Movies Like Barbed Wire and Mandolins
If you liked Barbed Wire and Mandolins (1997), a documentary and history movie directed by Nicola Zavaglia, 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 Green Book: Guide to Freedom (2019)
★ 7.8/10Also documentary and historyIn 1936, Victor H. Green (1892-1960) published The Negro Motorist Green Book, a book that was both a travel guide and a survival manual, to help African-Americans navigate safe those regions of the United States where…
- 2

Night Will Fall (2014)
★ 7.6/10Also documentaryWhen Allied forces liberated the Nazi concentration camps in 1944-45, their terrible discoveries were recorded by army and newsreel cameramen, revealing for the first time the full horror of what had happened. Making…
- 3

The Battle of San Pietro (1945)
★ 6.1/10Also documentaryThis documentary movie is about the battle of San Pietro, a small village in Italy. Over 1,100 US soldiers were killed while trying to take this location, that blocked the way for the Allied forces from the Germans…
- 4

13th (2016)
★ 7.8/10Also documentaryAn in-depth look at the prison system in the United States and how it reveals the nation's history of racial inequality.
- 5

Nazi Concentration Camps (1945)
★ 7.7/10Also documentary and historyProduced and presented as evidence at the Nuremberg war crimes trial of Hermann Göring and twenty other Nazi leaders, this film consists primarily of dead and surviving prisoners and of facilities used to kill and…
- 6

The Soviet Story (2008)
★ 7.3/10Also documentary and history“The Soviet Story” is a story of an Allied power, which helped the Nazis to fight Jews and which slaughtered its own people on an industrial scale. Assisted by the West, this power triumphed on May 9th, 1945. Its…
- 7

Why We Fight: Prelude to War (1942)
★ 6.4/10Also documentaryPrelude to War was the first film of Frank Capra's Why We Fight propaganda film series, commissioned by the Pentagon and George C. Marshall. It was made to convince American troops of the necessity of combating the…
- 8

Sidney (2022)
★ 6.9/10Also documentaryThis revealing documentary honors the legendary Sidney Poitier—iconic actor, filmmaker, and civil rights activist. Featuring interviews with Denzel Washington, Spike Lee, Halle Berry, and more.
- 9

My Mom Jayne (2025)
★ 8/10Also documentaryThrough deeply personal interviews with her siblings and an examination of the photographs, letters, and belongings left behind, Mariska assembles a new portrait of her mother Jayne Mansfield, an extraordinary and…
- 10

They Shall Not Grow Old (2018)
★ 7.8/10Also documentary and historyA documentary about World War I with never-before-seen footage to commemorate the centennial of Armistice Day, and the end of the war.
- 11

Cover-Up (2025)
★ 7.2/10Also documentary and historyHe's devoted his career to uncovering stories the powerful want buried. From My Lai to Abu Ghraib, dig into the life's work of journalist Seymour Hersh.
- 12

The Untold History Of The United States (2012)
★ 8.2/10Also documentary and historyOliver Stone charts the history of the United States from the Second World War to the present.
- 13

The Last Days (1998)
★ 7.4/10Also documentary and historyThis Oscar-winning documentary recounts the harrowing stories of five Hungarian Jews who endured the horrors of the Holocaust and Hitler's reign.
- 14

To End All War: Oppenheimer & the Atomic Bomb (2023)
★ 7.7/10Also documentary and historyExplore how one man's relentless drive and invention of the atomic bomb changed the nature of war forever, led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people and unleashed mass hysteria.
- 15

Above Majestic (2018)
★ 7.4/10Also documentaryA look at the origins, history and conspiracies behind the "Majestic 12", a clandestine group of military and corporate figureheads charged with reverse-engineering extraterrestrial technology.
- 16

In the Realms of the Unreal (2004)
★ 7.2/10Also documentaryIn the Realms of the Unreal is a documentary about the reclusive Chicago-based artist Henry Darger. Henry Darger was so reclusive that when he died his neighbors were surprised to find a 15,145-page manuscript along…
- 17

RBG (2018)
★ 7.5/10Also documentaryJustice Ruth Bader Ginsburg now 84, and still inspired by the lawyers who defended free speech during the Red Scare, Ginsburg refuses to relinquish her passionate duty, steadily fighting for equal rights for all…
- 18

The Captains (2011)
★ 6.4/10Also documentaryThe Captains is a feature-length documentary film written and directed by William Shatner. The film follows Shatner as he interviews the other actors who have portrayed starship captains in the Star Trek franchise.
- 19

McQueen (2018)
★ 7.4/10Also documentaryAlexander McQueen's rags-to-riches story is a modern-day fairy tale, laced with the gothic. Mirroring the savage beauty, boldness and vivacity of his design, this documentary is an intimate revelation of McQueen's own…
- 20

Louis Theroux: Louis and the Nazis (2003)
★ 7.2/10Also documentaryLouis Theroux travels to California to meet the man dubbed "the most dangerous racist in America"; Tom Metzger. Louis meets him, his family and his publicity manager as well as following him to skinhead rallies and on…