Best movies like The Hidden Half
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
An official is sent from his home in Tehran to hear the final appeal of a woman sentenced to death, a political prisoner. The official's wife of nearly 20 years, Fereshteh Samimi, writes him a letter to read when he reaches the hotel - the story of her student days during the revolution of 1978. We see the story in flashbacks as he reads: she leaves her province on scholarship, joins a Communist youth group, avoids arrest, and comes under the sway of a suave older man, Roozbeh Javid, a literary-magazine editor. As she tells her husband about the hidden half of her life, Fereshteh asks that he listen to the woman facing execution, a woman and therefore one of Iran's hidden half.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 866
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: sincere, thought provoking, serious, captivating, islamic, realistic, contemplative, intellectual
Best tv shows and movies like The Hidden Half (2001):
Similar in 80%
Melbourne (2014)
Plot Summary:
Amir and Sara are a young couple on their way to Melbourne to continue their studies. However, just a few hours before the departure of their flight, they are unintentionally involved in a tragic event.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, realistic, psychological, emotional, sincere
Similar in 77%
Five Square Meters (2011)
Plot Summary:
Álex and Virginia, a couple planning to get married, buy an apartment located in a building under construction. When there are only a few months left before the apartments are to be delivered, the works are stopped indefinitely. Álex wants a solution and will do anything to get his apartment and have the life he had dreamed of.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 617
Genere: Drama
Country: Spain
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, captivating, psychological, social, bleak, biting
Similar in 86%
Red Rose (2014)
Plot Summary:
A politically complacent middle-aged man and a young pro-democracy activist debate about the future of their country while hiding from the police, in this fascinating drama that blends scripted scenes with on-the-ground footage from Iran’s 2009 Green Revolution.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 261
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: France, Iran, Greece
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, serious, captivating, realistic
Similar in 77%
On the Path (2010)
Plot Summary:
Loving young couple Luna and Amar try their best to overcome unexpected obstacles that threaten their relationship. After Amar's dramatic change in a fundamentalist community, Luna tears herself apart searching if love is truly enough to keep the couple together on the path to a lifetime of happiness.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Austria, Germany, Croatia
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: sincere, captivating, thought provoking, serious, realistic, contemplative, islamic, tense, gloomy
Similar in 80%
Two Women (1999)
Plot Summary:
A sensation when released in 1999 in Iran, Two Women charts the lives of two promising architecture students over the course of the first turbulent years of the Islamic Republic. Tahimine Milani creates this scathing portrait of those traditions - aided by official indifference - which conspire to trap women and stop them from realizing their full potential; the inclusion of frank depictions of domestic violence was hailed by many as a breakthrough in dealing with a long taboo subject.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Iran
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: tense, sentimental, sincere, serious, realistic, suspenseful, disturbing
Similar in 86%
Tales (2014)
Plot Summary:
Award-winning Iranian filmmaker Rakshan Banietemad ends her eight-year hiatus from feature filmmaking with this ingenious, mosaic-like narrative, which knits together the stories of seven characters to create a microcosm of Iranian working-class society.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: realistic, emotional, psychological, captivating, sincere, touching, bleak, serious, gloomy, surprise ending
Similar in 79%
The Cyclist (1989)
Plot Summary:
The wife of Nasim, an Afghan immigrant in Iran, is gravely ill. He needs money to pay for her care, but his day labor digging wells does not pay enough. A friend connects Nasim to a two-bit promoter who sells tickets to watch Nasim ride a bicycle continuously for a week. The promoter brings in sick and aged spectators, haranguing them to find hope in Nasim's strength. Aided by his son, who feeds him as he rides, Nasim grinds out the days and shivering nights. Local officials believe this may be a plot and Nasim may be a spy; they try to sabotage him as do those who bet he won't finish the week. Will desperation alone get Nasim the money? Is any triumph an illusion?.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 82 min
Plot tags: islamic, psychological, sincere, serious, emotional, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 86%
A Minor Leap Down (2015)
Plot Summary:
Nahal is around thirty and in her fourth month of pregnancy. During a routine check-up she learns that her baby has died and she now faces a curettage abortion in two days’ time. When she tries to address the subject, neither her mother nor her husband give her a chance to speak.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 228
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran, France
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, serious, emotional, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 76%
Women Without Men (2009)
Plot Summary:
Against the tumultuous backdrop of Iran's 1953 CIA-backed coup d'état, the destinies of four women converge in a beautiful orchard garden, where they find independence, solace and companionship.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: Germany, Austria, France, Italy, Ukraine, Morocco, Iran
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, realistic, stylized, art house, atmospheric, captivating, contemplative, inspirational
Similar in 85%
The Day I Became a Woman (2000)
Plot Summary:
A girl reaches the age of nine and is supposed to act as a grown woman according to her family. A girl participates in a bike race against the will of her husband. An elderly woman decides she wants to buy all the things she always wanted but could never get.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 78 min
Plot tags: touching, talky, stylized, thought provoking, bleak, serious, captivating, realistic, entertaining, allegory
Similar in 75%
Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem (2014)
Plot Summary:
The trial story of Viviane Amsalem's five year fight to obtain her divorce in front of the only legal authority competent for divorce cases in Israel, the Rabbinical Court.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama
Country: Israel, France, Germany
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: serious, sincere, thought provoking, touching, social, art house, detective, emotional, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 81%
Iron Island (2005)
Plot Summary:
Squatters live on a mothballed oil tanker in the Persian Gulf. The children attend a school on board; men harvest scrap metal and old oil in the hull; women keep house and raise children and Captain Nemat runs it all with an iron hand. We follow a lad who rescues fish trapped in the hull, an old man who stares at the sun, the idealistic teacher, and Ahmad, the Captain's assistant who has fallen in love with a young woman whose father wants to marry her to someone of means. What future has this sinking city?.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 980
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: sincere, thought provoking, touching, serious, realistic, contemplative, atmospheric, offbeat, gloomy
Similar in 86%
Hamoun (1990)
Plot Summary:
Hamoon's wife is leaving him. He is also unsuccessfully trying to finish his Ph.D. thesis. He is forced to reexamine his life. In a series of flashbacks and dreams, Hamoon tries to figure out what he did wrong.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: existential, spiritual, islamic, cult classic, psychological, sentimental, sincere, serious, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 84%
Dance Town (2010)
Plot Summary:
A North Korean refugee, Jung-Nim, is trying to find a new life in South Korea, with people suspecting that she is a spy.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 83
Genere: Drama
Country: South Korea
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, realistic, touching, sincere, thought provoking, bleak, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 82%
Orange Honey (2012)
Plot Summary:
Andalusia in the fifties. Enrique and Carmen just meet and fall deeply in love. Carmen gets him to stay in military service in a court of the city. Enrique, in view of the injustices he witnesses every day, realizes that to change the course of things he has to act. Soon he will be involved in risky actions that endanger their lives and those of their peers.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 351
Genere: Drama
Country: Spain, Portugal
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, realistic, suspenseful, disturbing
Similar in 75%
Day Break (2005)
Plot Summary:
Since the Islamic Revolution in Iran, capital punishment is carried out according to Islamic law, which gives the family of the victim ownership of the offender's life. Day Break - based on a compilation of true stories and shot inside Tehran's century-old prison - revolves around the imminent execution of Mansour, a man found guilty of murder. When the family of the victim repeatedly fails to show up on the appointed day, Mansour's execution is postponed again and again. Stuck inside the purgatory of his own mind, he waits as time passes on without him, caught between life and death, retribution and forgiveness.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 327
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 82 min
Plot tags: disturbing, rough, serious, suspenseful, thought provoking, bleak, realistic, contemplative, gloomy, surprise ending
Similar in 89%
Goodbye (2011)
Plot Summary:
Without her husband and without her lawyer’s licence, which has been withdrawn, Noora is left pregnant and alone in her apartment. Her attempt to leave Iran turns into a fight with male chauvinism. A personal, nerve-wracking and infuriating film by Rasoulof, who was himself convicted for his films in Iran. Goodbye is a sober, frightening portrait of a society that is stooping under the continual control and threats of its religious regime. Noora, a young, pregnant lawyer in Tehran whose husband has been sent to work in the desert because of his critical journalistic activities, continually faces opposition from the regime and decides to leave the country. That turns out to be very difficult. Because Rasoulof was already banned from making films, Goodbye was shot partly in secret in the winter of 2010/2011. The result is a disquieting film that makes impotence and the desire for freedom painfully tangible in all its simplicity.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 814
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, realistic, thought provoking, contemplative, islamic, bleak, interesting
Similar in 77%
Sub terra (2003)
Plot Summary:
In 1897, in Lota, Chile, in the face of long days, low pay, debts to the company store, unsafe and deadly working conditions, and widespread child labor, men try to establish a miners' association at one of the largest coal mines in the world. They must face Davis, an iron-fisted and murderous supervisor; there's at least one turncoat, willing to inform on their fellow workers; and, there are passions on all sides, including one between Fernando, a leader of the miners, and Virginia, the godchild of the mine's owners. Can the miners win a victory, and at what cost? Baldomero Lillo, a grocery clerk, records it all.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 373
Genere: Drama
Country: Chile, Spain
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, serious, realistic, captivating, epic, contemplative
Similar in 84%
Boutique (2004)
Plot Summary:
A clothing store worker (Jahan) meets a poor girl named Eti. Jahan tries to help the girl and solve her problems, but….
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: touching, sincere, serious, realistic, neo noir, islamic, emotional, gloomy
Similar in 79%
The Circle (2000)
Plot Summary:
Various women struggle to function in the oppressively sexist society of contemporary Iran.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran, Italy, Switzerland
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: bleak, disturbing, harsh, atmospheric, sincere, contemplative, thought provoking, spiritual, avant garde, art house
Similar in 85%
The Deserted Station (2002)
Plot Summary:
On a pilgrimage to Mashad from Tehran, a couple's transportation breaks down, far from any major town. The husband, a photographer, seeks help at a nearby village and encounters a teacher who offers to help. Whilst the husband and teacher go off to find a spare part, the wife, who used to be a teacher, takes over the teaching lessons in the village. It is clear that the children live there, in this strange deserted place, without any men, save the teacher and an old signal guard. As the day draws on, the children help to bring a new hope and life into the wife's heart.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 649
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: psychological, sentimental, touching, serious, islamic, sincere, thought provoking, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 90%
Ten (2002)
Plot Summary:
A visual social examination in the form of ten conversations between a driving woman and her various pick-ups and hitchhikers.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran, France, USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: talky, melancholic, light, intense, sincere, thought provoking, touching, realistic, art house, contemplative
Similar in 86%
The Willow Tree (2005)
Plot Summary:
Youssef, a blind university professor, is suddenly diagnosed with a fatal disease and must undergo treatment in France. Back home, will he find the life he had before?.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: psychological, realistic, touching, captivating, inspirational, emotional, islamic, thought provoking, serious, beautiful
Similar in 76%
The Apple (1998)
Plot Summary:
After twelve years of imprisonment by their own parents, two sisters are finally released by social workers to face the outside world for the first time.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran, France, Netherlands
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: compassionate, sincere, thought provoking, serious, art house, sentimental, touching, captivating, emotional, realistic
Similar in 75%
Strike (2006)
Plot Summary:
In poverty, she found strength. In oppression, she found courage. In solidarity, she found a reason to believe again. Acclaimed German actress Katharina Thalbach (THE TIN DRUM, SOPHIES CHOICE) stars in this hard-hitting historical drama set during the rise of Polands Solidarity movement. An illiterate single mother, Agnieszka Kowalska is a Socialist "heroine of labor" for working long hours as a shipyard welder until her superiors deny compensation to the widows of 21 workers killed in an industrial disaster. Risking her job, her life, and the love of her son to defy the bureacracy, Agnieszka inspires the largest labor strike in world history and becomes a national hero. Volker Schlöndorff adapted this "ballad based on historical events" from the biography of Anna Walentynowicz, the free trade activist who mobilized a million Poles for Solidarity and helped hasten the fall of Communism. Filmed entirely on location at Polands Lenin Shipyard, where history was made.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 490
Genere: Drama
Country: Germany, Poland
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, emotional, realistic, sincere, captivating
Similar in 78%
Scheherazade, Tell Me a Story (2009)
Plot Summary:
A female talk show host in Cairo, Egypt, stirs up a political controversy when she focuses her on-air discussions on the topic of women's issues.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Egypt
Duration: 150 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, realistic, serious, tense, touching, islamic, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 88%
Mandela and de Klerk (1997)
Plot Summary:
Sidney Poitier and Michael Caine both received Emmy nominations for their performances in this made-for-TV movie. The plot follows Nelson Mandela's 27-year struggle to end apartheid.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 667
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: tense, sincere, uplifting, thought provoking, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, disturbing, contemplative
Similar in 76%
20 Fingers (2004)
Plot Summary:
A film in several episodes with Bijan Daneshmand and Mania Akbari, exposing some of the issues of men and women within the confines of tradition and family life in Iran. Each episode displays a different form of male/female interaction. The placing of the actors in a moving vehicle or against a moving back drop signifies the movement of life despite all the obstacles in its way. The film deals with the roots of dependencies, limitations, power struggles and conflict that are the familiar stuff of life of couples in the Middle East.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 485
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 72 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, realistic, clever, contemplative, talky, sexual, islamic, sexy
Similar in 81%
Under the Skin of the City (2001)
Plot Summary:
Tuba works daily at a grueling textile factory in Iran, returning home every night to deal with the rest of her problematic family, which includes: a pregnant daughter whose husband beats her regularly; a teenage son, who's been getting into trouble due to his burgeoning career in radical politics; and an older son who goes to great lengths--such as attempting to sell the family's meager house--in order to get an engineering job in Japan as a means of getting out of Iran.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, emotional, suspenseful, exciting, suspense, islamic, masterpiece
Similar in 83%
At Five in the Afternoon (2003)
Plot Summary:
Nogreh is a young Afghani woman living with her father and her sister-in-law, Leylomah, whose husband, Akhtar, is missing. Beyond the issue of Akhtar, Leylomah is most concerned with how to feed her baby. She cannot provide milk for her baby as her own hunger is preventing her from lactating. Nogreh, however, aspires toward a life in a western styled democracy. Although the Taliban are no longer in power in Afghanistan, traditional forces are still active in the country. Nogreh often displays signs of rebellion, such as wearing a pair of white pumps instead of the traditional slipper beneath her burqa. But mostly, Nogreh wants to be educated. Without her father's knowledge, Nogreh is attending a secular girls school. Ultimately, she wants to become President of Afghanistan. With the help of a Pakistani refugee who likes her as a woman, Nogreh tries to understand exactly what forces led to current world leaders being elected, those forces which she wants to emulate.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran, France
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, bleak, serious, sincere, touching, realistic, art house, emotional, masterpiece