Movies Like Boat People

If you liked Boat People (1982), a drama movie directed by Ann Hui, 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 Killing Fields (1984)
★ 7.5/10Also drama
New York Times reporter Sydney Schanberg is on assignment covering the Cambodian Civil War, with the help of local interpreter Dith Pran and American photojournalist Al Rockoff. When the U.S. Army pulls out amid…
2
Heaven & Earth (1993)
★ 6.6/10Also drama
In a small Vietnamese village torn apart by war, a young woman faces unimaginable horrors before deciding to escape to the city. There, she encounters a compassionate Marine who offers her hope and a chance at a new…
3
Full Metal Jacket (1987)
★ 8.1/10Also drama
A pragmatic U.S. Marine observes the dehumanizing effects the U.S.-Vietnam War has on his fellow recruits from their brutal boot camp training to the bloody street fighting in Hue.
4
Missing in Action 2: The Beginning (1985)
★ 5.8/10Also drama
Prequel to the first Missing In Action, set in the early 1980s it shows the capture of Colonel Braddock during the Vietnam war in the 1970s, and his captivity with other American POWs in a brutal prison camp, and his…
5
Dogville (2003)
★ 7.7/10Also drama
A woman on the run from the mob is reluctantly accepted in a small Colorado community in exchange for labor, but when a search visits the town, she learns that their support has a price.
6
Cutter's Way (1981)
★ 6.5/10Also drama
Alex Cutter is a boozy, belligerent and deeply cynical Vietnam veteran whose encounter with a landmine during the war has left him minus an eye, a leg and an arm. When his drifter playboy friend Richard Bone is falsely…
7
Platoon (1986)
★ 7.7/10Also drama
As a young and naive recruit in Vietnam, Chris Taylor faces a moral crisis when confronted with the horrors of war and the duality of man.
8
Da 5 Bloods (2020)
★ 6.4/10Also drama
Four African-American Vietnam veterans return to Vietnam. They are in search of the remains of their fallen squad leader and the promise of buried treasure. These heroes battle forces of humanity and nature while…
9
A Better Tomorrow III: Love and Death in Saigon (1989)
★ 6.4/10Also drama
Before the events of A Better Tomorrow (1986), Mark 'Gor' Lee heads to Saigon during the Vietnam War to bring home his uncle and cousin, but his task becomes complicated when a well-known criminal tries to help him.
10
Blue Thunder (1983)
★ 6.3/10Also drama
Los Angeles, California. Officer Murphy, a veteran Metropolitan Police helicopter pilot suffering from severe trauma due to his harsh experiences during the Vietnam War, and Lymangood, his resourceful new partner, are…
11
Casualties of War (1989)
★ 7.2/10Also drama
During the Vietnam War, a soldier finds himself the outsider of his own squad when they unnecessarily kidnap a female villager.
12
Infernal Affairs (2002)
★ 7.8/10Also drama
Chan Wing Yan, a young police officer, has been sent undercover as a mole in the local mafia. Lau Kin Ming, a young mafia member, infiltrates the police force. Years later, their older counterparts, Chen Wing Yan and…
13
Rolling Thunder (1977)
★ 6.8/10Also drama
A recently-returned Vietnam POW loses his family and his right hand during a violent home invasion, and seeks retribution against those responsible.
14
First Blood (1982)
★ 7.5/10Also drama
When former Green Beret John Rambo is harassed by local law enforcement and arrested for vagrancy, he is forced to flee into the mountains and wage an escalating one-man war against his pursuers.
15
The Last Full Measure (2020)
★ 7.3/10Also drama
The incredible true story of Vietnam War hero William H. Pitsenbarger, a U.S. Air Force Pararescuemen medic who personally saved over sixty men. Thirty-two years later, Pentagon staffer Scott Huffman investigates a…
16
Xiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl (1998)
★ 7.2/10Also drama
Young teen girl Xiu Xiu is sent away to a remote corner of the Sichuan steppes for manual labor in 1975 (sending young people to there was a part of Cultural Revolution in China). A year later, she agrees to go to even…
17
Civil War (2024)
★ 6.8/10Also drama
In the near future, a group of war journalists attempt to survive while reporting the truth as the United States stands on the brink of civil war.
18
Breaking (2022)
★ 6.5/10Also drama
Desperate for money and running out of options, Marine veteran Brian Brown-Easley holds several people hostage inside a bank, setting the stage for a tense confrontation with police.
19
Holy Lands (2019)
★ 6.1/10Also drama
When lapsed Jew and former cardiologist Harry suddenly decides to spend his retirement as a pig farmer in Nazareth, Israel, the move deeply shocks his family and his new neighbours. Back in New York, Harry’s ex-wife…
20
Apocalypse Now (1979)
★ 8.3/10Also drama
At the height of the Vietnam war, Captain Benjamin Willard is sent on a dangerous mission that, officially, "does not exist, nor will it ever exist." His goal is to locate - and eliminate - a mysterious Green Beret…