Movies Like Blackboards (2000)

Blackboards is a 2000 drama, history, war film from Samira Makhmalbaf with a MovieMagicScore of 6.6/10. Here are 20 similar films, ranked by real viewer ratings — starting with Kathmandu Lullaby and Bomb: A Love Story.

Drama History War

Kathmandu Lullaby

2011

Kathmandu, Nepal, early 1990s. Laia, a young teacher from Catalonia, Spain, works at a local school in the slums of the city where poverty reigns. Her personal path, besieged by a harsh sum of indescribable social conditions, will be a struggle against a nefarious educational system, but a journey of self-discovery as well.

5.9

MagicScore

Bomb: A Love Story

2018

It’s 1988 and, at the height of the Iran-Iraq War, Tehran is bombed relentlessly. The days that pass are full of foreboding, and yet, love, affection, hope and life itself manage to sweep away the fear of death from those surrounded by it. Love may often be difficult to comprehend, but death is a horrible certitude. ‘Bomb, A Love Story’ shows how, even when faced with the darkness of death, love and hope will find a way.

6.7

MagicScore

Under the Shadow

2016

After Shideh's building is hit by a missile during the Iran-Iraq War, a superstitious neighbor suggests that the missile was cursed and might be carrying malevolent Middle-Eastern spirits. She becomes convinced a supernatural force within the building is attempting to possess her daughter Dorsa, and she has no choice but to confront these forces if she is to save her daughter and herself.

6.5

MagicScore

Welcome

2009

Bilal is 17 years old, a Kurdish boy from Iraq. He sets off on an adventure-filled journey across Europe. He wants to get to England to see his love who lives there. Bilal finally reaches Calais, but how do you cover 32 kilometers of the English Channel when you can't swim? The boy soon discovers that his trip won't be as easy as he imagined... The community of struggling illegal aliens in Calais

7.2

MagicScore

Monsieur Lazhar

2011

During a harsh Montréal winter, an elementary-school class is left reeling after its teacher commits suicide. Bachir Lazhar, a charismatic Algerian immigrant, steps in as the substitute teacher for the classroom of traumatized children. All the while, he must keep his personal life tucked away: the fact that he is seeking political refuge in Québec – and that he, like the children, has suffered an appalling loss.

7.2

MagicScore

Madonnas

2007

A portrait of Rita, who claims that her mother was never a mother for her. Rita gives birth to her own five children and forces her mother to take the role of a mother.

6.3

MagicScore

Germany in Autumn

1978

The film does not have a plot per se; it mixes documentary footage, along with standard movie scenes, to give the audience the mood of Germany during the late 1970s. The movie covers the two-month time period during 1977 when a businessman was kidnapped and later murdered by the left-wing terrorists known as the RAF-Rote Armee Fraktion (Red Army Fraction). The businessman had been kidnapped in an effort to secure the release of the original leaders of the RAF, also known as the Baader-Meinhof gang. When the kidnapping effort and a plane hijacking effort failed, the three most prominent leaders of the RAF, Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin, and Jan-Carl Raspe, all committed suicide in prison. It has become an article of faith within the left-wing community that these three were actually murdered by the state.

6.2

MagicScore

Palme

2012

Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme was openly shot to death on a February evening 1986 on the streets of Stockholm. In one night, the country of Sweden was transfigured. “Palme” is about his life, his time, and about the Sweden he had created. About a man who altered history.

7.6

MagicScore

Humorous Phases of Funny Faces

1906

A cartoonist draws faces and figures on a blackboard - and they come to life.

5.7

MagicScore

#10

Riverworld

2003

A movie for the Sci Fi Channel based on the book series by Philip José Farmer. The location is Riverworld, a mysterious and treacherous land where every human who died between the years 99,000 BC and 2,200 AD has been resurrected on the banks of a huge river.

4.4

MagicScore

#11

The Holy Innocents

1984

Somewhere in the spanish country, in the 60s. Paco and his wife Régula are very poor. They work as tenant farmers for a very wealthy landowner. They have 3 children. One is backward. The others can not got to school because the master "needs" their work. When Regula's brother is fired from where he has worked for 61 years, he settles down at their little place... An attack against the archaism of the spanish country of the 60s.

7.8

MagicScore

#12

The Braid

2023

India. Smita is an untouchable. She dreams of seeing her daughter escape her miserable condition and enter school. Italy. Giulia works in her father’s workshop. When he has an accident, she discovers that the family business is ruined. Canada. Sarah, a successful lawyer, is about to be promoted to the head of her firm when she learns that she is ill. Three lives, three women, three continents. Three battles to fight. Although they don’t know each other, Smita, Giulia and Sarah are unknowingly linked by their most intimate and singular bond.

7.4

MagicScore

#13

Monster

2003

An emotionally scarred highway drifter shoots a sadistic trick who rapes her, and ultimately becomes America's first female serial killer.

7.2

MagicScore

#14

Wendy and Lucy

2008

A near-penniless drifter's journey to Alaska in search of work is interrupted when she loses her dog while attempting to shoplift food for it.

6.8

MagicScore

#15

Winter's Bone

2010

After discovering her father put their house up for his bail bond and then disappeared, 17-year-old Ree Dolly must confront the local criminal underworld and the harsh Ozark wilderness in order to to track down her father and save her family.

6.8

MagicScore

#16

Sugar Cane Alley

1983

Martinique, in the early 1930s. Young José and his grandmother live in a small village. Nearly everyone works cutting cane and barely earning a living. The overseer can fine a worker for the smallest infraction. The way to advance is to do well in school. José studies hard and succeeds in an exam allowing him to attend school in the capital. With only a partial scholarship, the tuition is very costly. José and his grandmother move to Fort-de-France to make José's studies easier...

6.7

MagicScore

#17

Mi Vida Loca

1994

Mousie and Sad Girl are childhood best friends in a contemporary Los Angeles poor Hispanic neighborhood. But when Sad Girl becomes pregnant by Mousie's boyfriend, a drug dealer named Ernesto, the two become bitter enemies. While their dispute escalates towards violence, the violence of the world around them soon also impacts their lives.

6.6

MagicScore

#18

The Blot

1921

Professor Griggs, teaching at the college, doesn't get paid a living wage; his next door neighbor, successful shoemaker Olsen, has money and plentiful food, while the Griggses have hardly any. When the professor's rich student Phil West falls for beautiful Griggs daughter Amelia and also befriends the poor Reverend Gates (a young man who is also in love with Amelia), he observes the difference in his life and theirs and tries to help make a difference.

6.2

MagicScore

#19

Holler

2021

In a forgotten pocket of Southern Ohio where American manufacturing and opportunity are drying up, a determined young woman finds a ticket out when she is accepted to college. Alongside her older brother, Ruth Avery joins a dangerous scrap metal crew in order to pay her way. Together, they spend one brutal winter working the scrap yards during the day and stealing valuable metal from the once thriving factories by night. With her goal in sight, Ruth finds that the ultimate cost of an education for a girl like her may be more than she bargained for, and she soon finds herself torn between a promising future and the family she would leave behind.

6.0

MagicScore

#20

All We Had

2016

A mother struggles to make a better life for her daughter.

5.5

MagicScore

Frequently asked

What are the best movies like Blackboards?

The top films similar to Blackboards by MovieMagicScore are Kathmandu Lullaby (5.9), Bomb: A Love Story (6.7), Under the Shadow (6.5). Each shares drama/history/war themes and is ranked by real viewer ratings, not critics or studios.

Is Blackboards worth watching?

Blackboards holds a MovieMagicScore of 6.6/10 from 40 viewer ratings.

What kind of movie is Blackboards?

Blackboards (2000) is a drama, history, war film directed by Samira Makhmalbaf, starring Said Mohamadi, Behnaz Jafari, Bahman Ghobadi.

Where can I find more recommendations like Blackboards?

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 Kathmandu Lullaby Movies like Bomb: A Love Story Movies like Under the Shadow Movies like Welcome Movies like Monsieur Lazhar Movies like Madonnas

About movies like Blackboards

This ranked list pairs Blackboards (2000), a drama and history and war film from Samira Makhmalbaf, with similar titles by genre, theme and cast overlap (fans of Said Mohamadi 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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