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The Counterfeiters poster

Movies that feel likeThe Counterfeiters (2007)

The story of Jewish counterfeiter Salomon Sorowitsch, who was coerced into assisting the Nazi operation of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp during World War II.

If you loved The Counterfeiters, the closest films we have are Persian Lessons (2020), In Darkness (2011) and Sobibor (2018). All three share The Counterfeiters' contemplative and bleak feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is A War (2015).

🍅 93% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.5 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Stefan Ruzowitzkycontemplativebleak
9 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · HBO Max · Amazon Prime Video

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If The Counterfeiters hit the spot, these will too

Persian Lessons poster
Persian Lessons
2020 · dir. Vadim Perelman
🍅 80%★ 7.4war · drama

Both are working the same pair: nazi, concentration camp

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.

In Darkness poster
In Darkness
2011 · dir. Agnieszka Holland
🍅 88%★ 7.3drama · war

The same preoccupation in both: nazi

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).

Sobibor poster
Sobibor
2018 · dir. Konstantin Khabenskiy
🍅 73%★ 6.4war · dramaPrime Video

Common ground: world war ii

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.

A War poster
A War
2015 · dir. Tobias Lindholm
🍅 90%★ 7drama · war

Both land stillness and bleakness at once

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.

Beanpole poster
Beanpole
2019 · dir. Kantemir Balagov
🍅 93%★ 7.2drama · warRent or buy

Contemplative drama, and it commits to that

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.

Jarhead poster
Jarhead
2005 · dir. Sam Mendes
🍅 60%★ 7drama · warNetflixStarz

Both lean on bleakness more than on war

The difference: The scrappier of the two with critics

Jarhead is a film about a US Marine Anthony Swofford’s experience in the Gulf War. After putting up with an arduous boot camp, Swofford and his unit are sent to the Persian Gulf where they are eager to fight, but are forced to stay back from the action. Swofford struggles with the possibility of his girlfriend cheating on him, and as his mental state deteriorates, his desire to kill increases.

Rome, Open City poster
Rome, Open City
1945 · dir. Roberto Rossellini
🍅 100%★ 8drama · warMax

Both are built on the same subject: world war ii

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

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.

Paisan poster
Paisan
1946 · dir. Roberto Rossellini
🍅 100%★ 7.6drama · warMax

Contemplative drama in both cases

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.

Katyn poster
Katyn
2007 · dir. Andrzej Wajda
🍅 91%★ 7drama · history · war

War built on bleakness, twice over

The difference: Sits closer to history than The Counterfeiters does

On September 1st, 1939, Nazi Germany invades Poland, unleashing World War II. On September 17th, the Soviet Red Army crosses the border. The Polish army, unable to fight on two fronts, is defeated. Thousands of Polish men, both military and government officials, are captured by the invaders. Their fate will only be known several years later.

Lifeboat poster
Lifeboat
1944 · dir. Alfred Hitchcock
🍅 90%★ 7.6war · drama

Drama of the same temperament

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.

Kalashnikov AK-47 poster
Kalashnikov AK-47
2020 · dir. Konstantin Buslov
★ 6.6war · history · dramaPrime Video

Both are war through and through

A Russian military propaganda film about the tank commander Kalashnikov, severely injured in battle in 1941. The accident leaves him incapacitated and unable to return to the front line. While recovering in the hospital, he begins creating the initial sketches of what will become one of the world’s most legendary weapons. A self-taught inventor is only 29 when he develops the now iconic assault riffle — the AK-47. Shot in occupied Crimea.

Unbroken poster
Unbroken
2014 · dir. Angelina Jolie
🍅 52%★ 7.2drama · war

Drama approached the same way

A chronicle of the life of Louis Zamperini, an Olympic runner who was taken prisoner by Japanese forces during World War II.

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The best-reviewed films that share The Counterfeiters’ defining feeling.