Best movies like The Mother of Kings
Last updated March 2024
Looking for movies similar to The Mother of Kings? Leverage your familiarity to lead others toward tv series and movies you've seen before that they might like also. Help broaden the community of people suggesting videos to each other. We welcome your engagement!
Plot Summary:
Made in 1982, shelved for five years. Story opens with Lucja Krol's husband under the tram. She gives birth to her fourth son on the floor of their new apartment. Neighbor Wiktor, a communist intellectual, befriends the poverty-stricken family but is soon arrested and sent to jail. During the war Lucja narrowly escapes a Nazi roundup at the black market. Her sons hold ardent Communist meetings in their apartment, with her blessing. Lucja works hard, but without complaint. After the war, Klemens is inexplicably arrested, accused by the new regime of being a collaborator. Wiktor, now a high-ranking party member, trying to defend him, himself falls into disgrace. Klemens is tortured to "confess" and dies in jail, a Communist to the end. Lucja is never told about his fate.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 303
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Poland
Duration: 127 min
Plot tags: intellectual, pre war
Best tv shows and movies like The Mother of Kings (1987):
Similar in 87%
How to Be Loved (1963)
Plot Summary:
An actress travels from Warsaw to Paris and during the trip reflects on the last few years of her life. It goes back to the German occupation and her hiding of a fellow actor who has supposedly killed a collaborator. He is weak and a bit cowardly, but suffers most from not having any audience for his vanity, ego and supposed bravery. After the war he leaves her but finds out that he has been accused of cowardice. He finally commits suicide and she clears herself of a collaboration charge and eventually becomes a popular actress.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 720
Genere: Drama
Country: Poland
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: road movie
Similar in 88%
Life As a Fatal Sexually Transmitted Disease (2000)
Plot Summary:
The story of a doctor named Tomasz who questions his beliefs, faith and morality as his end is near, so he makes all efforts to find dignity in his imminent death.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Poland, France
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, tricky, clever, intellectual, existential
Similar in 75%
Samson (1961)
Plot Summary:
Sampson is one of several Andrzej Wajda films harking back to his youth during the Nazi Occupation of Poland. Many of these concern not only the struggle between good and evil, but also between passive and impassive. The hero is a Jewish youth. He, like his family, has always been silent and undemonstrative in the face of prejudice. Now he stands up for his right to survive, and in so doing represents the fighting spirit that culminated in the 1943 Warsaw Uprising. It was originally titled Samson, but re-spelled as Sampson upon its American release to avoid confusion with a sword-and-sandal epic of the same name.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 234
Genere: Drama, Romance, War
Country: Poland
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: heroic
Similar in 87%
The Constant Factor (1980)
Plot Summary:
The main character in this effective, convincing drama is Witold (Tadeusz Bradecki) who is high in what later would be termed the "emotional quotient" or the ability to bounce back from adverse, tragic circumstances. Witold has been nursing both his sick mother and a deeply rooted desire to climb the Himalayas. His father had died climbing in those mountains, and they have an allure for Witold as well. But his dreams begin to crumble when his mother succumbs to her illness and trouble brews at work. The situation becomes bad enough to scramble Witold's life with no indication of future improvement.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Poland
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: intellectual
Similar in 81%
Akseli and Elina (1970)
Plot Summary:
A former Red Rebellion leader returns home after being imprisoned for his participation in the Finnish Civil War, but soon finds out that wartime mindsets still linger in the heads of people.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 508
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Finland
Duration: 137 min
Plot tags: epic, family saga, pre war
Similar in 87%
The Ring with a Crowned Eagle (1992)
Plot Summary:
A Polish Resistance fighter who survived the Nazi years cannot accept the new Communist power.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 316
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Poland, France, UK
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 87%
Passenger (1963)
Plot Summary:
The last film of Andrzej Munk, who died in a crash during the filming. A German woman on a ship coming back to Europe notices a face of another woman which brings recollections from the past. She tells her husband that she has been an overseer in Auschwitz during the war, but she has actually saved a woman's life. Her vision is shown and then the actual events.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Poland
Duration: 62 min
Plot tags: experimental, odd
Similar in 75%
The Birthday (1980)
Plot Summary:
The four sequences in the film cover four days in a life of young Warsaw lad in September 1938, 1939, 1943 and 1944. In the first sequence Jurek decides not to study in the Sorbonne but enlists in a Polish military school instead. In the second sequence the war starts and Warsaw is occupied. In the third sequence he works in the underground resistance. The final sequence takes place during the Warsaw uprising.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 35
Genere: Drama, History, Romance, War
Country: Poland
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 75%
Death of a President (1977)
Plot Summary:
After Poland won freedom from of its long overlordship by Russia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918, it took a further four years for its National Assembly to elect Gabriel Narutowicz as its first president. Narutowicz was a professor who until his election had been living in Switzerland. Those were chaotic times, and shortly after his election, he was assassinated by right-wing fanatics. This epic Polish film chronicles the circumstances of Narutowicz's election and assassination.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 272
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Poland
Duration: 144 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 80%
Fever (1981)
Plot Summary:
The film is set in 1905, in a time of feverish revolutionary underground activity in Poland partitioned between three neighbours. All the characters are committed anarchists. The bomb maker puts an invention together to place it at the disposal of young inexperienced terrorists fighting against Tsarist oppression. The story follows the passing of this bomb from anarchist to anarchist as several attempts are made on the life of Tsarist governor general, until, at the end, it is effectively and harmlessly defused by a bomb expert. The presence of the bomb has a destroying effect on all of the Polish revolutionaries, they either die or breakdown.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 279
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Poland
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 77%
Attack and Retreat (1964)
Plot Summary:
Beautifully photographed and lyrically written, this largely factual account of Mussolini's disastrous invasion of Russia during World War II tells the story of an Italian regiment through the eyes of a farmer from Emilia, a plumber from Rome, a miner from Puglia and a colonel.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 396
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Italy, Soviet Union
Duration: 137 min
Plot tags: macaroni combat
Similar in 77%
Countdown to War (1989)
Plot Summary:
Based on a play, the story details the dramatic negotiations between UK, France, Poland, Nazi-Germany and USSR from the day Czechoslovakia fell, until Britain's declaration of war on Germany caused by Hitler's invasion of Poland.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 198
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: UK
Duration: 78 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 90%
The Magnate (1987)
Plot Summary:
This Polish historical drama film traces the fascinating saga of a wealthy, princely Polish dynasty in years 1900-1935.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 155
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Poland
Duration: 171 min
Plot tags: family saga
Similar in 81%
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 83%
Under the North Star II (2010)
Plot Summary:
Akseli Koskela returns from prison and tries to learn living again. He's not allowed to take part in politics anymore, but he sees a lot of injustice around him. He raises a family with his wife Elina while another war is around the corner.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 455
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Finland
Duration: 138 min
Plot tags: suspense, psychological, touching, family saga, epic, exciting
Similar in 80%
Austeria (1982)
Plot Summary:
During a pogrom in Poland on the eve of World War I, a group of Jews seek refuge from the Cossacks.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 655
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Poland
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: freeze frame
Similar in 87%
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 83%
The Zone of Interest (2023)
Plot Summary:
The commandant of Auschwitz, Rudolf Höss, and his wife Hedwig, strive to build a dream life for their family in a house and garden next to the camp.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: USA, UK, Poland
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: experimental
Similar in 78%
Warsaw 44 (2014)
Plot Summary:
A beautiful story about youth, love, friendship and the pursuit of adventure during the bloody and brutal reality of the Warsaw Uprising.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama, History, Romance, War
Country: Poland
Duration: 130 min
Plot tags: realistic, romantic, captivating, psychological, tense, suspense, social
Similar in 86%
Shivers (1981)
Plot Summary:
Set in the early 1950's, during the Stalin's Personality Cult. The story opens in a provincial town. Tomek's father, a former member of the Home Army is arrested so the mother is left with the task of raising two kids alone. The neighbor upstairs commits suicide when her husband is also arrested and transported to the prison camp. It's winter so the kids keep their hands warm at school by hand-beating themselves. The teachers at school are mean, narrow minded idealists, When they ask the kids who goes to church on Sundays, the whole class stands up to defeat the purpose of the propaganda lesson. Tomek is sent to the training school in the summer. There he absorbs most of the ideology pumped into his head, and when his father is released from prison he finds another boy he has left.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 509
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Poland
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: political
Similar in 79%
The Butcher of Prague (2011)
Plot Summary:
With the Nazi takeover of Europe underway, the Reich Protector Reinhard Heydrich arrives in Prague and his underlings begin enforcing his authority in the towns and villages across the occupied country. In Lidice, the film's main protagonist, František Šíma, is sent to prison following a family dispute that results in the accidental death of one of his sons.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Czech Republic, Slovakia
Duration: 126 min
Plot tags: realistic, disturbing, serious, emotional, bleak
Similar in 78%
American Traitor: The Trial of Axis Sally (2021)
Plot Summary:
The life of American woman Mildred Gillars and her lawyer, who struggles to redeem her reputation. Dubbed “Axis Sally” for broadcasting Nazi propaganda to American troops during World War II, Mildred’s story exposes the dark underbelly of the Third Reich's hate-filled propaganda machine, her eventual capture in Berlin, and subsequent trial for treason against the United States after the war.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: USA
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, disturbing, inspirational
Similar in 81%
The Shadow in My Eye (2021)
Plot Summary:
On March 21st, 1945, the British Royal Air Force set out on a mission to bomb Gestapo's headquarters in Copenhagen. The raid had fatal consequences as some of the bombers accidentally targeted a school and more than 120 people were killed, 86 of whom were children.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 16000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Denmark, Belgium
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: suspense, disturbing
Similar in 88%
Squadron 303 (2018)
Plot Summary:
After the fall of the September Campaign of 1939, two Polish pilots are forced to fight for their nation in foreign battlefronts.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Poland, UK
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: exciting, sincere
Similar in 79%
In the Fog (2012)
Plot Summary:
Western frontiers of the USSR, 1942. The region is under German occupation. A man is wrongly accused of collaboration. Desperate to save his dignity, he faces an impossible moral choice.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Germany, Netherlands, Belarus, Russia, Latvia
Duration: 127 min
Plot tags: realistic, bleak, serious, psychological, captivating, sexy, slow cinema, aesthetic, sincere, contemplative
Similar in 79%
Katyn (2007)
Plot Summary:
An examination of the Soviet slaughter of thousands of Polish officers and citizens in the Katyn forest in 1940.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 17000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Poland
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: disturbing, sentimental, heartbreaking, realistic, sad, sincere, touching, epic, social, controversial
Similar in 88%
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 88%
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 88%
Hatred (2016)
Plot Summary:
Summer of 1939. Zosia is a young Polish girl who is deeply in love with Ukrainian Petro. Their great love will be put to the test when her father decides to marry her to a wealthy widower Skiba. Right after wedding she is left alone because her husband is drafted to the Polish army for the war with Germany. Meanwhile, tensions grow due to Jews, Poles, and Ukrainians living side by side.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Poland
Duration: 150 min
Plot tags: tense, thought provoking, captivating, suspense, suspenseful, art house, historical romance
Similar in 90%
Europa Europa (1990)
Plot Summary:
A Jewish boy separated from his family in the early days of WWII poses as a German orphan and is taken into the heart of the Nazi world as a 'war hero' and eventually becomes a Hitler Youth. Although improbabilities and happenstance are cornerstones of the film, it is based upon a true story.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 17000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Germany, France, Poland
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: political, realistic, retro, mind bending, psychedelic, surreal, epic, tense, thought provoking, serious