Movies Like Streets of Rio

If you liked Streets of Rio (2008), a drama and crime movie directed by Alexander Pickl, 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
Elite Squad (2007)
★ 8.1/10Also drama and crime
In 1997, before the visit of the pope to Rio de Janeiro, Captain Nascimento from BOPE (Special Police Operations Battalion) is assigned to eliminate the risks of the drug dealers in a dangerous slum nearby where the…
2
City of God (2002)
★ 8.4/10Also drama and crime
In the poverty-stricken favelas of Rio de Janeiro in the 1970s, two young men choose different paths. Rocket is a budding photographer who documents the increasing drug-related violence of his neighborhood, while José…
3
City of Men (2007)
★ 7/10Also drama
Best buddies Acerola and Laranjinha, about to turn 18, discover things about their missing fathers' pasts which will shatter their solid friendship, in the middle of a war between rival drug gangs from Rio's favelas.
4
Vitória (2025)
★ 7.8/10Also drama and crime
Nina is an elderly woman who lives alone and feels distressed by the increasing violence in her neighborhood. Amidst conflicts with her neighbors, she decides to film the movement of drug traffickers from her window…
5
Fresh (1994)
★ 7.2/10Also crime and drama
Death and violence anger twelve year old drug courier Fresh, who sets his rival employers against each other.
6
The Principal (1987)
★ 6.4/10Also crime and drama
Burglary. Drugs. Assault. Rape. The students at Brandel High are more than new Principal Rick Latimer bargained for. Gangs fight to control the school using knives - even guns - when they have to. When Latimer and the…
7
In Vanda's Room (2001)
★ 6.7/10Also drama
An unflinching, fragmentary look at a handful of self-destructive, marginalized people, but taking as main focus the heroin-addicted Vanda Duarte.
8
A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (2006)
★ 6.5/10Also crime and drama
Dito Montiel, a successful author, receives a call from his long-suffering mother, asking him to return home and visit his ailing father. Dito recalls his childhood growing up in a violent neighborhood in Queens, N.Y…
9
The Air I Breathe (2007)
★ 6.3/10Also drama and crime
A gambler’s bet spiraling into chaos, a gangster's prophetic visions, a pop star’s dark entanglement, a doctor’s desperate race against time to rescue his beloved... Four interconnected stories reveal life unfolding…
10
Mars One (2022)
★ 7.3/10Also drama
A middle-class Black family in Brazil copes with the election of a far-right extremist president. The mother believes that she's cursed after an unexpected encounter, while her husband puts all of his hopes into their…
11
Siberian Education (2013)
★ 6.8/10Also drama and crime
The story of a gang of children growing up in a community of banished criminals, in a forgotten corner of the former Soviet Union. This community rejects the world outside. The only law it obeys… is its own. Against…
12
Outlaw (2024)
★ 6.2/10Also crime and drama
At the age of nine, Rebeca is sold by her grandmother to the bookseller who ran Rocinha. Disputed by bicheiros and drug dealers, the community is going through changes in power. Rebeca becomes the wife of the chief…
13
Above & Below (2026)
★ 5.9/10Also crime
A group of friends' dream diving vacation turns into a fight for survival when brutal criminals attack their boat in open waters.
14
Paid in Full (2002)
★ 6.9/10Also crime and drama
Ace is an impressionable young man working for a dry cleaning business. His friend, drug dealer Mitch, goes to prison. In an unrelated incident, he finds some cocaine in a pants pocket. Soon, Ace finds himself dealing…
15
Belly (1998)
★ 6.4/10Also crime and drama
Tommy Bundy and Sincere are best friends as well as infamous and ruthless criminals and shot-callers in the hood. Respected by many but feared by all. As the police are closing in on them and new players are looking…
16
Mean Streets (1973)
★ 7/10Also drama and crime
A small-time hood must choose from among love, friendship and the chance to rise within the mob.
17
Hard Target (1993)
★ 6.5/10Also crime
When a woman's father goes missing, she enlists a local to aid in her search. The pair soon discover that her father has died at the hands of a wealthy sportsman who hunts homeless men as a form of recreation.
18
7 Prisoners (2021)
★ 7.1/10Also drama and crime
An impoverished teen seeking to escape the clutches of a human trafficker must weigh living up to his moral code against his struggle to survive.
19
Get Rich or Die Tryin' (2005)
★ 6.9/10Also drama and crime
A tale of an inner city drug dealer who turns away from crime to pursue his passion, rap music.
20
The Substitute 2: School's Out (1998)
★ 6.5/10Also crime
When teacher Randall Thomasson is killed during a carjacking, an unexpected visitor shows up at his funeral - his estranged brother, Karl Thomasson. An ex-Green Beret turned mercenary, Karl signs on as a new substitute…