Best movies like The Patience Stone
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
A woman in an unnamed, war-torn Middle Eastern country delivers an engrossing, emotional monologue to her comatose husband, in novelist and filmmaker Atiq Rahimi's poetic and politically charged allegory based on his award-winning novel. (TIFF).
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: France, Germany, UK, Afghanistan
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: sincere, disturbing, rough, captivating, realistic, independent film, inspirational, social, sad, islamic
Best tv shows and movies like The Patience Stone (2012):
Similar in 83%
M for Mother (2006)
Plot Summary:
What appears to be a grand love story turns sour when parents-to-be discover that their unborn child will likely be born with serious birth defects, as a result of the mother's exposure to chemical weapons during the Iran-Iraq war. The father does not want to have a disabled child, but the mother insists on going through with the pregnancy.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: sincere, captivating, sad, islamic, entertaining
Similar in 86%
Time to Kill (1989)
Plot Summary:
1936, Italian army is invading Ethiopia. Lieutenant Silvestri suffering toothache decides to reach the nearest camp hospital. But the lorry has an accident and stop near a rock, so Silvestri continues by walk. On his way he meets and rapes a wonderful young Ethiopian. He also wound her when he shot to a wild animal, and later kills her to avoid further pain. When he finally reaches the hospital, he realizes he gets probably leprosy. Trying to escape from Ethiopia Silvestri will kill again. But surprises aren't still over.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 943
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Italy, France
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic, disturbing, historical drama, suspenseful
Similar in 76%
Inbetween Worlds (2014)
Plot Summary:
Jesper is a soldier in the German army, who reports for a new tour of duty in Afghanistan. His unit is to protect a village from the Taliban.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 681
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Germany
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, psychological, tense, captivating, sincere, rough
Similar in 90%
Address Unknown (2001)
Plot Summary:
Romances end in blood and the frail hopes of individuals are torn apart in a vile karmic continuity of colonialism, civil war and occupation. After surviving Japanese colonization, Korea became the first war zone of the Cold War. The legacy of war remains today in this divided country. Three forlorn teenagers, Chank-guk, Jihum and Eunok are figures in the landscape of this story, which highlights the global implications of a very Korean reality. None of them is able to escape the withering pull of tragedy. All desperate pleas for love and redemption are returned stamped in red with "Address Unknown".
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: South Korea
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, rough, serious, philosophical, offbeat, disturbing, controversial, art house, emotional
Similar in 89%
The Soldier's Star (2006)
Plot Summary:
A Russian guitarist was enlisted in 1984 in the Afghan war. Imprisoned, he will meet an Afghan musician and a French journalist.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 137
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: France, Germany, Afghanistan
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, realistic, disturbing, captivating
Similar in 89%
Wajma, an Afghan Love Story (2013)
Plot Summary:
It’s snowing in Kabul, and gregarious waiter Mustafa charms a pretty student named Wajma. The pair begin a clandestine relationship—they’re playful and passionate but ever mindful of the societal rules they are breaking. After Wajma discovers she is pregnant, her certainty that Mustafa will marry her falters, and word of their dalliance gets out. Her father must decide between his culturally held right to uphold family honor and his devotion to his daughter.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 464
Genere: Drama
Country: Afghanistan, France
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: captivating, realistic, psychological, atmospheric, emotional, sentimental, inspirational, sincere, serious
Similar in 85%
Afghan Luke (2011)
Plot Summary:
Disheartened when his story about Canadian snipers possibly mutilating corpses in Afghanistan is buried, Luke (Nick Stahl) quits his job but is even more determined to return to Afghanistan to get the real story. With his offbeat buddy, Tom (Nicolas Wright), tagging along, Luke returns to Afghanistan and intends to gather enough evidence to get his old story into print. But he soon finds that the country is an even more dangerous place than when he left. To make matters worse, his old friend and fixer, Mateen (Stephen Lobo) has been hired away by Luke's journalistic nemesis, Imran Sahar (Vik Sahay). Soon the trip for Luke and Tom in Afghanistan turns into a surreal and perilous adventure, a journey into an alternate reality, filtered through a haze of gun smoke.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 811
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Canada
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: realistic, tense, thought provoking, captivating, psychological, rough, serious, semi serious
Similar in 78%
Earth and Ashes (2004)
Plot Summary:
Elderly Dastaguir and his newly deaf 5-year-old grandson Yassin hitchhike and walk, but mostly walk, as they make their way to the coal mine where Dastaguir's son Murad works. Dastaguir must tell Murad that the rest of their family were all killed in a recent bomb attack.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 574
Genere: Drama
Country: Afghanistan, France
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: serious, sincere, thought provoking, touching, bleak, islamic, atmospheric, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 80%
Buddha Collapsed Out of Shame (2007)
Plot Summary:
A young girl zealously wants to go to school and learn to read and write. Almost everywhere she is met with hostility or indifference. The only young boy who takes her to his school is thrown out by the teacher, because helping her prevented him from arriving in time. On her way home she and other girls are taken as prisoners by boys playing as Taliban fighters. They tear her school book to pieces and threaten to stone their female captives.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Iran, France, Afghanistan
Duration: 81 min
Plot tags: tense, bleak, thought provoking, emotional, realistic, gloomy, semi serious
Similar in 80%
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 76%
Brides (2014)
Plot Summary:
Nutsa, a young mother, lives with her two children in a suburbs of Tblissi in Georgia. Her partner Goga is in prison. They get married, so she gains the right to talk to him once a month in the visiting room on the other side of the glass. The ceremony is quick with a strange ambiance. Goga in prison, Nutsa with children outside, a routine sets in.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 151
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Georgia
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, realistic, disturbing
Similar in 76%
Brothers (2004)
Plot Summary:
A Danish officer, Michael (Thomsen), is sent away to the International Security Assistance Force operation in Afghanistan for three months. His first mission there is to find a young radar technician who had been separated from his squad some days earlier. While on the search, his helicopter is shot down and he is taken as a prisoner of war, but is reported dead to the family.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Denmark, UK, Sweden, Norway
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: emotional, tense, disturbing, serious, melancholic, psychological, realistic, captivating, sincere, touching
Similar in 86%
Mainline (2006)
Plot Summary:
The uneasy relationship between a mother and daughter is made all the more turbulent by drug abuse in this downbeat drama from Iranian filmmakers Rakhshan Bani-Etemad and Mohsen Abdolvahab.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 889
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 77 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, emotional, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 88%
Mina Walking (2015)
Plot Summary:
Saddled by a senile grandfather and a neglectful father, Mina, an impulsive twelve-year-old Afghan street seller sees her future slipping away when she is forced to neglect her education and walk the streets of Kabul to support her fragmented family. In the seven days that follow her life, Mina’s quest to emancipate her father from the claws of a local drug dealer and her attempt to secretly attend school underlines the current struggle of a young generation of Afghans trying to shake off the echoes of oppression from the Taliban era that continues to haunt those who bore witness to it.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 90
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada, Afghanistan
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: sincere, thought provoking, realistic, rough, social, bleak, serious
Similar in 79%
Spring 1941 (2007)
Plot Summary:
After Germany invades Poland and the Nazis order the confinement of all local Jews in the ghetto, medical doctor Artur Planck (Joseph Fiennes) manages to flee with his family, seeking refuge at the farm of Emilia (Kelly Harrison), their former grocer. With the Planck family hiding in her attic, Emilia finds her feelings for the physician growing stronger than she wants, or can control -- despite the dangers of the situation.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 789
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Poland, Israel
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, sexual, sexy
Similar in 90%
The Kreutzer Sonata (2008)
Plot Summary:
A film by Bernard Rose, based on the novel by Leo Tolstoy with music by Ludwig Van Beethoven. Edgar Hudson meets Abby, a concert pianist, at a dinner party. Abby is involved with someone else but that doesn't stop the two from acting upon their strong attraction to one another. They start to sneak around but it's not long before they realize they should be together. Soon after Abby breaks up with her boyfriend, she becomes pregnant with Edgar's child - something that was not planned.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 392
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: erotic, sexy, serious, captivating, suspenseful, rough, bleak, realistic, sexual, psychological thriller
Similar in 77%
Osama (2003)
Plot Summary:
Teenage girl Osama cuts her hair and dresses like a boy to get a job and support her widowed mother and grandmother. When Osama is called by the Taliban to join school and military training she embarks on a terrifying and confusing journey as she tries to keep the Taliban from finding out her true identity.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Drama
Country: Afghanistan, Ireland, Japan, Netherlands, Iran
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, disturbing, sincere, bleak, thought provoking, breathtaking, talky, stylized, captivating
Similar in 88%
The Attack (2012)
Plot Summary:
An Arab surgeon living in Tel Aviv discovers a dark secret about his wife in the aftermath of a suicide bombing.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, War
Country: Lebanon, France, Qatar, Belgium, Egypt
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, realistic, serious, suspenseful, touching, suspense, social, bleak
Similar in 86%
The Road to Guantanamo (2006)
Plot Summary:
Part drama, part documentary, The Road to Guantánamo focuses on the Tipton Three, a trio of British Muslims who were held in Guantanamo Bay for two years until they were released without charge.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: UK
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: disturbing, rough, realistic, intense, serious, suspenseful, tense, sincere, political, road movie
Similar in 76%
Lemon Tree (2008)
Plot Summary:
Salma Zidane, a widow, lives simply from her grove of lemon trees in the West Bank's occupied territory. The Israeli defense minister and his wife move next door; the Secret Service orders the trees removed for security. The stoic Salma seeks assistance from the Palestinian Authority (useless), Israeli army (dismissive), and a young attorney, Ziad Daud, who takes the case; this older client attracts him. While the courts deliberate, the Israelis fence her trees and prohibit her from entering the grove. As the trees wither, the defense minister's wife and, separately, an Israeli journalist, look on Salma with sympathy. In this allegory, does David stand a chance against Goliath?.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Israel, Germany, France
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: sincere, uplifting, sentimental, touching, contemplative, emotional, edutainment, informative, thought provoking, serious
Similar in 75%
Bashu, the Little Stranger (1989)
Plot Summary:
During the Iran-Iraq War, Bashu, a young boy loses his house and all his family. Scared, he sneaks into a truck that is leaving the area. He gets off the truck in the Northern part of the country, where everything from landscape to language is different. He meets Naii, who is trying to raise her two young children on a farm, while her husband is away. Despite cultural differences, and the fact that they do not speak the same language, Bashu and Naii slowly form a strong bond Written by Sam Tabibnia.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Iran
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: inspirational, islamic, serious, realistic
Similar in 79%
Blackboards (2000)
Plot Summary:
Itinerant Kurdish teachers, carrying blackboards on their backs, look for students in the hills and villages of Iran, near the Iraqi border during the Iran-Iraq war. Said falls in with a group of old men looking for their bombed-out village; he offers to guide them, and takes as his wife Halaleh, the clan's lone woman, a widow with a young son. Reeboir attaches himself to a dozen pre-teen boys weighed down by contraband they carry across the border; they're mules, always on the move. Said and Reeboir try to teach as their potential students keep walking. Danger is close; armed soldiers patrol the skies, the roads, and the border. Is there a role for a teacher? Is there hope?.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Iran, Italy, Japan
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: sincere, thought provoking, touching, serious, educational, road movie, art house, islamic, offbeat, bleak
Similar in 86%
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 84%
A Time for Drunken Horses (2000)
Plot Summary:
After their father dies, a family of five are forced to survive on their own in a Kurdish village on the border of Iran and Iraq. Matters are made worse when 12 year old Ayoub, the new head of the family, is told that his handicapped brother, Madi, needs an immediate operation in order to remain alive. This heartbreaking tale shows the lengths to which a family will go in order to survive in the harshest of conditions, where even the horses are fed liquor in order to work.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Iran, France
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags: realistic, bleak, meditative, emotional, harsh, sincere, rough, serious, inspirational, political
Similar in 87%
Attack on Darfur (2009)
Plot Summary:
American journalists in Sudan are confronted with the dilemma of whether to return home to report on the atrocities they have seen, or to stay behind and help some of the victims they have encountered.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Canada, South Africa, Germany
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: disturbing, rough, captivating, realistic, tense, serious, sad, controversial
Similar in 75%
Private (2004)
Plot Summary:
A Palestinian family is trapped inside a house commandeered by Israeli soldiers.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 922
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Italy
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, suspenseful, disturbing, tense, sincere, thought provoking, bleak, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 89%
Circle of Deceit (1981)
Plot Summary:
Georg Laschen leaves his family in West Germany to go work as a war correspondent in Beirut during the fights between Christians and Palestinians.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 948
Genere: Drama, War
Country: West Germany, France
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: political, sincere, rough, thought provoking, bleak, serious, realistic, disturbing
Similar in 83%
The Yellow Birds (2017)
Plot Summary:
Two young soldiers, Bartle and Murph, navigate the terrors of the Iraq war under the command of the older, troubled Sergeant Sterling. All the while, Bartle is tortured by a promise he made to Murph's mother before their deployment.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: tense, thought provoking, captivating, suspense, realistic, disturbing, sad
Similar in 77%
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
Similar in 81%
Suspicious River (2000)
Plot Summary:
A young married woman (Parker) sells her body, not just for money, to guests at the motel where she works as a receptionist.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 852
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: erotic, psychological, rough, disturbing, tense, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, sexual