Social realism/Inner Struggle (all genres)
by alexanliakou | created - 25 Feb 2021 | updated - 25 Feb 2021 | PublicMovies reflecting society, the human condition and their dialectics
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1. Capernaum (2018)
R | 126 min | Drama
While serving a five-year sentence for a violent crime, a 12-year-old boy sues his parents for neglect.
Director: Nadine Labaki | Stars: Zain Al Rafeea, Yordanos Shiferaw, Boluwatife Treasure Bankole, Kawsar Al Haddad
Votes: 105,572 | Gross: $1.66M
2. Ratcatcher (1999)
Not Rated | 94 min | Drama
A naïve young lad navigates the dirty squalid streets of 1973 Glasgow and the poor youth around him.
Director: Lynne Ramsay | Stars: Tommy Flanagan, Mandy Matthews, William Eadie, Michelle Stewart
Votes: 11,792 | Gross: $0.22M
3. Dheepan (2015)
R | 115 min | Crime, Drama
Dheepan is a Sri Lankan Tamil warrior who flees to France and ends up working as a caretaker outside Paris.
Director: Jacques Audiard | Stars: Jesuthasan Antonythasan, Kalieaswari Srinivasan, Claudine Vinasithamby, Vincent Rottiers
Votes: 16,825 | Gross: $0.25M
4. La haine (1995)
Not Rated | 98 min | Crime, Drama
24 hours in the lives of three young men in the French suburbs the day after a violent riot.
Director: Mathieu Kassovitz | Stars: Vincent Cassel, Hubert Koundé, Saïd Taghmaoui, Abdel Ahmed Ghili
Votes: 196,695 | Gross: $0.31M
5. The Fool (II) (2014)
116 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Dima Nikitin is an ordinary honest plumber who suddenly decides to face the corrupt system of local politics in order to save the lives of 800 inhabitants of an old dormitory, which is about to collapse.
Director: Yuriy Bykov | Stars: Artyom Bystrov, Natalya Surkova, Yuriy Tsurilo, Boris Nevzorov
Votes: 16,444
6. Shoplifters (2018)
R | 121 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
On the margins of Tokyo, a dysfunctional band of outsiders are united by loyalty, a penchant for petty theft and playful grifting. When the young son is arrested, secrets are exposed that upend their tenuous, below-the-radar existence.
Director: Kore-eda Hirokazu | Stars: Lily Franky, Sakura Andô, Kirin Kiki, Mayu Matsuoka
Votes: 86,538 | Gross: $3.31M
7. Wadjda (2012)
PG | 98 min | Comedy, Drama
An enterprising Saudi girl signs on for her school's Koran recitation competition as a way to raise the remaining funds she needs in order to buy the green bicycle that has captured her interest.
Director: Haifaa Al-Mansour | Stars: Waad Mohammed, Reem Abdullah, Abdullrahman Al Gohani, Ahd
Votes: 21,488 | Gross: $1.35M
8. The Kid with a Bike (2011)
PG-13 | 87 min | Drama
Abandoned by his father, a young boy is left in a state-run youth farm. In a random act of kindness, the town hairdresser agrees to foster him on weekends.
Directors: Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne | Stars: Thomas Doret, Cécile de France, Jérémie Renier, Fabrizio Rongione
Votes: 28,654 | Gross: $1.38M
9. The Florida Project (2017)
R | 111 min | Drama
Set over one summer, the film follows precocious six-year-old Moonee as she courts mischief and adventure with her ragtag playmates and bonds with her rebellious but caring mother, all while living in the shadows of Walt Disney World.
Director: Sean Baker | Stars: Brooklynn Prince, Bria Vinaite, Willem Dafoe, Christopher Rivera
Votes: 128,533 | Gross: $5.90M
10. The Angels' Share (2012)
R | 101 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
Narrowly avoiding jail, new dad Robbie vows to turn over a new leaf. A visit to a whisky distillery inspires him and his mates to seek a way out of their hopeless lives.
Director: Ken Loach | Stars: Paul Brannigan, John Henshaw, Roger Allam, Gary Maitland
Votes: 27,025 | Gross: $0.30M
11. Sorry We Missed You (2019)
Not Rated | 101 min | Drama
Hoping that self-employment through gig economy can solve their financial woes, a hard-up UK delivery driver and his wife struggling to raise a family end up trapped in the vicious circle of this modern-day form of labour exploitation.
Director: Ken Loach | Stars: Kris Hitchen, Debbie Honeywood, Rhys Mcgowan, Katie Proctor
Votes: 25,872
12. Taxi (III) (2015)
Not Rated | 82 min | Comedy, Drama
Banned from making movies by the Iranian government, Jafar Panahi poses as a taxi driver and makes a movie about social challenges in Iran.
Director: Jafar Panahi | Stars: Jafar Panahi, Nasrin Sotoudeh
Votes: 16,550 | Gross: $0.32M
13. Paradise: Faith (2012)
Unrated | 115 min | Drama
A single woman in her 50s devotes her vacations to doing Catholic missionary work in Vienna, descending into violent self-punishment as part of her faith.
Director: Ulrich Seidl | Stars: Maria Hofstätter, Nabil Saleh, René Rupnik, Natalija Baranova
Votes: 5,164 | Gross: $0.01M
14. Paradise: Love (2012)
Unrated | 120 min | Drama
Teresa, a fifty-year-old Austrian mother, travels to the paradise of the beaches of Kenya, seeking out love from African boys. But she must confront the hard truth that on the beaches of Kenya, love is a business.
Director: Ulrich Seidl | Stars: Margarete Tiesel, Peter Kazungu, Inge Maux, Dunja Sowinetz
Votes: 10,038 | Gross: $0.02M
15. Paradise: Hope (2013)
Unrated | 92 min | Drama
The final installment in Ulrich Seidl's Paradise trilogy, 'Paradise: Hope' tells the story of overweight thirteen-year-old Melanie and her first love. While her mother travels to Kenya ('... See full summary »
Director: Ulrich Seidl | Stars: Melanie Lenz, Verena Lehbauer, Joseph Lorenz, Michael Thomas
Votes: 4,998 | Gross: $0.01M
16. Closeness (2017)
118 min | Drama
In the late-1990s squalid town of Nalchik, a poor young Jewish couple is kidnapped and a grievous ransom is demanded, as bitter resentments and cruel dilemmas come to light, magnifying the small community's grave predicament.
Director: Kantemir Balagov | Stars: Darya Zhovner, Atrem Cipin, Nazir Zhukov, Veniamin Kac
Votes: 3,298
17. Submarino (2010)
Not Rated | 105 min | Drama
Two brothers meet at their mother's funeral, each in his way on a path of self-destruction, both haunted by a tragedy in their youth.
Director: Thomas Vinterberg | Stars: Gustav Fischer Kjærulff, Sebastian Bull, Mads Broe Andersen, Jakob Cedergren
Votes: 11,598
18. A Separation (2011)
PG-13 | 123 min | Drama
A married couple are faced with a difficult decision - to improve the life of their child by moving to another country or to stay in Iran and look after a deteriorating parent who has Alzheimer's disease.
Director: Asghar Farhadi | Stars: Payman Maadi, Leila Hatami, Sareh Bayat, Shahab Hosseini
Votes: 258,695 | Gross: $7.10M
19. The Salesman (2016)
PG-13 | 124 min | Drama, Thriller
While Ranaa and Emad, a married couple, are participating in a production of "Death of a Salesman," she is assaulted in their new home, which leaves him determined to find the perpetrator over his wife's traumatized objections.
Director: Asghar Farhadi | Stars: Shahab Hosseini, Taraneh Alidoosti, Mina Sadati, Babak Karimi
Votes: 64,758 | Gross: $2.40M
20. Tangerines (2013)
Not Rated | 87 min | Drama, War
In 1992, war rages in Abkhazia, a breakaway region of Georgia. An Estonian man, Ivo, has decided to stay behind and harvest his crops of tangerines. In a bloody conflict at his door, a wounded man is left behind, and Ivo takes him in.
Director: Zaza Urushadze | Stars: Lembit Ulfsak, Elmo Nüganen, Giorgi Nakashidze, Misha Meskhi
Votes: 49,024 | Gross: $0.14M
21. Godless (2016)
99 min | Drama
A nurse traffics the ID cards of demented patients on the black market of identity theft. Driven by easy cash, and an addiction to morphine, she struggles to keep tabs on her emotional void, and a growing fear of punishment.
Director: Ralitza Petrova | Stars: Irena Ivanova, Ventzislav Konstantinov, Svezhen Mladenov, Ivan Nalbantov
Votes: 713
22. Parasite (2019)
R | 132 min | Drama, Thriller
Greed and class discrimination threaten the newly-formed symbiotic relationship between the wealthy Park family and the destitute Kim clan.
Director: Bong Joon Ho | Stars: Song Kang-ho, Lee Sun-kyun, Cho Yeo-jeong, Choi Woo-sik
Votes: 961,071 | Gross: $53.37M
23. Turtles Can Fly (2004)
PG-13 | 98 min | Drama, War
Near the Iraqi-Turkish border on the eve of an American invasion, refugee children like 13-year-old Kak (Ebrahim), gauge and await their fate.
Director: Bahman Ghobadi | Stars: Soran Ebrahim, Avaz Latif, Saddam Hossein Feysal, Hiresh Feysal Rahman
Votes: 20,768 | Gross: $0.26M
24. Tyrannosaur (2011)
Not Rated | 92 min | Drama
Joseph, a man plagued by violence and a rage that is driving him to self-destruction, earns a chance of redemption that appears in the form of Hannah, a Christian charity shop worker.
Director: Paddy Considine | Stars: Peter Mullan, Archie Lal, Jag Sanghera, Mike Fearnley
Votes: 33,786 | Gross: $0.02M
25. Pretty Village, Pretty Flame (1996)
115 min | Drama, History, War
During the war in Bosnia, two childhood friends eventually become enemies, as the tragic and devastating circumstances of the war put them on the opposite sides and expose the most gruesome and cruel aspects of the human nature.
Director: Srdjan Dragojevic | Stars: Dragan Bjelogrlic, Nikola Kojo, Dragan Maksimovic, Zoran Cvijanovic
Votes: 17,777
26. Western (2017)
Unrated | 121 min | Drama
German construction workers building a dam near a Bulgarian village interact with the locals, and soon the troubles arise both with the locals and among themselves.
Director: Valeska Grisebach | Stars: Meinhard Neumann, Reinhardt Wetrek, Syuleyman Alilov Letifov, Veneta Fragnova
Votes: 4,302 | Gross: $0.04M
27. Bænken (2000)
93 min | Drama
Kaj is an alcoholic living on the money the Danish state is providing him. Him and his friends spend their time drinking beer at a public bench. One day Kaj's life turns upside down when a young lady and her child moves in next to him.
Director: Per Fly | Stars: Jesper Christensen, Marius Sonne Janischefska, Stine Holm Joensen, Nicolaj Kopernikus
Votes: 4,431
28. Corpus Christi (2019)
Unrated | 115 min | Drama
Daniel experiences a spiritual transformation in a detention center. Although his criminal record prevents him from applying to the seminary, he has no intention of giving up his dream and decides to minister a small-town parish.
Director: Jan Komasa | Stars: Bartosz Bielenia, Aleksandra Konieczna, Eliza Rycembel, Tomasz Zietek
Votes: 21,913
29. This Is England (2006)
Not Rated | 101 min | Crime, Drama
A young boy becomes friends with a gang of skinheads. Friends soon become like family, and relationships will be pushed to the very limit.
Director: Shane Meadows | Stars: Thomas Turgoose, Stephen Graham, Jo Hartley, Andrew Shim
Votes: 128,785 | Gross: $0.33M
30. Naked (1993)
Not Rated | 131 min | Comedy, Drama
An unemployed Mancunian vents his rage on unsuspecting strangers as he embarks on a nocturnal London odyssey.
Director: Mike Leigh | Stars: David Thewlis, Lesley Sharp, Katrin Cartlidge, Greg Cruttwell
Votes: 43,983 | Gross: $1.77M
31. Half Nelson (2006)
R | 106 min | Drama
An inner-city junior high school teacher with a drug habit forms an unlikely friendship with one of his students after she discovers his secret.
Director: Ryan Fleck | Stars: Ryan Gosling, Anthony Mackie, Shareeka Epps, Jeff Lima
Votes: 92,002 | Gross: $2.69M
32. A Prophet (2009)
R | 155 min | Crime, Drama
A delinquent Muslim man struggles to get by in prison until he is taken under the wing of a powerful mob boss. But his gradual rise through the mob's ranks brings him in conflict with his mentor.
Director: Jacques Audiard | Stars: Tahar Rahim, Niels Arestrup, Adel Bencherif, Reda Kateb
Votes: 102,223 | Gross: $2.08M
33. Accattone (1961)
Not Rated | 117 min | Drama
A pimp with no other means to provide for himself finds his life spiraling out of control when his prostitute is sent to prison.
Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini | Stars: Franco Citti, Franca Pasut, Silvana Corsini, Paola Guidi
Votes: 10,165
34. Leviathan (2014)
R | 140 min | Crime, Drama
In a Russian coastal town, Kolya is forced to fight the corrupt mayor when he is told that his house will be demolished. He recruits a lawyer friend to help, but the man's arrival brings further misfortune for Kolya and his family.
Director: Andrey Zvyagintsev | Stars: Aleksey Serebryakov, Elena Lyadova, Roman Madyanov, Vladimir Vdovichenkov
Votes: 56,934 | Gross: $1.09M
35. Elena (2011)
Not Rated | 109 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
When a sudden illness and an unexpected reunion threaten dutiful housewife Elena's potential inheritance, she must hatch a desperate plan ...
Director: Andrey Zvyagintsev | Stars: Nadezhda Markina, Andrey Smirnov, Aleksey Rozin, Elena Lyadova
Votes: 15,221 | Gross: $0.02M
36. Ye che (2007)
94 min | Drama
Wu Hongyan is a young woman working as a prison guard during executions of female convicts. She feels lonely after her husband died, and she takes a night train to another city to visit a ... See full summary »
Director: Yi'nan Diao | Stars: Rongcai Fu, Chao Ji, Dan Liu, Shudi Liu
Votes: 679
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