Movies Like Escape from Pretoria

If you liked Escape from Pretoria (2020), a drama and history movie directed by Francis Annan, 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
BlacKkKlansman (2018)
★ 7.5/10Also drama and history
Colorado Springs, late 1970s. Ron Stallworth, an African American police officer, and Flip Zimmerman, his Jewish colleague, run an undercover operation to infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan.
2
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.
3
Emancipation (2022)
★ 7.7/10Also drama and history
Inspired by the gripping true story of a man who would do anything for his family—and for freedom. When Peter, an enslaved man, risks his life to escape and return to his family, he embarks on a perilous journey of…
4
Truth & Treason (2025)
★ 8.1/10Also history and drama
In 1941 Nazi Germany, 16-year-old Helmuth Hübener begins questioning the regime after learning the truth about the war and seeing his Jewish friend persecuted. With two friends, he secretly listens to banned foreign…
5
The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020)
★ 7.7/10Also drama and history
What was supposed to be a peaceful protest turned into a violent clash with the police. What followed was one of the most notorious trials in history.
6
Malcolm X (1992)
★ 7.6/10Also drama and history
A tribute to the controversial black activist and leader of the struggle for black liberation. He hit bottom during his imprisonment in the '50s, he became a Black Muslim and then a leader in the Nation of Islam. His…
7
Free State of Jones (2016)
★ 6.8/10Also drama and history
In 1863, Mississippi farmer Newt Knight serves as a medic for the Confederate Army. Opposed to slavery, Knight would rather help the wounded than fight the Union. After his nephew dies in battle, Newt returns home to…
8
A Dry White Season (1989)
★ 6.7/10Also drama and thriller
During the 1976 Soweto uprising, a white school teacher's life and values are threatened when he asks questions about the death of a young black boy who died in police custody.
9
Firebrand (2024)
★ 6.3/10Also drama and history
Katherine Parr, the sixth wife of King Henry VIII, is named regent while the tyrant battles abroad. When the king returns, increasingly ill and paranoid, Katherine finds herself fighting for her own survival.
10
The Wind and the Lion (1975)
★ 6.5/10Also drama and history
At the beginning of the 20th century an American woman is abducted in Morocco by Berbers, and the attempts to free her range from diplomatic pressure to military intervention.
11
Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984)
★ 6.8/10Also drama and thriller
Winston Smith is a government employee whose job involves the rewriting of history in a manner that casts his fictional country's leaders in a charitable light. His trysts with Julia provide his only measure of…
12
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.
13
Against the Wall (1994)
★ 6.2/10Also drama and history
In 1971, a warden at Attica Penitentiary is caught up in a hostage crisis when inmates take over the prison to demand better living conditions.
14
Panther (1995)
★ 6.3/10Also drama and history
In this sprawling, fictionalized history of the Black Panthers, 1960s Oakland becomes a war zone as the Panthers battle for the right to exist.
15
The Mauritanian (2021)
★ 7.4/10Also drama and thriller
The true story of the Mauritanian Mohamedou Ould Slahi, who was held at the U.S military's Guantanamo Bay detention center without charges for over a decade and sought help from a defense attorney for his release.
16
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…
17
All the Money in the World (2017)
★ 6.5/10Also history and thriller
The story of the kidnapping of 16-year-old John Paul Getty III and the desperate attempt by his devoted mother to convince his billionaire grandfather Jean Paul Getty to pay the ransom.
18
Beirut (2018)
★ 6.3/10Also thriller and drama
In 1980s Beirut, Mason Skiles is a former U.S. diplomat who is called back into service to save a colleague from the group that is possibly responsible for his own family's death. Meanwhile, a CIA field agent who is…
19
Detroit (2017)
★ 7.2/10Also drama and thriller
A police raid in Detroit in 1967 results in one of the largest citizens' uprisings in the history of the United States.
20
Motor City (2026)
★ 6.2/10Also thriller and drama
In 1970s Detroit, John Miller falls for a local gangster's girl and lands in prison for a crime he didn't commit. With his life ruined, Miller plots revenge against the man who took his girl away.