Movies like Wielki bieg
If you like "Wielki bieg" you are looking for historical drama, tense and poignant movies about / with race, manipulation, propaganda, betrayal, corruption, marathon and power struggle themes of Drama genre shot in Poland.
Find your next favorite and similar movies in two steps:
1. Identify all themes of interest from this film (block below).
2. Look for them in the presented list.
Wielki bieg (1987)
108
Genre: Drama
Country: Poland
Duration: 99 min.
Story:
Set in 1952, the story follows events around the "Peace Run", a propaganda 3-day marathon for peace. The winner is to be presented with a new motorcycle by the country's president. Chief organizer is a ruthless manipulator who will stop at nothing to make sure that the right man wins. There are two runners, Budny and Stolar, who are participating in the race for different reasons.
Style:
historical drama, tense, poignant, grim, satirical
Plot:
race, manipulation, propaganda, betrayal, corruption, marathon, power struggle, oppression, irony, tragedy, resistance, political satire, sabotage, frustration, moral ambiguity, cold war era, anti communist, opportunism, character study, underdog, public humiliation, athletics, male nudity, renaissance, stalinism ...
Time:
1950s, 50s
Place:
poland, eastern europe
Movie in categories
Most similar movies to Wielki bieg
The list contains related movies ordered by similarity. Recommendation engine sorted out tense, bleak, period piece and historical drama films with plots about moral ambiguity, character study, betrayal, corruption, power struggle, resistance and manipulation mostly in Drama, Music and Comedy genres. Some movies like Wielki bieg: 30 Door Key (1991), The Constant Factor (1980), Sunday Pranks (1983), Die Chance (1979), Dirty Hands (1989). The matching attributes are highlighted in bold.
Genre: Drama
Country: Poland, UK, France
Duration: 90 min.
Story:
A young writer in 1939 Warsaw faces the conflict of acting his age or relapsing into childhood during the brink of World War II. Based on the famous novel Ferdydurke by Witold Gombrowicz.
Style:
thought provoking, art house, dark comedy, tragicomedy, avant garde ...
Plot:
renaissance, identity crisis, literary, surrealism, satire, coming of age, loss of innocence, alienation, isolation, existentialism, teacher, boarding school ...
Time:
1930s
Place:
warsaw poland, eastern europe, poland
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Drama
Country: Poland
Duration: 87 min.
Story:
The main character in this effective, convincing drama is Witold (Tadeusz Bradecki) who is high in what later would be termed the "emotional quotient" or the ability to bounce back from adverse, tragic circumstances. Witold has been ...
Style:
existential, melancholic, bleak, intellectual, tragic
Plot:
corruption, grief, character study, moral dilemma, family drama, existential crisis, bureaucracy, frustration, social realism, betrayal, class struggle, anti hero ...
Time:
year 1980
Place:
eastern europe, poland, himalaya
Similarity:
49%
Genre: Drama
Country: Poland
Duration: 60 min.
Story:
Made in 1983, shelved for four years. A chilling tale about kids playing in a bombed-out Warsaw courtyard on the day of Stalin's death, while their parents are away at the church or a memorial procession.
Style:
grim, bleak, period piece
Plot:
bullying, stalinism, communism, childhood, innocence lost, cruelty, totalitarianism, post war, fear, irony, oppression, anti semitism ...
Time:
1950s, 50s
Place:
warsaw poland, poland, eastern europe
Similarity:
49%
Genre: Drama
Country: Poland
Duration: 87 min.
Story:
Jerzy Stuhr plays a high school teacher with a sensitive outlook on life and a soft spot for students who like art and literature as passionately as he does. His adversary is a possessed sports instructor, gaining growing control over the students ...
Style:
tense, melancholic, satirical
Plot:
school, teacher student relationship, peer pressure, moral ambiguity, character study, social satire, coming of age, machismo, intimidation, new teacher, director, team ...
Time:
70s
Place:
poland
Similarity:
42%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama
Country: Finland
Duration: 68 min.
Story:
A political drama set in the fictional country of Illyria between 1943 and 1945, the story is about the assassination of a leading politician. The country, an ally of Nazi Germany, is on the verge of being annexed to the Eastern Bloc. ...
Style:
intellectual, bleak, philosophical, suspenseful, tense ...
Audience:
adult
Plot:
assassination, political intrigue, moral ambiguity, ethical dilemma, power struggle, ambition, conspiracy, betrayal, character study, manipulation, adaptation, propaganda ...
Time:
1940s
Similarity:
42%
Genre: Drama
Country: Poland
Duration: 73 min.
Story:
Kieślowski’s study of a political strike, controversially told from the viewpoint of a Communist functionary trying to keep order.
Style:
historical drama, period piece, serious, intense, educational ...
Plot:
working class, violence, civil unrest, character study, cold war era, social realism, ethical dilemma, bureaucracy, renaissance, political party, government, clerk ...
Time:
70s
Place:
poland, eastern europe
Similarity:
36%
Genre: Drama
Country: Poland
Duration: 110 min.
Story:
A story about a young jockey dreaming of a sports career. These dreams culminate in the most important event in Poland — The Great Warsaw Race. Krzysiek enters the horse-racing world with the naivety of a novice and enthusiast. Only after some ...
Style:
emotional, inspirational, tense, melancholic, ambiguous ending ...
Plot:
corruption, horse race, jockey, coming of age, sacrifice, moral dilemma, ambition, moral corruption, character study, underdog, betrayal, idealism ...
Place:
poland, warsaw poland
Similarity:
35%
Genre: Drama, Music
Country: Poland
Duration: 96 min.
Story:
Set in 1952, film tells the story of young musicians playing - then forbidden - jazz music in basements and attics around Poland. The group hires itself to social parties, youth dances, etc, each time waiting for the management to disappear in order ...
Style:
historical drama, emotional
Plot:
jazz, musician, radio station, police chase, youth culture, improv, subculture, friendship, teenager, resistance, community, rebellion ...
Time:
1950s, 50s
Place:
poland, eastern europe
Similarity:
34%
Movie in collections
519
Genre: Drama
Country: South Korea
Duration: 130 min.
Story:
For the first time in Korean history, the mayor of Seoul attempts a third term in office, with his entire campaign team ready to soil their hands.
Style:
psychological, captivating, political, disturbing, political thriller ...
Plot:
politics, election campaign, ambition, mayor, corruption, political intrigue, election, political candidate, political campaign, political unrest, intrigue, political leader ...
Place:
seoul, korea
Similarity:
34%
Genre: Drama
Country: Chile
Duration: 75 min.
Story:
A foreign journalist arrives on a small Pacific island 200 miles off the coast of South America. Once a leper colony, the island was later transformed into a prison and then, under U.N. mandate, made into an independent republic. Yet despite ...
Style:
satirical, grim, cynical, bleak, surreal ...
Plot:
prison, journalist, torture, island, dictatorship, oppression, authoritarianism, repression, propaganda, human rights, totalitarianism, manipulation ...
Place:
latin america, chile
Similarity:
34%
Genre: Drama
Country: Soviet Union, Colombia
Duration: 140 min.
Story:
A man wants to flee wartime Germany and the detested Nazis to Columbia, where his brother lives. In order to achieve his goal he agrees to become an informer for the Reich.
Style:
historical drama, period piece, dark, bleak, tense ...
Plot:
world war two, betrayal, nazism, ethical dilemma, moral ambiguity, tragedy, guilt, survival, totalitarianism, collaboration, compromise, conscience ...
Time:
1940s
Place:
colombia
Similarity:
31%
Genre: Drama
Country: Canada, UK, West Germany
Duration: 99 min.
Story:
A construction conglomerate, headed by a ruthless millionaire, wants to buy a ski resort that has been a family business for years, but the family does not want to sell. The businessman resolves to get the property, whether they want to sell it or ...
Style:
suspense, action thriller, tense, tension, dramatic ...
Plot:
mountain, ski resort, corporate greed, greed, hostile takeover, skiing, manipulation, power struggle, resistance, family business, confrontation, revenge ...
Time:
80s
Place:
canada
Similarity:
30%
Genre: Drama
Country: Poland
Duration: 103 min.
Story:
Ewa is a reporter. Using her feminine charms and other means she is trying to become a journalist on a Warsaw weekly popular magazine. She hopes to become political interviewer of personalities and state leaders. On her way up the ladder she trips ...
Style:
period piece
Plot:
reporter, ambition, ethical dilemma, female protagonist, journalism, character study, ambitious woman, obsession, social climbing, manipulation, moral ambiguity, downfall ...
Time:
80s
Place:
warsaw poland, eastern europe, poland, rome italy
Similarity:
29%
Genre: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 120 min.
Story:
Drama - The mystery surrounding the disappearance 12 year-old King Edward V and his brother Richard, Duke of York, has been the cause of speculation and fascination for over five centuries. In 1491, eight years after the Princes in the Tower were ...
Style:
historical drama, tense, dramatic, suspense, atmospheric ...
Plot:
tudors, royalty, impostor, political intrigue, medieval, betrayal, power struggle, monarch, identity crisis, palace, conspiracy, character study ...
Time:
16th century, 15th century
Place:
england
Similarity:
28%
Genre: Drama
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 75 min.
Story:
A young boy loses his innocence in a pre-perestroika Russian prison during the chaotic last months of the Khrushchev regime.
Style:
bleak, psychological, grim, historical drama, existential ...
Audience:
teen drama
Plot:
coming of age, prison, stalinism, perestroika, brutality, gay, torture, sadism, trauma, survival, violence, authoritarianism ...
Time:
60s
Place:
eastern europe, soviet union, ussr
Similarity:
27%
Genre: Drama
Country: Poland
Duration: 92 min.
Story:
An actress travels from Warsaw to Paris and during the trip reflects on the last few years of her life. It goes back to the German occupation and her hiding of a fellow actor who has supposedly killed a collaborator. He is weak and a bit cowardly, ...
Style:
reflective, bleak, melancholic, dramatic, road movie ...
Plot:
world war two, identity, theater, flashback, actress, nazi occupation, suicide, guilt, female protagonist, survival, moral ambiguity, tragedy ...
Time:
1940s
Place:
warsaw poland, paris france, poland, eastern europe
Similarity:
27%
Genre: Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 239 min.
Story:
Richard Duke of Gloucester, youngest brother of King Edward IV, will stop at nothing to get the crown. He first convinces the ailing King that the Duke of Clarence, his elder brother, is a threat to the lives of Edward's two young sons. Edward ...
Style:
historical drama, period piece, dark, bleak, grim ...
Plot:
shakespeare, royal family, royalty, murder, ambition, betrayal, political intrigue, power struggle, manipulation, tragedy, conspiracy, adaptation ...
Time:
15th century
Similarity:
27%
Genre: Drama
Country: Denmark
Duration: 80 min.
Story:
Julie is a young tennis star who falls in love with his trainer - because she yearns for love and because she wants to liberate themselves from the ambitions which the father has on her behalf. Birgitte Hjort Sørensen has a conflict and fragile ...
Style:
dramatic, tense, tragic ending, dark, art house ...
Plot:
power struggle, forbidden romance, class conflict, father daughter conflict, character study, sexual tension, female protagonist, manipulation, tragic romance, emotional breakdown, adaptation, intimate ...
Place:
denmark, scandinavia
Similarity:
25%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama
Country: Poland
Duration: 94 min.
Story:
Directed by Henryk Kluba
Style:
realistic, tense, serious, bleak, dramatic ...
Plot:
rebellion, political conflict, resistance, post war, oppression, power struggle, working class, authoritarianism, class struggle, sawmill, mountain village, confrontation ...
Place:
poland
Similarity:
25%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 168 min.
Story:
Artists, Poets, Writers, Musicians, and Dissidents, Husbands and Wives, in the Marxist USSR GULAG camps of Barashevo and Vorkuta, suffer in and survive their Gulag death camps. It is a ultimately a spiritual struggle.
Style:
emotional, period piece, historical drama, grim, spiritual
Plot:
gulag, dissident, love, survival, prisoner of war camp, repression, genocide, escape, resistance, political persecution, communism, oppression ...
Place:
soviet union, ussr
Similarity:
25%
706
Genre: Drama
Country: Hungary
Duration: 110 min.
Story:
Young honest public official is sworn in after his predecessor had to leave due to a corruption scandal. Soon, the young idealist discovers just how far-reaching the corruption is in his town and how easy it is to become corrupt yourself.
Style:
serious, thought provoking, tension, intense, grim ...
Plot:
corruption, moral ambiguity, moral dilemma, idealism, power struggle, frustration, compromise, ethics, small town, bureaucracy, character study, rise and fall ...
Time:
21st century
Similarity:
25%
Genre: Drama
Country: India
Duration: 119 min.
Story:
Two Koothu artistes become pawns in a political power game and are falsely implicated in a drug smuggling case. For how long can they evade a determined police hunt?
Style:
captivating, psychological, thrilling, crime thriller, intense ...
Plot:
fight, problem, political conspiracy, political candidate, political intrigue, political activist, politics, political campaign, political unrest, fighting the system, political activism, corruption ...
Place:
india
Similarity:
25%
Genre: Drama
Country: Serbia
Duration: 98 min.
Story:
Black Horses is a film about the destiny of Serbian people who are forced to endure the "rule from the North" against their will. The empress Maria Theresia has designated their region of Banat to be the dungeon for insubordinate citizens ...
Style:
historical drama, bleak, period piece, dramatic, melancholic ...
Plot:
national identity, social injustice, identity crisis, moral dilemma, oppression, occupation, nationalism, ethnic conflict, class conflict, resistance, betrayal, revenge
Similarity:
25%
Movie in collections
394
Genre: Drama
Country: Poland
Duration: 115 min.
Story:
A little known episode from the life of Stalinist security police office Julia Brystiger. Her nickname Bloody Luna was a reference to her incredibly brutal methods of interrogation. In the early 1960s, she appears in a centre for the blind on the ...
Style:
psychological, political, thrilling, captivating, suspenseful ...
Plot:
stalinism, torture, catholic, character study, biopic, faith, physical torture, problem, male female relationship, abuse of power, interrogation, totalitarianism ...
Time:
60s
Place:
poland, eastern europe
Similarity:
25%
254
Genre: Drama
Country: Poland
Duration: 114 min.
Story:
Bearing traces of the old Anton Chekhov play The Wedding, The Contract is set during an "arranged" ceremony. The bride and groom barely know each other, but this matters not at all to their tradition-bound families. At the last minute, the ...
Style:
family saga, tense, melancholic
Plot:
wedding, corruption, hypocrisy, character study, emotional breakdown, suicide attempt, arranged marriage, satire, ballerina, villa, bureaucracy, intimate ...
Time:
year 1980
Place:
eastern europe
Similarity:
25%
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 97 min.
Story:
The film starts in the 1970s and is the story of a SAVAK's member (Reza Attaran) who involves in many different adventures and challenges.
Style:
political thriller, historical drama, suspenseful, allegory, intense ...
Audience:
adult
Plot:
political repression, authoritarianism, oppression, social realism, character study, corruption, moral ambiguity, power struggle, espionage, police procedural, conspiracy, bureaucracy ...
Time:
70s
Place:
iran, tehran, persia
Similarity:
25%
Genre: Drama
Country: India
Duration: 135 min.
Story:
Sequel of 2014's Political Drama "Prathinidhi".
Style:
political thriller, suspense, intense, tense, dark ...
Audience:
adult
Plot:
political scandal, corruption, whistleblower, power struggle, suspicion, investigation, conspiracy, justice, investigative journalism, moral ambiguity, betrayal, urban ...
Similarity:
25%
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Country: Australia
Duration: 78 min.
Story:
Shakespeare's forgotten masterpiece of a good man in an evil world.
Style:
dark, bleak, thought provoking, philosophical, costume drama ...
Audience:
adult
Plot:
shakespeare, character study, literary, power struggle, corruption, palace intrigue, moral ambiguity, tragedy, frustration, manipulation, betrayal, ancient rome ...
Similarity:
23%
Genre: Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 265 min.
Story:
For fans of history, this glimpse of Munich society in the 1920s will be a much-treasured event. The story revolves around an art-gallery manager who puts on a show featuring the scandalous works of a woman artist who committed suicide. He is ...
Style:
bleak, historical drama, period piece, melancholic, atmospheric ...
Plot:
injustice, false accusation, art gallery, tragedy, moral dilemma, political unrest, scandal, imprisonment, corruption, class conflict, bureaucracy, underdog ...
Time:
1920s
Place:
munich germany
Similarity:
23%
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 131 min.
Story:
The main character is a man named Takashi Morioka, who has lost his job and his home due to a recession. He ends up falling into a trap set by the diabolical Yuki Michio, who happened to survive by chance an incident on an island 16 years ago where ...
Style:
tense, suspense, psychological thriller, captivating, psychological ...
Plot:
delivery man, breaking the law, financial problem, delivery, choice, money problems, deal, family in danger, ethical dilemma, coercion, moral ambiguity, manipulation ...
Similarity:
23%
Related movie lists
