Movies Like Penal Servitude

If you liked Penal Servitude (1928), a drama movie directed by Yuli Raizman, 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 End of St. Petersburg (1927)
★ 6.7/10Also drama
Arriving in St. Petersburg in search of work, a peasant unwittingly aids in the arrest of an old friend who is now a labour leader. The unemployed man is arrested and sent to fight in the Great War. After three years…
2
Battleship Potemkin (1925)
★ 7.6/10Also drama
In the midst of the Russian Revolution of 1905, the crew of the battleship Potemkin revolt against the brutal, tyrannical regime of the vessel's officers. The resulting street demonstration in Odessa brings on a police…
3
Xiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl (1998)
★ 7.2/10Also drama
Young teen girl Xiu Xiu is sent away to a remote corner of the Sichuan steppes for manual labor in 1975 (sending young people to there was a part of Cultural Revolution in China). A year later, she agrees to go to even…
4
Strike (1925)
★ 7.4/10Also drama
Just before the 1905 Bolshevik Revolution, factory workers strike against their oppressive factory bosses. When a worker is accused of stealing a piece of machinery, he commits suicide, and his colleagues revolt…
5
K-19: The Widowmaker (2002)
★ 6.6/10Also drama
When Russia's first nuclear submarine malfunctions on its maiden voyage, the crew must race to save the ship and prevent a nuclear disaster.
6
Sobibor (2018)
★ 6.6/10Also drama
The film is based on a real story that happened in 1943 in the Sobibor concentration camp in German-occupied Poland. The main character of the movie is the Soviet-Jewish soldier Alexander Pechersky, who at that time…
7
Escape from Sobibor (1987)
★ 7.2/10Also drama
The true story of WWII's notorious Sobibor Nazi death camp, where a courageous inmate orchestrates and leads the escape of over 300 prisoners.
8
Dear Comrades! (2020)
★ 7.1/10Also drama
When the communist government raises food prices in 1962, rebellious workers from the small industrial town of Novocherkassk go on strike. The massacre that ensues is seen through the eyes of a devout party activist.
9
Mirror (1975)
★ 7.9/10Also drama
A dying man in his forties recalls his childhood, his mother, the war and personal moments that tell of and juxtapose pivotal moments in Soviet history with daily life.
10
Sight (2023)
★ 6.4/10Also drama
Ming Wang is an impoverished Chinese prodigy who flees Communist China to become a pioneering eye surgeon in America. When tasked with restoring the sight of an orphan in India, who was blinded by her stepmother, Wang…
11
The Way Back (2010)
★ 7/10Also drama
A small band of multicultural convicts stages a daring escape from a WWII-era Siberian gulag, and embarks on a treacherous journey across five countries in a desperate race for freedom and survival.
12
Nowhere to Run (1993)
★ 6.6/10Also drama
Escaped convict Sam Gillen single-handedly takes on ruthless developers who are determined to evict a widow with two young children.
13
Uprising (2001)
★ 6.6/10Also drama
In the Warsaw ghetto in 1943, Jews rise against the Nazis.
14
Bronson (2009)
★ 6.9/10Also drama
A young man who was sentenced to 7 years in prison for robbing a post office ends up spending 30 years in solitary confinement. During this time, his own personality is supplanted by his alter ego, Charles Bronson.
15
Room (2015)
★ 8/10Also drama
Held captive for 7 years in an enclosed space, a woman and her young son finally gain their freedom, allowing the boy to experience the outside world for the first time.
16
October (Ten Days that Shook the World) (1928)
★ 6.9/10Also drama
As the Russian monarchy crumbles, conflicts at Petrograd intensify, with Soviet hero V.I. Lenin leading the rebellion that overthrows the tsar's Winter Palace.
17
Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985)
★ 7/10Also drama
The story of two radically different men thrown together in a Latin American prison cell. One is Valentin, a journalist being tortured for his political beliefs. The other is Molina, a gay window-dresser who fills…
18
Caged (1950)
★ 7.1/10Also drama
A single mistake puts a 19-year old girl behind bars, where she experiences the terrors and torments of women in prison.
19
Riot in Cell Block 11 (1954)
★ 7.1/10Also drama
A prisoner leads his counterparts in a protest for better living conditions which turns violent and ugly.
20
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962)
★ 7.2/10Also drama
A rebellious youth, sentenced to a boy’s reformatory for robbing a bakery, rises through the ranks of the institution by impressing its Governor through his prowess as a long distance runner. He is encouraged to…