Best movies like The Act of Killing

A story of killers who win, and the society they build.

A unique, carefully handpicked, selection of the best movies like The Act of Killing Starring Anwar Congo, Herman Koto, Syamsul Arifin, Ibrahim Sinik, and more. If you liked The Act of Killing then you may also like: Waltz with Bashir, Warrior of the Lost World, The Witness, Nanook of the North, Quo Vadis, Aida? and many more popular movies featured on this list. You can further filter the list even more or get a random selection from the list of similar movies, to make your selection even easier.

Filmmakers expose the horrifying mass executions of accused communists in Indonesia and those who are celebrated in their country for perpetrating the crime.

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Waltz with Bashir

An Israeli film director interviews fellow veterans of the 1982 invasion of Lebanon to reconstruct his own memories of his term of service in that conflict.

Warrior of the Lost World

A nomad mercenary on a high-tech motorcycle helps bring about the downfall of the evil Orwellian government, the Omega.

The Witness

A brother's journey to unravel the truth about the mythic death and little known life of Kitty Genovese, who was reportedly murdered in front of 38 witnesses and has become the face of urban apathy.

Nanook of the North

This pioneering documentary film depicts the lives of the indigenous Inuit people of Canada's northern Quebec region. Although the production contains some fictional elements, it vividly shows how its resourceful subjects survive in such a harsh climate, revealing how they construct their igloo homes and find food by hunting and fishing. The film also captures the beautiful, if unforgiving, frozen landscape of the Great White North, far removed from conventional civilization.

Quo Vadis, Aida?

Bosnia, July 1995. Aida is a translator for the UN in the small town of Srebrenica. When the Serbian army takes over the town, her family is among the thousands of citizens looking for shelter in the UN camp. As an insider to the negotiations Aida has access to crucial information that she needs to interpret. What is at the horizon for her family and people – rescue or death? Which move should she take?

Auschwitz

Auschwitz is a hard-hitting war film which shows life as it really was at the death camp.

Capital Punishment

This is not a Clara Bow vehicle, and yet it is clearly the aspect/asset of Clara Bow which elevates a fairly serious melodrama to a timeless and profound social statement. Opening the film on death row where the handsome youth awaits the chair, a stirring test of the legal system evolves after two elite types conspire to expose its inadequacies. Elite, jaded society lawyer Gordon Harrington fabricates a murder, implicating an entirely "hired" fall-guy, one Dan O'Connor, while the bored playboy-type hides away on a yacht until the points are proven and the legal system has been disgraced. Naturally, something goes wrong, the playboy really turns up murdered, and O'Connor is now the accused, imprisoned murderer scheduled to be hanged.

Cocaine Cowboys

In the 1980s, ruthless Colombian cocaine barons invaded Miami with a brand of violence unseen in this country since Prohibition-era Chicago - and it put the city on the map. "Cocaine Cowboys" is the true story of how Miami became the drug, murder and cash capital of the United States, told by the people who made it all happen.

Closer to the Moon

A Romanian police officer teams up with a small crew of bank robbers to pull off a heist by convincing everyone at the scene of the crime that they are only filming a movie.

The Devils

In 17th-century France, Father Urbain Grandier seeks to protect the city of Loudun from the corrupt establishment of Cardinal Richelieu. Hysteria occurs within the city when he is accused of witchcraft by a sexually repressed nun.

Death of a Nation: The Timor Conspiracy

The sensational expose of the complicity of Britain, USA and Australia in the continuing genocide in East Timor.

Deliver Us from Evil

Documentary filmmaker Amy Berg investigates the life of 30-year pedophile Father Oliver O'Grady and exposes the corruption inside the Catholic Church that allowed him to abuse countless children. Victims' stories and a disturbing interview with O'Grady offer a view into the troubled mind of the spiritual leader who moved from parish to parish gaining trust ... all the while betraying so many.

Miller's Crossing

Set in 1929, a political boss and his advisor have a parting of the ways when they both fall for the same woman.

Hotel Rwanda

Inspired by true events, this film takes place in Rwanda in the 1990s when more than a million Tutsis were killed in a genocide that went mostly unnoticed by the rest of the world. Hotel owner Paul Rusesabagina houses over a thousand refuges in his hotel in attempt to save their lives.

First They Killed My Father

A 5-year-old girl embarks on a harrowing quest for survival amid the sudden rise and terrifying reign of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia.

Beware the Slenderman

In this horrifyingly modern fairytale lurks an online Boogeyman and two 12-year-old girls who would kill for him. The entrance to the internet quickly leads to its darkest basement. How responsible are our children for what they find there?

Capturing the Friedmans

An Oscar nominated documentary about a middle-class American family who is torn apart when the father Arnold and son Jesse are accused of sexually abusing numerous children. Director Jarecki interviews people from different sides of this tragic story and raises the question of whether they were rightfully tried when they claim they were innocent and there was never any evidence against them.

Oklahoma City

The bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in April 1995 is the worst act of domestic terrorism in American history. This documentary explores how a series of deadly encounters between American citizens and federal law enforcement—including the standoffs at Ruby Ridge and Waco—led to it.

Shadow of the Sword

Central Europe, early 16th century: two childhood friends, Martin & Georg, find themselves on rival sides of a religious war with both of them struggling to do the right thing.

The Imposter

In 1994 a 13-year-old boy disappeared without a trace from his home in San Antonio, Texas. Three-and-a-half years later he is found alive thousands of miles away in a village in southern Spain with a horrifying story of kidnap and torture. His family is overjoyed to bring him home. But all is not quite as it seems.

Leviathan

An experimental portrait of the North American commercial fishing industry through the lens of GoPro cameras placed on a fishing vessel off the coast of New England.

Looking For Fidel

Oliver Stone's second documentary on/interview with Fidel Castro specifically addresses his country's recent crackdown on Cuban dissidents; namely, the execution of three men who hijacked a ferry to the United States.

Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future

While trying to expose corruption and greed, television reporter Edison Carter discovers that his employer, Network 23, has created a new form of subliminal advertising (termed "blip-verts") that can be fatal to certain viewers.

Mob Town

Based on the true story of the notorious 1957 ‘mob summit’ in upstate New York. Spearheaded by Vito Genovese, more than 50 leaders of the organized crime syndicates from around the country converged on the sleepy town to discuss upcoming expansion plans. Their plans are foiled when local police trooper Ed Croswell discovers their activities and, consequently, exposes the mob to the American public. Croswell’s actions shed light on the massive web of corruption and changed the face of law enforcement forever.

The Phantom

Carlos DeLuna was arrested in 1993 aged 21 for the murder of Wanda Lopez, and protested his innocence until his execution, declaring that it was another Carlos who committed the crime.

Pilgrimage

Accompanied only by music the film alternates between shots of pilgrims near the tomb of Saint Sergei in Sergiyev Posad, Russia and pilgrims at the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico.

Politics

A widow's decision to run for mayor kicks off a battle of the sexes in a small town.

The Thin Blue Line

Errol Morris's unique documentary dramatically re-enacts the crime scene and investigation of a police officer's murder in Dallas.

Tower

Combining archival footage with rotoscopic animation, Tower reveals the action-packed untold stories of the witnesses, heroes and survivors of America’s first mass school shooting, when the worst in one man brought out the best in so many others.

Trump Card

Trump Card is an expose of the socialism, corruption and gangsterization that now define the Democratic Party. Whether it is the creeping socialism of Joe Biden or the overt socialism of Bernie Sanders, the film reveals what is unique about modern socialism, who is behind it, why it’s evil, and how we can work together with President Trump to stop it.

Being Black Enough

A young Black man, raised in a White neighborhood, ridiculed for not being "Black enough" decides to go to the hood to hang out with his gangster cousin and discover what it really means to be "Black." He eventually faces the harsh reality of gang violence, drugs and police confrontation.

If Footmen Tire You, What Will Horses Do?

Based on the preachings of Reverend Estus W. Pirkle, this film warns what will happen to America if the citizens do not give up their depraved ways and turn to God and Jesus for salvation. Communist infiltrators, the "footmen", will pave the way for an all out invasion by weakening our will through TV, dance, rock music and alcohol. Once the invasion begins, the new Communist government will proceed to round up all Christians, and either execute them or force them to undergo re-education. Only by putting their faith in the bible where it belongs, says Rev. Pirkle, can America resist the coming Red Menace.

The Man by the Shore

Early 1960s Haiti during 'Papa Doc' Duvalier's dictatorship seen through the eyes of a young girl whose family has suffered heavily.

Leave No Trace

In February 2022, The Boy Scouts Of America reached a $2.7 billion agreement over sex abuse claims, the largest such settlement in history. Leave No Trace explores how this all-American institution went so horrifyingly wrong.

The Exception

When four female colleagues receive an email death threat each, they are convinced the sender is a war criminal, whom they have exposed. But what if the threats come from within their own office at the Danish Center for Information on Genocide?

Adrienne

As the muse of Hal Hartley’s indie classics and as writer/director of the critically acclaimed Waitress, Adrienne Shelly was a shining star in the indie film firmament. A devoted young mother, her life was right on track until her husband found her dead. Filmmaker Andy Ostroy has been fighting to discover the truth about his wife’s death ever since.

The Executioner Part II

Someone is killing off LA's most vicious criminals and the police are powerless to do anything about it. As the commissioner enlists the help of his top lieutenant, Roger, to solve the case, Roger begins to suspect that the mysterious Executioner might be his old friend from Vietnam.

The Lovers and the Despot

Hong Kong, 1978. South Korean actress Choi Eun-hee is kidnapped by North Korean operatives following orders from dictator Kim Jong-il.

Into the Deep: The Submarine Murder Case

In 2016, a young Austrian filmmaker began documenting amateur inventor Peter Madsen. One year in, Madsen brutally murdered Kim Wall aboard his homemade submarine. An unprecedented revelation of a killer and the journey his young helpers take as they reckon with their own complicity and prepare to testify.

The Promise

Set during the last days of the Ottoman Empire, a love triangle develops between Mikael, a brilliant medical student, the beautiful and sophisticated artist Ana, and Chris, a renowned American journalist based in Paris.

Waters Rising

Two Hurricane Katrina evacuees from the Desire Projects in New Orleans who both end up in Houston after the storm. The storm twists the fates of these two men. The first, Jay Dee, was a feared and powerful crime boss who is humbled when he loses everything and winds up as a lowly clerk at a retail chain store. The second, Shawn, an underachieving poor kid from the neighborhood gets a fresh start and becomes a writer/novelist.

Dead End City

The government's new urban renewal policy results in street gangs fighting for control of the inner cities. While most of the residents flee, one factory owner determines to fight the gangs for his property.

The Look of Silence

An optician grapples with the Indonesian mass killings of 1965-1966, during which his older brother was exterminated.

Mercenaries

Andy Marlow, an ex British S.A.S serviceman turned mercenary, is sent into the Balkans after a military coup has arisen to rescue a U.S ambassador and his aide.

Krays: Code of Silence

The 60s, London: The Krays are on the rise, using their inimitable violent ways to gain power over the city. One man, the fearless Detective Nipper Read, is sent in to tackle the unenviable task of bringing the city back under the rule of law and taking on the country's most feared mobsters in the process. As he faces bent coppers, political backstabbing, and terrified witnesses, Nipper becomes increasingly obsessed, putting everything and everyone he knows at risk.

Gaucho: The Last Cowboys of Patagonia

Heraldo Rial is the eighty-year-old cattle rancher in charge of one thousand hectares of Patagonian wilderness. He is one of the last 'gauchos': proud, self-reliant cowboys who have lived off the land for generations. But with civilisation encroaching on their traditions, the gauchos' way of life is dying out, and Rial has a lot of wisdom to impart as he prepares for what could be his last winter in the mountains.

Trial

A Mexican boy accused of rape and murder becomes a pawn for Communists and red-baiters. A courtroom drama set in 1947 and underlying post-WW2 acute problems facing the USA such as stormy race relations and the growing threat of local communism.

Prisoner of War

American soldiers, captured by North Korean's, are periodically brainwashed into giving up their capitalist ways to join the communist movement.

Chowchilla

Go behind the headlines to explore the strangest mass kidnapping in history, with exclusive interviews from those who lived through it.

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