Movies Like The Joy Club

If you liked The Joy Club (1995), a drama and history movie directed by Joe D'Amato, 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
Munich - The Edge of War (2021)
★ 6.9/10Also drama and history
At the tense 1938 Munich Conference, former friends who now work for opposing governments become reluctant spies racing to expose a Nazi secret.
2
Fuori (2025)
★ 6.4/10Also drama and history
Rome. The 1980s. After the magnum opus The Art of Joy she has been working on for a decade is rejected by the Italian publishing world, writer Goliarda Sapienza commits a desperate theft that costs her her reputation…
3
Duse (2025)
★ 6.7/10Also drama and history
In the years between WWI and the rise of Fascism, legendary thespian Eleonora Duse shocks everyone by getting back onstage at over 60 years of age. Struggling with the brutality of historical events unfolding and…
4
Julia (1977)
★ 6.5/10Also drama and history
At the behest of an old and dear friend, playwright Lillian Hellman undertakes a dangerous mission to smuggle funds into Nazi Germany.
5
Radium Girls (2020)
★ 6.6/10Also drama and history
Young women toiling in a factory are exposed to hazardous material which takes a disastrous toll on their health.
6
Vincere (2009)
★ 6.7/10Also drama and history
The story of the descent into madness of Mussolini's secret first wife, Ida Dasler, who was seduced by his passion and vigor but blind to the fascist dictator's many flaws.
7
Adventures of a Mathematician (2021)
★ 6.1/10Also drama and history
The warmhearted story of Polish immigrant and mathematician Stan Ulam, who moved to the U.S. in the 1930s. Stan deals with the difficult losses of family and friends all while helping to create the hydrogen bomb and…
8
The World Will Tremble (2025)
★ 7.5/10Also drama and history
The incredible, untold true story of how a group of prisoners attempt a seemingly impossible escape from the first Nazi death camp in order to provide the first eyewitness account of the Holocaust.
9
Suffragette (2015)
★ 7.2/10Also drama and history
Based on true events about the foot soldiers of the early feminist movement, women who were forced underground to pursue a dangerous game of cat and mouse with an increasingly brutal State.
10
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan (2011)
★ 6.1/10Also drama and history
A story set in 19th century China and centered on the lifelong friendship between two girls who develop their own secret code as a way to contend with the rigid cultural norms imposed on women.
11
Truth & Treason (2025)
★ 8.1/10Also history and drama
In 1941 Nazi Germany, 16-year-old Helmuth Hübener begins questioning the regime after learning the truth about the war and seeing his Jewish friend persecuted. With two friends, he secretly listens to banned foreign…
12
Panther (1995)
★ 6.3/10Also drama and history
In this sprawling, fictionalized history of the Black Panthers, 1960s Oakland becomes a war zone as the Panthers battle for the right to exist.
13
Esterno Notte - Prima Parte (2022)
★ 7.8/10Also drama and history
The 1978 kidnapping and assassination of former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro by Red Brigades terrorists.
14
Memories of Anne Frank (2010)
★ 7.2/10Also drama and history
The story of Anne Frank and her friend, Hanneli Goslar, their first meeting in Amsterdam, their daily lives, the German occupation, and their sudden separation when the Frank family went into hiding.
15
Waiting for Anya (2020)
★ 6.3/10Also drama
During the harrows of WWII, Jo, a young shepherd along with the help of the widow Horcada, helps to smuggle Jewish children across the border from southern France into Spain.
16
The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (1970)
★ 7/10Also drama and history
In 1930s Italy, a wealthy Jewish family tries to maintain their privileged lifestyle, hosting friends for tennis and parties at their villa. As anti-Semitism intensifies under Fascism, they must ultimately face the…
17
Giant (2026)
★ 6.9/10Also drama and history
Follows Prince Naseem Hamed from his humble beginnings on the tough working-class streets of Sheffield and his discovery by Ingle, himself a steel industry worker turned boxing trainer. Their unlikely partnership…
18
The Grey Zone (2001)
★ 6.6/10Also drama and history
The story of Auschwitz's twelfth Sonderkommando — one of the thirteen consecutive "Special Squads" of Jewish prisoners placed by the Nazis in the excruciating moral dilemma of assisting in the extermination of fellow…
19
Origin (2023)
★ 6.2/10Also drama and history
While investigating the global phenomenon of caste and its dark influence on society, a journalist faces unfathomable personal loss and uncovers the beauty of human resilience.
20
The Book of Daniel (2013)
★ 7/10Also drama and history
Taken into slavery after the fall of Jerusalem in 605 B.C., Daniel is forced to serve the most powerful king in the world, King Nebuchadnezzar. Faced with imminent death, Daniel proves himself a trusted Advisor and is…