Movies Like Madame Desbassayns: Myth and Reality of an Icon of Slavery
If you liked Madame Desbassayns: Myth and Reality of an Icon of Slavery (2015), a documentary and history movie directed by William Cally, 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 Accountant of Auschwitz (2018)
★ 6.9/10Also documentary and historyOskar Gröning, known as the "Accountant of Auschwitz," was charged with the murder of 300,000 Jews. When he took the stand in 2015, at the age of 94, his trial made headlines worldwide.
- 2
All That Breathes (2022)
★ 6.9/10Also documentary and dramaAgainst the darkening backdrop of New Delhi's apocalyptic air and escalating violence, two brothers devote their lives to protecting one casualty of the turbulent times: the bird known as the black kite.
- 3
Life in a Day (2011)
★ 7.2/10Also documentary and dramaA documentary shot by filmmakers all over the world that serves as a time capsule to show future generations what it was like to be alive on the 24th of July, 2010.
- 4
Four Daughters (2023)
★ 7.4/10Also documentary and dramaBetween light and darkness stands Olfa, a Tunisian woman and the mother of four daughters. One day, her two older daughters disappear. To fill in their absence, the filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania invites professional…
- 5
Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple (2006)
★ 7/10Also documentary and historyFeaturing 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
Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat (2024)
★ 7.8/10Also documentary and historyJazz and decolonization are intertwined in a powerful narrative that recounts one of the tensest episodes of the Cold War.
- 7
The Green Book: Guide to Freedom (2019)
★ 7.8/10Also documentary and historyIn 1936, Victor H. Green (1892-1960) published The Negro Motorist Green Book, a book that was both a travel guide and a survival manual, to help African-Americans navigate safe those regions of the United States where…
- 8
Audrey (2020)
★ 7.1/10Also documentary and historyAn unprecedented and intimate look at the life, work and enduring legacy of British actress Audrey Hepburn (1929-1993).
- 9
Van Gogh: Painted with Words (2010)
★ 7.3/10Also drama and documentaryA drama-documentary presented by Alan Yentob, with Benedict Cumberbatch in the lead role. Every word spoken by the actors in this film is sourced from the letters that Van Gogh sent to his younger brother Theo, and of…
- 10
Shoah (1985)
★ 8.2/10Also documentary and historyDirector Claude Lanzmann spent 11 years on this sprawling documentary about the Holocaust, conducting his own interviews and refusing to use a single frame of archival footage. Dividing Holocaust witnesses into three…
- 11
Apollo: Missions to the Moon (2019)
★ 7.3/10Also documentary and historyNational Geographic's riveting effort recounts all 12 crewed missions using only archival footage, photos and audio.
- 12
In the Shadow of the Moon (2007)
★ 7.6/10Also documentary and historyArchival material from the original NASA film footage – much of it seen for the first time – plus interviews with the surviving astronauts, including Jim Lovell, Dave Scott, John Young, Gene Cernan, Mike Collins, Buzz…
- 13
Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché (2018)
★ 7.2/10Also documentary and historyThe epic life story of Alice Guy-Blaché (1873–1968), a French screenwriter, director and producer, true pioneer of cinema, the first person who made a narrative fiction film; author of hundreds of movies, but banished…
- 14
Cover-Up (2025)
★ 7.2/10Also documentary and historyHe's devoted his career to uncovering stories the powerful want buried. From My Lai to Abu Ghraib, dig into the life's work of journalist Seymour Hersh.
- 15
Alone in the Wilderness (2004)
★ 7.9/10Also documentary and historyDick Proenneke retired at age 50 in 1967 and decided to build his own cabin in the wilderness at the base of the Aleutian Peninsula, in what is now Lake Clark National Park. Using color footage he shot himself…
- 16
The Image Book (2018)
★ 6.3/10Also documentary and dramaIn Le Livre d’Image, Jean-Luc Godard recycles existing images (films, documentaries, paintings, television archives, etc.), quotes excerpts from books, uses fragments of music. The driving force is poetic rhyme, the…
- 17
Einstein and the Bomb (2024)
★ 6.2/10Also documentary and dramaWhat happened after Einstein fled Nazi Germany? Using archival footage and his own words, this docudrama dives into the mind of a tortured genius.
- 18
Nanook of the North (1922)
★ 7.1/10Also documentary and dramaThis pioneering documentary film depicts the lives of the indigenous Inuit people of Canada's northern Quebec region. Although the production contains some fictional elements, it vividly shows how its resourceful…
- 19
The Last Days (1998)
★ 7.4/10Also documentary and historyThis Oscar-winning documentary recounts the harrowing stories of five Hungarian Jews who endured the horrors of the Holocaust and Hitler's reign.
- 20
Home (2009)
★ 7.8/10Also documentary and dramaIn 200,000 years of existence, man has upset the balance on which the Earth had lived for 4 billion years. Global warming, resource depletion, species extinction: man has endangered his own home. But it is too late to…