Movies like The Water Is Wide
If you like "The Water Is Wide" you are looking for realistic, serious and suspense movies about / with misfit, teachers and students, society, power relations, school, youth and interracial relations themes of Drama genre shot in USA.
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The Water Is Wide (2006)
569
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min.
Story:
Pat Conroy, an ambitious, slightly rebellious idealistic teacher accepts Bennington county, SC's school board superintendent's offer to teach the all-black kids of the pauper fishery community on Yamacraw Island. Staffless 'head' mistress Brown incarnates stupidity and blind rule obedience, her didactic skills consisting in scolding and spanking her students. Pat moves heaven and earth to motivate and educate, but after finally getting trough to pupils and parents is refused contract renewal by the arch-conservative authorities.
Style:
realistic, serious, suspense, contemplative
Plot:
misfit, teachers and students, society, power relations, school, youth, interracial relations, rebellion, idealism, hopes, dedicated educator, hardcase students, teacher, school teacher, public humiliation, punishment, abuse, prodigy, mentor, black, mentor protege relationship, island, marines, corporal punishment, father figure ...
Time:
21st century, contemporary
Place:
south carolina
Most similar movies to The Water Is Wide
The list contains related movies ordered by similarity. Recommendation engine sorted out realistic, serious, touching and emotional films with plots about power relations, youth, teachers and students, society, teacher, school and hopes mostly in Drama and Biography genres. Some movies like The Water Is Wide: Goodbye, Mr. Chips (2002), Won't Back Down (2012), Up the Down Staircase (1967), The Beat (1988), Knights of the South Bronx (2005). The matching attributes are highlighted in bold.
Genre: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 99 min.
Story:
In the later years of the nineteenth century Latin master Mr. Chipping is the mainstay of Brookfields boys boarding school, a good teacher and a kindly person but he is considered to be married to the job so that it is a surprise when, on a walking ...
Style:
touching, sentimental, emotional, serious, realistic
Audience:
kids
Plot:
boarding school, dedicated educator, tragic hero, society, idealism, social differences, friendship, family relations, youth, teachers and students, boys' school, teacher ...
Time:
19th century, 20th century, year 1914, edwardian era, 90s
Place:
england, europe
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 121 min.
Story:
Two determined mothers, one a teacher, look to transform their children's failing inner city school. Facing a powerful and entrenched bureaucracy, they risk everything to make a difference in the education and future of their children
Style:
touching, realistic, serious, emotional, inspirational ...
Audience:
family outing
Plot:
teacher, fighting the system, school, human spirit, hopes, teachers and students, parents and children, youth, society, changing lives, social relations, family relations ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
pittsburgh, pennsylvania, usa
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 124 min.
Story:
Sylvia Barrett is a rookie teacher at New York's inner-city Calvin Coolidge High: her lit classes are overcrowded, a window is broken, there's no chalk, books arrive late. The administration is concerned mainly with forms and rules ...
Style:
esoteric, independent film, serious, realistic, bleak ...
Plot:
teacher, school teacher, education, teaching, teacher student relationship, high school teacher, high school, dedicated educator, racial discrimination, mentor, racism, unrequited love ...
Time:
year 1967, 60s
Place:
new york, usa
Similarity:
100%
237
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min.
Story:
A new kid moves into a tough neighborhood controlled by gangs, and tries to teach them poetry.
Style:
serious, emotional, realistic, touching, independent film ...
Plot:
gang, poetry, teenage life, idealism, fighting the system, youth, dedicated educator, life is a bitch, rebellion, society, stoner, school ...
Time:
year 1988, 80s
Place:
new york
Similarity:
100%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min.
Story:
A business man decides that he wants to teach school in the inner city and chooses a tough school in the South Bronx. He teaches the children how to play the game of chess, and along the way they learn a lot about life.
Style:
touching, realistic, serious, spiritual, uplifting
Audience:
family outing
Plot:
chess, teacher, school teacher, misfit, youth, hardcase students, high school life, juvenile delinquency, elementary school, lifestyle, hopes, life is a bitch ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
new york, bronx new york city
Similarity:
36%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min.
Story:
A young, white teacher is assigned to an isolated island off the coast of South Carolina populated mostly by poor black families. He finds that the basically illiterate, neglected children there know so little of the world outside their island.
Style:
deep, realistic, serious, uplifting, thought provoking ...
Plot:
teacher, racism, school teacher, education, youth, racial discrimination, american south, african american, humanist, teaching, black history, blaxploitation ...
Time:
70s, 20th century, 60s, year 1969
Place:
south carolina, america, usa, southern usa
Similarity:
36%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 115 min.
Story:
An aspiring teacher (Hughley) takes the one job he's offered, a position at a school inside a prison.
Style:
realistic, touching, suspense, captivating, semi serious
Plot:
dedicated educator, prison, idealism, starting over, hardcase students, prison life, rivalry, confined, hopes, rehabilitation, youth, student life ...
Similarity:
35%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min.
Story:
Mark Thackeray (Poitier) is a West Indian, who in the 1967 film had taken teaching in a London East End school. He spent twenty years teaching and ten in administrative roles. He has taught the children of his former pupils, but is now retiring.
Style:
political, serious, realistic, uplifting, emotional ...
Plot:
teacher, education, black, juvenile delinquency, high school teacher, school teacher, african american, high school, dedicated educator, hopes, society, idealism ...
Time:
90s, 20th century
Place:
chicago, usa
Similarity:
33%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min.
Story:
In the fall of 1994, a teacher at Chicago's run-down Steinmetz High conspires with the school's academic decathlon team to cheat on an academic competition.
Style:
realistic, serious, sincere, clever, offbeat
Audience:
teens, kids
Plot:
teachers and students, high school, lifestyle, teenage life, social differences, dedicated educator, youth, contests and competitions, rivalry, society, fraud, teacher ...
Time:
90s
Place:
chicago, usa
Similarity:
30%

Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min.
Story:
Peter Gifford is a likable, dedicated schoolteacher that teaches a senior life skills class. When student Janet Sommers brings up the topic of sex and dating, he asks students to write questions on the topic, and will cover them in the next class. ...
Style:
serious, realistic, sexual, psychotronic, sexy
Plot:
teacher, high school, stoner, teenage life, teachers and students, urban ghetto life, looking for sex, school, high school life, society, hardcase students, youth ...
Time:
year 1961, 60s
Similarity:
29%
Genre: Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 96 min.
Story:
A nearly sightless boy is sent to a school for blind children, where he secretly discovers the possibilities of the recorded sound.
Style:
contemplative, serious, realistic, touching, educational ...
Plot:
boy, disability, hopes, blind character, coming of age, against the odds, friendship, follow your dream, rebellion, fighting the system, society, rebelliousness ...
Time:
70s, 20th century
Place:
italy, europe, tuscany
Similarity:
26%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min.
Story:
In the 1940's South, an African-American man is wrongly accused of the killing a a white store owner. In his defense, his white attorney equates him with a lowly hog, to indicate that he didn't have the sense to know what he was doing. ...
Style:
powerful, uplifting, thought provoking, serious, realistic ...
Plot:
racism, black, politics, passion, aunt, blaxploitation, racial discrimination, stage play, false accusation, interracial relations, urban ghetto life, wrongfully committed ...
Time:
1940s
Place:
usa
Similarity:
26%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 109 min.
Story:
William Hundert is a passionate and principled Classics professor who finds his tightly-controlled world shaken and inexorably altered when a new student, Sedgewick Bell, walks into his classroom. What begins as a fierce battle of wills gives way to ...
Style:
inspirational, realistic, touching, contemplative, emotional ...
Audience:
kids, teens, girls' night
Plot:
teacher, dedicated educator, coming of age, boarding school life, ethics, school teacher, schoolboy, boarding school, teachers and students, youth, hardcase students, boys' school ...
Time:
20th century, year 2002, 70s, 2000s, future
Place:
washington d.c., pennsylvania, new jersey
Similarity:
25%
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min.
Story:
Based on a true story, former parole officer Marilyn Gambrell and a colleague set up a pioneer trial-based program in one of America's toughest high schools to help the children of incarcerated parents regain control of their own lives and not ...
Style:
serious, realistic, uplifting
Plot:
support group, against the odds, dedicated educator, idealism, teenage life, society, hopes, teachers and students, high school, child abuse, children, inspiration ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
texas, usa, houston texas
Similarity:
25%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min.
Story:
Life of a King is the true story of one man's mission to give inner city kids of Washington DC something he never had - a future. After being incarcerated for eighteen years, Eugene Brown established the Big Chair Chess Club to get kids off the ...
Style:
sincere, rough, touching, psychological, captivating ...
Audience:
teens
Plot:
chess, dedicated educator, hardcase students, ex convict, teenage life, ambition, gain trust, bad attitude, society, contests and competitions, youth, redemption ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
cuba, washington d.c., usa
Similarity:
25%
Genre: Drama
Country: Cuba
Duration: 108 min.
Story:
Meet Chala, an eleven year-old boy with a hard life and strong respect for Carmela, his sixth grade teacher. The pair develops a solid bond, but after Carmela suffers an accident, things get complicated…
Style:
serious, realistic, emotional, touching, inspirational ...
Plot:
boy, hopes, female teacher, alcoholic mother, kids in trouble, hardcase students, society, rebellion, youth, dedicated educator, teachers and students, urban ghetto life ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
cuba, latin america, havana cuba
Similarity:
25%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min.
Story:
A teenager fights to clear her name after her small Oklahoma town mistakenly assumes she is practicing witchcraft. Based on a true story.
Style:
serious, disturbing, realistic, thought provoking
Audience:
teens, teen drama
Plot:
false accusation, religions or cults, racism, high school life, youth, teachers and students, culture clash, legal action, life is a bitch, social differences, legal, rebellion ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
oklahoma
Similarity:
24%
378
Genre: Drama
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 106 min.
Story:
Story of a New England boys' school and of one of the students who is infatuated with an instructor's wife who has Multiple Sclerosis. The woman struggles to show her strict husband how love rather than demands helps the student to ...
Style:
independent film, serious, realistic, touching, gloomy ...
Audience:
girls' night
Plot:
housewife, disability, waking up, boarding school, multiple sclerosis, teacher, infatuation, hopes, ambition, unfulfillment, couple relations, idealism ...
Time:
year 1996, 60s, 20th century
Place:
new england
Similarity:
23%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min.
Story:
Devoted teacher Anne Sullivan (Alison Elliott) leads deaf, blind and mute Helen Keller (Hallie Kate Eisenberg) out of solitude and helps integrate her into the world.
Style:
serious, touching, sincere, emotional, uplifting ...
Audience:
family outing
Plot:
mute or deaf, disability, teachers and students, education, blindness and impaired vision, teacher, dedicated educator, human spirit, lifestyle, teacher student relationship, deaf, blind character ...
Time:
90s, victorian era, 19th century
Place:
boston
Similarity:
23%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min.
Story:
Ian Willams -- who was born blind in one eye -- grew up undaunted to become an elite college basketball player. But his dream of winning a national championship and turning pro was sidetracked when a tragic accident left him completely blind. ...
Style:
serious, realistic, touching, independent film
Plot:
blindness, prodigy, against the odds, disability, ambition, dedicated educator, human spirit, follow your dream, athlete and trainer, hopes, youth, athlete's life ...
Time:
21st century
Similarity:
23%
Genre: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 93 min.
Story:
The determined new headmaster of an English prep school attempts to reform the frequently unruly students, who are tormented by a ruthless bully.
Style:
realistic, touching, serious, exciting, tense ...
Plot:
boys' school, boarding school, corporal punishment, coming of age, bullying, friends, self discovery, power relations, hardcase students, misfit, lifestyle, dedicated educator ...
Time:
19th century, victorian era
Place:
england, europe, united kingdom
Similarity:
22%
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min.
Story:
"Front of the Class" is based on the true story of Brad Cohen -- played in the movie by Jimmy Wolk -- who, "after being challenged by Tourette's syndrome from a very young age, defies all odds to become a gifted teacher
Style:
touching, inspirational, sentimental, emotional, sweet ...
Audience:
family outing, teens, girls' night
Plot:
teacher, tourette's syndrome, dedicated educator, social misfits, teachers and students, school, disability, life philosophy, honest, friendship, father son relationship, understanding ...
Time:
80s, 21st century
Place:
louisiana, usa, atlanta georgia, england
Similarity:
22%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min.
Story:
The true story of Ruby Bridges, an African-American girl who, in 1960 at age 6, helped to integrate the all-white schools of New Orleans. Although she was the only black girl to come to the school she was sent to, (and since all the white mothers ...
Style:
uplifting, political, inspirational, contemplative, serious ...
Audience:
family outing, kids
Plot:
racism, african american, civil rights, racial discrimination, black, art, blaxploitation, black history, education, school, interracial relations, injustice ...
Time:
60s
Place:
america, louisiana, usa, new orleans
Similarity:
22%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama
Country: Argentina, France, Spain
Duration: 97 min.
Story:
Spying on her students, a teacher finds an exciting hobby.
Style:
realistic, serious, tense, captivating, psychological ...
Plot:
rebellion, high school life, political unrest, youth, society, workplace, teachers and students, against the rules, social relations, workplace situations, responsibility, state affairs ...
Time:
20th century, 80s
Place:
argentina, latin america
Similarity:
22%
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 90 min.
Story:
Matthew Perry is real-life inspiration Ron Clark, a passionate and innovative teacher who leaves his small hometown to teach in one of Harlem's toughest schools. But to break through to this students, Clark must use unconventional methods, ...
Style:
serious, emotional, uplifting, realistic, inspirational ...
Audience:
family outing, teens, teen drama
Plot:
dedicated educator, teacher, human spirit, changing lives, hardcase students, hopes, teachers and students, teacher student relationship, new job, profanity, school teacher, obstacle ...
Time:
20th century, 90s, year 1994, year 1998
Place:
harlem, usa, north carolina, new york, manhattan new york city
Similarity:
22%
Genre: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 117 min.
Story:
Set in a forlorn mining town near Valencienne in the north of France, the story is about one man's struggle to bring life to his once prosperous village and its inhabitants. Philippe Torreton, who won a César for Best Actor with his title role ...
Style:
social, thought provoking, realistic, serious, bleak ...
Plot:
teacher, education, school teacher, professor, dedicated educator, kindergarten, poverty, corrupt system, human rights, labor, job, homeless ...
Time:
year 1999, 20th century, 90s
Place:
france, europe
Similarity:
21%
250
Genre: Drama
Country: Luxembourg, Belgium, France
Duration: 95 min.
Story:
Quiet 16-year-old Louis, the high school headmaster’s son, has never been in trouble. His best friend, 18-year-old Greg, however, is his polar opposite: provocative, angry, violent, he has been kicked out of school for physically threatening young ...
Style:
realistic, suspenseful, tense, serious
Plot:
teenager, kidnapping, parent child relationship, youth, teachers and students, parents and children, single parent, hardcase students, confined, crime gone awry, disorder, social relations ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
france
Similarity:
20%
110K
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min.
Story:
A chronicle of three weeks in the lives of several high school teachers, administrators and students through the eyes of substitute teacher, Henry Barthes. Henry roams from school to school, imparting modes of knowledge, but never staying long ...
Style:
psychological, depressing, bleak, thought provoking, independent film ...
Audience:
teens
Plot:
teacher, depression, suicide, teachers and students, dedicated educator, school, unhappy, social problems, high school life, teen angst, human relationship, social decay ...
Time:
2010s, 21st century
Place:
usa
Similarity:
20%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min.
Story:
A 10 year old gifted boy wants to be a jazz pianist much to the chagrin of his more classical oriented piano instructor. With his mother's help, he is an underage regular at a local nightspot, where he is teamed up with a sax superstar. Both ...
Style:
realistic, sentimental, touching, independent film, serious ...
Audience:
teens, kids
Plot:
disability, jazz, youth, music, illness, misfit, hopes, love and romance, single parent, prodigy, lifestyle, musician's life ...
Time:
year 1999, 90s
Place:
usa, new york, canada
Similarity:
20%
Genre: Drama
Country: Australia
Duration: 101 min.
Story:
The Getting of Wisdom is based on the 1910 novel by Henry Handel Richardson (born Ethel Florence Lindesay Richardson). Her novel is thought to be an account of her own schooldays at the Presbyterian Ladies College in Melbourne. The film is about a ...
Style:
independent film, realistic, serious
Plot:
piano, boarding school, lgbt, teenage girl, colonization, power relations, injustice, couples, friends, family relations, society, social misfits ...
Time:
19th century
Place:
australia, melbourne, new zealand
Similarity:
20%
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