Best movies like The Prize
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Ceci, a seven year old girl, has to keep a huge secret, but she doesn't completely understand what is the secret about. The life of her family depends on her silence. But what exactly must she keep silent about? Ceci and her mom live hidden from military repression in Argentina. Ceci asks herself: what must she say? What should she really believe and do in order to deserve the love of her mother and others?.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 429
Genere: Drama
Country: Mexico, France, Poland, Germany
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, emotional, captivating, realistic, contemplative
Best tv shows and movies like The Prize (2011):
Similar in 87%
Call Me Elisabeth (2006)
Plot Summary:
A 10 year old girl lives in post WWII rural France with her parents, who are about to divorce. Her older sister leaves home to finish school, and the young girl is left with a mysterious, almost silent housekeeper. Being afraid of the dark, and of other "phenomenoms" including a haunted château nearby, she curiously accepts a stranger she finds in her mansion's barn. This fact contradicts her fearful nature, but fulfills her loneliness. The stranger has run away from a nearby psychiatric clinic, where her father was treating the stranger. She hides the stranger, protects him, and he becomes her best friend. Is this girl searching for true companionship, coming of age, or is she asserting her independence for the first time in her short life?.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 457
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, exciting, sentimental, touching, melancholic
Similar in 82%
The Secret of the Ant-Child (2011)
Plot Summary:
Traveling in North Benin, Cécile crosses the path of a young African mother deposited him, distraught, a baby in arms ... Cecile will adopt this child will grow African and Lancelot in France. The year of its seven years, she left with him to the country of its origin and attempts to pierce the secrecy surrounding its abandonment.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 105
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, emotional, realistic
Similar in 86%
Andres Doesn't Want to Take a Nap (2009)
Plot Summary:
Drama starring Norma Aleandro, Conrado Valenzuela, Fabio Aste.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 87
Genere: Drama
Country: Argentina
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, emotional, disturbing, bleak, realistic
Similar in 89%
Captive (2003)
Plot Summary:
Cristina's life is thrown into turmoil when she is suddenly escorted from her strict Catholic school in Buenos Aires and told that she is really Sofía Lombardi, the daughter of activists who disappeared in the '70s. Questioning everything she once thought true, Cristina embarks on a journey to find her true identity. Meeting others like herself, the young girl soon discovers the real-life horrors of Argentina's relatively recent past and the nightmare that claimed tens of thousands of lives during the country's "dirty war.".
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 719
Genere: Drama
Country: Argentina
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: serious, emotional, realistic, suspenseful, political, bleak
Similar in 81%
Prince of Tears (2009)
Plot Summary:
A shameful period in Taiwanese history provides the backdrop for this emotional drama from writer and director Yonfan (aka Yang Fan). In 1949, in the wake of the 228 Incident (in which anti-government protesters launched a rebellion that was violently put down by authorities), Taiwan came under martial law, and through much of the 1950s brutal reprisals against suspected communists were commonplace. During the years of the "White Terror," thousand of supposed dissidents were killed, imprisoned or simply disappeared at the hands of the military police.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 254
Genere: Drama
Country: Taiwan, Hong Kong
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, captivating, emotional, stylized, serious, realistic
Similar in 86%
Independence (2009)
Plot Summary:
Early 20th century Philippines. The sounds of war signal the arrival of the Americans. A mother and son flee to the mountains, hoping for a quiet life. One day, the son discovers a wounded woman in the middle of the forest, and decides to bring her home.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 244
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Philippines, Germany, Netherlands
Duration: 77 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, suspenseful, surreal, contemplative, slow cinema, aesthetic, gloomy, black and white
Similar in 85%
Summertree (1971)
Plot Summary:
Jerry, not a member of the 'protest generation' but is instead, an 'All American boy,' is drafted into the Army, just as things begin to go well for him. He decision to flee to Canada sparks off conflict with his parents, ending in the film's conclusion - in Vietnam.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 364
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: independent film, rough, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, contemplative, gloomy, cult film
Similar in 79%
The Year My Parents Went on Vacation (2006)
Plot Summary:
A boy is left alone in a Jewish neighborhood in the year of 1970, where both world cup and dictatorship happen in Brazil.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama
Country: Brazil
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: sentimental, serious, emotional, touching, realistic, sincere, spectacular, period piece, masterpiece
Similar in 89%
The Bag of Flour (2012)
Plot Summary:
Based on a true story, this beautifully-shot epic traces the life of Sarah, from her early years in a Catholic orphanage in 1970s Belgium, through her rebellious, poverty-stricken teens in a village in the Atlas mountains of Morocco.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 191
Genere: Drama
Country: Belgium, Morocco
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, emotional, realistic
Similar in 85%
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 87%
The Invisible Eye (2010)
Plot Summary:
Spying on her students, a teacher finds an exciting hobby.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 841
Genere: Drama
Country: Argentina, France, Spain
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: realistic, tense, serious, psychological, captivating, sincere, bleak, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 89%
Kamchatka (2002)
Plot Summary:
The movie show us how life was in Argentina for dissident people, in the seventies, under the military government.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: Argentina, Spain, Italy
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, serious, realistic, political, touching
Similar in 85%
Clandestine Childhood (2011)
Plot Summary:
Juan lives in clandestinity. Just like his mum, his dad and his adored uncle Beto, outside his home he has another name. At school, Juan is known as Ernesto. And he meets María, who only has one name. Based on true facts, set in the Argentina of 1979, this film is one about love.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: Argentina, Spain, Brazil
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: serious, atmospheric, realistic
Similar in 88%
In Mom's Head (2007)
Plot Summary:
Lulu's mother is depressed and has been as far back as she can remember, Lulu is determined to discover the truth behind her listlessness.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 407
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, emotional, captivating, realistic
Similar in 77%
Misunderstood (2014)
Plot Summary:
Rome, 1984, Aria is nine-year-old girl. On the verge of divorce, Aria's infantile and selfish parents are too preoccupied with their careers and extra-marital affairs to properly tend to any of Aria's needs. While her two older sisters are pampered, Aria is treated with cold indifference. Yet she yearns to love and to be loved. At school, Aria excels academically but is considered a misfit by everyone. She is misunderstood. Aria finds comfort in her cat - Dac and in her best friend - Angelica. Thrown out of both parents' homes, abandoned by all, even her best friend, Aria finally reaches the limit of what she can bear. She makes an unexpected decision in her life.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy, France
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, realistic, sincere, serious, stylized, cult classic
Similar in 82%
Son of Babylon (2009)
Plot Summary:
A willful young boy follows his just as obstinate grandmother in a journey across Iraq, determined to discover the fate of her missing son, Ahmed's father, who never returned from war.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Iraq, UK, France, Netherlands, United Arab Emirates, Egypt
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, touching, captivating, emotional, independent film, islamic, tense, serious, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 82%
Natural Sciences (2014)
Plot Summary:
In a rural school in the middle of the mountains, a girl who is starting to become a woman feels the profound need to discover her true identity. She does not know who her father is and she is determined to find him, but her mother does not approve it. The hostility of winter in such a harsh place turns this desire into a real threat: freezing in the middle of nowhere. Going behind the backs of the school authorities and the girl's mother, her teacher decides to help her. They set off on this quest for truth, but it is not going to be an easy journey... Their only clue is a small, rusty plate.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 319
Genere: Drama
Country: Argentina, France
Duration: 70 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, touching, serious, captivating, realistic, gloomy, road movie
Similar in 77%
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 89%
A Year in My Life (2006)
Plot Summary:
In 1950s France, a young boy is taken in by a couple after spending a few months in the care of social service.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 224
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: sentimental, uplifting, touching, sincere, captivating, feel good, serious, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 87%
A Bottle in the Gaza Sea (2010)
Plot Summary:
Tai is 17 years old. Naim is 20. She's Israeli. He's Palestinian. She lives in Jerusalem. He lives in Gaza. They were born in a land of scorched earth, where fathers bury their children. They must endure an explosive situation that is not of their choosing at an age where young people are falling in love and taking their place in adult life. A bottle thrown in the sea and a correspondence by email nurture the slender hope that their relationship might give them the strength to confront this harsh reality to grapple with it, and thereby ever so slightly change it. Only 60 miles separate them but how many bombings, check-points, sleepless nights and bloodstained days stand between them?.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Israel, Canada
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: sentimental, thought provoking, touching, serious, realistic, emotional, contemplative
Similar in 83%
The Little Traitor (2007)
Plot Summary:
Based on the novel "Panther in the Basement" by the world-renowned author, Amos Oz, the movie takes place in Palestine in 1947, just a few months before Israel becomes a state. Proffy Liebowitz, a militant yet sensitive eleven year old wants nothing more than for the occupying British to get the hell out of his land.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Israel, USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: sentimental, thought provoking, touching, emotional, realistic, serious, contemplative
Similar in 80%
Kabei: Our Mother (2008)
Plot Summary:
Set in Tokyo in 1940, the peaceful life of the Nogami Family suddenly changes when the father, Shigeru, is arrested and accused of being a Communist. His wife Kayo works frantically from morning to night to maintain the household and bring up her two daughters with the support of Shigeru's sister Hisako and Shigeru's ex-student Yamazaki, but her husband does not return. WWII breaks out and casts dark shadows on the entire country, but Kayo still tries to keep her cheerful determination, and sustain the family with her love. This is an emotional drama of a mother and an eternal message for peace.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 133 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, captivating, disturbing
Similar in 86%
A Beautiful Secret (2002)
Plot Summary:
The beloved screen legend Katy Jurado, the lights one last time in the history of a special friendship that develops between a lonely old woman and Jorge, a rebellious teenager in Mexico City in 1984. Through the use flashbacks, Jorge, now an adult, remembers the unforgettable lessons and conversations about human nature and society in general. This fascinating film provides a beautiful tribute to the legendary actress in a history of heart that will make you laugh and think.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 219
Genere: Drama
Country: Mexico
Duration: 130 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 90%
Red Like the Sky (2006)
Plot Summary:
A nearly sightless boy is sent to a school for blind children, where he secretly discovers the possibilities of the recorded sound.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: uplifting, touching, serious, realistic, contemplative, educational, fairy tale, factual
Similar in 85%
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 78%
The Last Hammer Blow (2014)
Plot Summary:
When he first enters the Montpellier Opera House, Victor knows nothing about music. Nor does he know his father, Samuel Rovinski, who is there to conduct Mahler’s 6th symphony. To change the course of his suddenly uncertain future, for Nadia his mother, for Luna whom he has fallen in love with, Victor has decided to step out of the shadows. He’ll go as far as he needs to.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 520
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 82 min
Plot tags: realistic, sentimental, touching, emotional, captivating, sincere, serious
Similar in 76%
A Time in Quchi (2013)
Plot Summary:
Bao stays with his grandfather for the summer and is shocked to see there are no modern appliances.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 130
Genere: Drama
Country: Taiwan
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: realistic, touching, atmospheric, captivating, serious
Similar in 81%
Sisters (2009)
Plot Summary:
Lyon, France in 1970s, Sibylle, Corinne, and Georgette are sisters who share everything, as they live with their Italian mother. Sibylle is the only blonde in the family, except for their father who abandoned them, and she feels isolated. She dreams of meeting her French father one day.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 230
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, captivating, entertaining
Similar in 82%
Pandora's Box (2008)
Plot Summary:
When an aging matriarch starts showing signs of dementia, her dysfunctional family in Istanbul must navigate a minefield of unresolved issues to care for her.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: Turkey, France, Germany, Belgium
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, psychological, sincere, atmospheric, captivating, emotional, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 82%
Blessed (2009)
Plot Summary:
Seven lost children wander the night streets while their mothers await their return home.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 777
Genere: Drama
Country: Australia
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: sincere, atmospheric, touching, captivating, serious, emotional, realistic