Movies Like Free Kwangju, May 1980

If you liked Free Kwangju, May 1980 (1981), a movie directed by Katsuhiro Maeda, 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
Millennium Actress (2002)
★ 7.9/10
Documentary filmmaker Genya Tachibana has tracked down the legendary actress Chiyoko Fujiwara, who mysteriously vanished at the height of her career. When he presents her with a key she had lost and thought was gone…
2
Apocalypto (2006)
★ 7.7/10
Set in the Mayan civilization, when a man's idyllic presence is brutally disrupted by a violent invading force, he is taken on a perilous journey to a world ruled by fear and oppression where a harrowing end awaits…
3
Summer Ghost (2021)
★ 7.3/10
An urban legend says that lighting fireworks at an abandoned airfield will beckon the "summer ghost," a spirit that can answer any question. Three teenagers, Tomoya, Aoi, and Ryo, each have their own reason to show up…
4
Xiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl (1998)
★ 7.2/10
Young teen girl Xiu Xiu is sent away to a remote corner of the Sichuan steppes for manual labor in 1975 (sending young people to there was a part of Cultural Revolution in China). A year later, she agrees to go to even…
5
Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple (2006)
★ 7/10
Featuring never-before-seen footage, this documentary delivers a startling new look at the Peoples Temple, headed by preacher Jim Jones who, in 1978, led more than 900 members to Guyana, where he orchestrated a mass…
6
47 Ronin (2013)
★ 6.2/10
Kai—an outcast—joins Oishi, the leader of 47 outcast samurai. Together they seek vengeance upon the treacherous overlord who killed their master and banished their kind. To restore honour to their homeland, the…
7
Pompo the Cinephile (2021)
★ 7.2/10
Operating out of the movie capital "Nyallywood," Pompo has been shooting one B-grade entertainment flick after another that anyone would enjoy. One day, Pompo's "movie buff" assistant Gene spots a new script written by…
8
For Sama (2019)
★ 8.2/10
A love letter from a young mother to her daughter, the film tells the story of Waad al-Kateab’s life through five years of the uprising in Aleppo, Syria as she falls in love, gets married and gives birth to Sama, all…
9
Lemonade Mouth (2011)
★ 7.4/10
When five ragtag freshman first meet in detention, it seems they have nothing in common. But, through music, they form an unbreakable bond and discover they have the makings of the greatest high school garage band in…
10
A Dry White Season (1989)
★ 6.7/10
During the 1976 Soweto uprising, a white school teacher's life and values are threatened when he asks questions about the death of a young black boy who died in police custody.
11
Departures (2008)
★ 7.9/10
Daigo, a cellist, is laid off from his orchestra and moves with his wife back to his small hometown where the living is cheaper. Thinking he’s applying for a job at a travel agency he finds he’s being interviewed for…
12
Whiplash (2013)
★ 7.8/10
A ferocious, bullying music teacher teaches a dedicated student.
13
From Up on Poppy Hill (2011)
★ 7.5/10
Yokohama, 1963. Japan is picking itself up from the devastation of World War II and preparing to host the 1964 Olympics—and the mood is one of both optimism and conflict as the young generation struggles to throw off…
14
Imprint (2006)
★ 6.8/10
An American journalist travels through 19th-century Japan to find the prostitute he fell in love with but instead learns of the physical and existential horror that befell her after he left.
15
Son of Rambow (2007)
★ 6.7/10
Will is looking for an escape from his family when he encounters Lee, the school bully. Armed with a video camera and a copy of Rambo, Lee plans to make his own action-packed video epic.
16
Samurai Rebellion (1967)
★ 8.2/10
The mother of a feudal lord's only heir is kidnapped by the lord. Her husband and his samurai father must decide whether to accept the unjust decision, or risk death to rescue her.
17
180° South (2010)
★ 7.2/10
The film follows adventurer Jeff Johnson as he retraces the epic 1968 journey of his heroes Yvon Chouinard and Doug Tompkins to Patagonia.
18
Pork Chop Hill (1959)
★ 6.7/10
Korean War, April 1953. Lieutenant Clemons, leader of the King company of the United States Infantry, is ordered to recapture Pork Chop Hill, occupied by a powerful Chinese Army force, while, just seventy miles away…
19
Child of Kamiari Month (2021)
★ 6.5/10
A year after losing her mother, a young girl learns that she must journey across Japan to the annual gathering of gods in the sacred land of Izumo.
20
Dreams (1990)
★ 7.7/10
Eight visually rich vignettes drawn from Kurosawa’s own dreams—fox weddings and vanished orchards, a soldier’s ghosts, a walk through Van Gogh’s canvases, nuclear nightmares, and a water-mill utopia—meditate on…