Best movies like The Truth Commissioner
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Set in a post-Troubles Northern Ireland, The Truth Commissioner follows the fictional story of Henry Stanfield, played by Roger Allam, a career diplomat who has just been appointed as Truth Commissioner to Northern Ireland. Eager to make good as a peacemaker, the Prime Minister urges a commission following the South African model of Truth and Reconciliation. But, though Stanfield starts bravely, he quickly uncovers some bloody and inconvenient truths about those now running the country; truths which none of those in power are prepared to have revealed.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 188
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags:
Best tv shows and movies like The Truth Commissioner (2016):
Similar in 84%
The Quare Fellow (1962)
Plot Summary:
Thomas Crimmins is a new warder, or guard, in an Irish prison. He is young, naive, and idealistic, determined to serve his country by his part in meting out justice to criminals. His superior, Regan, however, realizes that even prisoners are human beings, and Regan is sick of the eye-for-an-eye attitude that leads the state to execute condemned men, or "quare fellows." Crimmins begins to see that not all is black and white in his new world, and when he becomes involved with Kathleen, the wife of one of the condemned men, his attitude begins to change. When new evidence arises to suggest that Kathleen's husband may not deserve his fate, Crimmins is torn between his duty and his humanity.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 388
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: independent film
Similar in 86%
Dead Shot (2023)
Plot Summary:
In the 1970s, a member of the IRA takes over an Active Service Unit in London after his wife is accidentally shot dead in Ireland. The unit's mission is to cause chaos and destruction, while his personal aim is to hunt down his wife’s killer — an SAS captain, who is also hunting him.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: interesting
Similar in 84%
8ish (2019)
Plot Summary:
Sean likes to keep things simple. Living the life of a gangster has been every inch of what he's about. As long as Sean stays 10 steps ahead of the IRA, he doesn't have to worry about his dark past catching up with him either. Up till now - life has been slick. He's right at the top of the business, has a tidy club as the front for his gang-crime and he answers to no-one...Well apart from his boss and uncle - Bill. All in all, things have been ticking along nicely. Unfortunately for Sean, however, life has other plans. When he falls for a gorgeous lady 'Ami' who frequents his club, Sean's life takes a turning point. Between his daily struggles with unruly drug-pushing cousin Dan; the increasing stresses from gang rivals 'The Dolans' (who forever challenge the O'Shea territory); and the unexpected secrets that surface from his past, Sean realizes he is out of sync with it all. Gang-life isn't what its all cut up to be and he just wants out.
IMDB Rating: 4.9
IMDB Votes: 69
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration:
Plot tags:
Similar in 86%
A Quiet Day in Belfast (1974)
Plot Summary:
Andrew Angus Dalrymple's realistic portrait of a British soldier, his Irish lover and her twin sister amidst the strife of Northern Ireland.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 76
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: independent film
Similar in 85%
Sweety Barrett (1998)
Plot Summary:
Sweety Barrett is a giant of a man with the mind of a child. An easy target in a corrupt world, Sweety becomes embroiled in a smuggling operation unleashing a spiral of dangerous and unexpected events.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 279
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Ireland, Iceland
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: independent film
Similar in 87%
Blue Lights (2023)
Plot Summary:
Follows rookie police officers working in Belfast, a city in which being a frontline response cop comes with unique pressures and dangers.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration:
Plot tags:
Similar in 83%
Silent Grace (2001)
Plot Summary:
In 1976 the British Government put an end to the special category status of prisoners from the Provisional Irish Republican Army, no longer treating them as prisoners of war, but as common criminals. Mairéad Farrell - on whose life much of the film seems to be loosely based - was the first woman Republican to be refused political status in 1976. By 1980, when the film is set, Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister and doggedly resolute: “There can be no question of political status for someone who is serving a sentence for crime. Crime is crime is crime.” Silent Grace seeks to capture the struggle for the restoration of political status that was at the heart of prison protests in Northern Ireland - not just by the more celebrated male prisoners - but by a smaller number of women prisoners, led by Farrell, at the Armagh Women’s Prison.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 73
Genere: Drama
Country: Ireland
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 77%
The Dawning (1988)
Plot Summary:
A young woman in her late teens is caught up in the political unrest of Southern Ireland in the 1920s in this drama that features an excellent cast. Nancy (Rebecca Pidgeon) befriends the pistol packing stranger she dubs Cassius (Anthony Hopkins) while he hides in a beach hut. He talks the naive Nancy into delivering a message to Dublin. There she meets Joe Mulhare (Mark O'Regan) and befriends the recipient of the message. Only when she witnesses the shooting deaths of 12 British officers does she realize the content of the lethal message. After the shootings, Nancy rushes to try and warn Cassius about the military police who are closing in on him. Trevor Howard is the old army officer and grandfather in his last screen role, with Jean Simmons as Aunt Mary. Watch for Hugh Grant as Harry, the stuffed shirt on whom Nancy has a huge crush.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 405
Genere: Drama, Romance, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, sincere, factual, thought provoking, touching, independent film
Similar in 83%
Savage (2009)
Plot Summary:
An exploration of masculinity and violence. A story of obsession and revenge, as a man tries to come to terms with a brutal, random attack and it's consequences.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 776
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Ireland
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: disturbing, tense, bleak, suspenseful
Similar in 77%
The Crying Game (1992)
Plot Summary:
Irish Republican Army member Fergus (Stephen Rea) forms an unexpected bond with Jody (Forest Whitaker), a kidnapped British soldier in his custody, despite the warnings of fellow IRA members Jude (Miranda Richardson) and Maguire (Adrian Dunbar). Jody makes Fergus promise he'll visit his girlfriend, Dil (Jaye Davidson), in London, and when Fergus flees to the city, he seeks her out. Hounded by his former IRA colleagues, he finds himself increasingly drawn to the enigmatic, and surprising, Dil.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 59000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Romance, Thriller
Country: UK, Japan
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, psychological, sexy, controversial, enigmatic, mindfuck, tense, touching, captivating, twisted
Similar in 88%
Maze (2017)
Plot Summary:
Inspired by the true events of the infamous 1983 prison breakout of 38 IRA prisoners from HMP Maze, which was to become the biggest prison escape in Europe since World War II.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama, History, Mystery, Thriller
Country: UK, Ireland, Sweden, Germany
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, suspense, suspenseful, complex
Similar in 83%
Cal (1984)
Plot Summary:
Cal, a young man on the fringes of the IRA, falls in love with Marcella, a Catholic woman whose husband, a Protestant policeman, was killed one year earlier by the IRA.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Thriller, Romance
Country: UK, Ireland
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: political, art house, tense, sincere, bleak, serious, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 88%
The Treaty (1991)
Plot Summary:
How the Anglo-Irish Treaty between the unrecognised Irish Republic, represented by Michael Collins, and the British government was concluded after high-stakes negotiations in 1921.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 172
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Ireland
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 86%
Nothing Personal (1995)
Plot Summary:
A raw depiction of the Belfast 'troubles' as savage tribal warfare. Set shortly after the 1975 cease fire, the film focuses on the tribulations of Kenny, Protestant leader of a group of Shankill Road Loyalists, and his one-time friend Liam, a Catholic.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 524
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, Ireland
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: tense, rough, bleak, serious, realistic, independent film
Similar in 87%
The Outsider (1979)
Plot Summary:
Michael Flaherty (Craig Wasson), an American Vietnam veteran of Irish descent, returns to Belfast to join the cause of his grandfather, Seamus (Sterling Hayden). Soon he finds that he is not as welcomed in his home country as he imagined he would be. Even worse, he's the target of an IRA assassination plot designed to make the British forces look bad in order to elicit financial support from wealthy Americans.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 314
Genere: Drama, History, Thriller
Country: USA, Netherlands
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: neo noir, independent film, bleak, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, disturbing
Similar in 81%
Titanic Town (1998)
Plot Summary:
Belfast 1972: The politically naive Bernie is trying to bring up a normal family in less than normal surroundings. Her best friend is accidentally shot dead by the IRA, and her neighbours are constantly raided by the army. In this climate of fear she stands up and condemns the murders. Criticising both factions, her call for a ceasefire is interpreted as an attack against the IRA, and as her peace movement takes momentum, she and her family are placed in the frontline.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 457
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, independent film
Similar in 85%
Resurrection Man (1998)
Plot Summary:
Belfast, in 1970s. Victor Kelly is a young protestant man who hates the Catholics so much that one night he begins to brutally murder them. A reporter soon tries to uncover the murder and obtained prestige for himself, while Victor sinks deeper into madness.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 826
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: disturbing, bleak, serious, suspenseful, independent film, tense, rough, realistic, parody, sexy
Similar in 79%
The Terrorists (1974)
Plot Summary:
Following a series of bomb attacks in London, a group of terrorists seize Britain's ambassador to Scandinavia. With the ambassador now a hostage in his residence, another group hijacks an airliner at the capital's airport, announcing that the passengers will not be freed until their demands are met. Colonel Nils Tahlvik, Scandinavia's resourceful and ruthless head of security, seeks to take an uncompromising stance against the terrorists yet his attempts meet resistance from unknown forces at every turn.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: surprise ending, exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, fast
Similar in 86%
Five Minutes of Heaven (2009)
Plot Summary:
The story of former UVF member Alistair Little. Twenty-five years after Little killed Joe Griffen's brother, the media arrange an auspicious meeting between the two.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: UK, Ireland
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: psychological, emotional, intense, rough, serious, suspenseful, talky, political, educational, tense
Similar in 82%
The Informant (1997)
Plot Summary:
A former Irish Republican Army fighter, Gingy McAnally (Anthony Brophy), is reluctant about being called back into service after serving time in prison. He executes the grisly task but ends up captured by a sympathetic British police lieutenant named Ferris (Cary Elwes). The intimidating Chief Inspector of the Belfast Police (Timothy Dalton) convinces Gingy that his best hope is to become an informant and turn in other IRA operatives. As Gingy's marriage unravels under the stress, he is forced to come to terms with the fact that in this war both sides lose. Three men, three political circles, each fighting for their lives, each with their own agenda in the battle for Northern Ireland.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 673
Genere: Drama
Country: Ireland, USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, realistic, suspenseful, independent film
Similar in 75%
Melancholia (1989)
Plot Summary:
Art critic Krabbé, a German ex-pat living in London, is confronted by his radical 1960s past when he's asked to assassinate a Chilean murderer who is on a visit to London. Krabbé's anti-hero is spot on and his increasing struggle with his identity convincing. Engel's intelligent and visually engaging thriller breaks a few rules while still relishing the dynamics of the mystery genre. While the feel of Melancholia is generally downbeat, such a fresh and intelligent thriller is certainly something to celebrate.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 137
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK, West Germany
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: independent film
Similar in 83%
Hidden Agenda (1990)
Plot Summary:
In Ireland, American lawyer Ingrid Jessner and her activist partner, Paul Sullivan, struggle to uncover atrocities committed by the British government against the Northern Irish during the "Troubles." But when Sullivan is assassinated in the streets, Jessner teams up with Peter Kerrigan, a British investigator acting against the will of his own government, and struggles to uncover a conspiracy that may even implicate one of Kerrigan's colleagues.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: controversial, political, political thriller, suspense, mysterious, independent film, tense, rough, thought provoking, bleak
Similar in 87%
Shadow Dancer (2012)
Plot Summary:
Set in 1990s Belfast, a woman is forced to betray all she believes in for the sake of her son.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: UK, Ireland
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: political thriller, serious, tense, suspenseful, realistic, psychological thriller, political, suspense, cult classic, visually stunning
Similar in 77%
The General (1998)
Plot Summary:
In a twenty-year career marked by obsessive secrecy, brutality and meticulous planning, Cahill netted over £40 million. He was untouchable - until a bullet from an IRA hitman ended it all.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK, Ireland
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: black and white, tense, serious, clever, intense, independent film, sincere, realistic, cynical, stylized
Similar in 90%
A Prayer for the Dying (1987)
Plot Summary:
Jack Higgins' straightforward thriller about a guilt-ridden IRA bomber forced into "one last job".
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: rough, suspenseful, exciting, serious, realistic, neo noir, political, political thriller, crime drama, surprise ending
Similar in 88%
Calm with Horses (2019)
Plot Summary:
In darkest rural Ireland, ex-boxer Douglas 'Arm' Armstrong has become the feared enforcer for the drug-dealing Devers family, whilst also trying to be a good father to his autistic five-year-old son, Jack. Torn between these two families, Arm's loyalties are truly tested when he is asked to kill for the first time.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Ireland, UK
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, suspenseful, disturbing, neo noir, suspense, social, independent film, hood, powerful
Similar in 76%
Fifty Dead Men Walking (2008)
Plot Summary:
Based on Martin McGartland's real life story as a informant for the British Police to spy on the IRA. Taking place from 1987-1991, Martin (Jim Sturgess) works his way up the ranks of the IRA, while keeping his informant with the police Fergis (Ben Kingsley) at bay. In the process he saved numerous lives and is still in hiding from the IRA today.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK, Canada
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: factual, captivating, stylized, tense, political, suspense, realistic, sincere, sexy, serious
Similar in 75%
Hunger (2008)
Plot Summary:
The story of Bobby Sands, the IRA member who led the 1981 hunger strike in which Republican prisoners tried to win political status. It dramatises events in the Maze prison in the six weeks prior to Sands’ death.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 73000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK, Ireland
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: disturbing, bleak, political, sincere, depressing, art house, lyrical, rough, serious, visual
Similar in 75%
The Devil's Own (1997)
Plot Summary:
Frankie McGuire, one of the IRA's deadliest assassins, draws an American family into the crossfire of terrorism. But when he is sent to the U.S. to buy weapons, Frankie is housed with the family of Tom O'Meara, a New York cop who knows nothing about Frankie's real identity. Their surprising friendship, and Tom's growing suspicions, forces Frankie to choose between the promise of peace or a lifetime of murder.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 71000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, exciting, rough, political, suspense, suspenseful, clever, cult classic, action drama
Similar in 76%
'71 (2014)
Plot Summary:
A young British soldier must find his way back to safety after his unit accidentally abandons him during a riot in the streets of Belfast.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 59000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller, War
Country: UK
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: suspense, serious, suspenseful, political, atmospheric, intense, rough, bleak, tense, realistic