with some people of the city, several of her Sisters Daughters of Charity plot a whole plan to free the captives from their tragic end.
IMDB Rating: 4.5
IMDB Votes: 126
Genere: Drama
Country: Spain
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 81%
Iron Cross: The Road to Normandy (2022)
Plot Summary:
Captain Muller struggles to survive fighting overwhelming Russian forces. Wounded, he is sent to Normandy as Americans Lee and Trey prepare for D-Day. Soon, scores are settled and battle brings our GIs and Germans on the same path.
IMDB Rating: 3.0
IMDB Votes: 164
Genere: War
Country: USA
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, disturbing, epic, period piece
Similar in 77%
Foxhole (2021)
Plot Summary:
Unfolding over the span of 36 hours in three separate wars – The American Civil War, World War I, and Iraq – FOXHOLE follows five soldiers confined in a foxhole as they grapple with morality, futility, and an increasingly volatile combat situation. Casting the same five actors in each episode, the film depicts the shifting roles of race and gender over time against the backdrop of the seemingly endless human struggle for power and domination. (Olivia Belluck).
IMDB Rating: 4.1
IMDB Votes: 199
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing
Similar in 88%
Joanna (2010)
Plot Summary:
In an era in which it is difficult for the true emotion and excitement, Feliks Falk found the key to the human heart. How many of us love? How much we are able to self-sacrifice? Is there a price that can not pay, when it comes to life of a loved one? Are we really as good as we think about yourself? In Joanna's life is given forever. Today's friend suddenly becomes an enemy. Reflex heart turns into a curse. When one of the lonely woman takes care of little girls-czynkę do not know that from now on, her life will be sweet - bitter taste. Fate in this film is everything. Allows people to find that in a moment blow and lead to separation. After-forgives love, for which you have to pay a huge price. Fulfills the promise of happiness loneliness, brittle as glass.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 487
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Poland
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: suspense, sincere, captivating, suspenseful
Similar in 88%
Johnny the Partisan (2000)
Plot Summary:
After the 8th September 1943 north of Italy is occupied by Germans. Italian army collapsed and the soldiers are escaped to the mountains trying to set up a resistance. Many civilians did the same and Johnny, an English literature student, is among them. Johnny avoids to band together the red partisans (communists) and tries to be part of the azure bands (former regular soldiers). But in both cases he is deluded by the partisan bands and discovers that the partisan war is less poetic and genuine that he thought. At one point anyway the partisans free Alba from Germans. When the city falls again in German hands Johnny escape with Ettore and Pierre. But, one after another, German army and Italian fascists captures the partisans and Johnny will pass the winter alone and isolated. He then finds the way to participate to one of the last attack to occupants, in fact the war will be over two months later.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 324
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Italy
Duration: 135 min
Plot tags: suspense, disturbing, exciting, bleak
Similar in 84%
Waiting for Anya (2020)
Plot Summary:
During the harrows of WWII, Jo, a young shepherd along with the help of the widow Horcada, helps to smuggle Jewish children across the border from southern France into Spain.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Thriller, War
Country: UK, Belgium
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: sincere, captivating, disturbing
Similar in 75%
Return to the Hiding Place (2013)
Plot Summary:
When a young resistance fighter witnesses atrocities towards the Jews, he's drawn into a web of espionage and clandestine activities. When he meets a young physics students and resistance journalist - Hans Poley - they embark on a hunt through underground tunnels, Gestapo hijacks and daring rescues.
IMDB Rating: 4.9
IMDB Votes: 779
Genere: Drama, History, Thriller, War
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 81%
The Boys from St. Petri (1991)
Plot Summary:
A group of school-mates form a resistance group in nazi-occupied Denmark.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 88%
Calm at Sea (2011)
Plot Summary:
A teenager joins the resistance in Nazi-occupied France during World War II.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 803
Genere: Drama, War
Country: France, Germany
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: tense, rough, bleak, captivating, suspenseful, disturbing, complex
Similar in 90%
Is Paris Burning? (1966)
Plot Summary:
The title is Adolf Hitler's question to his chief of staff Alfred Jodl on the eve of the liberation of Paris (August 25): the military governor of Paris, General Dietrich von Choltitz, had been ordered to destroy Paris rather than let it fall undamaged into the hands of the Allies, but von Choltitz disobeyed.The film follows historical events as U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower, head of the Allied invasion, refuses to divert troops to liberate Paris. His hand is forced by the French military leader, Philippe Leclerc, and by a Resistance uprising in the city. Von Choltitz keeps details of the uprising from the German high command in an effort to save the city being destroyed in retaliation. The film follows his turmoil as a soldier and as the man who doesn't wish to be seen by history as the cause of a beautiful city's destruction.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: France, USA
Duration: 175 min
Plot tags: harsh, factual, tense, suspense, serious, emotional, captivating, suspenseful, retro, informative
Similar in 80%
A French Village (2009)
Plot Summary:
The stories of the people of Villeneuve, a fictional subprefecture, in the Jura, in German–occupied France during the Second World War.
IMDB Rating: 8.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 52 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 88%
Resistance (2014)
Plot Summary:
Paris. 1940. Lili is 17 years old. In occupied France, she encounters war before love, and joins the Resistance. Through the interconnecting destinies of its teenage heroes, Resistance tells the story of young people going to any lengths to defend their country.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 455
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: France
Duration: 52 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 83%
Oba: The Last Samurai (2011)
Plot Summary:
In 1944, the American military lands on the shores of Saipan. Refusing to commit suicide with his superiors or be forced into camps for prisoners of war, Captain Oba Sakae leads a group of his men and other similarly minded local residents into the mountains. Even after hearing reports of the Japanese military's surrender, Oba dismisses the reports as propaganda and continues to launch guerilla attacks against the American soldiers, earning him the nickname "The Fox". Soon, even the American commander who's charged with the task of capturing Oba comes to admire his persistent enemy.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Japan
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: exciting, tense, captivating, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 82%
Island at War (2004)
Plot Summary:
Island at War is a British television series that tells the story of the German Occupation of the Channel Islands. It primarily focuses on three local families: the upper class Dorrs, the middle class Mahys and the working class Jonases, and four German officers. The fictional island of St. Gregory serves as a stand-in for the real-life islands Jersey and Guernsey, and the story is compiled from the events on both islands. Produced by Granada Television in Manchester, Island at War had an estimated budget of £9,000,000 and was filmed on location in the Isle of Man from August 2003 to October 2003. When the series was shown in the UK, it appeared in six 70-minute episodes.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: UK
Duration: 540 min
Plot tags: tense, atmospheric, captivating, suspenseful, historical drama, bleak, serious, realistic, stylized, period drama
Similar in 80%
Diplomacy (2014)
Plot Summary:
The night of August 24, 1944. The fate of Paris is in the hands of General von Choltitz, governor of Grand Paris, who is preparing, on Hitler’s orders, to blow up the French capital. The descendent of a long line of Prussian military men, the general has never had any hesitation when it came to obeying orders. This is what’s on Swedish consul Raoul Nordling’s mind as he takes the secret staircase that leads to General von Choltitz’s suite at the Hôtel Meurice. The bridges on the Seine and the major monuments of Paris (including the Louvre, Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower) are mined with explosives, ready to be detonated. Armed with all the weapons of diplomacy, the consul will try to convince the general not to follow Hitler’s order of destruction.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: France, Germany
Duration: 84 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, captivating, talky, political
Similar in 85%
Stones for the Rampart (2014)
Plot Summary:
To be defeated and not be - a victory. This is the motto that life is guided by three young friends: Alek, Sophy and Rudy. Scouts, high school graduates high school in Warsaw drifting ambitious plans for the future broken through September 1939. Entering adulthood in a very dramatic times, which puts them a choice - to survive at any cost, or to join the fighting for a free homeland, risking everything. The boys brought up in patriotic homes, shaped by the ideals of scouting, they decide to fight. They become soldiers, and although every scrape with death, they can live a full life.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Poland
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, realistic, suspenseful, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 84%
Lucie Aubrac (1997)
Plot Summary:
A love story or a tale of the resistance, this poignant movie tells both the haunting story of a French resistance cell in Lyon but also the love of Lucie Aubrac for her husband.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Biography, Drama, War
Country: France
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: emotional, serious, realistic, romantic, sexy, enigmatic, entertaining, melancholic, dramatic, witty
Similar in 80%
Allies (2014)
Plot Summary:
August 1944 two months after D-Day, the Allies are advancing across France. A team of British and American commandos are dropped behind enemy lines on a secret mission to ambush a German Officer and steal maps charting the location of the enemy artillery along the front line.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Action, Drama, War
Country: UK
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: captivating, exciting, tense, suspense
Similar in 87%
The Forgotten Battle (2020)
Plot Summary:
November 1944. On the flooded isle of Walcheren, Zeeland, thousands of Allied soldiers are battling the German army. Three young lives become inextricably connected. A Dutch boy fighting for the Germans, an English glider pilot and a girl from Zeeland connected to the resistance against her will, are forced to make crucial choices that impact both their own freedom and the freedom of others.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 36000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Netherlands, Belgium
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, suspense, disturbing, powerful
Similar in 77%
The Army of Shadows (1969)
Plot Summary:
Betrayed by an informant, Philippe Gerbier (Lino Ventura) finds himself trapped in a torturous Nazi prison camp. Though Gerbier escapes to rejoin the Resistance in occupied Marseilles, France, and exacts his revenge on the informant, he must continue a quiet, seemingly endless battle against the Nazis in an atmosphere of tension, paranoia and distrust.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 25000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: France, Italy
Duration: 145 min
Plot tags: noir, visually appealing, art house, bleak, captivating, realistic, stylized, political, visual, sincere
Similar in 87%
Suite Française (2014)
Plot Summary:
France, 1940. In the first days of occupation, beautiful Lucile Angellier is trapped in a stifled existence with her controlling mother-in-law as they both await news of her husband: a prisoner of war. Parisian refugees start to pour into their small town, soon followed by a regiment of German soldiers who take up residence in the villagers' own homes. Lucile initially tries to ignore Bruno von Falk, the handsome and refined German officer staying with them. But soon, a powerful love draws them together and leads them into the tragedy of war.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 28000
Genere: Drama, Romance, Thriller, War
Country: UK, France, Canada, Belgium, USA
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: emotional, realistic, romantic, period piece, serious, captivating, suspense, costume drama, factual, sentimental
Similar in 84%
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 87%
This Life (2012)
Plot Summary:
The true story of the Fiil's a family of innkeepers who during Nazi-Germany's occupation of Denmark took up arms against the German occupiers. But in the fight for freedom, some must die so that others may live.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Denmark
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: emotional, realistic, disturbing, captivating, tense, bleak, serious
Similar in 84%
Female Agents (2008)
Plot Summary:
May 1944, a group of French servicewomen and resistance fighters are enlisted into the British Special Operations Executive commando group under the command of Louise Desfontaines and her brother Pierre. Their mission, to rescue a British army geologist caught reconnoitering the beaches at Normandy.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: France
Duration: 148 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, tense, suspense, retro, historical drama, bleak, captivating, beautiful
Similar in 80%
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