Best movies like The Making of the Mahatma

When the great potato famine hits Ireland, the diaspora begins as thousands emigrate. Among those leaving the Emerald Isle is Katie O'Neill and her husband, who decide that the promised land is South Africa and make their way there. Once there, they discover the hardships that are the reality of the homesteader experience.

"Nora" is based on true stories of the dancer Nora Chipaumire, who was born in Zimbabwe in 1965. In the film, Nora returns to the landscape of her childhood and takes a journey through some vivid memories of her youth. Using performance and dance, she brings her history to life in a swiftly-moving poem of sound and image. A girl who is constantly embattled - struggling against all kinds of intimidation and violence - but who slowly gathers strength, pride and independence.

A young documentary filmmaker working for a struggling television station travels to South Africa for work.

The struggle to eradicate apartheid in South Africa has been chronicled over time, but no one has addressed the vital role music plays in this challenge. This documentary by Lee Hirsch recounts a fascinating and little-known part of South Africa's political history through archival footage, interviews and, of course, several mesmerizing musical performances.

A dramatic story, based on actual events, about the friendship between two men struggling against apartheid in South Africa in the 1970s. Donald Woods is a white liberal journalist in South Africa who begins to follow the activities of Stephen Biko, a courageous and outspoken black anti-apartheid activist.

A South-African preacher goes to search for his wayward son who has committed a crime in the big city.

In the early years of the 20th century, Mohandas K. Gandhi, a British-trained lawyer, forsakes all worldly possessions to take up the cause of Indian independence. Faced with armed resistance from the British government, Gandhi adopts a policy of 'passive resistance', endeavouring to win freedom for his people without resorting to bloodshed.

With Gandhi My Father, producer Anil Kapoor and director Feroz Abbas Khan have shed light onto Gandhi the person, rather than Gandhi the icon. Using Gandhi’s political career as a canvas, the film paints a picture of his intricate, complex, and strained relationship with his son Harilal Gandhi.

A chronicle of Nelson Mandela's life journey from his childhood in a rural village through to his inauguration as the first democratically elected president of South Africa.

The South African multi-award winning film about a young South African boy from the ghetto named Tsotsi, meaning Gangster. Tsotsi, who left home as a child to get away from helpless parents, finds a baby in the back seat of a car that he has just stolen. He decides that it his responsibility to take care of the baby and in the process learns that maybe the gangster life isn’t the best way.

Michael Cardiff is a professional revolutionary highly trained in a variety of techniques of assassination, infiltration and evading law enforcement. After escaping from prison he places identification items on a decomposed body to make him appear dead as he plans his revenge against the government. Cardiff uses his skills to murder a prominent judge making his death look like an accident in order to plant an improvised explosive device at his funeral attended by the movers and shakers of the regime. Only one non conformist police captain is on to his plans.

This South African movie tracks the rise of a once-petty criminal to the heights of the criminal underworld. After cutting his teeth on hijacking, before moving onto bigger game, an ambitious man hits a setback when most of his gang are shot.

A failed track coach finally finds someone who he believes has what it takes to win. The Comrades Marathon is a 90-k race in South Africa. An aging running coach, Barry, wants to field a winner; he's working with four men from a factory, but when he's fired to make way for a smooth, corporate type, he's at loose ends. Then he sees Christine, a Namibian immigrant who runs to forget her troubles. He offers to coach her and soon she's living at his house, following his diet and training regimen. But his single-mindedness gets to her: she wants a job and a place of her own. Plus, the man who replaced Barry likes her and wants her away from Barry. Can runner and coach (woman and man, African and European) sort out their complex relationship before the race? Written by

Although Dave (LeVar Burton) and his family are poor sharecroppers in the Deep South in the 1930s, this 15-year-old's problem is shared by teenagers today: he stands with one foot in adulthood and the other in childhood. "Almos' A Man", yet still treated like a child, he struggles for an identity. There's one thing, one symbol of manhood, Dave thinks, that could guarantee him instant respect: a gun.

In the early to mid '90s, when the South African system of apartheid was in its death throes, four photographers - Greg Marinovich, Kevin Carter, Ken Oosterbroek and João Silva - bonded by their friendship and a sense of purpose, worked together to chronicle the violence and upheaval leading up to the 1994 election of Nelson Mandela as president. Their work is risky and dangerous, potentially fatally so, as they thrust themselves into the middle of chaotic clashes between forces backed by the government (including Inkatha Zulu warriors) and those in support of Mandela's African National Congress.

After he is orphaned by an air raid on Port Said during the Suez Crisis, a young boy attempts to go by himself from the Suez Canal to Durban in South Africa where his nearest relative, Aunt Jane, lives. On the way he meets a variety of different people who help or hinder his journey - including an ageing diamond smuggler.

This children’s adventure is set in South Africa and chronicles the bond between a boy and his cheetah. The two have been pals for a long time, so when the cat is taken and placed in a traveling circus, the boy does all he can to free it.

In an attempt to reconnect with his estranged son Daniel, struggling Los Angeles screenwriter Peter Davis resolves to bring his young boy along on his latest research expedition to Africa. But after their luggage is accidentally switched, leaving them stranded without money and passports, the down and out pair is forced to seek refuge in an old run-down trailer scheduled for imminent scrapping! Befriending the scrap yard owner’s son, Daniel and his new found companion Asanda embark on an imaginative journey through different worlds in order to seek the “ultimate story” to help Peter. After travelling through fantastical lands and strange new planets Daniel finally realises that the true meaning of life is actually found in spending time with those you love.

In South Africa a new young ranger is transferred to a troubled game reserve. He struggles to be accepted by, and help, his boss, fending off poachers and intruding natives, and gets involved with a poacher's daughter he knew from university.

The inspirational biography of one of India's greatest patriots Sardar Bhagat Singh.

A silent black comedy, about the monetary needs of a character & how it impacts the others. A young, unemployed graduate Mahadev’s struggle to land a job through any means possible and crosses paths with a businessman and petty thief. A subject wherein silence speaks much louder than words. Although a work of fiction by the writer, all the characters in the film are sketched out to seem very real and relatable ensuring an enriching journey as well a laugh riot as the cat and mouse guffaws amongst them unfold. Gandhi Talks aims at telling a story by switching off the device of dialogue, which is not only scary but also interesting and challenging.

Van der Merwe, a bumbling farmer from a traditional Afrikaans family, struggles to keep his family together when his daughter returns from England with her British fiancé and family.

Mapantsula tells the story of Panic, a petty gangster who inevitably becomes caught up in the growing anti-apartheid struggle and has to choose between individual gain and a united stand against the system.

In the Kruger National Park there is a hunting force that rivals anything else in Africa - a lion pride, 28 members strong! Despite the females' hunting prowess, nine adolescent males dominate every kill. Bigger and stronger, they bully their way to the best spots on the carcass. The pride's two powerful males could easily enforce discipline, but with them away on patrol, the unruly youngsters are running riot. When eight strong lionesses split from the Megapride, food pressure mounts as the remaining females struggle to cater for their sons' growing demands.

Kevin Richardson, animal behaviorist, works with some of the most dangerous animals known to man. Rather than train the animals, he persuades them. To do this he uses his own unusual methods. He uses love, understanding, and trust, and has developed some very close bonds with these animals. He has become many things, a trusted ally, the dominant male of a clan of hyenas, a brother. But most of all he is well-loved and trusted by his animal friends. He sleeps with lions, cuddles new-born hyenas and swims with lionesses.

Follows the story of Seconds Khumalo, a retiring boxer from the East Rand preparing for his final fight. Seconds is left to train under Jerry van Tonder, an ill-equipped 32 year-old daddy's boy, his father Pa van Tonder trained Second for years but after the family feels threatened that an unspoken contract might be broken, they are left with no choice but to end matters on their own terms.

Tornado is a true life story of patience, endurance and passion. The picture tells the story of two damaged souls: Pierre, a depressed and damaged young man and Tornado, an emotionally tormented horse. Sensing Tornado’s potential, Pierre travels to Noenieput, in the Groen Kalahari, to find Barrie Burger, a horse whisperer. With Barrie’s advice, Pierre and Tornado embark on a journey of healing

Two storylines involving artists in lockdown intersect in this South African drama about creativity, mindfulness and wellbeing. Jabu is an ambitious auteur plagued by demons, who accepts a place on the jury at a film festival in Johannesburg so he can be closer to his young son. He has been clean for months now, and is working on the side as part of the scriptwriting team for the most popular soap in South Africa. All with the aim of becoming the father he previously failed to be. Roxanne is a filmmaker on the verge of her international breakthrough, struggling with an unwanted pregnancy – which in South Africa cannot legally be terminated.

This multi-faceted drama, which depicts a group of intellectual Afrikaners struggling with pertinent moral, ethical and racial issues in apartheid South Africa, is widely acknowledged as one of Jans Rautenbach’s finest films.

Krotoa, a feisty, bright, 11-year-old girl is removed from her close-knit Khoi tribe to serve Jan van Riebeeck, her uncle’s trading partner and the first Governor of the Cape Colony. She is brought into the first Fort established by the Dutch East India Company in 1652. There she grows into a visionary young woman who assimilates the Dutch language and culture so well that she rises to become an influential translator but ends up being rejected by her own people as she tries to bridge the gap between the two cultures about to collide.

A stridently nationalistic story of India’s freedom struggle, presented through the experiences of a Bengali family from 1885, when the Indian National Congress was established, to 1947. Important events incorporated into the plot were Gandhi’s satyagraha (1920), the Simon Commission (1928), Vallabhbhai Patel’s Bardoli satyagraha (1928) and the 1942 Quit India agitations. Krishan Chander’s script, Sachin Shankar’s choreography and the acting styles owed much to the IPTA theatre of the 40s. The film, made at Bombay Talkies, was produced by the distributors of the Chicago Radio PA systems label. Kishore Kumar plays the militant hero of this quasi-documentary. Motwane included old documentary footage purchased from Kohinoor and Krishna Film, as well as a shot of Rabindranath Tagore singing his Jana Gana Mana composition, one of India’s national anthems (Arunkumar Roy’s Of Tagore and Cinema, 1994, traces this footage to Ufa, shot when Tagore visited Munich)

"King of the Cowboys" Roy Rogers stars with his real-life wife, Dale Evans, in this Western about a hardworking farmer who helps a struggling rancher by transporting her prize horse to Mexico. A fortuitous meeting with a fortune-teller (Charlita) -- who specializes in dire predictions -- sets the tone for their adventures. Burlesque comic Pinky Lee co-stars, playing himself.

The Lucky Specials are a cover band in a dusty town in southern Africa. Mandla is a miner by day and plays lead guitar for The Lucky Specials by night. He dreams of making it big in the music industry. When tragedy strikes, the band, Mandla and their friend Nkanyiso struggle to hold everything together.

In the old African Wild West, a peace-loving family man moves to a vacant farm in search of a new life. His hopes are shattered when his son is badly beaten and his wife murdered by a gang of ruthless thugs. He is left helpless, until fate intervenes. He is rescued and nursed back to health by a good Samaritan living alone in the hills, a reformed gangster, who trains the man to exact his revenge.

A documentary that chronicles the life of South African leader Nelson Mandela. Mandela is probably best known for his 27 years of imprisonment, and for bringing an end to apartheid. But this film also sheds light on the little-known early period of Mandela's life.