Movies Like Sunshine (1999)

Sunshine is a 1999 drama, history, romance, war film from István Szabó with a MovieMagicScore of 6.5/10. Here are 20 similar films, ranked by real viewer ratings — starting with The Gypsy Camp Vanishes Into the Blue and Jakob the Liar.

Drama History Romance War

The Gypsy Camp Vanishes Into the Blue

1976

This colourful, music-filled and sensual melodrama based on early stories by Maxim Gorky tells the fatal love story between the beautiful and rebellious girl Rada and the handsome horse thief Zobar. The story is set in early 20th century Bessarabia, now part of Moldova, then belonging to the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

6.2

MagicScore

Jakob the Liar

1999

In 1944 Poland, a Jewish shop keeper named Jakob is summoned to ghetto headquarters after being caught out after curfew. While waiting for the German Kommondant, Jakob overhears a German radio broadcast about Russian troop movements. Returned to the ghetto, the shopkeeper shares his information with a friend and then rumors fly that there is a secret radio within the ghetto.

6.7

MagicScore

The Song of Names

2019

A man searches for his childhood best friend, a Polish violin prodigy orphaned in the Holocaust, who vanished decades before on the night of his first public performance.

6.7

MagicScore

Ben-Hur

1959

In ancient Judea, a Jewish aristocrat opposing Roman occupation of his homeland reunites with his childhood friend, now a Roman commander — setting in motion a saga of betrayal, adventure, tragedy, revenge, and faith.

7.9

MagicScore

Liberty Heights

1999

This semi-autobiographical film by Barry Levinson follows various members of the Kurtzman clan, a Jewish family living in suburban Baltimore during the 1950s. As teenaged Ben completes high school, he falls for Sylvia, a black classmate, creating inevitable tensions. Meanwhile, Ben's brother, Van, attends college and becomes smitten with a mysterious woman while their father tries to maintain his burlesque business.

6.6

MagicScore

Train of Life

1998

In 1941, the inhabitants of a small Jewish village in Central Europe organize a fake deportation train so that they can escape the Nazis and flee to Palestine.

7.3

MagicScore

Man Is a Woman

1998

Simon Eskenazy is a gay Parisian clarinet player who lives his single life to the fullest. One day, he receives a very tempting offer from his homophobic uncle, looking to continue the family legacy – if he gets married and has a child, he will receive ten million francs and inherit his uncle's luxurious mansion. After meeting Rosalie Baumann at his cousin David's wedding, and with some convincing on his mother's part, Simon sees an opportunity to fulfill his uncle's wishes and the pair go ahead and get married, but not before traveling to New York to meet Rosalie's Orthodox Jewish family. As Simon tries to develop real feelings for Rosalie, he struggles with his feelings for his newlywed cousin David.

5.6

MagicScore

It Happened in Saint-Tropez

2013

Zef’s stormy relationship with his brother Roni is further aggravated when Roni marries his daughter just as he is attending to his wife’s funeral. The two brothers have never got on with each other. One is faithful to his religion, the other lives only for the present. Between London, Paris, Saint-Tropez and New York, a series of confrontations and betrayals threatens to drive the family further apart, but out of this confusion will come a great love story, perhaps even two...

5.3

MagicScore

A Real Pain

2024

Mismatched cousins David and Benji reunite for a tour through Poland to honor their beloved grandmother. The adventure takes a turn when the pair's old tensions resurface against the backdrop of their family history.

6.8

MagicScore

#10

Allonsanfan

1974

After the 1815 Restoration, an aging revolutionary finds himself reluctantly involved in an attempted insurrection in Southern Italy while growing increasingly disillusioned with his cause.

6.7

MagicScore

#11

Sisi & I

2023

After an elaborate application process, Empress Elisabeth of Austria hires Countess Irma as her new lady-in-waiting and takes her to her summer residence on Corfu. As the two women become closer there, this soon leads to tensions back in Vienna.

6.2

MagicScore

#12

The Duellists

1977

In 1800, as Napoleon Bonaparte rises to power in France, a rivalry erupts between Armand and Gabriel, two lieutenants in the French Army, over a perceived insult. For over a decade, they engage in a series of duels amidst larger conflicts, including the failed French invasion of Russia in 1812, and shifts in the political and social systems of Europe.

7.2

MagicScore

#13

The Round Up

2010

A faithful retelling of the 1942 "Vel' d'Hiv Roundup" and the events surrounding it.

7.5

MagicScore

#14

One Life

2023

British stockbroker Nicholas Winton visits Czechoslovakia in the 1930s and forms plans to assist in the rescue of Jewish children before the onset of World War II, in an operation that came to be known as the Kindertransport.

7.8

MagicScore

#15

The Believer

2001

A hardcore US racist skinhead who, because of his intelligence, leads a gang dedicated to fighting the enemy: the supposed American-Jewish conspiracy for domination. However, he's hiding a secret: he's Jewish-born, a brilliant scholar whose questioning of the tenets of his faith has left him angry and confused, turning against those who he thinks have a tragic history of their own making.

6.9

MagicScore

#16

Newsies

2017

A week in the life of the exploited, child newspaper sellers in turn-of-the-century New York. When their publisher, Joseph Pulitzer, tries to squeeze a little more profit out of their labours, they organize a strike, only to be confronted with the Pulitzer's hard-ball tactics.

8.0

MagicScore

#17

Schindler's List

1993

The true story of how businessman Oskar Schindler saved over a thousand Jewish lives from the Nazis while they worked as slaves in his factory during World War II.

8.6

MagicScore

#18

Sophie's Choice

1982

Stingo, a young writer, moves to Brooklyn in 1947 to begin work on his first novel. As he becomes friendly with Sophie and her lover Nathan, he learns that she is a Holocaust survivor. Flashbacks reveal her harrowing story, from pre-war prosperity to Auschwitz. In the present, Sophie and Nathan's relationship increasingly unravels as Stingo grows closer to Sophie and Nathan's fragile mental state becomes ever more apparent.

7.3

MagicScore

#19

Naked Among Wolves

2015

Taking place at the Concentration camp Buchenwald at the end of March 1945, prisoner Hans Pippig discovers in a carrying case of an incoming prisoner a Jewish child. If reported the three-year-old is sure to die. On the other hand, a violation of the rules of the camp would threaten the long prepared uprising of the concentration camp prisoners against the SS.

7.3

MagicScore

#20

The Zookeeper's Wife

2017

The account of keepers of the Warsaw Zoo, Jan and Antonina Zabinski, who helped save hundreds of people and animals during the Nazi invasion.

7.3

MagicScore

Frequently asked

What are the best movies like Sunshine?

The top films similar to Sunshine by MovieMagicScore are The Gypsy Camp Vanishes Into the Blue (6.2), Jakob the Liar (6.7), The Song of Names (6.7). Each shares drama/history/romance/war themes and is ranked by real viewer ratings, not critics or studios.

Is Sunshine worth watching?

Sunshine holds a MovieMagicScore of 6.5/10 from 143 viewer ratings.

What kind of movie is Sunshine?

Sunshine (1999) is a drama, history, romance, war film directed by István Szabó, starring Ralph Fiennes, Rosemary Harris, Rachel Weisz.

Where can I find more recommendations like Sunshine?

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

Keep exploring

Movies like The Gypsy Camp Vanishes Into the Blue Movies like Jakob the Liar Movies like The Song of Names Movies like Ben-Hur Movies like Liberty Heights Movies like Train of Life

About movies like Sunshine

This ranked list pairs Sunshine (1999), a drama and history and romance and war film from István Szabó, with similar titles by genre, theme and cast overlap (fans of Ralph Fiennes 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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