Movies Like Sounder

If you liked Sounder (1972), a drama movie directed by Martin Ritt, 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 Grapes of Wrath (1940)
★ 7.8/10Also drama
Tom Joad returns to his home after a jail sentence to find his family kicked out of their farm due to foreclosure. He catches up with them on his Uncle’s farm, and joins them the next day as they head for California…
2
Honkytonk Man (1982)
★ 6.3/10Also drama
During the Great Depression, a young boy leaves his family's Oklahoma farm to travel with his country musician uncle who is trying out for the Grand Ole Opry.
3
Places in the Heart (1984)
★ 7.2/10Also drama
In 1935 rural Texas, recently widowed Edna Spaulding struggles to survive with two small children, a farm to run, and very little money in the bank - not to mention a deadly tornado and the unwelcome presence of the Ku…
4
Of Mice and Men (1939)
★ 7.3/10Also drama
An intellectually disabled giant and his level headed guardian find work at a sadistic cowboy's ranch in depression era America.
5
Homestead (2024)
★ 6.4/10Also drama
A nuclear bomb is detonated in Los Angeles, and the nation devolves into unprecedented chaos. Ex-Green Beret Jeff Eriksson and his family escape to The Homestead, an eccentric prepper’s fortress nestled in the…
6
Where the Red Fern Grows (2003)
★ 6.6/10Also drama
Set in the Ozark Mountains during the Great Depression, Billy Coleman works hard and saves his earnings for 2 years to achieve his dream of buying two coonhound pups. He develops a new trust in God as he faces…
7
The Night of the Hunter (1955)
★ 7.9/10Also drama
In Depression-era West Virginia, a serial-killing preacher hunts two young children who know the whereabouts of a stash of money.
8
The Help (2011)
★ 8.2/10Also drama
Aibileen Clark is a middle-aged African-American maid who has spent her life raising white children and has recently lost her only son; Minny Jackson is an African-American maid who has often offended her employers…
9
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…
10
Soul on Fire (2025)
★ 7.5/10Also drama
After a horrific accident leaves his body scarred, a young boy strives to live and show everyone what is possible with the help of his family, his faith, his community, his longtime idol's kindness, and the entire city…
11
East of Eden (1955)
★ 7.5/10Also drama
In the Salinas Valley in and around World War I, Cal Trask feels he must compete against overwhelming odds with his brother for the love of their father. Cal is frustrated at every turn, from his reaction to the war…
12
The Adventures of Huck Finn (1993)
★ 6.2/10Also drama
Mischievous Huck Finn is unnerved when his father, reemerging after years away, kidnaps him in an attempt to take away a $600 inheritance from his late mother. Fearing for his life, Huck fakes his own death and…
13
Mr. Church (2016)
★ 7.4/10Also drama
A unique friendship develops when a little girl and her dying mother inherit a cook - Mr. Church. What begins as an arrangement that should only last six months, instead spans fifteen years.
14
The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)
★ 7.9/10Also drama
A struggling salesman takes custody of his son as he's poised to begin a life-changing professional career.
15
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'.
16
Anne of Green Gables (2016)
★ 7.2/10Also 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…
17
The Best of Enemies (2019)
★ 7.4/10Also drama
Centers on the unlikely relationship between Ann Atwater, an outspoken civil rights activist, and C.P. Ellis, a local Ku Klux Klan leader who reluctantly co-chaired a community summit, battling over the desegregation…
18
The Parts You Lose (2019)
★ 6.7/10Also drama
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.
19
A Home of Our Own (1993)
★ 7/10Also drama
In 1960s Los Angeles an energetic widow and her six children try to make a dream of theirs come true: to have a home of their own. They leave L.A. and head for the countryside, all the while facing numerous…
20
Fences (2016)
★ 6.9/10Also drama
In 1950s Pittsburgh, a frustrated African-American father struggles with the constraints of poverty, racism, and his own inner demons as he tries to raise a family.