Movies Like Ajami (2009)

Ajami is a 2009 crime, drama film from Scandar Copti with a MovieMagicScore of 7.0/10. Here are 20 similar films, ranked by real viewer ratings — starting with Freedom Writers and In the Heat of the Night.

Crime Drama

Freedom Writers

2007

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

7.9

MagicScore

In the Heat of the Night

1967

African-American Philadelphia police detective Virgil Tibbs is arrested on suspicion of murder by Bill Gillespie, the racist police chief of tiny Sparta, Mississippi. After Tibbs proves not only his own innocence but that of another man, he joins forces with Gillespie to track down the real killer. Their investigation takes them through every social level of the town, with Tibbs making enemies as well as unlikely friends as he hunts for the truth.

7.6

MagicScore

A Time to Kill

1996

A young lawyer defends a black man accused of murdering two white men who raped his 10-year-old daughter, sparking a rebirth of the KKK.

7.4

MagicScore

Neighboring Sounds

2012

An independent private security firm arrives at a middle-class neighborhood in Recife, Brazil.

7.1

MagicScore

Live and Become

2005

In 1980, the black Falashas in Ethiopia are recognised as genuine Jews and are secretly carried to Israel. The day before the transport the son of a Jewish mother dies. In his place and with his name (Schlomo) she takes a Christian 9-year-old boy.

7.4

MagicScore

The Liberation of L.B. Jones

1970

A successful African American businessman has a quarrel with a white policeman, suspecting that he is having an affair with his wife. The policeman's colleagues are seeking to avoid publicity.

5.8

MagicScore

Jellyfish

2007

Meduzot (the Hebrew word for Jellyfish) tells the story of three very different Israeli women living in Tel Aviv whose intersecting stories weave an unlikely portrait of modern Israeli life. Batya, a catering waitress, takes in a young child apparently abandoned at a local beach. Batya is one of the servers at the wedding reception of Keren, a young bride who breaks her leg in trying to escape from a locked toilet stall, which ruins her chance at a romantic honeymoon in the Caribbean. One of the guests is Joy, a Philippine chore woman attending the event with her employer, and who doesn't speak any Hebrew (she communicates mainly in English), and who is guilt-ridden after having left her young son behind in the Philippines.

6.9

MagicScore

Rampart

2011

The story follows veteran police officer Dave Brown, the last of the renegade cops, as he struggles to take care of his family, and fights for his own survival.

5.4

MagicScore

Or (My Treasure)

2004

Or shoulders a lot: she's 17 or 18, a student, works evenings at a restaurant, recycles cans and bottles for cash, and tries to keep her mother Ruthie from returning to streetwalking in Tel Aviv. Ruthie calls Or "my treasure," but Ruthie is a burden. She's just out of hospital, weak, and Or has found her a job as a house cleaner. The call of the quick money on the street is tough for Ruthie to ignore. Or's emotions roil further when the mother of the youth she's in love with comes to the flat to warn her off. With love fading and Ruthie perhaps beyond help, Or's choices narrow.

6.8

MagicScore

#10

Yossi

2012

The sequel to "Yossi and Jagger" finds character Yossi (Ohad Knoller) leading a sad existence after losing his partner Jagger on the battlefield. A chance encounter with a middle-aged woman linked to his past shakes up his otherwise staid routine and sends him on a spontaneous pilgrimage to Tel Aviv. It is on the roads of southern Israel that he reignites the fire of his former self.

6.8

MagicScore

#11

Black Mama, White Mama

1973

When two troublemaking female prisoners (one a revolutionary, the other a former harem-girl) can't seem to get along, they are chained together and extradited for safekeeping. The women, still chained together, stumble, stab, and cat-fight their way across the wilderness, igniting a bloody shootout between gangsters and a group of revolutionaries.

5.3

MagicScore

#12

Sublet

2020

A gay New York Times travel writer comes to Tel Aviv after suffering a tragedy. The energy of the city and his relationship with a younger man brings him back to life.

6.6

MagicScore

#13

Big Bad Wolves

2013

Tel Aviv, Israel. The twisted paths of three very different men brutally collide due to a chain of unspeakable murders: a grieving father who has been doomed to seek vengeance and a police detective who boldly crosses the narrow boundary between law and crime meet a religion teacher suspected of being the murderer.

6.6

MagicScore

#14

Land of Plenty

2004

After living abroad, Lana returns to the United States, and finds that her uncle is a reclusive vagabond with psychic wounds from the Vietnam War.

6.1

MagicScore

#15

Escaping Tel Aviv

2009

A seemingly ordinary life is shattered when a woman uncovers a hidden truth about her husband, plunging her into a high-stakes international conflict. As loyalties blur and danger escalates, an Egyptian intelligence officer is tasked with a critical mission where failure is not an option.

6.1

MagicScore

#16

All Eyes Off Me

2022

A party in Tel Aviv, Israel. Danny is looking for Max to share that she is pregnant with his child; but Max has just started a new relationship with Avishag whose rough sexual fantasy he is trying to make come true.

5.8

MagicScore

#17

Antarctica

2008

Set in Tel Aviv, focuses on an interconnected group of friends and their various relationships. At the center is the adorably bookish Omer, about to turn 30, who still hasn't found himself, and his free-spirited best friend Miki, who both end up inadvertently dating the same handsome journalist, Ronen.

5.6

MagicScore

#18

Cover-Up

1991

Mike Anderson, a tough American reporter on a dangerous foreign assignment, finds his own life in jeopardy when he uncovers a deadly labyrinth of political intrigue that threatens the lives of thousands. Dispatched to investigate a mysterious and fatal attack on an overseas US naval base, Anderson, a leading investigative journalist and ex-US marine, finds himself back on familiar ground. Instinct makes him question the official CIA explanation that cites an unknown terrorist group called Black October. Alone, and armed only with his combat training and determination to uncover the truth, he sets out to expose a complex and dangerous political web.

3.9

MagicScore

#19

O.J.: Made in America

2016

A chronicle of the rise and fall of O.J. Simpson, whose high-profile murder trial exposed the extent of American racial tensions, revealing a fractured and divided nation.

8.4

MagicScore

#20

A Raisin in the Sun

1961

Walter Lee Younger is a young man struggling with his station in life. Sharing a tiny apartment with his wife, son, sister and mother, he seems like an imprisoned man. Until, that is, the family gets an unexpected financial windfall.

7.7

MagicScore

Frequently asked

What are the best movies like Ajami?

The top films similar to Ajami by MovieMagicScore are Freedom Writers (7.9), In the Heat of the Night (7.6), A Time to Kill (7.4). Each shares crime/drama themes and is ranked by real viewer ratings, not critics or studios.

Is Ajami worth watching?

Ajami holds a MovieMagicScore of 7.0/10 from 87 viewer ratings, putting it among the better-reviewed titles in its genre.

What kind of movie is Ajami?

Ajami (2009) is a crime, drama film directed by Scandar Copti, starring Fouad Habash, Nisrine Rihan, Elias Saba.

Where can I find more recommendations like Ajami?

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

Keep exploring

Movies like Freedom Writers Movies like In the Heat of the Night Movies like A Time to Kill Movies like Neighboring Sounds Movies like Live and Become Movies like The Liberation of L.B. Jones

About movies like Ajami

This ranked list pairs Ajami (2009), a crime and drama film from Scandar Copti, with similar titles by genre, theme and cast overlap (fans of Fouad Habash 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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