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Movies that feel like Shame (1968)

If you loved Shame, the closest films we have are Paisan (1946), Lifeboat (1944) and Punishment Park (1971). All three share Shame's bleak and contemplative feel, which is what we rank on before quality. 11 of the 12 picks below are included with a subscription right now on HBO Max, Amazon Prime Video and Criterion Channel and others, checked against today's data.

In the midst of a civil war, a pair of former violinists in a tempestuous marriage oversee a farm on a rural island. In spite of their best efforts to escape their homeland, the war impinges on every aspect of their lives.

πŸ… 67% Rotten Tomatoesβ˜… 8 IMDb β†—TMDB β†—dir. Ingmar Bergmanbleakcontemplative
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If Shame hit the spot, these will too

Paisan poster
Paisan
1946 Β· dir. Roberto Rossellini
πŸ… 100%β˜… 7.6drama Β· war

The same mix in both: bleakness, then stillness

The difference: Critics rated this one higher still

Six stories unfold in various regions, from Sicily to the northern Po Valley as American military personnel interact with a variety of Italian locals over eighteen months in the push north during the Italian Campaign of WWII as German forces retreat.

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Lifeboat poster
Lifeboat
1944 Β· dir. Alfred Hitchcock
πŸ… 90%β˜… 7.6war Β· drama

Both lean on bleakness more than on war

The difference: Made in the 1940s, in a different era of the craft

During World War II, a small group of survivors is stranded in a lifeboat together after the ship they were traveling on is destroyed by a German U-boat.

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Punishment Park poster
Punishment Park
1971 Β· dir. Peter Watkins
πŸ… 92%β˜… 7.7drama Β· thriller

Contemplative drama in both cases

The difference: Leans harder into thriller than Shame does

In this fictional documentary, U.S. prisons are at capacity, and President Nixon declares a state of emergency. All new prisoners, most of whom are connected to the antiwar movement, are now given the choice of jail time or spending three days in Punishment Park, where they will be hunted for sport by federal authorities. The prisoners invariably choose the latter option, but learn that, between the desert heat and the brutal police officers, their chances of survival are slim.

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In Darkness poster
In Darkness
2011 Β· dir. Agnieszka Holland
πŸ… 88%β˜… 7.3drama Β· war

War built on bleakness, twice over

A dramatization of one man's rescue of Jewish refugees in the Nazi-occupied city of Lviv. In Darkness tells the true story of Leopold Soha who risks his own life to save a dozen people from certain death. Initially only interested in his own good, the thief and burglar hides Jewish refugees for 14 months in the sewers of the Nazi-occupied town of Lviv (formerly Poland).

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A War poster
A War
2015 Β· dir. Tobias Lindholm
πŸ… 90%β˜… 7drama Β· war

Contemplative drama, and it commits to that

Company commander Claus Michael Pedersen and his men are stationed in Helmand, Afghanistan. Meanwhile back in Denmark, with a husband at war and three children missing their father, everyday life is a struggle for Claus' wife Maria. During a routine mission, the soldiers are caught in heavy Taliban crossfire. In order to save his men, Claus makes a decision that ultimately sees him return to Denmark accused of a war crime.

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Fail Safe poster
Fail Safe
1964 Β· dir. Sidney Lumet
πŸ… 93%β˜… 8thriller Β· drama Β· war

Both play war straight

Because of a technical defect an American bomber team mistakenly orders the destruction of Moscow. The President of the United States has but little time to prevent an atomic catastrophe from occurring.

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Rome, Open City poster
Rome, Open City
1945 Β· dir. Roberto Rossellini
πŸ… 100%β˜… 8drama Β· war

Both know what they want from drama

During the Nazi occupation of 1944 Rome, Resistance leader Giorgio Manfredi is pursued by the Nazis as he seeks refuge and a means of escape.

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Slaughterhouse-Five poster
Slaughterhouse-Five
1972 Β· dir. George Roy Hill
πŸ… 82%β˜… 6.8drama Β· science fiction Β· war

Both are war through and through

Billy Pilgrim, a veteran of the Second World War, finds himself mysteriously detached from time, so that he is able to travel, without being able to help it, from the days of his childhood to those of his peculiar life on a distant planet called Tralfamadore, passing through his bitter experience as a prisoner of war in the German city of Dresden, over which looms the inevitable shadow of an unspeakable tragedy.

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Beanpole poster
Beanpole
2019 Β· dir. Kantemir Balagov
πŸ… 93%β˜… 7.2drama Β· war

The same drama instincts

1945, Leningrad. World War II has devastated the city, demolishing its buildings and leaving its citizens in tatters, physically and mentally. Two young women, Iya and Masha, search for meaning and hope in the struggle to rebuild their lives amongst the ruins.

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Sobibor poster
Sobibor
2018 Β· dir. Konstantin Khabenskiy
πŸ… 73%β˜… 6.4war Β· drama

War approached the same way

The film is based on a real story that happened in 1943 in the Sobibor concentration camp in German-occupied Poland. The main character of the movie is the Soviet-Jewish soldier Alexander Pechersky, who at that time was serving in the Red Army as a lieutenant. In October 1943, he was captured by the Nazis and deported to the Sobibor concentration camp, where Jews were being exterminated in gas chambers. But, in just 3 weeks, Alexander was able to plan an international uprising of prisoners from Poland and Western Europe. This uprising resulted in being the only successful one throughout the war, which led to the largest escape of prisoners from a Nazi concentration camp.

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Persian Lessons poster
Persian Lessons
2020 Β· dir. Vadim Perelman
πŸ… 80%β˜… 7.4war Β· drama

Drama in the same key

Occupied France, 1942. Gilles is arrested by SS soldiers alongside other Jews and sent to a camp in Germany. He narrowly avoids sudden execution by swearing to the guards that he is not Jewish, but Persian. This lie temporarily saves him, but Gilles gets assigned a life-or-death mission: to teach Farsi to Head of Camp Koch, who dreams of opening a restaurant in Iran once the war is over. Through an ingenious trick, Gilles manages to survive by inventing words of "Farsi" every day and teaching them to Koch.

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The Battle of Algiers poster
The Battle of Algiers
1966 Β· dir. Gillo Pontecorvo
πŸ… 99%β˜… 8.1drama Β· war Β· history

The war is handled with the same confidence

Paratrooper commander Colonel Mathieu, a former French Resistance fighter during World War II, is sent to Algeria to reinforce efforts to squelch the uprisings of the Algerian War. There he faces Ali la Pointe, a former petty criminal who, as the leader of the Algerian Front de Liberation Nationale, directs terror strategies against the colonial French government occupation. As each side resorts to ever-increasing brutality, no violent act is too unthinkable.

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In the mood for more bleak?

all bleak movies β†’

The best-reviewed films that share Shame’s defining feeling.