Movies Like The American Friend

If you liked The American Friend (2002), a documentary and history movie directed by Patrick Jeudy, 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 Soviet Story (2008)
★ 7.3/10Also documentary and war
“The Soviet Story” is a story of an Allied power, which helped the Nazis to fight Jews and which slaughtered its own people on an industrial scale. Assisted by the West, this power triumphed on May 9th, 1945. Its…
2
2000 Meters to Andriivka (2025)
★ 8.1/10Also documentary and war
Amid the failing counteroffensive, a journalist follows a Ukrainian platoon on their mission to traverse one mile of heavily fortified forest and liberate a strategic village from Russian occupation. But the farther…
3
Shoah (1985)
★ 8.2/10Also documentary and history
Director Claude Lanzmann spent 11 years on this sprawling documentary about the Holocaust, conducting his own interviews and refusing to use a single frame of archival footage. Dividing Holocaust witnesses into three…
4
They Shall Not Grow Old (2018)
★ 7.8/10Also documentary and history
A documentary about World War I with never-before-seen footage to commemorate the centennial of Armistice Day, and the end of the war.
5
Korengal (2014)
★ 6.6/10Also documentary and war
Korengal picks up where Restrepo left off; the same men, the same valley, the same commanders, but a very different look at the experience of war.
6
The Age of Stupid (2009)
★ 6.6/10Also war and documentary
Pete Postlethwaite stars as a man living alone in the devastated future world of 2055, looking at old footage from 2008 and asking: why didn’t we stop climate change when we had the chance?
7
The Battle of San Pietro (1945)
★ 6.1/10Also war and documentary
This documentary movie is about the battle of San Pietro, a small village in Italy. Over 1,100 US soldiers were killed while trying to take this location, that blocked the way for the Allied forces from the Germans…
8
The Bloody Hundredth (2024)
★ 7.2/10Also war and documentary
Meet the real-life airmen who inspired Masters of the Air as they share the harrowing and transformative events of the 100th Bomb Group.
9
Why We Fight: Prelude to War (1942)
★ 6.4/10Also documentary and war
Prelude to War was the first film of Frank Capra's Why We Fight propaganda film series, commissioned by the Pentagon and George C. Marshall. It was made to convince American troops of the necessity of combating the…
10
Cover-Up (2025)
★ 7.2/10Also documentary and history
He's devoted his career to uncovering stories the powerful want buried. From My Lai to Abu Ghraib, dig into the life's work of journalist Seymour Hersh.
11
Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound (2019)
★ 6.9/10Also documentary and history
The history of cinematic sound, told by legendary sound designers and visionary filmmakers.
12
For Sama (2019)
★ 8.2/10Also documentary and war
A love letter from a young mother to her daughter, the film tells the story of Waad al-Kateab’s life through five years of the uprising in Aleppo, Syria as she falls in love, gets married and gives birth to Sama, all…
13
Night and Fog (1956)
★ 8.3/10Also documentary and history
Filmmaker Alain Resnais documents the atrocities behind the walls of Hitler's concentration camps.
14
City of Ghosts (2017)
★ 7.2/10Also war and documentary
With unprecedented access, this documentary follows the extraordinary journey of “Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently”—a group of anonymous citizen journalists who banded together after their homeland was overtaken by…
15
The Battle of Midway (1942)
★ 5.9/10Also documentary and war
The Japanese attack on Midway in June 1942, filmed as it happened. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive, in partnership with Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, in 2006.
16
The Kill Team (2013)
★ 6.9/10Also war and documentary
In 2010, the media branded a platoon of U.S. Army infantry soldiers “The Kill Team” following reports of its killing for sport in Afghanistan. Now, one of the accused must fight the government he defended on the…
17
9/11: Inside the President's War Room (2021)
★ 6.9/10Also documentary and history
Experience the events of September 11, 2001 through the eyes of President Bush and his closest advisors as they personally detail the crucial hours and key decisions from that historic day.
18
The War Room (1993)
★ 6.8/10Also documentary and history
A behind-the-scenes documentary about the Clinton for President campaign, focusing on the adventures of spin doctors James Carville and George Stephanopoulos.
19
The Unknown Known (2013)
★ 6.8/10Also documentary and history
Former United States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld discusses his career in Washington D.C. from his days as a congressman in the early 1960s to planning the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
20
Father Soldier Son (2020)
★ 6.5/10Also documentary and war
When Sgt. First Class Brian Eisch is critically wounded in Afghanistan, it sets him and his sons on a journey of love, loss, redemption and legacy.