Movies Like Turtles Can Fly (2005)

Turtles Can Fly is a 2005 drama film from Bahman Ghobadi with a MovieMagicScore of 7.7/10. Here are 20 similar films, ranked by real viewer ratings — starting with Redacted and War Witch.

Drama

Redacted

2007

A fictional documentary discusses the effects the Iraq war has had on soldiers and local people through interviews with members of an American military unit, the media, and local Iraqis.

6.0

MagicScore

War Witch

2012

Somewhere in Sub-Saharan Africa, Komona a 14-year-old girl tells her unborn child growing inside her the story of her life since she has been at war. Everything started when she was abducted by the rebel army at the age of 12.

6.6

MagicScore

Antonia's Line

1995

After World War II, Antonia and her daughter, Danielle, go back to their Dutch hometown, where Antonia's late mother has bestowed a small farm upon her. There, Antonia settles down and joins a tightly-knit but unusual community. Those around her include quirky friend Crooked Finger, would-be suitor Bas and, eventually for Antonia, a granddaughter and great-granddaughter who help create a strong family of empowered women.

6.9

MagicScore

Beasts of No Nation

2015

Based on the experiences of Agu, a child fighting in the civil war of an unnamed, fictional West African country. Follows Agu's journey as he's forced to join a group of soldiers. While he fears his commander and many of the men around him, his fledgling childhood has been brutally shattered by the war raging through his country, and he is at first torn between conflicting revulsion and fascination.

7.6

MagicScore

Mine

2016

After a failed assassination attempt, a soldier finds himself stranded in the desert. Exposed to the elements, he must survive the dangers of the desert and battle the psychological and physical toll of the treacherous conditions.

6.6

MagicScore

Piégé

2014

A soldier is stuck in a combat zone after stepping on a mine.

4.4

MagicScore

Landmine Goes Click

2015

After an American tourist steps on a landmine, he is forced to watch his girlfriend get assaulted.

5.5

MagicScore

Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport

2000

In the nine months prior to World War II, 10.000 innocent children left behind their families, their homes, their childhood, and took the journey... to Britain to escape the Nazi Holocaust.

7.4

MagicScore

The Hurt Locker

2008

During the Iraq War, a Sergeant recently assigned to an army bomb squad is put at odds with his squad mates due to his maverick way of handling his work.

7.3

MagicScore

#10

Westfront 1918

1930

A group of German infantrymen of the First World War live out their lives in the trenches of France. They find brief entertainment and relief in a village behind the lines, but primarily terror fills their lives as the attacks on and from the French army ebb and flow. One of the men, Karl, goes home on leave only to discover the degradation forced on his family by wartime poverty. He returns to the lines in time to face an enormous attack by French tanks.

6.6

MagicScore

#11

The Wall

2017

An American sniper and his spotter engage in a deadly cat-and-mouse game with an Iraqi sniper.

6.4

MagicScore

#12

The Mark of Cain

2007

After a bomb kills their company commander in Iraq, British soldiers Treacle and Shane are ordered to round up suspects and use torture on the detainees. Back home, the press gets the story and the pair achieves instant infamy.

5.2

MagicScore

#13

The Notebook

2013

In a village on the Hungarian border, two young brothers grow up during war time with their cruel grandmother and must learn every trick of evil to survive in the absurd world of adults.

6.5

MagicScore

#14

A Bridge Too Far

1977

The story of Operation Market Garden—a failed attempt by the allies in the latter stages of WWII to end the war quickly by securing three bridges in Holland allowing access over the Rhine into Germany. A combination of poor allied intelligence and the presence of two crack German panzer divisions meant that the final part of this operation (the bridge in Arnhem over the Rhine) was doomed to failure.

7.2

MagicScore

#15

The Wild Oat

1953

A small village is torn apart by a quarrel between the baker and the italian grocery tenant, mother of a pregnant young girl. She accuses the baker's son, doing his military service in Algeria, to be the father of the would be child. Offended, the baker refuses to deliver bread to the villagers standing on the mother's side.

6.7

MagicScore

#16

Standard Operating Procedure

2008

Errol Morris examines the incidents of abuse and torture of suspected terrorists at the hands of U.S. forces at the Abu Ghraib prison.

6.8

MagicScore

#17

Three Kings

1999

A group of American soldiers stationed in Iraq at the end of the Gulf War find a map they believe will take them to a huge cache of stolen Kuwaiti gold hidden near their base, and they embark on a secret mission that's destined to change everything.

6.6

MagicScore

#18

For a Lost Soldier

1992

In the occupied Netherlands near the end of WWII, a young teenager, Jeroen Boman (Maarten Smit) is sent to the Dutch countryside to avoid the war in Amsterdam. While living with his adopted family, Jeroen meets and becomes friends with a Canadian soldier named Walt Cook, who is stationed at the same town he is staying at. Joroen and Walt spend a lot of time playing around and eventually a romantic relationship develops between them. The boy’s sexual curiosity leads him to have a sexual experience with Walt, an encounter that is shown with some vague detail but without actually showing any nudity, even though sexual intimacy between the two of them is implied. Overall, the movie handles this difficult subject with an elegant style and feeling, without having the adult-child relationship overwhelm the viewer and thus allowing the movie to be seen as just a wartime relationship between two people that marks an important time in a young boy’s life.

6.7

MagicScore

#19

Tears of the Sun

2003

Navy SEAL Lieutenant A.K. Waters and his elite squadron of tactical specialists are forced to choose between their duty and their humanity, between following orders by ignoring the conflict that surrounds them, or finding the courage to follow their conscience and protect a group of innocent refugees. When the democratic government of Nigeria collapses and the country is taken over by a ruthless military dictator, Waters, a fiercely loyal and hardened veteran is dispatched on a routine mission to retrieve a Doctors Without Borders physician.

6.9

MagicScore

#20

KKN: Curse of the Dancing Village

2022

Six students were terrorized by a mysterious dancer while running a community service program in a remote village. Apparently, one of them violates the most fatal rule in the village.

5.7

MagicScore

Frequently asked

What are the best movies like Turtles Can Fly?

The top films similar to Turtles Can Fly by MovieMagicScore are Redacted (6.0), War Witch (6.6), Antonia's Line (6.9). Each shares drama themes and is ranked by real viewer ratings, not critics or studios.

Is Turtles Can Fly worth watching?

Turtles Can Fly holds a MovieMagicScore of 7.7/10 from 232 viewer ratings, putting it among the better-reviewed titles in its genre.

What kind of movie is Turtles Can Fly?

Turtles Can Fly (2005) is a drama film directed by Bahman Ghobadi, starring Soran Ebrahim, Avaz Latif, Saddam Hossein Feysal.

Where can I find more recommendations like Turtles Can Fly?

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 Redacted Movies like War Witch Movies like Antonia's Line Movies like Beasts of No Nation Movies like Mine Movies like Piégé

About movies like Turtles Can Fly

This ranked list pairs Turtles Can Fly (2005), a drama film from Bahman Ghobadi, with similar titles by genre, theme and cast overlap (fans of Soran Ebrahim 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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