Movies Like Emma Smith: My Story

If you liked Emma Smith: My Story (2008), a drama and history movie directed by Gary Cook, 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
Small Things Like These (2024)
★ 6.7/10Also drama and history
In 1985, while working as a coal merchant to support his family, Bill Furlong discovers disturbing secrets kept by the local convent and uncovers truths of his own; forcing him to confront his past and the complicit…
2
The Color Purple (2023)
★ 7/10Also drama
A decades-spanning tale of love and resilience and of one woman's journey to independence. Celie faces many hardships in her life, but ultimately finds extraordinary strength and hope in the unbreakable bonds of…
3
Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages (1916)
★ 7.1/10Also drama and history
The story of a poor young woman, separated by prejudice from her husband and baby, is interwoven with tales of intolerance from throughout history.
4
Othello (1951)
★ 7.4/10Also drama
Manipulated by his jealous ensign Iago, the Moorish general Othello is driven to believe that his new wife Desdemona is unfaithful, setting in motion a chain of deception, jealousy, and violence that leads to tragedy.
5
The Long, Hot Summer (1958)
★ 7/10Also drama
Accused barn burner and conman Ben Quick arrives in a small Mississippi town and quickly ingratiates himself with its richest family, the Varners.
6
The Dead Don't Hurt (2024)
★ 6.5/10Also drama
In the 1860s, fiercely independent French-Canadian Vivienne Le Coudy embarks on a journey with Danish immigrant Holger Olsen, attempting to forge a life together in the dusty town of Elk Flats, Nevada. When Holger…
7
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
★ 7.6/10Also drama
A disturbed, aging Southern belle moves in with her sister for solace — but being face-to-face with her brutish brother-in-law accelerates her downward spiral.
8
Train Dreams (2025)
★ 7.3/10Also drama
A logger leads a life of quiet grace as he experiences love and loss during an era of monumental change in early 20th-century America.
9
Everybody's Fine (2009)
★ 6.8/10Also drama
Eight months after the death of his wife, Frank Goode looks forward to a reunion with his four adult children. When all of them cancel their visits at the last minute, Frank, against the advice of his doctor, sets out…
10
Drums Along the Mohawk (1939)
★ 6.5/10Also drama and history
Albany, New York, 1776. After marrying, Gil and Lana travel north to settle on a small farm in the Mohawk River Valley, but soon their growing prosperity and happiness are threatened by the sinister sound of drums that…
11
In the Bedroom (2001)
★ 6.9/10Also drama
Summertime on the coast of Maine, "In the Bedroom" centers on the inner dynamics of a family in transition. Matt Fowler is a doctor practicing in his native Maine and is married to New York born Ruth Fowler, a music…
12
Belfast (2021)
★ 7/10Also drama and history
Buddy is a young boy on the cusp of adolescence, whose life is filled with familial love, childhood hijinks, and a blossoming romance. Yet, with his beloved hometown caught up in increasing turmoil, his family faces a…
13
Eye of the Needle (1981)
★ 6.7/10Also drama
Great Britain, 1944, during World War II. Relentlessly pursued by several MI5 agents, Henry Faber the Needle, a ruthless German spy in possession of vital information about D-Day, takes refuge on Storm Island, an…
14
The Glass Castle (2017)
★ 7.1/10Also drama
A young girl is raised in a dysfunctional family constantly on the run from the FBI. Living in poverty, she comes of age guided by her drunkard, ingenious father who distracts her with magical stories to keep her mind…
15
Skin (2009)
★ 6.4/10Also drama
Based on the true story of a black girl who was born to two white Afrikaner parents in South Africa during the apartheid era.
16
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)
★ 7.6/10Also drama
An alcoholic ex-football player drinks his days away, having failed to come to terms with his sexuality and his real feelings for his football buddy who died after an ambiguous accident. His wife is crucified by her…
17
The Shack (2017)
★ 7.5/10Also drama
A grieving man receives a mysterious, personal invitation to meet with God at a place called 'The Shack'.
18
FX's A Christmas Carol (2019)
★ 7.2/10Also drama
London, 1843. Ebenezer Scrooge, a bitter old man, despises the Christmas holiday. Over the course of Christmas Eve night he is visited by three ghosts to show him his past, present and future.
19
Great Balls of Fire! (1989)
★ 6.3/10Also drama and history
The story of Jerry Lee Lewis, arguably the greatest and certainly one of the wildest musicians of the 1950s. His arrogance, remarkable talent, and unconventional lifestyle often brought him into conflict with others in…
20
Call Jane (2022)
★ 6.5/10Also drama and history
A married woman with an unwanted pregnancy lives in a time in America where she can't get a legal abortion and works with a group of suburban women to find help.