Movies Like The Return to Kandahar

If you liked The Return to Kandahar (2003), a movie directed by Paul Jay and Nelofer Pazira, 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
Lone Survivor (2013)
★ 7.4/10
Four Navy SEALs on a covert mission to neutralize a high-level Taliban operative must make an impossible moral decision in the mountains of Afghanistan that leads them into an enemy ambush. As they confront unthinkable…
2
Ballistic (2026)
★ 5.8/10
When a soldier's mother discovers the bullet that killed her son in Afghanistan was made at the factory where she works, she sets out on a path of revenge against those responsible.
3
The Outpost (2020)
★ 6.9/10
A small unit of U.S. soldiers, alone at the remote Combat Outpost Keating, located deep in the valley of three mountains in Afghanistan, battles to defend against an overwhelming force of Taliban fighters in a…
4
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013)
★ 7.2/10
A timid magazine photo manager who lives life vicariously through daydreams embarks on a true-life adventure when a negative goes missing.
5
Kandahar (2001)
★ 6.2/10
After an Afghanistan-born woman who lives in Canada receives a letter from her suicidal sister, she takes a perilous journey through Afghanistan to try to find her.
6
A Million Miles Away (2023)
★ 7.6/10
The life of engineer and former NASA astronaut José M. Hernández, the first migrant farmworker to go to space.
7
12 Strong (2018)
★ 6.4/10
A team of special forces head into Afghanistan in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks in an attempt to dismantle the Taliban.
8
Max (2015)
★ 7.2/10
A dog that helped soldiers in Afghanistan returns to the U.S. and is adopted by his handler's family after suffering a traumatic experience.
9
180° South (2010)
★ 7.2/10
The film follows adventurer Jeff Johnson as he retraces the epic 1968 journey of his heroes Yvon Chouinard and Doug Tompkins to Patagonia.
10
The Fix (2026)
★ 6.1/10
Disillusioned by the end of the war in Afghanistan, a group of disgraced, war-torn ex-CIA operatives set out to Tehran to take down a life-changing score.
11
Arthur the King (2024)
★ 7.5/10
Over the course of ten days and 435 miles, an unbreakable bond is forged between pro adventure racer Michael Light and a scrappy street dog companion dubbed Arthur. As the team is pushed to their outer limits of…
12
The Boys from Brazil (1978)
★ 6.7/10
Nazi hunter Ezra Lieberman discovers a sinister and bizarre plot, masterminded by Dr. Josef Mengele, to rekindle the Third Reich.
13
The Way Back (2010)
★ 7/10
A small band of multicultural convicts stages a daring escape from a WWII-era Siberian gulag, and embarks on a treacherous journey across five countries in a desperate race for freedom and survival.
14
Desert Warrior (2026)
★ 6/10
In 7th-century Arabia, Princess Hind becomes a warrior to defy the ruthless Emperor Kisra. Forged into a warrior and aided by legendary bandit Hanzala, Hind unites warring tribes for a last stand—the historic Battle of…
15
The Heroes of Telemark (1965)
★ 6.9/10
Set in German-occupied Norway, resistance fighter Knut Straud enlists the reluctant physicist Rolf Pedersen in an effort to destroy the German heavy water production plant in rural Telemark.
16
Tenzing (2026)
★ 8.3/10
A determined man embarks on a high-stakes quest—and defies seemingly impossible odds—to fulfill his dream of being the first to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
17
Wonderstruck (2017)
★ 6.1/10
The story of a young boy in the Midwest is told simultaneously with a tale about a young girl in New York from fifty years ago as they both seek the same mysterious connection.
18
Xiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl (1998)
★ 7.2/10
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…
19
The Kill Team (2019)
★ 6.5/10
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…
20
Apocalypto (2006)
★ 7.7/10
Set in the Mayan civilization, when a man's idyllic presence is brutally disrupted by a violent invading force, he is taken on a perilous journey to a world ruled by fear and oppression where a harrowing end awaits…