Movies like Nightbreaker
If you like "Nightbreaker" you are looking for thought provoking, serious and historical drama movies about / with nuclear testing, cold war, ethical dilemma, investigation, conspiracy, conscience and guilt themes of Drama genre shot in USA.
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.
Nightbreaker (1989)
526
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min.
Story:
Dr. Alexander Brown (Martin Sheen) arrives in Las Vegas, awarded for his recent medical invention. An ex-G.I. tells Brown he was a test subject during the 1950's, exposed to atomic bomb radiation in the Nevada desert-- will Brown help the man uncover the truth? In 1950's Nevada, Brown (played by Emilio Estevez) is a young psychiatrist and a guest of the U.S. Army, where soldiers were routinely exposed to excessive radiation. The young Brown and a colleague interview soldiers, who show their ignorance and insouciance in the face of this danger. The movie intercuts scenes between the young Alexander Brown and older Alexander Brown, some thirty years after the nuclear tests. Will the decorated psychiatrist finally speak out on the atrocity he witnessed?
Style:
thought provoking, serious, historical drama, bleak, realistic, tense, period piece, tragic, political drama, f word
Plot:
nuclear testing, cold war, ethical dilemma, investigation, conspiracy, conscience, guilt, regret, whistleblower, corruption, flashback, biopic, desert, radiation, u.s. army, world war three, deception, psychiatrist, nuclear explosion, pig, atomic bomb, casino, duplicity, puppet, radiation sickness ...
Time:
1950s, 50s
Place:
las vegas, nevada
Movie in categories
Most similar movies to Nightbreaker
The list contains related movies ordered by similarity. Recommendation engine sorted out bleak, tense, serious and realistic films with plots about investigation, ethical dilemma, moral ambiguity, guilt, corruption, psychological drama and character study mostly in Drama genres. Some movies like Nightbreaker: A halálügyész (2020), 37 (2016), The Negotiator (2025), The Trial of Chaplain Jensen (1975), Vajont (2001). The matching attributes are highlighted in bold.
Genre: Drama
Country: Hungary
Duration: 70 min.
Story:
The Death Prosecutor (...) [focuses] on a significant court case in the period of the post-1956 retaliations, through the true story of a newly graduated prosecutor, Endre Grátz.
...
Style:
historical drama, tense, serious, bleak, period piece ...
Audience:
adult
Plot:
prosecutor, political repression, courtroom drama, cold war era, justice, biopic, social commentary, ethical dilemma, victimization, bureaucracy, investigation, morality ...
Time:
1950s
Place:
hungary, budapest
Similarity:
95%
706
Genre: Drama
Country: Denmark, USA
Duration: 85 min.
Story:
On a March night in 1964, 37 neighbors in Queens, New York, witness the brutal murder of Kitty Genovese. None of them takes action or calls the police. 37 tells the story of a few of these people and what led up to the night when they unexplainably ...
Style:
independent film, bleak, thought provoking, historical drama, tense ...
Plot:
apathy, guilt, moral ambiguity, social commentary, silence, character study, racial tension, neighborhood, fear, apartment building, realism, family conflict ...
Time:
60s
Place:
new york
Similarity:
74%
Genre: Drama
Country: Italy, Belgium
Duration: 108 min.
Story:
In 2005, Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena was kidnapped in Iraq by a group of terrorists. Nicola Calipari, a SISMI agent, is tasked with rescuing her, but interference from US forces in Iraq compromises the operation. Despite the difficulties, and ...
Style:
tense, suspenseful, bleak, historical drama, emotional ...
Plot:
terrorism, sacrifice, kidnapping, heroism, rescue mission, espionage, journalism, middle east conflict, betrayal, moral ambiguity, biopic, ethical dilemma ...
Time:
2000s
Place:
iraq, italy
Similarity:
74%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 73 min.
Story:
Based on a true story, this film tells the story of Chaplain Andrew Jensen, the only U.S. navy chaplain ever court-martialed on charges of adultery.
Style:
historical drama, thought provoking, serious, intense, period piece ...
Plot:
chaplain, navy, court martial, courtroom, moral dilemma, courtroom drama, reputation, scandal, character study, religion, investigation, conscience ...
Similarity:
71%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama
Country: Italy, France
Duration: 116 min.
Story:
On October 9th, 1963, at 10:39 pm, 260 million cubic meters of rock fell down from Mount Toc to the artificial lake formed by the Vajont dam, the higher dam in the world. The landslide formed a 250-meters wave and 50 million cubic meters of water ...
Style:
historical drama, suspense, captivating, thought provoking, disturbing ...
Plot:
political corruption, dam, disaster, landslide, corruption, corrupt official, tragic event, social relations, society, catastrophe, mourning, cover up ...
Time:
60s
Place:
alps
Similarity:
71%
187
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min.
Story:
Inspired by a true story about a young German woman prepares to leave her war-ravaged city to begin a new life in America with her G.I. fiance. But standing between her and a hopeful future is a relentless police inspector, determined to prevent her ...
Style:
emotional, tense, realistic, serious, historical drama ...
Plot:
haunted by the past, hidden identity, uncover truth, love and romance, dishonesty, hopes, starting over, post war, escape, female protagonist, police inspector, guilt ...
Time:
1940s, post world war two, 20th century
Similarity:
65%
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:
65%
Genre: Drama
Country: India
Duration: 135 min.
Story:
Mahindra, a 30-year-old lawyer, enjoys the peak of his personal and professional life until he takes on a controversial gang assault case. Representing the negative side leads to turmoil, as his career and love life begin to crumble under pressure.
Style:
serious, intense, suspenseful, realistic, tragic
Plot:
moral ambiguity, defense attorney, ethical dilemma, courtroom, courtroom drama, social commentary, guilt, law firm, investigation, corruption, family conflict, urban ...
Similarity:
64%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama
Country: West Germany, Norway
Duration: 115 min.
Story:
Based on a very successful play of the same name by Tankred Dorst, this film tells a story about Norwegian author Knut Hamsun (here played by O.E. Hasse), a Nobel prizewinner for literature who was notorious for having collaborated with the Nazi ...
Style:
reflective, thought provoking, serious, philosophical, historical drama ...
Plot:
world war two, guilt, memory, post war, moral ambiguity, ethical dilemma, character study, flashback, nobel prize winner, reputation, confrontation, legacy ...
Time:
70s, 1950s, 50s
Similarity:
63%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 110 min.
Story:
Lawyers must defend a prisoner accused of murdering two of his inmates during the Attica prison riots in 1971.
Style:
tense, historical drama, realistic, intense, political ...
Plot:
prison, courtroom, riot, injustice, social commentary, trial, violence, lawyer, defense attorney, civil rights, corruption, racial tension ...
Time:
70s
Similarity:
60%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 123 min.
Story:
Jeremy Collier is a Vietnam veteran who has returned home and is struggling to cope with the war experiences that haunt him. He is also at odds with his family, who cannot begin to understand what he has been through. Jeremy's battles with his ...
Style:
anamorphic, realistic, serious, gloomy, period drama
Plot:
thanksgiving, vietnam war, dysfunctional family, ptsd, family problems, mental illness, problem, aftermath, war trauma, autism, family relations, resentment ...
Time:
year 1996, 70s, 20th century
Place:
texas, usa, vietnam, indochina
Similarity:
58%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min.
Story:
A teenage delinquent who goes on a drunken joyride is left in jail overnight by his parents in the hope that he might learn a lesson from it. But events follow which result in the boy spending far longer behind bars than anyone had foreseen.
Style:
serious, realistic, thought provoking, disturbing
Plot:
prison, self defense, family problems, family relations, injustice, society, youth, life is a bitch, confined, juvenile delinquency, teenage life, custody ...
Time:
80s
Similarity:
57%
Genre: Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 92 min.
Story:
The true story of Rosario Livatino, a young judge in Sicily in the early 1980s, who have been nicknamed 'The Boy Judge' from the President of the Republic. He's strictly incorruptible, working hard and refusing even to shake hands ...
Style:
crime drama, realistic, serious, intense, heroic ...
Plot:
mafia, justice, organized crime, courage, assassination, social commentary, biopic, investigation, whistleblower, ethical dilemma, martyr, power struggle ...
Time:
80s, 90s
Place:
sicily, italy
Similarity:
56%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min.
Story:
In an alternate present society where the state frees parents from the burden of raising children, a rule enforcer learns a shocking truth that sparks her rebellion.
Style:
tense, dark, bleak, political drama, tragic
Plot:
dystopia, rebellion, female protagonist, waking up, power struggle, ethical dilemma, conspiracy, identity crisis, claustrophobia, moral ambiguity, slow burn, intimate ...
Time:
near future
Similarity:
53%
Genre: Drama
Country: Hungary, Romania
Duration: 100 min.
Story:
On 22 June 1941, Germany and Romania attack Soviet Russia. Several days later, Curzio Malaparte, the Italian writer who would one day pen the novel « Kaputt », a war correspondent for « Corriere de la Sera », arrives in Iasi, in the north of ...
Style:
bleak, grim, historical drama, period piece, tense
Plot:
world war two, holocaust, anti semitism, war correspondent, deportation, indifference, accomplice, police brutality, ethical dilemma, corruption, moral ambiguity, investigation ...
Place:
romania
Similarity:
49%
Genre: Drama
Country: Israel, USA
Duration: 108 min.
Story:
Dramatization of the controversial best-seller that posits an alternate version of the birth of Christianity. In this version, Jesus planned for His crucifixion by taking a drug that would simulate death. After His unconscious body was placed in the ...
Style:
serious, historical drama, thought provoking, bleak, period piece ...
Plot:
jesus christ, jesus, alternate history, bible, crucifix, conspiracy, resurrection, moral ambiguity, iconoclastic, power struggle, political unrest, political intrigue ...
Time:
1st century
Place:
jerusalem
Similarity:
48%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 112 min.
Story:
The story of missionary Graham Staines who was martyred in India in 1999. “The Least of These” shares the story leading up to the murders of the Australian Christian missionary and his sons, Philip, 10, and Timothy, 6, who were helping a ...
Style:
christian film, serious, suspense, disturbing, psychological ...
Plot:
investigation, journalist, forgiveness, religious persecution, moral dilemma, faith, missionary, investigative journalism, christian, investigative reporter, problem, private investigation ...
Time:
90s
Place:
india
Similarity:
48%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Story:
With the odds already not in her favor, Araya tells her side of the story while being interrogated for possibly killing the man who was responsible for her father's death.
Style:
tense, intense, suspense, psychological, dramatic ...
Plot:
interrogation, investigation, moral ambiguity, female protagonist, suspect, character study, murder, revenge, accusation, claustrophobia, guilt, police procedural ...
Similarity:
47%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min.
Story:
Martin Sheen plays an alcoholic father who loses his family.
Style:
spiritual, contemplative, serious, realistic, sincere ...
Plot:
alcoholic, drinking, recovery, substance abuse, family relations, alcohol abuse, downfall, life is a bitch, unfulfillment, love and romance, family problems, couples ...
Time:
80s
Similarity:
46%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min.
Story:
This story tells those self-denials of an honest man what necessary to reach his object of life.
Style:
bleak, melancholic, period piece
Plot:
morality, character study, small town, conscience, literary, ethical dilemma, thoughtful, ambition, corruption, greed, midlife crisis, redemption ...
Place:
new england
Similarity:
45%
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 123 min.
Story:
Downed American fliers in WW II are vivisected by Japanese surgeons in medical experiments.
Style:
serious, bleak, historical drama, disturbing, intense ...
Plot:
world war two, nurse, vivisection, guilt, accomplice, mature, atrocity, moral ambiguity, ethical dilemma, war crime, mental disorder, trauma ...
Time:
1940s, year 1945
Place:
japan
Similarity:
44%
Genre: Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 89 min.
Story:
In the late 70s, young Petra Grust begins teaching at the progressive Odenwald School. She is flattered by the trust placed in her by its widely respected headmaster Simon Pistorius. But gradually certain incidents at the boarding school begin to ...
Style:
dark, bleak, tense, realistic, historical drama ...
Plot:
child abuse, boarding school, suicide attempt, childhood trauma, trauma, child sexual abuse, whistleblower, betrayal, haunting, moral dilemma, gay, guilt ...
Time:
70s, 80s
Place:
germany
Similarity:
43%
Genre: Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 90 min.
Story:
The real-life struggle to contain the environmental and financial damage caused to Alaska by the oil spill from the Exxon Valdez is dramatized.
Style:
political, tense, bleak, serious, suspenseful ...
Plot:
ecological disaster, environmental, environmentalism, oil company, legal battle, bureaucracy, investigation, political conflict, activism, ethical dilemma, remorse, ecology ...
Time:
year 1989
Place:
alaska
Similarity:
42%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min.
Story:
Self made millionaire Rolando Dominguez (Carlos Guerrero) could not resist the tempting pleasures that came with his success and now finds himself homeless, demented, and tormented by flashbacks of his regretful mistakes and broken promises to his ...
Style:
psychological, emotional, touching, captivating, dark ...
Audience:
adult
Plot:
father son relationship, missing child, riches to rags, parent child relationship, promise, millionaire, family relations, wealth, money, loss, guilt, regret ...
Similarity:
42%
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 119 min.
Story:
A seemingly lazy salaryman is tasked with managing a company secret.
Style:
serious, realistic, tension, suspense, melancholic ...
Plot:
office politics, hierarchy, corporation, company, cover up, scandal, ceo, corporate corruption, office, corruption, ethical dilemma, power struggle ...
Time:
2010s
Similarity:
42%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min.
Story:
Speculative Sunn Classics chestnut detailing a wide-ranging government conspiracy to murder the 16th American President and the subsequent cover up and escape of his killers.
Style:
period piece, historical drama, controversial, suspense, political thriller ...
Plot:
abraham lincoln, assassination, alternate history, civil war, conspiracy theory, usa president, american civil war, u.s. president, post civil war, manhunt, investigation, paranormal phenomena ...
Time:
19th century, 1860s
Place:
washington d.c., canada
Similarity:
42%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 116 min.
Story:
When businessman David Morgan (Stefan Sims) embarks on an adulterous affair, his wife, Rena (Karyn Lewis), must decide whether his infidelity is the last straw in a relationship marred by years of neglect and emotional abuse. If she tries to mend ...
Style:
realistic, independent film, serious
Plot:
domestic drama, marital infidelity, emotional abuse, betrayal, adultery, family conflict, neglect, confrontation, male protagonist, regret, ethical dilemma, marriage counselor ...
Similarity:
39%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min.
Story:
Defending a teen charged with patricide drudges up dark memories for a lawyer.
Style:
dramatic, dark, serious, emotional, psychological ...
Audience:
adult
Plot:
patricide, trauma, child abuse, murder, courtroom, shame, guilt, ethical dilemma, defense attorney, family secret, character study, secrets ...
Similarity:
37%
170
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min.
Story:
After his cousin commits suicide, journalist Stewart Cooper begins to unravel a web of shaming, lies, and secrets. Following the leads he discovers the involvement of the police, his cousin’s ex and the man she had an affair with – her church ...
Style:
crime drama, psychological, thrilling, captivating, suspenseful ...
Plot:
investigation, crime investigation, relationships, private investigation, brother, religious faith, crime solving, uncover truth, secret, affair, faith, male female relationship ...
Similarity:
37%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min.
Story:
No overview found.
Style:
realistic, serious, thought provoking, uplifting, sincere
Plot:
homeless, biopic, heroic mission, social misfits, state affairs, life is a bitch, legal, politics, fighting the system, society, human spirit, heroes ...
Time:
80s
Place:
washington d.c.
Similarity:
37%
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