Movies Like Where the Spirit Lives

If you liked Where the Spirit Lives (1990), a drama movie directed by Bruce Pittman, 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
A Little Princess (1995)
★ 7.6/10Also drama
When her father enlists to fight for the British in WWI, young Sara Crewe goes to New York to attend the same boarding school her late mother attended. She soon clashes with the severe headmistress, Miss Minchin, who…
2
Indian Horse (2018)
★ 6.9/10Also drama
Follows the life of Native Canadian Saul Indian Horse as he survives residential school and life amongst the racism of the 1970s. A talented hockey player, Saul must find his own path as he battles stereotypes and…
3
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.
4
Rez Ball (2024)
★ 6.4/10Also drama
After losing their star player, a high school basketball team rooted in Native American culture must unite to keep their state championship dreams alive.
5
What Maisie Knew (2013)
★ 7.1/10Also drama
In New York City, six-year-old Maisie is caught in the middle of a bitter custody battle between her self-absorbed parents—an aging rock singer mother and a distracted art dealer father. As both quickly marry new…
6
Belle (2013)
★ 7.1/10Also drama
Dido Elizabeth Bell, the illegitimate, mixed-race daughter of a Royal Navy admiral, plays an important role in the campaign to abolish slavery in England.
7
The Book Thief (2013)
★ 7.5/10Also drama
While subjected to the horrors of WWII Germany, young Liesel finds solace by stealing books and sharing them with others. Under the stairs in her home, a Jewish refugee is being sheltered by her adoptive parents.
8
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…
9
Doubt (2008)
★ 7.2/10Also drama
In 1964 Bronx, two Catholic school nuns question the new priest's ambiguous relationship with a troubled African-American student.
10
Pay It Forward (2000)
★ 7.4/10Also drama
Like some other kids, 12-year-old Trevor McKinney believed in the goodness of human nature. Like many other kids, he was determined to change the world for the better. Unlike most other kids, he succeeded.
11
Anne of Green Gables (1985)
★ 8.1/10Also drama
Anne Shirley, an orphan, is fostered by farmer Matthew Cuthbert and his sister Marilla, who were expecting a boy to be sent them to help with their farm work. They accept Anne, who quickly endears herself to them and…
12
The Way West (1967)
★ 6.1/10Also drama
In the mid-19th century, Senator William J. Tadlock leads a group of settlers overland in a quest to start a new settlement in the Western US. Tadlock is a highly principled and demanding taskmaster who is as hard on…
13
Riceboy Sleeps (2023)
★ 7.2/10Also drama
In the 1990s, an immigrant single mother raises her teenage son in the Canadian suburbs, determined to provide a better life for him than the one she left behind in South Korea.
14
Crooked Arrows (2012)
★ 6.1/10Also drama
A native-American lacrosse team makes its way through a prep school league tournament.
15
Call Me Crazy: A Five Film (2013)
★ 7/10Also drama
A psychotherapist helps a law student cope with schizophrenia in one of five interconnected tales dealing with mental illness.
16
Rosie (2019)
★ 6.2/10Also drama
A mother strives to shield her young family from their new reality when their landlord sells the property and renders them homeless.
17
Boys Town (1938)
★ 6.8/10Also drama
Devout but iron-willed Father Flanagan leads a community called Boys Town, a different sort of juvenile detention facility where, instead of being treated as underage criminals, the boys are shepherded into making…
18
The Greening of Whitney Brown (2011)
★ 5.9/10Also drama
Whitney, a spoiled pre-teen from Philadelphia, is forced to move to the country when her parents feel the squeeze of economic hard times. A fish out of water, far from her comfort zone, she befriends an amazing horse…
19
Akeelah and the Bee (2006)
★ 7/10Also drama
11-year-old Akeelah Anderson has a way with words. After winning her schoolwide spelling bee, she decides to enter the competition, despite her classmates' derision and the antipathy of her mother Tanya. Thanks to the…
20
The Color of Friendship (2000)
★ 6.7/10Also drama
Mahree Bok lives on a farm in South Africa. Her father is a policeman who cannot hide his joy when activist Steve Biko is caught by the South African authorities. Piper Dellums is the daughter of a US congressman from…