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Movies Like The Penal Colony

If you liked The Penal Colony (2017), a drama movie directed by Manos Cizek and Lindsey Aliksanyan, 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. 1Girl in the Box

    Girl in the Box (2016)

    ★ 6.7/10Also drama

    The true story of 20-year-old Colleen Stan, a hitchhiking woman abducted by a young couple and held captive for seven years, during which time she's tortured and forced to live as a slave to her captors.

  2. 2Bronson

    Bronson (2009)

    ★ 6.9/10Also drama

    A young man who was sentenced to 7 years in prison for robbing a post office ends up spending 30 years in solitary confinement. During this time, his own personality is supplanted by his alter ego, Charles Bronson.

  3. 3All Day and a Night

    All Day and a Night (2020)

    ★ 6.3/10Also drama

    While serving life in prison, a young man looks back at the people, the circumstances and the system that set him on the path toward his crime.

  4. 4Home

    Home (2021)

    ★ 6.7/10Also drama

    An ex-felon returns home from prison and must confront the demons of his past.

  5. 5Skin

    Skin (2009)

    ★ 6.4/10Also drama

    Based on the true story of a black girl who was born to two white Afrikaner parents in South Africa during the apartheid era.

  6. 6El Chicano

    El Chicano (2019)

    ★ 6.6/10Also drama

    A pair of twin brothers from East L.A. choose to live their lives differently and end up on opposite sides of the law.

  7. 7Kiss of the Spider Woman

    Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985)

    ★ 7/10Also drama

    The story of two radically different men thrown together in a Latin American prison cell. One is Valentin, a journalist being tortured for his political beliefs. The other is Molina, a gay window-dresser who fills…

  8. 8Outlaws - For Greater Glory

    Outlaws - For Greater Glory (2012)

    ★ 7/10Also drama

    A chronicle of the Cristeros War (1926-1929), which was touched off by a rebellion against the Mexican government's attempt to secularize the country.

  9. 9The Unforgivable

    The Unforgivable (2021)

    ★ 7.4/10Also drama

    A woman is released from prison after serving a sentence for a violent crime and re-enters a society that refuses to forgive her past.

  10. 10Riot in Cell Block 11

    Riot in Cell Block 11 (1954)

    ★ 7.1/10Also drama

    A prisoner leads his counterparts in a protest for better living conditions which turns violent and ugly.

  11. 11Kisses

    Kisses (2008)

    ★ 7.1/10Also drama

    Two kids, Dylan and Kylie, run away from home on Christmas Day and spend a night of magic and terror on the streets of inner-city Dublin.

  12. 12Brute Force

    Brute Force (1947)

    ★ 7.3/10Also drama

    Timeworn Joe Collins and his fellow inmates live under the heavy thumb of the sadistic, power-tripping guard Captain Munsey. Only Collins' dreams of escape keep him going, but how can he possibly bust out of Munsey's…

  13. 13Hounddog

    Hounddog (2008)

    ★ 6.5/10Also drama

    A drama set in the American South, where a precocious, troubled girl finds a safe haven in the music and movement of Elvis Presley.

  14. 14The Kill Team

    The Kill Team (2019)

    ★ 6.5/10Also drama

    When Andrew Briggman — a young soldier in the US Army during the invasion of Afghanistan — witnesses the murderous behavior of fellow soldiers, under the direction of a malevolent Sergeant, he faces a moral dilemma…

  15. 15Xiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl

    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…

  16. 16Farming

    Farming (2018)

    ★ 6.2/10Also drama

    Based on the writer/director's childhood, FARMING tells the story of a young Nigerian boy, 'farmed out' by his parents to a white British family in the hope of a better future. Instead, he becomes the feared leader of…

  17. 17Hungry Hearts

    Hungry Hearts (2015)

    ★ 6.5/10Also drama

    The relationship of a couple who meet by chance in New York City is put to the test when they encounter a life or death circumstance.

  18. 18Adopt a Highway

    Adopt a Highway (2019)

    ★ 6.9/10Also drama

    Russ Millings has just been released from prison after serving 21 years for a 3rd strike conviction for possessing an ounce of marijuana. As he tries to adapt to a world he doesn’t recognize – including trying to learn…

  19. 19Three Christs

    Three Christs (2017)

    ★ 6.7/10Also drama

    Dr. Alan Stone breaks new ground for treatment of the mentally ill through an experiment on three paranoid schizophrenic patients who believe they are Jesus Christ.

  20. 20Nowhere to Run

    Nowhere to Run (1993)

    ★ 6.6/10Also drama

    Escaped convict Sam Gillen single-handedly takes on ruthless developers who are determined to evict a widow with two young children.

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