Movies Like A World Apart (1988)

A World Apart is a 1988 drama film from Chris Menges with a MovieMagicScore of 6.3/10. Here are 20 similar films, ranked by real viewer ratings — starting with Yesterday and Stander.

Drama

Yesterday

2004

After falling ill, Yesterday learns that she is HIV positive. With her husband in denial and young daughter to tend to, Yesterday's one goal is to live long enough to see her child go to school.

7.4

MagicScore

Stander

2003

The life and career of Andre Stander, a South African police officer turned bank robber.

6.2

MagicScore

District 9

2009

Thirty years ago, aliens arrive on Earth. Not to conquer or give aid, but to find refuge from their dying planet. Separated from humans in a South African area called District 9, the aliens are managed by Multi-National United, which is unconcerned with the aliens' welfare but will do anything to master their advanced technology. When a company field agent contracts a mysterious virus that begins to alter his DNA, there is only one place he can hide: District 9.

7.5

MagicScore

Prey

2007

An American family on holiday in Africa becomes lost in a game reserve and stalked by vicious killer lions.

5.8

MagicScore

Sumuru

2003

Based on Sax Rohmer's cult novels "Sumuru", the futuristic fantasy take you to an Earth colony in the far future in which woman rule and men are used to propagate the race and work in the mines..

5.0

MagicScore

The Demon

1979

Random people are terrorized by a malevolent man who brings their worst fears to life.

4.2

MagicScore

Invictus

2009

Newly elected President Nelson Mandela knows his nation remains racially and economically divided in the wake of apartheid. Believing he can bring his people together through the universal language of sport, Mandela rallies South Africa's rugby union team as they make their historic run to the 1995 Rugby World Cup Championship match.

7.2

MagicScore

Cry Freedom

1987

A dramatic story, based on actual events, about the friendship between two men struggling against apartheid in South Africa in the 1970s. Donald Woods is a white liberal journalist in South Africa who begins to follow the activities of Stephen Biko, a courageous and outspoken black anti-apartheid activist.

7.0

MagicScore

Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

2013

A chronicle of Nelson Mandela's life journey from his childhood in a rural village through to his inauguration as the first democratically elected president of South Africa.

6.9

MagicScore

#10

Goodbye Bafana

2007

The true story of a white South African racist whose life was profoundly altered by the black prisoner he guarded for twenty years. The prisoner's name was Nelson Mandela.

6.8

MagicScore

#11

Cry, the Beloved Country

1995

A South-African preacher goes to search for his wayward son who has committed a crime in the big city.

6.7

MagicScore

#12

Zulu

2013

As a child, Ali Neuman narrowly escaped being murdered by Inkhata, a militant political party at war with Nelson Mandela's African National Congress. Only he and his mother survived the carnage of those years. But as with many survivors, the psychological scars remain.

6.7

MagicScore

#13

Moffie

2020

A young man in 1981 South Africa must complete his brutal and racist two years of compulsory military service while desperately maintaining the secrecy of his homosexuality.

6.6

MagicScore

#14

The Bang Bang Club

2011

In the early to mid '90s, when the South African system of apartheid was in its death throes, four photographers - Greg Marinovich, Kevin Carter, Ken Oosterbroek and João Silva - bonded by their friendship and a sense of purpose, worked together to chronicle the violence and upheaval leading up to the 1994 election of Nelson Mandela as president. Their work is risky and dangerous, potentially fatally so, as they thrust themselves into the middle of chaotic clashes between forces backed by the government (including Inkatha Zulu warriors) and those in support of Mandela's African National Congress.

6.6

MagicScore

#15

Kanarie

2018

Kanarie (Afrikaans for 'Canary') is a coming-of-age musical war drama. Drafted into the South African army during apartheid, a young soldier joins the military's traveling choir, and romance on the battlefield causes him to deal with his long-repressed sexual identity through hardship, camaraderie, first love, and the liberating freedom of music, the true self can be discovered.

6.4

MagicScore

#16

Shepherds and Butchers

2017

A lawyer takes on a case of a prison guard in South Africa who is traumatized by the executions he's witnessed.

6.3

MagicScore

#17

Catch a Fire

2006

The true story of anti-apartheid activists in South Africa, and particularly the life of Patrick Chamusso, a timid foreman at Secunda CTL, the largest synthetic fuel plant in the world. Patrick is wrongly accused, imprisoned and tortured for an attempt to bomb the plant, with the injustice transforming the apolitical worker into a radicalised insurgent, who then carries out his own successful sabotage mission.

6.2

MagicScore

#18

Sarafina!

1992

The plot centers on students involved in the Soweto Riots, in opposition to the implementation of Afrikaans as the language of instruction in schools. The stage version presents a school uprising similar to the Soweto uprising on June 16, 1976. A narrator introduces several characters among them the school girl activist Sarafina. Things get out of control when a policeman shoots several pupils in a classroom. Nevertheless, the musical ends with a cheerful farewell show of pupils leaving school, which takes most of act two. In the movie version Sarafina feels shame at her mother's (played by Miriam Makeba in the film) acceptance of her role as domestic servant in a white household in apartheid South Africa, and inspires her peers to rise up in protest, especially after her inspirational teacher, Mary Masombuka (played by Whoopi Goldberg in the film version) is imprisoned.

6.1

MagicScore

#19

Endgame

2009

The time is the late '80s, a crucial period in the history of South Africa. President P.W. Botha is hanging on to power by a thread as the African National Congress (ANC) takes up arms against apartheid and the country tumbles toward insurrection. A British mining concern is convinced that their interests would be better served in a stable South Africa and they quietly dispatch Michael Young, their head of public affairs, to open an unofficial dialogue between the bitter rivals. Assembling a reluctant yet brilliant team to pave the way to reconciliation by confronting obstacles that initially seem insurmountable, Young places his trust in ANC leader Thabo Mbeki and Afrikaner philosophy professor Willie Esterhuyse. It is their empathy that will ultimately serve as the catalyst for change by proving more powerful than the terrorist bombs that threaten to disrupt the peaceful dialogue.

5.8

MagicScore

#20

Cold Case Hammarskjöld

2019

Ndola, Northern Rhodesia (currently Zambia), September 18, 1961. Swedish economist and diplomat Dag Hammarskjöld, Secretary General of the UN, dies mysteriously in a plane crash. Decades later, Danish journalist and filmmaker Mads Brügger and Swedish researcher Göran Björkdahl investigate the case in search of definitive closure.

6.7

MagicScore

Frequently asked

What are the best movies like A World Apart?

The top films similar to A World Apart by MovieMagicScore are Yesterday (7.4), Stander (6.2), District 9 (7.5). Each shares drama themes and is ranked by real viewer ratings, not critics or studios.

Is A World Apart worth watching?

A World Apart holds a MovieMagicScore of 6.3/10 from 30 viewer ratings.

What kind of movie is A World Apart?

A World Apart (1988) is a drama film directed by Chris Menges, starring Barbara Hershey, David Suchet, Jeroen Krabbé.

Where can I find more recommendations like A World Apart?

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 Yesterday Movies like Stander Movies like District 9 Movies like Prey Movies like Sumuru Movies like The Demon

About movies like A World Apart

This ranked list pairs A World Apart (1988), a drama film from Chris Menges, with similar titles by genre, theme and cast overlap (fans of Barbara Hershey 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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