Best movies like The Penalty

An intelligent, articulate scholar, Harrison MacWhite, survives a hostile Senate confirmation hearing at the hands of conservatives to become ambassador to Sarkan, a southeast Asian country where civil war threatens a tense peace. Despite his knowledge, once he's there, MacWhite sees only a dichotomy between the U.S. and Communism. He can't accept that anti-American sentiment might be a longing for self-determination and nationalism. So, he breaks from his friend Deong, a local opposition leader, ignores a foreman's advice about slowing the building of a road, and tries to muscle ahead. What price must the country and his friends pay for him to get some sense?

Sharkey, part of the sinister world of child trade, picks up Vlado, an orphan of war, dreaming of freedom and a better life. They embark upon a strange and enlightening journey through war torn Bosnia. As they struggle to get out of the country and fight to stay alive, they find a special love and compassion from which emerges their ultimate moral and spiritual redemption.

The San Francisco scene in 1967-68. Documentary about hippies shot during the height of the movement . Viewpoints from many kinds of people. Music by Steve Miller Band, Mother Earth, Quicksilver Messenger Service and others.

New York trapper Tom Dobb becomes an unwilling participant in the American Revolution after his son Ned is drafted into the Army by the villainous Sergeant Major Peasy. Tom attempts to find his son, and eventually becomes convinced that he must take a stand and fight for the freedom of the Colonies, alongside the aristocratic rebel Daisy McConnahay. As Tom undergoes his change of heart, the events of the war unfold in large-scale grandeur.

In Moscow in 1983, an American journalist interviews Guy Bennett, who recalls his last year at public school, fifty years before, and how it contributed to him becoming a spy.

Jamie Graham, a privileged English boy, is living in Shanghai when the Japanese invade and force all foreigners into prison camps. Jamie is captured with an American sailor, who looks out for him while they are in the camp together. Even though he is separated from his parents and in a hostile environment, Jamie maintains his dignity and youthful spirit, providing a beacon of hope for the others held captive with him.

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.

In post-revolution Libya, a group of women are brought together by one dream: to play football for their nation. But as the country descends into civil war and the utopian hopes of the “Arab Spring” begin to fade, can they realise their dream? And is there even a country left to play for? Freedom Fields is a film about hope and sacrifice in a land where dreams seem a luxury. Through the eyes of these accidental activists we see the reality of a country in transition, where the personal stories of love, struggle and aspirations collide with History.

An Englishman who resembles the king of a small European nation gets mixed up in palace intrigue when his look-alike is kidnapped.

Chronicling one story of courage born out of the highly mediatized and controversial Prop 8 2008 election results in California. A Californian married gay couple and their two adopted children fight back against discrimination, ignorance and hate through home videos posted on their YouTube channel, Gay Family Values. As they pursue their American Dream, the opposing political, social and religious opinions that pervade society attempt to strip it from them.

Based on true events about the foot soldiers of the early feminist movement, women who were forced underground to pursue a dangerous game of cat and mouse with an increasingly brutal State.

Dolores Huerta bucks 1950s gender conventions by starting the country's first farm worker's union with fellow organizer Cesar Chavez. What starts out as a struggle for racial and labor justice, soon becomes a fight for gender equality within the same union she is eventually forced to leave. As she wrestles with raising 11 children, three marriages, and is nearly beaten to death by a San Francisco tactical police squad, Dolores emerges with a vision that connects her new found feminism with racial and class justice.

A documentary film by Peter I. Chang which traces the life of the Japanese musician Hisao Shinagawa through his early years as a folk singer in Tokyo to his current occupation as a street performer in Los Angeles.

On the glorious battlefields of the American Revolution, two great generals distinguished themselves; George Washington and Benedict Arnold. Washington is remembered as America's founding father, Arnold as America's most notorious traitor. Benedict Arnold rose from humble origins to become the most respected and feared of America's generals. He won brilliant military victories against the English colonists and was Washington's favorite soldier. But two conflicting forces battled inside Arnold's heart; a deep concern for his country and his passionate love for an enchanting and manipulative English woman, Peggy Shippen. Blinded by desire, Arnold defected to the English army, orchestrating an attempt to assassinate his own mentor, George Washington.

A kaleidoscope of several intertwined stories about people struggling to resist their vulnerabilities, in search of love, dignity, forgiveness and the great beauty of life in chaotic New York City.

This be the year 3000. The world has been enveloped within the flames of nuclear warfare, bringing with it a new dark age. In these times, technology can be a rare blessing, or curse, depending on its discovery and / or use. What is left of civilization, of humanity, has been reduced to numerous city states, each fighting to survive the wars between them , as well as from within. This tale takes place after a vile war between two Houses both like in dignity, in what is left of fair Verona. The House of Capulet has claimed victory and believes to have extinguished all within The House of Montague, yet one still lives. This be not the story of star-crossed lovers, but of Romeo, last of the Montague. A cyborg who seeks love, and revenge...

Trapped in The Twin Towers on September 11th, thousands of ordinary people struggled to make contact with the outside world. Many knew that time was ticking away. These recorded messages and private calls are the most powerful legacy to the families left behind. Often full of love and dignity they depict humanity at its best and most resourceful in the face of evil.

The movie focuses on the fury state that was among the people in synchronization with the main event in Egypt: The 1919 Egyptian Revolution which unites the fates of Kira and El Gen to participate in the struggle against the British occupation.

In pre-Spanish era Philippines, a young native princess with goddess-like beauty falls in love with a dashing Spanish soldier. Against all odds, and pulled apart by their loyalties to their own people, they fight for their clandestine romance.

The true story of Louisa Gould, a widow living in Nazi occupied Jersey, who takes in a Russian prisoner of war.

A biography of the civil-rights activist and labor organizer Cesar Chavez. Chronicling the birth of a modern American labour movement, Cesar Chavez tells the story of the famed civil rights leader and labour organiser torn between his duties as a husband and father and his commitment to securing a living wage for farm workers. Passionate but soft-spoken, Chavez embraced non-violence as he battled greed and prejudice in his struggle to bring dignity to working people.

Undercover in Tibet reveals the regime of terror which dominates daily life and makes freedom of expression an impossibility. Tash meets victims of arbitrary arrests, detention, torture and ‘disappearances’ and uncovers evidence of enforced sterilizations on ethnic Tibetan women. He sees for himself the impact of the enormous military and police presence in the region, the hunger and hardship being endured by many Tibetans and hears warnings of the uprising taking place across the provinces now.

The documentary AMERICAN REDS provides a historical overview of 20th century Communism and the growth, decline and contemporary relevance of the Communist Party, USA (CPUSA). Since its founding in 1919, the CPUSA has championed the struggles for democracy, labor rights, women’s equality, and racial justice. During its heyday in the 1930s and 1940s, it attracted millions of Americans to support its causes and almost 100,000 men and women to enlist in its ranks. The film begins with the Party's emergence as a small militant sect in the 1920s and documents its rise to the foremost radical group in the United States during the Great Depression, fighting against racism, sexism and fascism, as well as for the rights of workers to organize. It ends with the decline of the Party during the Cold War under the assaults of the FBI and anti- communist crusades.

A documentary story of a man of our times- In a period when his country was tormented by conflict and violencei he perceived and embraced the struggle of his epoch - the struggle for human dignity and freedom. The only documentary that was presented as an ABC Movie of the Week.

Inspired by historical facts, this film is a story of love and survival against the background of the 1951 Communist ordered deportation of 40,000 landowners and people of non-Romanian origins to the Baragan Plain, the "Romanian Siberia".

"Worm" tells the story of a man wanted for a double homicide in the small town of Guthrie, OK. Jason "Worm" Truitt has a young daughter that he loves dearly - and a beautiful girlfriend that he feels is out of his league. Worm is always doing the wrong thing at the wrong time, taking odd jobs for shady men, and even breaking the law from time to time. He is constantly tailed by the local Sheriff, and constantly berated by his own Father and friends. The film plays out as a Southern Neo-Noir of sorts. A modern day "whodunit" tale told using a chest-mounted Snorricam. The audience journeys with Worm as he tries to clear his name and make safe the ones he loves. Along the way, he is entangled in a small town crime syndicate and nearly loses the people that mean the most to him. Did he commit this heinous crime? Will his past sins catch up to him? Only God knows.

The wife of a research geneticist agrees to the experimental procedure of a 'test-tube baby' by having her fetus brought to full term in a glass jar in a laboratory.

A striking political activist and refugee from Paraguay escapes to Paris and falls in love with a rich law student changing their lives forever. The beauty of their love is challenged by a fervent devotion to fighting for a cause.

Debt and unemployment are forces of oppression in Maggie's world in this gritty story of survival. When her ambitions of becoming a nurse are shattered, Maggie turns to The Program; a short-term work commitment that promises financial freedom. But in The Program, the lines between freedom and slavery quickly blur as Maggie discovers the dark truth about life inside the work camps. Newcomer, Zara Jestadt delivers a gripping performance in this emotionally-charged cautionary tale of systemic decline in social equality and human rights.

The story is set in Palestine in 1947, during the British mandate period. The Zionists are fighting for the establishment of a Jewish state, and four comrades in arms pressure the young Elisha to overcome his moral qualms and fully commit to the armed struggle.

In 1921, British Lord Athleigh arrives in Dublin with his daughter, Helen, to engage in peace talks. As wanted Irish rebel leader Dennis Riordan is not recognized in public, he is able to move about freely and saves the Athleighs from an assassination attempt by a radical faction. Dennis and Helen meet again and, unaware of his position, Helen falls in love with him. Later when Dennis admits his identity, Helen must make a fateful decision.

In 1794, French revolutionary Maximilien Robespierre produced the world's first defense of "state terror" - claiming that the road to virtue lay through political violence. This film combines drama, archive and documentary interviews to examine Robespierre's year in charge of the Committee Of Public Safety - the powerful state machine at the heart of Revolutionary France. Contesting Robespierre's legacy is Slavoj Zizek, who argues that terror in the cause of virtue is justifiable, and Simon Schama, who believes the road from Robespierre ran straight to the gulag and the 20th-century concentration camp. The drama, based on original sources, follows the life-and-death politics of the Committee during "Year Two" of the new Republic.

There are situations in which the love of close ones does not reach the limits achieved in personal development. Tenzin, who has grown up in a Tibetan community in Canada, has reached the milestone of his twenties and finds himself standing at a bewildering crossroads of life. The previously unwavering belief in fighting for the eternal preservation of the Tibetan people collapses when Tenzin’s brother decides to set himself on fire in the course of a protest held in China. How do you feel pride and gratitude for your brother’s suicide together with others? Unable to find answers in the fields of meaning of spirituality, Tenzin sets out to seek these in the madness of the modern culture.

The tale of two brothers, Moses and Ramses: united by love, divided by destiny, they lead their two nations in an epic struggle between slavery and liberty. The Hebrews were slaves in Egypt 3,300 years ago. When Moses, a Hebrew baby raised as a brother to the Egyptian prince, learned of his true origins, he was thrust into a new life, leading his people to freedom.

During the 1973 occupation at Wounded Knee, two activists, Marvin and Bud "One Bull", are arrested and thrown in jail. Filled with righteous indignation, Bud fights with his captors while Marvin, is mourning his wife, Anna Ward, who died in a car accident months earlier. Claire Chapman, a young lawyer assigned to defend Bud and Marvin, investigates. The three of them will discover their case is part of a massive conspiracy involving the federal government and big business. Meanwhile, in jail, an advisor from the Nixon Administration, a sitting Senator, and even a famous Hollywood actor visit Marvin and Bud. What secret was Anna Ward hiding before she died? What do the activists know?