Movies Like Van Diemen's Land

If you liked Van Diemen's Land (2009), a drama and history movie directed by Jonathan auf der Heide, 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 Nightingale (2018)
★ 7/10Also drama and thriller
In 1825, Clare, a 21-year-old Irish convict, chases a British soldier through the rugged Tasmanian wilderness, bent on revenge for a terrible act of violence he committed against her family. She enlists the services of…
2
The Hunter (2011)
★ 6.7/10Also drama and thriller
Martin, a mercenary, is sent from Europe by an anonymous biotech company to the Tasmanian wilderness on a hunt for the last Tasmanian tiger.
3
Nowhere to Run (1993)
★ 6.6/10Also drama and thriller
Escaped convict Sam Gillen single-handedly takes on ruthless developers who are determined to evict a widow with two young children.
4
Chopper (2000)
★ 6.8/10Also drama and thriller
The true and infamous story of Australia's notorious criminal Mark 'Chopper' Read and his years of crime, interest in violence, drugs and prostitutes.
5
High Ground (2021)
★ 6.4/10Also thriller and drama
In a remote corner of the wild country, a bloody war rages. Travis is a bounty hunter with one last hope of redemption. Gutjuk is a young Indigenous man trying to save the last of his family. Together they embark on a…
6
Nitram (2021)
★ 6.9/10Also thriller and drama
Based on true events, "Nitram" lives with his parents in suburban Australia in the mid-90s. He lives a life of isolation and frustration at never fitting in. As his anger grows, he begins a slow descent into a…
7
Ned Kelly (2003)
★ 6/10Also drama and history
After getting threatened by Kelly's friends and family, Constable Fitzpatrick places the blame on Ned Kelly and exaggerates what happened. With the biggest ever award available, Kelly and his gang set into the wild, to…
8
The Defiant Ones (1958)
★ 7.2/10Also drama and thriller
Two convicts—one white, one black—escape while chained to each other.
9
The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1978)
★ 6.7/10Also drama and history
The true story of a part Aboriginal man who finds the pressure of adapting to white culture intolerable, and as a result snaps in a violent and horrific manner.
10
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
★ 8.3/10Also thriller and drama
Clarice Starling is a top student at the FBI's training academy. Jack Crawford wants Clarice to interview Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a brilliant psychiatrist who is also a violent psychopath, serving life behind bars for…
11
No Escape (1994)
★ 6.2/10Also drama and thriller
In the year 2022, a ruthless prison warden has created the ultimate solution for his most troublesome and violent inmates: Absolom, a secret jungle island where prisoners are abandoned and left to die. But Marine…
12
Hunting Season (2025)
★ 7.4/10Also drama and thriller
When a reclusive survivalist and his daughter rescue a mysterious, wounded woman from a river, they become entangled in a deadly web of violence and revenge, forcing them to confront a brutal criminal to survive.
13
Prison Break: The Final Break (2009)
★ 7.5/10Also drama and thriller
Michael and Sara wed, but the happiness is short-lived when the Feds apprehend her for the murder of Michael's mother, Christina. Once a hit is ordered on Sara, the team reunite to break out the increasingly vulnerable…
14
Escape from Alcatraz (1979)
★ 7.5/10Also drama and thriller
San Francisco Bay, January 18, 1960. Frank Lee Morris is transferred to Alcatraz, a maximum security prison located on a rocky island. Although no one has ever managed to escape from there, Frank and other inmates…
15
Escape from Pretoria (2020)
★ 7.2/10Also drama and history
South Africa, 1978. Tim Jenkin and Stephen Lee, two white political activists from the African National Congress imprisoned by the apartheid regime, put a plan in motion to escape from the infamous Pretoria Prison.
16
Maze (2017)
★ 5.8/10Also drama and history
Inspired by the true events of the infamous 1983 prison breakout of 38 IRA prisoners from HMP Maze, which was to become the biggest prison escape in Europe since World War II.
17
Foxfire (1996)
★ 6/10Also drama and thriller
The story of five teenage girls who form an unlikely bond after beating up a teacher who has sexually harassed them. They build a solid friendship but their wild ways begin to get out of control.
18
Cape Fear (1991)
★ 7.3/10Also drama and thriller
Sam Bowden is a small-town corporate attorney. Max Cady is a tattooed, cigar-smoking, Bible-quoting, psychotic rapist. What do they have in common? 14 years ago, Sam was a public defender assigned to Max Cady's rape…
19
The Parts You Lose (2019)
★ 6.7/10Also drama and thriller
An unlikely friendship unfolds between a young deaf boy, Wesley, and a fugitive criminal who takes refuge in an abandoned barn on the family’s rural North Dakota farm.
20
Cape Fear (1962)
★ 7.5/10Also thriller and drama
Sam Bowden witnesses a rape committed by Max Cady and testifies against him. When released after 8 years in prison, Cady begins stalking Bowden and his family but is always clever enough not to violate the law.