Movies Like Under the Sun (2015)

Under the Sun is a 2015 documentary film from Vitaly Mansky with a MovieMagicScore of 7.2/10. Here are 20 similar films, ranked by real viewer ratings — starting with Propaganda and Pulgasari.

Documentary

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

Pulgasari

1985

In feudal Korea, a group of starving villagers grow weary of the orders handed down to them by their controlling king and set out to use a deadly monster under their control to push his armies back.

5.5

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

Mr. Nobody Against Putin

2025

As Russia launches its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, primary schools across Russia’s hinterlands are transformed into recruitment stages for the war. Facing the ethical dilemma of working in a system defined by propaganda and violence, a brave teacher goes undercover to film what’s really happening in his own school.

7.4

MagicScore

The Eleventh Year

1928

The film is dedicated to the achievements of the Ukrainian SSR for the eleventh anniversary of the October Revolution.

5.9

MagicScore

Love Affair, or the Case of the Missing Switchboard Operator

1967

After many adventures, a young female switchboard operator starts a love relationship with a serious young man. But while he's away on business, she gets lonely and succumbs to her colleague's passes.

6.7

MagicScore

Soviet Toys

1924

The first animated movie made in the Soviet Union, it portrays a bloated caricature of a Capitalist devouring a massive heap of food and drink.

5.1

MagicScore

A Sixth Part of the World

1926

Through the travelogue format, it depicts the multitude of Soviet peoples in remote areas of USSR and details the entirety of the wealth of the Soviet land. Focusing on cultural and economic diversity, the film is in fact a call for unification in order to build a "complete socialist society".

6.7

MagicScore

Enthusiasm. Symphony of Donbas

1930

An audiovisual symphony that delves into the industrial, agrarian, and cultural fabric of the Donbas region during the inaugural Soviet Five Year Plan. It spotlights anti-religious campaigns, propagandistic marches, and the vibrant athletic culture of its time

6.3

MagicScore

#10

Waves

2024

At the end of the 1960s, when the air is filled with rock-and-roll and student rebellions are changing the world, the older of two brothers joins a prestigious newsroom of the public radio broadcaster. Not long after, he finds himself in the middle of a dangerous conflict between journalists and the secret service.

7.4

MagicScore

#11

The Battle at Lake Changjin II: Water Gate Bridge

2022

In the follow-up to "The Battle At Lake Changjin", brothers Wu Qianli and Wu Wanli undertake a new task for the People's Volunteer Army, defending a bridge part of the American troops' escape route from the advancing Chinese.

6.4

MagicScore

#12

Chapayev

1934

An account of the peasant turned mythical military hero Vasily Chapayev, charting his campaign in the Red Army during the Russian Civil War.

5.8

MagicScore

#13

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

#14

Beyond Utopia

2023

A courageous pastor uses his underground network to rescue and aid North Korean families as they risk their lives to embrace freedom.

7.6

MagicScore

#15

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

#16

The Mole: Undercover in North Korea

2020

A real-life undercover thriller about two ordinary men who embark on an outrageously dangerous ten-year mission to penetrate the world's most secretive and brutal dictatorship: North Korea.

7.1

MagicScore

#17

The Propaganda Game

2015

North Korea. The last communist country in the world. Unknown, hermetic and fascinating. Formerly known as “The Hermit Kingdom” for its attempts to remain isolated, North Korea is one of the largest sources of instability as regards world peace. It also has the most militarized border in the world, and the flow of impartial information, both going in and out, is practically non-existent. As the recent Sony-leaks has shown, it is the perfect setting for a propaganda war.

7.0

MagicScore

#18

Assassins

2021

True crime meets global spy thriller in this gripping account of the assassination of Kim Jong-nam, the half brother of the North Korean leader. The film follows the trial of the two female assassins, probing the question: were the women trained killers or innocent pawns of North Korea?

6.8

MagicScore

#19

Camp 14: Total Control Zone

2012

Shin Dong-Huyk was born on November 19, 1983 as a political prisoner in a North Korean re-education camp. He was a child of two prisoners who had been married by order of the wardens. He spent his entire childhood and youth in Camp 14, in fact a death camp. He was forced to labor since he was six years old and suffered from hunger, beatings and torture, always at the mercy of the wardens. He knew nothing about the world outside the barbed-wire fences. At the age of 23, with the help of an older prisoner, he managed to escape. For months he traveled through North Korea and China and finally to South Korea, where he encountered a world completely strange to him.

6.7

MagicScore

#20

Dennis Rodman's Big Bang in PyongYang

2015

Dennis Rodman is on a mission. After forging an unlikely friendship with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, he wants to improve relations between North Korea and the US by staging a historic basketball game between the two countries. But the North Korean team isn't the only opposition he'll face... Condemned by the NBA and The Whitehouse, and hounded every step of the way by the press, can Dennis keep it together and make the game happen? Or will it go up in a mushroom cloud of smoke? For the first time, discover the true story of what happened when Dennis Rodman took a team of former-NBA players to North Korea and staged the most controversial game of basketball the world has never seen.

6.4

MagicScore

Frequently asked

What are the best movies like Under the Sun?

The top films similar to Under the Sun by MovieMagicScore are Propaganda (8.1), Pulgasari (5.5), The Lovers and the Despot (6.9). Each shares documentary themes and is ranked by real viewer ratings, not critics or studios.

Is Under the Sun worth watching?

Under the Sun holds a MovieMagicScore of 7.2/10 from 114 viewer ratings, putting it among the better-reviewed titles in its genre.

What kind of movie is Under the Sun?

Under the Sun (2015) is a documentary film directed by Vitaly Mansky, starring Lee Zin-mi, Yu-yong, Hye-yong.

Where can I find more recommendations like Under the Sun?

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 Propaganda Movies like Pulgasari Movies like The Lovers and the Despot Movies like Mr. Nobody Against Putin Movies like The Eleventh Year Movies like Love Affair, or the Case of the Missing Switchboard Operator

About movies like Under the Sun

This ranked list pairs Under the Sun (2015), a documentary film from Vitaly Mansky, with similar titles by genre, theme and cast overlap (fans of Lee Zin-mi 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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