Best movies like Shadow Commander: Iran’s Military Mastermind

Beirut, 1982: a young Palestinian refugee and an Israeli fighter pilot form a tentative bond in their attempt to make their way across war-torn Lebanon back to their home.

BROTHERS AT WAR is an intimate portrait of an American family during a turbulent time.  Jake Rademacher sets out to understand the experience, sacrifice, and motivation of his two brothers serving in Iraq. The film follows Jake’s exploits as he risks everything—including his life—to tell his brothers’ story.

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 ISIS—as they risk their lives to stand up against one of the greatest evils in the world today.

The CIA’s hunt is on for the mastermind of a wave of terrorist attacks. Roger Ferris is the agency’s man on the ground, moving from place to place, scrambling to stay ahead of ever-shifting events. An eye in the sky – a satellite link – watches Ferris. At the other end of that real-time link is the CIA’s Ed Hoffman, strategizing events from thousands of miles away. And as Ferris nears the target, he discovers trust can be just as dangerous as it is necessary for survival.

Looking to investigate recruitment techniques of ISIS to lure women into Syria, a journalist creates a Facebook profile of a Muslim convert. When an ISIS recruiter contacts her online character, she experiences the process first hand.

The Middle Eastern oil industry is the backdrop of this tense drama, which weaves together numerous story lines. Bennett Holiday is an American lawyer in charge of facilitating a dubious merger of oil companies, while Bryan Woodman, a Switzerland-based energy analyst, experiences both personal tragedy and opportunity during a visit with Arabian royalty. Meanwhile, veteran CIA agent Bob Barnes uncovers an assassination plot with unsettling origins.

Two stories separated by 1400 years. After losing his mother in the midst of a war-torn country, an Iraqi child learns the importance and power of patience by discovering the historical story of Lady Fatima and her suffering.

One of the most popular Lebanese films of the late 1990s, Around the Pink House is a story that explores the changing urban landscape of Beirut after the Civil War. La maison rose (the pink house) is an old mansion in Beirut where the Nawfal family found shelter during the Civil War. Unfortunately for them, their immediate environment is rapidly changing, as many of the old shell-ridden buildings are being torn down and replaced by new construction projects. When Mattar, the owner of the pink house, decides to sell it to make room for a large commercial centre, the residents of the neighbourhood become divided between the shopkeepers and businessmen in favour of a different kind of modernity.

We live in a world where the powerful deceive us. We know they lie. They know we know they lie. They do not care. We say we care, but we do nothing, and nothing ever changes. It is normal. Welcome to the post-truth world. How we got to where we are now…

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 while cataclysmic conflict rises around her. Her camera captures incredible stories of loss, laughter and survival as Waad wrestles with an impossible choice– whether or not to flee the city to protect her daughter’s life, when leaving means abandoning the struggle for freedom for which she has already sacrificed so much.

During the Iraq War, a Sergeant recently assigned to an army bomb squad is put at odds with his squad mates due to his maverick way of handling his work.

From war-torn Syria to the 2016 Rio Olympics, two young sisters embark on a risky voyage, putting their hearts and their swimming skills to heroic use.

Maia, a single mother, lives in Montreal with her teenage daughter, Alex. On Christmas Eve, they receive an unexpected delivery: notebooks, tapes, and photos Maia sent to her best friend from 1980’s Beirut. Maia refuses to open the box or confront its memories, but Alex secretly begins diving into it. Between fantasy and reality, Alex enters the world of her mother’s tumultuous, passionate adolescence during the Lebanese civil war, unlocking mysteries of a hidden past.

When an elite eight-man British SAS team is dropped behind enemy lines, their mission is clear: take out Saddam Hussein's SCUD missile systems. But when communications are cut and the team finds themselves surrounded by Saddam's army, their only hope is to risk capture and torture in a desperate 185-kilometer run to the Syrian border. Based on the true story of a British Special Forces unit behind enemy lines during the Gulf War, Bravo Two Zero explores the tragedies and triumphs of men taken to the edge of survival in the Persian Gulf War.

The inspiring story of three women risking their lives to incite political, activist, and armed uprisings in Afghanistan, Syria, and Iraq.

True account of the six men held hostage by religious extremists in Beirut during the Reagan-Bush era.

Memorial Day, 1993. When 13-year-old Kyle Vogel discovers the World War II footlocker belonging to his grandfather, Bud, everyone tells Kyle to put it back. Luckily, he ignores them. Although Bud has never talked about the war, he finds himself striking a deal with his grandson: Kyle can pick any three souvenirs, and Bud will tell him the stories behind each one. Memorial Day not only takes us on a journey into Bud's complicated wartime past, but also into Kyle's wartime future. As the two men share parallel experiences in combat, they come to realize how that magical day on the porch shaped both of their lives. 

Dr Gerald Bull was a genius at designing and building superguns (very large long range guns capable of shooting at ranges more than 100 miles). When an operational plan by the CIA to export sanctioned arms to apartheid-South Africa through him was exposed, the CIA denied all knowledge and he went to jail. He was later released, and moved to Belgium to start a subsidiary, of which a major project was to help Saddam Hussein build a new supergun capable of firing over 500 miles.

In the 1980s Keith Haring blazed a trail through the galleries and nightclubs of downtown New York's art scene. Rebellious and ingenious, Haring chose to operate both inside and outside the art world. Inspired by the city's graffiti scene, he made New York's subways, tarpaulins and walls his canvas. This new feature documentary blends stunning archive and an edgy soundtrack, with tender and candid first-hand accounts of Haring. It tells the extraordinary story of an artist who lived and created with a boundless energy, throughout the social, cultural and political counter-revolution of the 1980s.

Documentary telling the little-known story of how Darwin came to write his great masterpiece, On the Origin of Species, a book which explains the wonderful variety of the natural world as emerging out of death and the struggle of life. In the twenty years he took to develop a brilliant idea into a revolutionary book, Darwin went through a personal struggle every bit as turbulent as that of the natural world he observed. Fortunately, he left us an extraordinary record of his brilliant insights, observations of nature, and touching expressions of love and affection for those around him. He also wrote frank accounts of family tragedies, physical illnesses and moments of self-doubt, as he laboured towards publication of the book that would change the way we see the world. The story is told with the benefit of Darwin's secret notes and correspondence, enhanced by natural history filming, powerful imagery from the time and contributions from leading contemporary biographers and scientists.

Carlos Ghosn – the former CEO of the Renault-Nissan Alliance, charged with financial crimes – stunned the world with his escape from Japan to Lebanon. What triggered Ghosn’s spectacular downfall from industry leader to international fugitive? Is there any truth to Ghosn’s claims of a corporate conspiracy? Nick Green’s documentary sheds light on this multilayered story, drawing out a portrait of a fascinating character.

In this undercover investigation, Nawal al-Maghafi exposes a secret world of sexual exploitation in Iraq. Some Shia clerics are using a controversial practice called ‘pleasure marriage’ to groom vulnerable girls and young women and pimp them out.

He's the deadliest weapon on the battlefield, but his next shot could be his last. Outnumbered - Outgunned - Behind enemy lines - What happens when the tables are turned and the hunter becomes the hunted? This is SNIPER: DEADLIEST MISSIONS. From the treacherous jungles of Vietnam and the bloody war zones of Iraq, to danger high in the skies of the Alaskan wilderness, this two-hour special puts you behind the scope with the men who pulled the trigger on some of the deadliest missions in military and law enforcement history. Gripping firsthand accounts, 3-D graphics and jaw-dropping shooting demonstrations take you inside the shadowy world of top snipers and the missions that made them living legends. Outmanned and out-gunned - will the next shot be their last?

Neil Armstrong's family and friends, many of whom have never spoken publicly before, tell the story of the first man to set foot on the moon. Drawing heavily on unbroadcast archive footage and the unique perspectives of the contributors, this is an exclusive account of Neil Armstrong's extraordinary life story. From his childhood during America's Great Depression to the heady days of the space programme, his historic first step on the Moon and his famously private later life. Seen through the eyes of those who were with him, the film explores the man behind the myth, a man who was very much a product of his time. The film goes beyond his days as an astronaut and shows that his life after the flight of Apollo 11 was, in many ways equally challenging, as Armstrong came to terms with life outside NASA and the relentless demands of fame until his death in August 2012.

This is the story of the most extraordinary journey in human exploration, the Voyager space mission. In 1977 two unmanned spacecraft were launched by NASA, heading for distant worlds. It would be the first time any man-made object would ever visit the farthest planets of the solar system - Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune and Uranus. On the way the Voyagers would be bombarded by space dust, fried by radiation and discover many of the remarkable wonders of the solar system. Now, at the end of 2012, 35 years and 11 billion miles later, they are leaving the area of the sun's influence. As they journey out into the galaxy beyond they carry a message from Earth, a golden record bolted to the side of each craft describing our civilisation in case of discovery by another. This is the definitive account of the most intrepid explorers in Earth's history.

Amazing feats of marksmanship are recounted by the men who pulled the trigger. Gripping accounts of the longest shots and the deadliest ambushes take us to battlefields from Vietnam, to Iraq, to the Alaskan wilderness. There is no escape for those who enter the Kill Zone.

Sheku Kanneh-Mason made history in 2016 when he became the first black winner of the BBC Young Musician competition. Sheku has six musically gifted siblings and this film explores their extraordinary talents and issues of diversity in classical music. We follow Sheku and his brothers and sisters and examine the sacrifices that parents Stuart and Kadie make in order to support their children in pursuing their musical dreams. Told through the prism of family life we get an understanding of what it is that drives this family to be the best musicians they can be. At the heart of the story is 17-year-old Sheku, and we see him coming to terms with his Young Musician win and the pressures and opportunities it brings. His life is changing dramatically as he now has to learn to deal with the challenges of becoming a world-renowned cellist.

The Secret Diary Of The Holocaust tells the extraordinary tale of a 14-year-old Polish girl, Rutka Laskier, who was murdered at Auschwitz in 1943. In 2005, the school notebook in which Rutka recorded her last months in the ghetto of Bedzin was made public, six decades after she hid it under the floorboards of her home there. Rutka was immediately dubbed the 'Polish Anne Frank'. In her diary, Rutka wrote about her life in the ghetto in 1943, detailing not just the Nazi atrocities, physical hardship and hunger, but also how she was developing as a young woman. She also tells how she made a daring escape from one of the early 'aktions', Nazi round-ups of Jews for transportation. The documentary will unravel Rutka's story through the eyes of her half-sister, Israeli academic Zahava Scherz, on a journey to Poland in search of the sister she never knew.

The gripping true story of a boy abducted from the streets of Elizabethan London, and how his father fought to get him back. Presented by acclaimed children's author and academic Katherine Rundell, this intriguing tale is set behind the scenes in the golden age of Shakespeare and sheds a shocking light on the lives of children long before they were thought to have rights. Thirteen-year-old Thomas Clifton was walking to school on 13 December 1600, when he was violently kidnapped. And what's most extraordinary is that the men who took him claimed that they had legal authority to do so from Queen Elizabeth I herself. Children are so often missing from history, but this tale has survived by the skin of its teeth. This inventive film pieces together Thomas Clifton's story from contemporary accounts, court documents, plays and poetry, with the missing gaps beautifully illustrated by vivid hand-drawn animation.

In this two-hour H2 special, historian and weapons expert Mike Loades goes medieval diving deep into the world of the Middle Ages. From the 5th to the 15th centuries, Mike battles the realities vs. the myths of this extraordinary time crusading for the core of real life while delivering fun-filled facts. From living, working and fighting to how to keep a knight's armor shiny using a vigorous rub of sand, vinegar and urine, Going Medieval is an expert account of life during medieval times.

Set in the early years of the Syrian war, Valley of Exile chronicles the journey of Rima and Nour, two sisters who find unexpected refuge in a makeshift settlement in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley after fleeing war-torn Damascus. Older sister Rima, who is eight months pregnant, is set on reuniting with her husband and rebuilding their lives in Lebanon, while younger sister Nour is determined to find their missing brother and eventually returns home to Syria.​ In the camp, the sisters forge alliances with other women who are similarly forced to live without the support of family they’ve lost to the war. This propels them onto separate paths. But as days in the camp turn to weeks, Rima and Nour begin to realize that their exile is not only a struggle for survival, but ultimately a test of loyalty to their country, their family and each other.

In London, an airport baggage handler is forced by French and British intelligence agents to seduce the wife of a businessman with ties to Syrian terrorists.

An Iraqi journalist joins an army of uneasy allies and unforgettable characters in the epic battle to liberate the city of Mosul from the Islamic State.

Explore the first – and only – time “demonic possession” has officially been used as a defense in a U.S. murder trial. Including firsthand accounts of alleged devil possession and a shocking murder, this extraordinary story forces reflection on our fear of the unknown.

In August, 2014, a video of the public execution of American photojournalist James Foley rippled across the globe. Foley wore an orange jumpsuit as he knelt beside an ISIS militant dressed in black. That image challenged the world to deal with a new face of terror. And it tested one American family. Seen through the lens of filmmaker Brian Oakes, Foley’s close childhood friend, Jim takes us from small-town New England to the adrenaline-fueled front lines of Libya and Syria, where Foley pushed the limits of danger to report on the plight of civilians impacted by war.