Best movies like There Are No Children Here

A unique, carefully handpicked, selection of the best movies like There Are No Children Here Starring Oprah Winfrey, Maya Angelou, Keith David, Mark Lane, and more. If you liked There Are No Children Here then you may also like: Whitewash, NOIR, Notorious, Over the Edge, Kidulthood 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.

From Publishers Weekly The devastating story of brothers Lafayette and Pharoah Rivers, children of the Chicago ghetto, is powerfully told here by Kotlowitz, a Wall Street Journal reporter who first met the boys in 1985 when they were 10 and seven, respectively. Their family includes a mother, a frequently absent father, an older brother and younger triplets. We witness the horrors of growing up in an ill-maintained housing project tyrannized by drug gangs and where murders and shootings frequently occur.

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Whitewash

When Helene Angel walks home from school with her older brother she is attacked by a street gang and painted white. The effect on Helene and her family is devastating. Helene locks herself in her room, her brother blames himself for not having successfully defended his sister, and the media descends on their neighborhood, completely disrupting her small family. But an outpouring of love and understanding from Helene's friends, classmates and family helps her face what has happened and draws the community together. Inspired by actual events, WHITEWASH conveys a powerful message that transcends age and race, told in an entertaining way perfect for children of all ages.

NOIR

NOIR chronicles the lives of four people living in a neighborhood plagues by poverty and violence, aspiring to freedom and happiness. Kadhafi, a 26 year old aspiring rapper and ex-member of a street gang, just out of prison, wants to steer clear of troubles. Fleur, a 17 year old Haitian mother in an abusive and passionate relationship with her daughter's father, dreams of leaving the ghetto and becoming a nurse. Suzie, a 20 year old stripper who falls for a gang member. Dickens, 16 year old Haitian wants to be part of the street gang controlled by his older brother.

Notorious

"Notorious" is the story of Christopher Wallace. Through raw talent and sheer determination, Wallace transforms himself from Brooklyn street hustler (once selling crack to pregnant women) to one of the greatest rappers of all time: The Notorious B.I.G. Follow his meteoric rise to fame and his refusal to succumb to expectations - redefining our notion of "The American Dream."

Over the Edge

A group of bored teenagers rebel against authority in the community of New Granada.

Kidulthood

A day in the life of a group of troubled 15-year-olds growing up in west London.

Above the Rim

Story of a promising high school basketball star and his relationships with two brothers, one a drug dealer and the other a former basketball star fallen on hard times and now employed as a security guard.

Lost Boy

When Laura Harris's kidnapped son returns after eleven devastating years, what she thinks will be a dream come true turns out to be a family nightmare.

Lion

A five-year-old Indian boy gets lost on the streets of Calcutta, thousands of kilometers from home. He survives many challenges before being adopted by a couple in Australia; 25 years later, he sets out to find his lost family.

Hardball

An aimless young man who is scalping tickets, gambling and drinking, agrees to coach a Little League team from the Cabrini Green housing project in Chicago as a condition of getting a loan from a friend.

Moonlight

The tender, heartbreaking story of a young man’s struggle to find himself, told across three defining chapters in his life as he experiences the ecstasy, pain, and beauty of falling in love, while grappling with his own sexuality.

Fresh

Death and violence anger twelve year old drug courier Fresh, who sets his employers against each other.

Yardie

Jamaica, 1973. When a young boy witnesses his brother’s assassination, a powerful Don gives him a home. But 10 years later, when he’s sent to London, his past catches up to him.

Candyman

Anthony and his partner move into a loft in the now gentrified Cabrini-Green. After a chance encounter with an old-timer exposes Anthony to the true story behind Candyman, he unknowingly opens a door to a complex past that unravels his own sanity and unleashes a terrifying wave of violence.

Son of Rambow

Will is looking for an escape from his family when he encounters Lee, the school bully. Armed with a video camera and a copy of Rambo, Lee plans to make his own action-packed video epic.

A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints

Dito Montiel, a successful author, receives a call from his long-suffering mother, asking him to return home and visit his ailing father. Dito recalls his childhood growing up in a violent neighborhood in Queens, N.Y., with friends Antonio, Giuseppe, Nerf and Mike.

My Brother the Devil

Fourteen-year-old Mo is a lonely, sensitive boy whose hunger for the rant and banter of buddies makes him prone to tread dangerous territories. He idolizes his handsome older brother, Rashid, a charismatic, well-respected member of a local gang, whose drug dealing enables “Rash” to provide for his family. Aching to be seen as a tough guy himself, Mo takes a job that unlocks a fateful turn of events and forces the brothers to confront their inner demons. It turns out that hate is easy. It is love and understanding that take real courage.

Slaughter on 10th Avenue

A rookie assistant DA is assigned to investigate the murder of a longshoreman, killed for exposing gangster involvement on the piers, and meets up with a "code of silence" amongst all potential witnesses.

Hoop Dreams

Every school day, African-American teenagers William Gates and Arthur Agee travel 90 minutes each way from inner-city Chicago to St. Joseph High School in Westchester, Illinois, a predominately white suburban school well-known for the excellence of its basketball program. Gates and Agee dream of NBA stardom, and with the support of their close-knit families, they battle the social and physical obstacles that stand in their way. This acclaimed documentary was shot over the course of five years.

South Central

During a 10-year sentence for murdering the leader of a rival South Central Los Angeles gang, Bobby Johnson finds religion and rehabilitation with the help of Muslim inmate Ali. Upon his release, Bobby returns home to find that his young son, Jimmie, has joined the Deuces, his old crew. Tensions rise as Bobby struggles to convince Jimmie to leave the gang that was his only family during the painful years his absent father spent behind bars.

Together Brothers

A group of ghetto kids try to find out who killed a popular police officer.

Life Is Hot in Cracktown

Various stories of how crack cocaine has infiltrated the inner-city streets. Based on Buddy Giovinazzo's novel "Life is Hot in Cracktown".

Clockers

Strike is a young city drug pusher under the tutelage of drug lord Rodney Little. When a night manager at a fast-food restaurant is found with four bullets in his body, Strike’s older brother turns himself in as the killer. Det. Rocco Klein doesn’t buy the story, however, setting out to find the truth, and it seems that all the fingers point toward Strike & Rodney.

Tenement

A drug-dealing band of violent street thugs terrorize the tenants of a South Bronx apartment building.

The Devil Is Driving

Gabby Denton, a hard-drinking, down-on-his-luck drifter, seems to get a chance at redemption when his brother-in-law helps get him a job as a mechanic. Not realizing the garage he works for is actually a front for a stolen car ring, Gabby soon finds himself mixed up in both murder and a liaison with the boss's girl.

Exit 67

Ronald, an eight year-old biracial boy, sees his life turning upside down after witnessing the brutal murder of his mother by his father. Often moved from one foster home to the next, Ronald is recruited by a street gang where he dwells in a life of crime and violence. As he waits for his father to be released to avenge his mother, he realizes that he doesn't have to follow his father's footsteps or the path chosen for him. Against all odds, he takes control of his own destiny. His awakening to new humane values enables him to change change course despite the obvious risk of losing the only family he has ever known.

Up Against the Wall

A black teen from a Chicago housing project struggles to find acceptance after he transfers into a suburban high school.

Wild Thing

A child witnesses drug dealers murder his parents. He escapes and grows up wild in the city's slums. Years later he emerges to help the residents of the area who are being terrorized by street gangs and drug dealers.

A Hero Ain't Nothin' But a Sandwich

A troubled boy becomes addicted to heroin, and his mother and foster father help him fight it.

A Mother's Courage: The Mary Thomas Story

The story of Mary Thomas, the mother of basketball star Isiah Thomas, and how she fought to keep her family together and her sons out of trouble despite the surroundings of poverty, drugs, crime and violence of their ghetto neighborhood.

The Interrupters

The Interrupters tells the moving and surprising stories of three Violence Interrupters — former gang members who try to protect their Chicago communities from the violence they once caused.

Mexican Gangster

Johnny Sun is a Mexican American with a white mother and Mexican dad. He witnesses his parents murder and gets his revenge years later, leading to a hard life as a gangster in drugs and smuggling. He tries to keep his borther from the life and finds himself fending for his own life.

Inside The Mob's Bloody Valentine

The St. Valentine's Day massacre is the stuff of American legend, and the tale is familiar to nearly everyone. But the story of that bloody day in Chicago has never been told, or seen, like this before. Cutting-edge graphics and frenetic recreations accompany Johnny Fratto, son of onetime Al Capone-associate Louis "Lew" Fratto, back to Chicago, where he uncovers massacre myths and learns more about the life his father and uncles led when they roamed those lawless streets in the 1920s. Johnny gets guidance and opinions from a team of renowned Chicago gangster experts, and bridges the gap between the stories he heard as a little boy and the reality he lived growing up in a mob family. Johnny's take about what happened on Feb. 14, 1929 will surprise you.

Bullet Boy

Ricky is just out of a young offenders institute, heading home to Hackney and determined to go straight. Instead, he heads straight for trouble when he becomes involved in a street confrontation, siding with his best friend Wisdom against a local rude boy. The trouble escalates into a series of tit-for-tat incidents that threaten to spiral out of control. Ricky's 12-year-old brother Curtis, hero-worships Ricky, though he appears smart enough to know he doesn't want to follow his example. Yet, despite the stern warnings from his mother and support from her friends in the community, might Ricky's bad boy allure be too attractive for Curtis to resist?

We Grown Now

Two young boys, best friends Malik and Eric, discover the joys and hardships of growing up in the sprawling Cabrini-Green public housing complex in 1992 Chicago.

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