Movies Like Escape from a Living Hell

If you liked Escape from a Living Hell (2000), a movie, here are 20 movies with a similar feel, based on TMDB's recommendations. Each one links to its cast, trailer and where it's streaming.

1
The Way Back (2010)
★ 7/10
A small band of multicultural convicts stages a daring escape from a WWII-era Siberian gulag, and embarks on a treacherous journey across five countries in a desperate race for freedom and survival.
2
Rescue Dawn (2007)
★ 7/10
A US Fighter pilot's epic struggle of survival after being shot down on a mission over Laos during the Vietnam War.
3
The Great Escape (1963)
★ 7.9/10
The Nazis, exasperated at the number of escapes from their prison camps by a relatively small number of Allied prisoners, relocate them to a high-security 'escape-proof' camp to sit out the remainder of the war…
4
The Great Raid (2005)
★ 6.6/10
As World War II rages, the elite Sixth Ranger Battalion is given a mission of heroic proportions: push 30 miles behind enemy lines and liberate over 500 American prisoners of war.
5
Empire of the Sun (1987)
★ 7.5/10
Jamie Graham, a privileged English boy, is living in Shanghai when the Japanese invade and force all foreigners into prison camps. Jamie is captured with an American sailor, who looks out for him while they are in the…
6
Emancipation (2022)
★ 7.7/10
Inspired by the gripping true story of a man who would do anything for his family—and for freedom. When Peter, an enslaved man, risks his life to escape and return to his family, he embarks on a perilous journey of…
7
Nowhere to Run (1993)
★ 6.6/10
Escaped convict Sam Gillen single-handedly takes on ruthless developers who are determined to evict a widow with two young children.
8
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (2008)
★ 7.8/10
When his family moves from their home in Berlin to a strange new house in Poland, young Bruno befriends Shmuel, a boy who lives on the other side of the fence where everyone seems to be wearing striped pajamas. Unaware…
9
Hart's War (2002)
★ 6.4/10
When Col. William McNamara is stripped of his freedom in a German POW camp, he's determined to keep on fighting even from behind enemy lines. Enlisting the help of a young lieutenant in a brilliant plot against his…
10
The Seventh Cross (1944)
★ 6.8/10
In Nazi Germany in 1936 seven men escape from a concentration camp. The camp commander puts up seven crosses and, as the Gestapo returns each escapee he is put to death on a cross. The seventh cross is still empty as…
11
Mysterious Island (1961)
★ 6.6/10
During the US Civil War, Union POWs escape in a balloon and end up stranded on a South Pacific island, inhabited by giant plants and animals. They must use their ingenuity to survive the dangers, and to devise a way to…
12
Proof of Life (2000)
★ 6.2/10
When Peter Bowman, an American engineer working in a South American country, is captured by anti-government forces, the rebels learn his identity and demand $5 million for his safe return. However, his US employer is…
13
All the Money in the World (2017)
★ 6.5/10
The story of the kidnapping of 16-year-old John Paul Getty III and the desperate attempt by his devoted mother to convince his billionaire grandfather Jean Paul Getty to pay the ransom.
14
Resistance (2020)
★ 7/10
The story of mime Marcel Marceau as he works with a group of Jewish boy scouts and the French Resistance to save the lives of ten thousand orphans during World War II.
15
Little Boy (2015)
★ 7.3/10
An eight-year-old boy is willing to do whatever it takes to end World War II so he can bring his father home. The story reveals the indescribable love a father has for his little boy and the love a son has for his…
16
Irena's Vow (2024)
★ 7.7/10
19 year old Irena Gut is promoted to housekeeper in the home of a highly respected Nazi officer in Poland when she finds out that the Jewish ghetto is about to be liquidated. Determined to help twelve Jewish workers…
17
Prisoner of War (2025)
★ 7.1/10
British RAF Wing Commander James Wright is captured by the Japanese during WWII and forced to fight in brutal hand-to-hand combat. The Japanese soldiers get more than they bargained for when Wright’s years of martial…
18
Escape from Pretoria (2020)
★ 7.2/10
South Africa, 1978. Tim Jenkin and Stephen Lee, two white political activists from the African National Congress imprisoned by the apartheid regime, put a plan in motion to escape from the infamous Pretoria Prison.
19
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
★ 7.8/10
The classic story of English POWs in Burma forced to build a bridge to aid the war effort of their Japanese captors. British and American intelligence officers conspire to blow up the structure, but Col. Nicholson, the…
20
Papillon (1973)
★ 7.8/10
A man befriends a fellow criminal as the two of them begin serving their sentence on a dreadful prison island, which inspires the man to plot his escape.