Movies Like Beyond Utopia (2023)

Beyond Utopia is a 2023 documentary, history film from Madeleine Gavin with a MovieMagicScore of 7.6/10. Here are 20 similar films, ranked by real viewer ratings — starting with My Name Is Loh Kiwan and Propaganda.

Documentary History

My Name Is Loh Kiwan

2024

After defecting from North Korea, Loh Kiwan struggles to obtain refugee status in Belgium, where he encounters a dejected woman who has lost all hope.

7.3

MagicScore

Propaganda

2013

An anti-western propaganda film about the influences of American visual and consumption culture on the rest of the world, as told from a North Korean perspective.

8.1

MagicScore

The Net

2016

A poor North Korean fisherman finds himself an accidental defector, and is groomed to be a spy by an ambitious South Korean military officer.

7.3

MagicScore

Poongsan

2011

Poongsan has the unenviable - and death-defying - job of delivering messages across the North and South Korean border to separated families. When South Korean government agents ask him to smuggle in In-ok, the lover of a high-ranking North Korean defector, into the South, the damsel and rescuer fall in love instead.

6.2

MagicScore

All Saints

2017

Michael Spurlock decides to trade in his corporate sales career to become a pastor. Unfortunately, his first assignment is to close a country church and sell the prime piece of land where it sits. He soon has a change of heart when the church starts to welcome refugees from Burma. Spurlock now finds himself working with the refugees to turn the land into a working farm to pay the church's bills.

6.2

MagicScore

Golda

2023

Set during the tense 19 days of the Yom Kippur War in 1973, Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir is faced with the potential of Israel’s complete destruction. She must navigate overwhelming odds, a skeptical cabinet and a complex relationship with US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, with millions of lives in the balance. Her tough leadership and compassion would ultimately decide the fate of her nation and leave her with a controversial legacy around the world.

6.4

MagicScore

Syriana

2005

The Middle Eastern oil industry is the backdrop of this tense drama, which weaves together numerous story lines. Bennett Holiday is an American lawyer in charge of facilitating a dubious merger of oil companies, while Bryan Woodman, a Switzerland-based energy analyst, experiences both personal tragedy and opportunity during a visit with Arabian royalty. Meanwhile, veteran CIA agent Bob Barnes uncovers an assassination plot with unsettling origins.

6.4

MagicScore

Ishtar

1987

Two terrible lounge singers get booked to play a gig in a Moroccan hotel but somehow become pawns in an international power play between the CIA, the Emir of Ishtar, and the rebels trying to overthrow his regime.

4.5

MagicScore

The Lovers and the Despot

2016

Hong Kong, 1978. South Korean actress Choi Eun-hee is kidnapped by North Korean operatives following orders from dictator Kim Jong-il.

6.9

MagicScore

#10

In Our Prime

2022

Ji-woo, an outcast at a prestigious private school, meets Hak-sung, the school janitor who is actually a mathematical genius who defected from North Korea.

8.0

MagicScore

#11

Escape

2024

After completing his required decade of military service and being honored as a hero, a North Korean sergeant makes a sudden shocking attempt to defect to the South, risking life and limb for the chance to finally determine his own destiny.

7.3

MagicScore

#12

Fist & Furious

2019

Looking for a new interesting story, VJ reporter Guk-hyun is fascinated with a story of a former detective Gi-man, living a life with a blade in his head for certain reason. Guk-hyun convinces Gi-man to take him upon condition that he make a record of Gi-man's revenge on Tae-hwa, the head of drug cartel. While searching for Tae-hwa's whereabouts, they decide to head towards unknown Island where Tae-hwa is expected to be staying.

7.1

MagicScore

#13

Crossing

2008

Yong-soo is an ex-soccer player who lives in a small coal-mine village in North Korea with his wife and young son, Joon. Although living in extreme poverty like many other families in North Korea, the family is happy just to be with each other. Then one day, Yong-soo's pregnant wife becomes critically ill. Let alone medicine, Yong-soo can't even find food for her in North Korea. So he decides to secretly cross the border to China hoping to find the medicine for his wife.

7.1

MagicScore

#14

The Suspect

2013

Betrayed and on the run, a former North Korean agent tries to seek revenge on the man who killed his wife, find his missing daughter, and uncover the secrets hidden inside the eyeglasses of a dead man.

6.9

MagicScore

#15

Writing with Fire

2021

In a cluttered news landscape dominated by men, emerges India’s only newspaper run by Dalit women. Armed with smartphones, Chief Reporter Meera and her journalists break traditions on the frontlines of India’s biggest issues and within the confines of their own homes, redefining what it means to be powerful.

7.3

MagicScore

#16

Retrograde

2022

The story of the last months of the 20-year war in Afghanistan through the intimate relationship between American Green Berets and the Afghan officers they trained.

7.1

MagicScore

#17

JFK Revisited: Through the Looking Glass

2021

Thirty years after the release of his film JFK (1991), filmmaker Oliver Stone reviews recently declassified evidence related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, which took place in Dallas on November 22, 1963.

7.0

MagicScore

#18

Putin's Witnesses

2018

Russian Federation, December 31, 1999. After President Boris Yeltsin's unexpected resignation, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin becomes acting president of the country. From that day and for a year, Vitaly Mansky's camera documented Putin's rise to power. The story of a privileged witness. The harsh explanation of the reason why politics is the art of possibility of achieving the best with the support of many, but also of giving the worst in return.

6.3

MagicScore

#19

A State of Mind

2005

Two young North Korean gymnasts prepare for an unprecedented competition in this documentary that offers a rare look into the communist society and the daily lives of North Korean families. For more than eight months, film crews follow 13-year-old Pak Hyon Sun and 11-year-old Kim Song Yun and their families as the girls train for the Mass Games, a spectacular nationalist celebration.

7.7

MagicScore

#20

Crossing the Line

2006

In 1962, a U.S. soldier sent to guard the peace in South Korea deserted his unit, walked across the most heavily fortified area on earth and defected to the Cold War enemy, the communist state of North Korea. He became a star of the North Korean propaganda machine, but then disappeared from the face of the earth. Now, after 45 years, the story of James Dresnok, the last American defector in North Korea, is being told for the first time. Crossing the Line follows Dresnok as he recalls his childhood, desertion, and life in the DPRK.

7.2

MagicScore

Frequently asked

What are the best movies like Beyond Utopia?

The top films similar to Beyond Utopia by MovieMagicScore are My Name Is Loh Kiwan (7.3), Propaganda (8.1), The Net (7.3). Each shares documentary/history themes and is ranked by real viewer ratings, not critics or studios.

Is Beyond Utopia worth watching?

Beyond Utopia holds a MovieMagicScore of 7.6/10 from 53 viewer ratings, putting it among the better-reviewed titles in its genre.

What kind of movie is Beyond Utopia?

Beyond Utopia (2023) is a documentary, history film directed by Madeleine Gavin, starring Barbara Demick, Kim Sung-eun, Lee Hyeon-seo.

Where can I find more recommendations like Beyond Utopia?

Browse the full ranked list above, or explore more documentary recommendations on MovieMagicScore, where every list is ordered by genuine viewer ratings.

Keep exploring

Movies like My Name Is Loh Kiwan Movies like Propaganda Movies like The Net Movies like Poongsan Movies like All Saints Movies like Golda

About movies like Beyond Utopia

This ranked list pairs Beyond Utopia (2023), a documentary and history film from Madeleine Gavin, with similar titles by genre, theme and cast overlap (fans of Barbara Demick take note). Unlike critic-driven sites, every position here is ordered by MovieMagicScore — a rating built only from real viewers, with no studio marketing or paid placement. Scores update as more people rate, so the list stays current.

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