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Freedom Writers poster

Movies that feel likeFreedom Writers (2007)

A young teacher inspires her class of at-risk students to learn tolerance, apply themselves, and pursue education beyond high school.

If you loved Freedom Writers, the closest films we have are Gomorrah (2008), A Prophet (2009) and My Name Ain't Johnny (2008). All three share Freedom Writers' gritty and contemplative feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is R (2010).

🍅 69% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.6 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Richard LaGravenesegrittycontemplative
6 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · Amazon Prime Video · Apple TV

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If Freedom Writers hit the spot, these will too

Gomorrah poster
Gomorrah
2008 · dir. Matteo Garrone
🍅 90%★ 7drama · crimePrime Video

Both are built on the same subject: ghetto

An inside look at Italy's modern-day crime families, the Camorra in Naples and Caserta. Based on a book by Roberto Saviano. Power, money and blood: these are the "values" that the residents of the Province of Naples and Caserta have to face every day. They hardly ever have a choice and are forced to obey the rules of the Camorra. Only a lucky few can even think of leading a normal life.

A Prophet poster
A Prophet
2009 · dir. Jacques Audiard
🍅 96%★ 7.8crime · drama

Both land grit and stillness at once

The difference: Reviewed even better

Sentenced to six years in prison, Malik El Djebena is alone in the world and can neither read nor write. On his arrival at the prison, he seems younger and more brittle than the others detained there. At once he falls under the sway of a group of Corsicans who enforce their rule in the prison. As the 'missions' go by, he toughens himself and wins the confidence of the Corsican group.

My Name Ain't Johnny poster
My Name Ain't Johnny
2008 · dir. Mauro Lima
★ 7.2crime · drama

Gritty crime, and it commits to that

The true story of João Guilherme Estrella ("Johnny"), a young middle-class bon vivant who became a big-time cocaine dealer in Rio de Janeiro in the early 1990s.

Frozen River poster
Frozen River
2008 · dir. Courtney Hunt
🍅 88%★ 7.1drama · crime

Both lean on stillness more than on drama

A financially strapped mother joins a Mohawk woman to smuggle illegal immigrants into the United States.

R poster
R
2010 · dir. Tobias Lindholm
🍅 91%★ 7.1crime · drama

Crime with a pulse of grit, in both cases

Imprisoned for violent assault, Rune is placed in the hardcore ward, where his survival depends on quickly learning the prison's parallel world of rules, honor, and obligations.

Monster poster
Monster
2003 · dir. Patty Jenkins
🍅 81%★ 7.3crime · drama

Contemplative drama in both cases

In 1989, prostitute Aileen Wuornos befriends and enters a relationship with a young woman named Selby. Determined to straighten out her life, Aileen's limited education lands her back on the corner. She's raped by a trick, who she kills. A string of murder and robbery follows that ultimately leads Aileen to becoming America's first female serial killer.

Loving Pablo poster
Loving Pablo
2017 · dir. Fernando León de Aranoa
🍅 33%★ 6.4crime · drama

Both keep coming back to the same thing: biography

The film chronicles the rise and fall of the world's most feared drug lord Pablo Escobar and his volatile love affair with Colombia's most famous journalist Virginia Vallejo throughout a reign of terror that tore a country apart.

Leviathan poster
Leviathan
2014 · dir. Andrey Zvyagintsev
🍅 97%★ 7.6drama · crime

Both are crime through and through

In a Russian coastal town, Kolya is forced to fight the corrupt mayor when he is told that his house will be demolished. He recruits a lawyer friend to help, but the man's arrival brings further misfortune for Kolya and his family.

A Touch of Sin poster
A Touch of Sin
2013 · dir. Jia Zhangke
🍅 95%★ 7.1crime · drama

Both play drama straight

Four people in different provinces are driven to violent ends: An angry miner is enraged by corruption in his village. A migrant discovers the possibilities of owning a firearm. A receptionist is pushed beyond her limits by an abusive client. A young factory worker goes from one job to the next.

American Gangster poster
American Gangster
2007 · dir. Ridley Scott
🍅 81%★ 7.8drama · crimeApple TV+Starz

Common ground: ghetto

Loosely based on the criminal career of Frank Lucas, a gangster from La Grange, North Carolina, who smuggled heroin into the United States on American service planes returning from the Vietnam War, before being detained by a task force led by Newark Detective Richie Roberts.

Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile poster
🍅 54%★ 6.7drama · crimeNetflix

The same preoccupation in both: biography

A chronicle of the crimes of Ted Bundy, from the perspective of his longtime girlfriend, Elizabeth Kloepfer, who refused to believe the truth about him for years.

The Drop poster
The Drop
2014 · dir. Michaël R. Roskam
🍅 88%★ 7drama · crime

The same crime instincts

Bob Saginowski finds himself at the center of a robbery gone awry and entwined in an investigation that digs deep into the neighborhood's past where friends, families, and foes all work together to make a living - no matter the cost.

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The best-reviewed films that share Freedom Writers’ defining feeling.