MOVIEPAD
Search icon

Movies Like 1938: When Mexico Recovered Its Oil

If you liked 1938: When Mexico Recovered Its Oil (2025), a drama and history movie directed by Sergio Olhovich, 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. 1Munich - The Edge of War

    Munich - The Edge of War (2021)

    ★ 6.9/10Also drama and history

    At the tense 1938 Munich Conference, former friends who now work for opposing governments become reluctant spies racing to expose a Nazi secret.

  2. 2Memories of My Father

    Memories of My Father (2020)

    ★ 7.4/10Also drama and history

    In the polarized and violent Medellín (Colombia's 'City of Eternal Spring') of the 1970s, doctor Héctor Abad Gómez is concerned about both his children and children from less favored classes. After a devastating loss…

  3. 3Adventures of a Mathematician

    Adventures of a Mathematician (2021)

    ★ 6.1/10Also drama and history

    The warmhearted story of Polish immigrant and mathematician Stan Ulam, who moved to the U.S. in the 1930s. Stan deals with the difficult losses of family and friends all while helping to create the hydrogen bomb and…

  4. 4Origin

    Origin (2023)

    ★ 6.2/10Also drama and history

    While investigating the global phenomenon of caste and its dark influence on society, a journalist faces unfathomable personal loss and uncovers the beauty of human resilience.

  5. 5The Captive

    The Captive (2025)

    ★ 6.6/10Also drama and history

    In 1575, the young soldier Miguel de Cervantes is captured on the high seas by Barbary pirates and taken to Algiers as a hostage. Aware that a cruel death awaits him if his family does not pay his ransom soon, he finds…

  6. 6Julia

    Julia (1977)

    ★ 6.5/10Also drama and history

    At the behest of an old and dear friend, playwright Lillian Hellman undertakes a dangerous mission to smuggle funds into Nazi Germany.

  7. 7Belfast

    Belfast (2021)

    ★ 7/10Also drama and history

    Buddy is a young boy on the cusp of adolescence, whose life is filled with familial love, childhood hijinks, and a blossoming romance. Yet, with his beloved hometown caught up in increasing turmoil, his family faces a…

  8. 8Shattered Glass

    Shattered Glass (2003)

    ★ 7/10Also drama and history

    Stephen Glass is a staff writer for the respected current events and policy magazine The New Republic and a freelance feature writer for publications such as Rolling Stone, Harper's and George. By the mid-90s, Glass'…

  9. 9Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

    Snow Flower and the Secret Fan (2011)

    ★ 6.1/10Also drama and history

    A story set in 19th century China and centered on the lifelong friendship between two girls who develop their own secret code as a way to contend with the rigid cultural norms imposed on women.

  10. 10Lamborghini: The Man Behind the Legend

    Lamborghini: The Man Behind the Legend (2022)

    ★ 6.4/10Also drama and history

    Follow the launch of Lamborghini’s career as a manufacturer of tractors, a creator of military vehicles during World War II, and the designer of Lamborghini cars, which he launched in 1963 as the high-end sports car…

  11. 11Giant

    Giant (2026)

    ★ 6.9/10Also drama and history

    Follows Prince Naseem Hamed from his humble beginnings on the tough working-class streets of Sheffield and his discovery by Ingle, himself a steel industry worker turned boxing trainer. Their unlikely partnership…

  12. 12Flamin' Hot

    Flamin' Hot (2023)

    ★ 8/10Also drama and history

    The inspiring true story of Richard Montañez, the Frito Lay janitor who channeled his Mexican American heritage and upbringing to turn the iconic Flamin' Hot Cheetos into a snack that disrupted the food industry and…

  13. 13The Red Virgin

    The Red Virgin (2024)

    ★ 7.1/10Also drama and history

    Hildegart is conceived and educated by her mother Aurora to be the woman of the future, to become one of the most brilliant minds of Spain in the 1930s and one of the European references on female sexuality.

  14. 14The House on Carroll Street

    The House on Carroll Street (1988)

    ★ 5.9/10Also drama

    A reporter, fired after refusing to give names to a 1951 House Un-American Activities Committee, takes a part-time job as companion to an old lady. While working she overhears a noisy argument in the neighboring house…

  15. 15Mank

    Mank (2020)

    ★ 6.7/10Also drama and history

    1930s Hollywood is reevaluated through the eyes of scathing social critic and alcoholic screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz as he races to finish the screenplay of Citizen Kane.

  16. 16Kidnapping Mr. Heineken

    Kidnapping Mr. Heineken (2015)

    ★ 6/10Also drama

    The true story of the kidnapping of Freddy Heineken, the grandson of the founder of the Heineken brewery, and his driver. They were released after a ransom of 35 million Dutch guilders was paid.

  17. 17The 33

    The 33 (2015)

    ★ 6.4/10Also drama and history

    Based on the true story of the collapse of a mine in San Jose, Chile—that left 33 miners isolated underground for 69 days.

  18. 18I Swear

    I Swear (2025)

    ★ 8.3/10Also drama and history

    Diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome at 15, John Davidson navigates his way against the odds through troubled teenage years and into adulthood, finding inspiration in the kindness of others to discover his true purpose in…

  19. 19The Scarlet and the Black

    The Scarlet and the Black (1983)

    ★ 7.1/10Also drama and history

    Fr. Hugh O'Flaherty is a Vatican official in 1943-45 who has been hiding downed pilots, escaped prisoners of war, and Italian resistance families. His activities become so large that the Nazis decide to assassinate him…

  20. 20LBJ

    LBJ (2017)

    ★ 6.4/10Also drama and history

    The story of U.S. President Lyndon Baines Johnson from his young days in West Texas to the White House.

← Back to 1938: When Mexico Recovered Its Oil