Movies Like Cold Case Hammarskjöld (2019)

Cold Case Hammarskjöld is a 2019 documentary, history film from Mads Brügger with a MovieMagicScore of 6.7/10. Here are 20 similar films, ranked by real viewer ratings — starting with Zulu and Invictus.

Documentary History

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

#10

A World Apart

1988

A White enclave in Johannesburg, South Africa, in the 1960s. Molly Roth, 13 years old, is the daughter of leftist parents, and she must piece together what's happening around her when her father disappears one night, barely evading arrest, and, not long after, her mother is detained by the authorities. Some of Molly's White friends turn against her, and her family's friendships with Blacks take on new meaning. Relationships are fragile in the world of apartheid. How will she manage?

6.3

MagicScore

#11

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

#12

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

#13

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

#14

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

#15

Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat

2024

Jazz and decolonization are intertwined in a powerful narrative that recounts one of the tensest episodes of the Cold War. In 1960, the UN became the stage for a political earthquake as the struggle for independence in the Congo put the world on high alert. The newly independent nation faced its first coup d'état, orchestrated by Western forces and Belgium, which were reluctant to relinquish control over their resource-rich former colony. The US tried to divert attention by sending jazz ambassador Louis Armstrong to the African continent. In 1961, Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba was brutally assassinated, silencing a key voice in the fight against colonialism; his death was facilitated by Belgian and CIA operatives. Musicians Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach took action, denouncing imperialism and structural racism. Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev intensified his criticism of the US, highlighting the racial barriers that characterized American society.

7.6

MagicScore

#16

The Hour of the Furnaces

1968

An impassioned three-part documentary of the liberation struggle waged throughout Latin America, using Argentina as a historical example of the imperialist exploitation of the continent. Part I: Neo-Colonialism and Violence is a historical, geographic, and economic analysis of Argentina. Part II: An Act For Liberation examines the ten-year reign of Juan Perón (1945-55) and the activities of the Peronist movement after his fall from power. Part III: Violence and Liberation studies the role of violence in the national liberation process and constitutes a call for action.

7.1

MagicScore

#17

I Am Not a Witch

2017

Convicted of witchcraft, 8-year-old Shula is brought to live in a penal colony where witches do hard labour in service of the government.

6.7

MagicScore

#18

Palm Trees in the Snow

2015

Spain, 2003. An accidental discovery leads Clarence to travel from the snowy mountains of Huesca to Equatorial Guinea, to visit the land where her father Jacobo and her uncle Kilian spent most of their youth, the island of Fernando Poo.

7.4

MagicScore

#19

The Red Sea Diving Resort

2019

Sudan, East Africa, 1980. A team of Israeli Mossad agents plans to rescue and transfer thousands of Ethiopian Jews to Israel. To do so, and to avoid raising suspicions from the inquisitive and ruthless authorities, they establish as a cover a fake diving resort by the Red Sea.

6.8

MagicScore

#20

This Magnificent Cake!

2018

In 1885, Africa is a succulent cake destined to be wildly divided and everyone wants a piece. A disturbed European king, a Pygmy working in a luxury hotel, a successful but lonely businessman, an enslaved porter, a young army deserter, a ghostly clarinetist. Some benefit from colonialism and greed. Others suffer racism and violence.

6.6

MagicScore

Frequently asked

What are the best movies like Cold Case Hammarskjöld?

The top films similar to Cold Case Hammarskjöld by MovieMagicScore are Zulu (6.7), Invictus (7.2), Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (6.9). Each shares documentary/history themes and is ranked by real viewer ratings, not critics or studios.

Is Cold Case Hammarskjöld worth watching?

Cold Case Hammarskjöld holds a MovieMagicScore of 6.7/10 from 41 viewer ratings.

What kind of movie is Cold Case Hammarskjöld?

Cold Case Hammarskjöld (2019) is a documentary, history film directed by Mads Brügger, starring Mads Brügger, Clarinah Mfengu, Saphir Wenzi Mabanza.

Where can I find more recommendations like Cold Case Hammarskjöld?

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 Zulu Movies like Invictus Movies like Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom Movies like Goodbye Bafana Movies like The Bang Bang Club Movies like Cry Freedom

About movies like Cold Case Hammarskjöld

This ranked list pairs Cold Case Hammarskjöld (2019), a documentary and history film from Mads Brügger, with similar titles by genre, theme and cast overlap (fans of Mads Brügger 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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