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Schindler's List set a high bar for films exploring profound and challenging themes.
We've rounded up 30 must-watch movies that, like 'Schindler's List,' offer powerful storytelling and unforgettable performances. From gripping narratives to inspiring true stories, these films are sure to captivate and provoke thought, ranked for your viewing pleasure.
30. "The Book Thief" (2013) Rotten Tomatoes score: 49%
A young girl finds solace by stealing books and sharing them with others during the horrors of World War II Germany, forming a bond with her adoptive parents and a Jewish boxer hiding in their basement.
29. "The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas" (2008) Rotten Tomatoes score: 65%
Through the innocent eyes of an eight-year-old boy, the forbidden friendship between a Jewish boy and the son of a Nazi commandant unfolds, highlighting the stark contrasts and tragic similarities between their parallel lives.
28. "The Mission" (1986) Rotten Tomatoes score: 66%
An 18th-century Jesuit priest works with a slave trader to protect a South American tribe from falling under the rule of pro-slavery Portugal.
27. "The Color Purple" (1985) Rotten Tomatoes score: 73%
The life and trials of a young African American woman, Celie, growing up in the early 1900s, showcasing her struggles with love, abuse, and poverty.
26. "A Beautiful Mind" (2001) Rotten Tomatoes score: 74%
After John Nash, a brilliant but asocial mathematician, accepts secret work in cryptography, his life takes a nightmarish turn when he becomes obsessed with an enigmatic assignment.
A haunting story of a woman's memory of her time in a concentration camp and the impossible choice she faced, revealing the lasting scars of the Holocaust.
The true story of the Taj Hotel terrorist attack in Mumbai, as hotel staff risk their lives to keep everyone safe, offering a gripping and harrowing insight into humanity and heroism.
23. "Munich" (2005) Rotten Tomatoes score: 78%
Based on the true story of the Black September aftermath, about the five men chosen to eliminate the ones responsible for that fateful day.
22. "Amistad" (1997) Rotten Tomatoes score: 78%
The story about the 1839 mutiny aboard the slave ship La Amistad and the legal battle that followed, which eventually led to the Supreme Court.
21. "Life is Beautiful" (1997) Rotten Tomatoes score: 81%
In this tragicomedy, a Jewish Italian bookshop owner employs his fertile imagination to shield his son from the horrors of internment in a Nazi concentration camp.
20. "The Diary of Anne Frank" (1959) Rotten Tomatoes score: 81%
Harrowing story of a young Jewish girl and her family who are forced into hiding by the Nazis during World War II.
19. "Silence" (2016) Rotten Tomatoes score: 83%
In the 17th century, two Portuguese Jesuit priests travel to Japan to locate their mentor and propagate Catholicism, facing violent persecution.
18. "The English Patient" (1996) Rotten Tomatoes score: 86%
At the close of WWII, a young nurse tends to a badly-burned plane crash victim, and his past is revealed in flashbacks, uncovering a tale of love, betrayal, and regret.
17. "The Last King of Scotland" (2006) Rotten Tomatoes score: 87%
Based on the events of the brutal Ugandan dictator Idi Amin's regime as seen by his personal physician during the 1970s.
16. "Grave of the Fireflies" (1988) Rotten Tomatoes score: 89%
Through the firebombing of Kobe, Japan, two siblings fight to survive the harsh realities of war, showcasing the devastating impact of conflict on innocent lives.
15. "Gandhi" (1982) Rotten Tomatoes score: 89%
The epic biography of Mahatma Gandhi, the Indian leader who stood against British rule and led a non-violent protest against the British to attain freedom.
14. "Downfall" (2004) Rotten Tomatoes score: 90%
A depiction of Hitler's final days in his Berlin bunker at the end of WWII, as seen through the eyes of his secretary Traudl Junge.
13. "Come and See" (1985) Rotten Tomatoes score: 90%
The horrific experiences of a young boy who joins the Soviet resistance movement against the ruthless German forces and witnesses the atrocities of World War II.
12. "The Imitation Game" (2014) Rotten Tomatoes score: 90%
English mathematician and logician, Alan Turing, helps crack the Enigma code during World War II but is later prosecuted by the UK government for homosexual acts.
11. "The Wind That Shakes the Barley" (2006) Rotten Tomatoes score: 90%
Against the backdrop of the Irish War of Independence, two brothers fight a guerrilla war against British forces.
The true story of Paul Rusesabagina, a hotel manager who housed over a thousand Tutsi refugees during their struggle against the Hutu militia in Rwanda.
9. "Judgment at Nuremberg" (1961) Rotten Tomatoes score: 92%
An American court in occupied Germany tries four Nazi judges for war crimes in a stark examination of the post-war trials.
8. "The Counterfeiters" (2007) Rotten Tomatoes score: 93%
The true story of the largest counterfeiting operation in history, set up by the Nazis in 1936. Salomon 'Sally' Sorowitsch, a Jewish counterfeiter, is forced to help the operation in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, leading to moral dilemmas and a life-or-death situation.
7. "The Killing Fields" (1984) Rotten Tomatoes score: 93%
A journalist is trapped in Cambodia during tyrant Pol Pot's bloody 'Year Zero' cleansing campaign, which claimed the lives of two million 'undesirable' civilians.
6. "In the Name of the Father" (1993) Rotten Tomatoes score: 94%
A man's coerced confession to an IRA bombing he didn't commit results in the imprisonment of his father as well. An English lawyer fights to free them.
A boy in Nazi Germany, trying to conceal that he is Jewish, joins the Hitler Youth.
4. "The Pianist" (2002) Rotten Tomatoes score: 95%
A Polish Jewish musician struggles to survive the destruction of the Warsaw ghetto of World War II, showcasing resilience amidst one of history's darkest times.
3. "12 Years a Slave" (2013) Rotten Tomatoes score: 95%
In the antebellum United States, Solomon Northup, a free black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery, facing cruelty as well as unexpected kindnesses.
2. "Roma" (2018) Rotten Tomatoes score: 96%
A heartrending portrayal of a year in the life of a middle-class family's maid in Mexico City in the early 1970s, delving into the intricacies of class and personal hardship.
1. "Son of Saul" (2015) Rotten Tomatoes score: 96%
In Auschwitz during World War II, Saul, a Jewish worker, tries to find a rabbi to give a child a proper burial amidst the horrors surrounding him.
