Movies Like Caterpillar (2010)

Caterpillar is a 2010 drama, war film from Kōji Wakamatsu with a MovieMagicScore of 6.3/10. Here are 20 similar films, ranked by real viewer ratings — starting with Men Behind the Sun and The Small Back Room.

Drama War

Men Behind the Sun

1988

The film is a graphic depiction of the war atrocities committed by the Japanese at Unit 731, the secret biological weapons experimentation unit of the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. The film details the various cruel medical experiments Unit 731 inflicted upon the Chinese and Soviet prisoners at the tail-end of the war.

6.2

MagicScore

The Small Back Room

1949

As the Germans drop explosive booby-traps on 1943 Britain, the embittered expert who'll have to disarm them fights a private battle with alcohol.

6.7

MagicScore

The Last Samurai

2003

Nathan Algren is an American hired to instruct the Japanese army in the ways of modern warfare, which finds him learning to respect the samurai and the honorable principles that rule them. Pressed to destroy the samurai's way of life in the name of modernization and open trade, Algren decides to become an ultimate warrior himself and to fight for their right to exist.

7.6

MagicScore

Her Love Boils Bathwater

2016

A strict, but caring mother has an awakening when she is told she has cancer and it is terminal. She has a few months. She needs to complete her tasks in that short time frame.

7.4

MagicScore

Come and See

1985

The invasion of a village in Belarus by German forces sends young Flyora into the forest to join the weary Resistance fighters, against his family's wishes. There he meets a girl, Glasha, who accompanies him back to his village. On returning home, Flyora finds his family and fellow peasants massacred. His continued survival amidst the brutal debris of war becomes increasingly nightmarish, a battle between despair and hope.

8.2

MagicScore

The Round Up

2010

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

7.5

MagicScore

Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence

1983

Island of Java, 1942, during World War II. British Major Jack Celliers arrives at a Japanese prison camp, run by the strict Captain Yonoi. Colonel John Lawrence, who has a profound knowledge of Japanese culture, and Sergeant Hara, brutal and simpleton, will witness the struggle of wills between two men from very different backgrounds who are tragically destined to clash.

7.3

MagicScore

Conspiracy

2001

At the Wannsee Conference on January 20, 1942, senior Nazi officials meet to determine the manner in which the so-called "Final Solution to the Jewish Question" can be best implemented.

7.3

MagicScore

The Painted Bird

2019

After losing his parents, a young Jewish boy wanders Eastern Europe, seeking refuge during World War II.

7.1

MagicScore

#10

The Butcher of Prague

2011

Czechoslovakia, 1941. As the war continues, Reich Protector Reinhard Heydrich arrives in Nazi-occupied Prague and establishes a regime of terror that will force freedom fighters to act. But the price to pay will be too high.

6.6

MagicScore

#11

Slaughterhouse-Five

1972

Billy Pilgrim, a veteran of the Second World War, finds himself mysteriously detached from time, so that he is able to travel, without being able to help it, from the days of his childhood to those of his peculiar life on a distant planet called Tralfamadore, passing through his bitter experience as a prisoner of war in the German city of Dresden, over which looms the inevitable shadow of an unspeakable tragedy.

6.5

MagicScore

#12

The Last Emperor

1987

A dramatic history of Pu Yi, the last of the Emperors of China, from his lofty birth and brief reign in the Forbidden City, the object of worship by half a billion people; through his abdication, his decline and dissolute lifestyle; his exploitation by the invading Japanese, and finally to his obscure existence as just another peasant worker in the People's Republic.

7.6

MagicScore

#13

Labyrinth of Lies

2014

A young prosecutor in postwar West Germany investigates a massive conspiracy to cover up the Nazi pasts of prominent public figures.

7.2

MagicScore

#14

The Great Raid

2005

As World War II rages, the elite Sixth Ranger Battalion is given a mission of heroic proportions: push 30 miles behind enemy lines and liberate over 500 American prisoners of war.

6.5

MagicScore

#15

The Butler

2018

The love between Mateusz Krol, a Kashubian boy, and Marita von Krauss, a Prussian aristocrat in whose family home he is taken in when his mother dies, grows and matures thorough the years, while Kashubia, the northern Polish region where they live, suffers the consequences of the tragedies that will ravage Europe from the beginning of the 20th century until the end of the World War II.

6.5

MagicScore

#16

To End All War: Oppenheimer & the Atomic Bomb

2023

Explore how one man's relentless drive and invention of the atomic bomb changed the nature of war forever, led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people and unleashed mass hysteria.

7.7

MagicScore

#17

Aayitha Ezhuthu

2004

A goon, who dreams of making it big in life, a student leader, who strives to keep politicians away from college election and a third guy who wants to settle abroad. Their lives change after an incident on a bridge.

7.1

MagicScore

#18

Mister Johnson

1991

In 1923 British Colonial Nigeria, Mister Johnson is an oddity -- an educated black man who doesn't really fit in with the natives or the British. He works for the local British magistrate, and considers himself English, though he has never been to England. He is always scheming, trying to get ahead, which lands him in a lot of hot water.

6.1

MagicScore

#19

Caught

1996

A middle-aged couple has a drifter enter their lives. The fish-store owners find that the mysterious young man awakens the couple in ways they didn't expect. Things get tense when the drifter begins an affair with the woman of the house.

5.7

MagicScore

#20

The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer

1961

After the Japanese defeat to the Russians, Kaji leads the last remaining men through Manchuria. Intent on returning to his dear wife and his old life, Kaji faces great odds in a variety of different harrowing circumstances as he and his fellow men sneak behind enemy lines.

8.4

MagicScore

Frequently asked

What are the best movies like Caterpillar?

The top films similar to Caterpillar by MovieMagicScore are Men Behind the Sun (6.2), The Small Back Room (6.7), The Last Samurai (7.6). Each shares drama/war themes and is ranked by real viewer ratings, not critics or studios.

Is Caterpillar worth watching?

Caterpillar holds a MovieMagicScore of 6.3/10 from 30 viewer ratings.

What kind of movie is Caterpillar?

Caterpillar (2010) is a drama, war film directed by Kōji Wakamatsu, starring Shinobu Terajima, Keigo Kasuya, Sabu Kawahara.

Where can I find more recommendations like Caterpillar?

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 Men Behind the Sun Movies like The Small Back Room Movies like The Last Samurai Movies like Her Love Boils Bathwater Movies like Come and See Movies like The Round Up

About movies like Caterpillar

This ranked list pairs Caterpillar (2010), a drama and war film from Kōji Wakamatsu, with similar titles by genre, theme and cast overlap (fans of Shinobu Terajima 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.

← Back to Caterpillar