Gulag movies and TV shows

The list contains the best, new and most relevant gulag movies ordered by relevance. The recommendation service has sorted out realistic, serious, rough, suspenseful, bleak and captivating films and TV shows about / with gulag, prison, nazi, prisoner, confined, communism, world war two, jail, female nudity and friendship plots mostly in Drama, Biography and Crime genres shot in USA, Italy, France and other countries.
gulag
 79
gulag movies
TOP 10 movies tagged as gulag: The Edge (2010), Freeze Die Come to Life (1990), The Way Back (2010), Coming Out of the Ice (1982), Ilsa the Tigress of Siberia (1977), Gulag Vorkuta (2016), The Chronicles of Melanie (2016), Lost in Siberia (1991), Eternal Winter (2018), In the Crosswind (2014).

List of gulag movies

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 6.5
 3K
The Edge (2010)
Genre: Adventure, Drama, History, Romance
Country: Russia
Duration: 124 min.
Story: The action takes place shortly after the end of the Second World War in the Siberian hinterland, among Russians and Germans with damaged personal stories and a strange transformation: the victors seem to be crawling into the skins of the defeated, ...
Style: realistic, captivating, bleak, tense, exciting ...
Plot: gulag, soldier, rivalry, prison life, prisoner of war camp, captivity, pow, world war two, wilderness, danger, confined, winter ...
Time: 1940s, 20th century, year 1945, post world war two
Place: russia, soviet union
Is relevant ?
As Far as My Feet Will Carry Me (2001)
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama, War
Country: Germany
Duration: 158 min.
Story: The German soldier Clemens Forel - determined to be reunited with his beloved family - makes a dramatic escape through bitter cold winters, desolate landscapes, and life threatening ventures from a Siberian labor camp after World War II. 8000 miles ...
Style: serious, realistic, tense, suspenseful, sincere ...
Plot: world war two, survival, gulag, human spirit, pow, confined, getting home, captivity, wehrmacht, danger, jail, nazi ...
Time: 1940s, 50s, year 1939, year 1952, year 1947 ...
Place: ussr, germany, soviet union, siberia, baltics ...
Is relevant ?
Freeze Die Come to Life (1990)
Genre: Drama
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 105 min.
Story: Stuck in a mining town near Vladivostok in 1947 amongst Soviet exiles and Japanese POWs (Japanese prisoners remained in Siberia for years after the war had ended), the kids have to come up with something to keep them busy. Two friends, Valerka and ...
Style: black and white, contemplative, realistic, serious, gloomy ...
Plot: gulag, coming of age, children, boy, train crash, post war, child as adult, female nudity, poverty, social injustice, traumatic childhood, totalitarian regime ...
Time: 1940s, 90s, year 1990
Place: soviet union, russia, siberia, ussr
Is relevant ?
 7.3
 122K
The Way Back (2010)
Genre: Adventure, Drama, History
Country: USA, United Arab Emirates, Poland, India
Duration: 133 min.
Story: Peter Weir's follow-up to Master & Commander (2003) is the stark & brilliant The Way Back, which takes on the theme of man's struggle for freedom. At the dawn of WWII, several men escape from a Russian gulag. The film ...
Style: epic, realistic, inspirational, road movie, rough ...
Plot: survival, escape, prison escape, wilderness, war, freedom, journey, world war two, desert, gulag, pow, convict ...
Time: 2010s, 1940s, 20th century
Place: himalaya, russia, soviet union, asia, mongolia ...
Is relevant ?
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Coming Out of the Ice (1982)
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min.
Story: Victor and his family moved to the USSR in the mid '30's. When he refused to sign his skydiving accomplishment as a citizen of the USSR, he was not tried but simply sent to prison. His horrific imprisonment, beating and torture culminated ...
Plot: gulag, communism, biopic, immigrant, teenager
Time: 1930s, 1940s
Place: siberia, soviet union
Is relevant ?
Ilsa the Tigress of Siberia (1977)
Genre: Horror
Country: Canada
Duration: 90 min.
Story: Siberia 1953: Ilsa is now working in a Gulag prison camp. Her mission is to "retrain the minds" of those who don't agree with the communists.
Style: grindhouse, queer horror, suspense, cult classic, sensual ...
Audience: adult
Plot: women in prison, prison, exploitation, gulag, lesbian sex, sexual perversion, nazi exploitation, violence, torture, erotica, canuxploitation, humiliation ...
Time: 70s, 20th century, 50s, 1950s
Place: siberia, canada, russia, montreal
Is relevant ?
Gulag Vorkuta (2016)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min.
Story: Two dissidents, fall in love in a Marxist USSR Gulag death camp. As their friends die, they commit to the seeming impossible, escape, but both must first answer their deepest moral questions about the meaning of life, sacrifice and freedom.
Plot: landscape, marxist, gulag, dissident, faith, marxism, christian, genocide, communism, love, artist
Place: soviet union, ussr
Is relevant ?
The Chronicles of Melanie (2016)
Genre: Biography, Drama, History
Country: Latvia, Czech Republic, Finland
Duration: 120 min.
Story: The 14th of June 1941, Soviet-occupied Latvia: Without warning, the authorities break into the house of Melanie and her husband Aleksandr and force them to leave everything behind. Together with more than 15 000 Latvians, Melanie and her son get ...
Style: rough, suspense, disturbing, bleak, black and white
Plot: deportation, world war two, gulag, survival, labor camp, grief, cruelty, politics, political prisoner, life is a bitch, mother son relationship, post soviet ...
Time: 1940s, year 1957, 1950s, year 1941
Place: latvia, soviet union, russia, siberia
Is relevant ?
Lost in Siberia (1991)
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: Soviet Union, UK
Duration: 140 min.
Story: The political drama is set in the Stalin's Soviet Union after the Second World War. A British archaeologist Andrei Miller is working in Iran. He is mistakenly kidnapped and arrested by the KGB. He is falsely accused of spying and wrongfully ...
Style: thought provoking, disturbing, bleak, serious, realistic
Plot: gulag, prison, survival, false accusation, kgb, cold war, prisoner, violence, arrest, attempted rape, british, communist ...
Time: 1940s, 50s, 20th century, 1950s
Place: iran, ussr, soviet union, siberia, russia ...
Is relevant ?
Eternal Winter (2018)
Genre: Drama, History, Romance
Country: Hungary
Duration: 110 min.
Story: The true story of an unlikely romance in a Soviet labor camp.
Style: beautiful
Plot: world war two, stalinism, world war, landscape, gulag, coal mine, christmas, train, romantic relationship, wolf attack, communism, survival ...
Time: 1940s, 20th century
Place: soviet union
Is relevant ?
In the Crosswind (2014)
Genre: Drama, History
Country: Estonia
Duration: 90 min.
Story: June 14, 1941, 3 a.m. Over 40000 people from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are deported by Soviets to Siberia. Among them is a philosophy student Erna, a happily married mother of a little girl. Separated from her husband Erna and her daughter are ...
Style: realistic, serious, atmospheric, bleak, black and white ...
Plot: stalinism, deportation, world war two, hunger, ethnic cleansing, wartime life, getting home, life is a bitch, family in danger, separation from family, family relations, danger ...
Time: year 1941, 1940s, 1950s, 20th century
Place: siberia, soviet union, baltics, europe, russia ...
Is relevant ?
 6.7
 655
Ulzhan (2007)
Genre: Drama
Country: Kazakhstan, Germany, France
Duration: 105 min.
Story: Somewhere in the endless steppes of Central Asia lies a treasure. One man holds the key to it, a fragment of an ancient map. But in his restless quest, Charles isn't looking for fame or glory. He's looking for a way to heal his wounded ...
Style: serious, realistic
Plot: gulag, introspection, looking for love, travel, quest, oil well, loss of family, treasure, nuclear explosion, mountain, nuclear testing, oil company ...
Time: 21st century
Place: kazakhstan, asia
Is relevant ?
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Within the Whirlwind (2009)
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: Germany, Poland, Belgium
Duration: 90 min.
Story: During Stalin's reign of terror, Evgenia Ginzburg, a literature professor, was sent to 10 years hard labor in a gulag in Siberia. Having lost everything, and no longer wishing to live, she meets the camp doctor and begins to come back to life.
Style: captivating, psychological, suspense, disturbing, historical drama
Plot: political repression, jailed, male female relationship, gulag, political prisoner, political persecution, political unrest, love story, relationships, love affair, wartime, wartime life ...
Time: year 1934
Place: siberia, ussr, soviet union
Is relevant ?
Once My Mother (2013)
Genre: Family, History, War
Country: Australia, Poland, Ukraine
Duration: 75 min.
Story: Australian filmmaker Sophia Turkiewicz investigates why her Polish mother abandoned her and uncovers the truth behind her mother's wartime escape from a Siberian gulag, leaving Sophia to confront her own capacity for forgiveness.
Style: captivating
Plot: refugee, parent child relationship, daughter, mother, family relations, mother daughter relationship, gulag, josef stalin, uncover truth, mother and daughter, historical figure, family problems ...
Place: poland, siberia, australia
Is relevant ?
Birdman of Alcatraz (1962)
Genre: Biography, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 147 min.
Story: After killing a prison guard, convict Robert Stroud faces life imprisonment in solitary confinement. Driven nearly mad by loneliness and despair, Stroud's life gains new meaning when he happens upon a helpless baby sparrow in the exercise yard ...
Style: serious, realistic, captivating, atmospheric, black and white ...
Plot: prison, bird, redemption, life sentence, warden, alcatraz, prison escape, biopic, rebel, self discovery, isolation, obstacle ...
Time: 20th century, year 1962, 1910s, 1920s, 1930s ...
Place: san francisco, bay area, kansas
Is relevant ?
 5.9
 650
Riot (1969)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min.
Story: A riot in a state prison is staged to cover up an escape attempt, during which many inmates and guards are killed. Shot on location at Arizona State Prison.
Style: realistic, serious, exciting, rough, suspenseful ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: prison, gulag, judiciary, nazi, prisoner, prison escape, escape, prison break, prison riot, chases and races, confined, fugitives ...
Time: year 1969, 60s
Place: arizona, minnesota, usa
Is relevant ?
Cut-Throats Nine (1972)
Genre: Crime, Horror, Thriller, Western
Country: Spain
Duration: 90 min.
Story: A wagon load of convicts on their way to prison is being escorted through the mountains by a cavalry troop. They are attacked by a bandit gang, and only a sergeant, his beautiful young daughter and an assortment of seven sadistic, murderous ...
Style: spaghetti western, euro western, perverse, controversial, disturbing ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: gold, rape, military, prison, gulag, civil war, exploitation, nazi, winter, strong violent content, woman in danger, old west ...
Time: 19th century
Place: usa, spain
Is relevant ?
 7.6
 1K
Why (1971)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 102 min.
Story: Giuseppe Di Noi, an Italian surveyor living in Switzerland, gets arrested at the border while going back to Italy with his family for a vacation. But can someone tell the man WHY?
Plot: bureaucracy, prison, nazi, police officer, gulag, injustice, victimization, innocence, satire, vacation gone wrong, psychiatric hospital, immigrant ...
Time: 60s
Place: stockholm sweden, italy
Is relevant ?
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The Case Is Closed, Forget It (1971)
Genre: Crime, Thriller
Country: Italy, France
Duration: 106 min.
Story: Because of a violation of traffic regulations an architect is put in prison. There he witnesses the grim reality of life behind bars: corrupt staff, corrupt inmates, an inhuman judicial system and the power of the Mafia.
Style: poliziottesco, crying, neo noir
Plot: prison, corruption, police officer, police, lgbt, bureaucracy, organized crime, architecture, gulag, economist, nazi, gay interest ...
Is relevant ?
Two Men in Town (1973)
Genre: Crime, Drama
Country: France, Italy
Duration: 100 min.
Story: A former bank robber is released after 10 years in prison. He gets help from a social-worker, but gets harassed by an old cop from his past.
Style: psychological, realistic, serious, neo noir, suspenseful ...
Plot: death penalty, social worker, harassment, prison, police, hustler, motivation, nazi, meaning of life, gulag, heist, judiciary ...
Time: 70s, 20th century
Place: france, europe, paris france
Is relevant ?
 8.0
 138K
Papillon (1973)
Genre: Biography, Crime, Drama
Country: France, USA
Duration: 151 min.
Story: A man befriends a fellow criminal as the two of them begin serving their sentence on a dreadful prison island, which inspires the man to plot his escape.
Style: inspirational, psychological, grim, realistic, depressing ...
Plot: prison escape, prison, escape, life philosophy, runaway, human spirit, prisoner, escape attempt, brutality, prison break, prison life, criminal heroes ...
Time: year 1973, 1940s, 20th century, 1930s
Place: persia, latin america, atlantic ocean
Is relevant ?
The Longest Yard (1974)
Genre: Comedy, Crime, Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 121 min.
Story: In this rough-and-tumble yarn, actually filmed on-location at the Georgia State Prision, the cons are the heroes and the guards are the heavies. Eddie Albert is the sadistic warden who'll gladly make any sacrifice to push his guards' ...
Style: inspirational, intense, suspense, talky, witty ...
Audience: boys' night, manly
Plot: prison, american football, football, underdog, prison escape, cheerleader, farce, greed, crime gone awry, unlikely friendships, prison life, contests and competitions ...
Time: 20th century, 70s
Place: florida, usa, america, georgia
Is relevant ?
The Man in the Iron Mask (1977)
Genre: Adventure, History
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 100 min.
Story: The story of Louis XIV of France and his attempts to keep his identical twin brother Philippe imprisoned away from sight and knowledge of the public, and Philippe's rescue by the aging Musketeers, led by D'Artagnan.
Style: serious, realistic, suspenseful, rough, psychotronic ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: musketeer, king of france, royal family, twins, french royalty, swashbuckler, prison, three musketeers, prison escape, ancient, peplum, sorcery ...
Time: 17th century
Place: france, europe, paris france
Is relevant ?
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Antonio Gramsci: The Days of Prison (1977)
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 127 min.
Story: Antonio Gramsci: The Days of Prison is a 1977 Italian drama directed by Lino Del Fra.
Style: political
Plot: prison, nazi, fascism, gulag, philosopher, marxist, political oppression, political prisoner, anti fascist, jail cell, communism, marxism ...
Place: italy
Is relevant ?
The Professor (1986)
Genre: Crime, Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 171 min.
Story: Vaguely inspired to the real story of boss of the Camorra's bosses Raffaele Cutolo, this is the story of the criminal career of "Il professore" (the professor). He is in prison, and by there he is able to build, step by step, an ...
Style: poliziottesco, realistic, serious, rough, suspenseful
Audience: boys' night
Plot: cosa nostra, mafia, camorra, italian mafia, police, female nudity, nazi, mobster, gulag, criminal, organized crime, murder ...
Time: year 1986, 80s, 20th century
Place: italy, naples italy, new york, napoli italy
Is relevant ?
Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985)
Genre: Drama
Country: Brazil, USA
Duration: 120 min.
Story: Luis Molina and Valentin Arregui are cell mates in a South American prison. Luis, a homosexual, is found guilty of immoral behaviour and Valentin is a political prisoner. To escape reality Luis invents romantic movies, while Valentin tries to keep ...
Style: political, psychological, sincere, captivating, touching ...
Audience: chick flick
Plot: prison, gays and lesbians, homosexuality, politics, gay, friendship, homosexual, betrayal, prison sex, first gay sexual experience, transsexual, love story ...
Time: 20th century, year 1985, 80s
Place: latin america, brazil
Is relevant ?
 6.1
 124
Doing Life (1986)
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 100 min.
Story: Tony Danza stars in this prison drama about Jerome "Jerry" Rosenburg, a self-professed "jailhouse lawyer" who defends himself against the homicide charge that has put him on death row. This tense movie, made in Canada, has the ...
Plot: nazi, gulag, prison, prison warden, lawyer, prisoner, innocence, convict, wrongful conviction, killer, wrongful imprisonment
Is relevant ?
Lute: Forge On or Die (1987)
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: Spain
Duration: 123 min.
Story: In Spain of the 1960s, a poor family of quinquis - a nomadic ethnic group with a tradition as old as that of the gypsises of Spain but with even more obscure origins - have a nomadic life marked by poverty. The son, Eleuterio Sánchez Rodriguez, ...
Style: social, hood
Plot: biopic, gang, juvenile delinquent, mafioso, gangster, ghetto, nazi, totalitarian state, gulag, justice, poverty, robbery ...
Is relevant ?
El Lute II: Tomorrow I'll Be Free (1988)
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: Spain
Duration: 120 min.
Story: This is the story of a man fighting with all his might for his life and his freedom. Eleuterio (”El Lute”) embarks upon an action-packed future, fuelled by the notions of freedom and dreams of living just as his countrymen, ever-growing in his ...
Plot: biopic, gulag, juvenile delinquent, nazi, poverty, pursuit, female nudity, rat, police, brother brother relationship, wedding, kinky ...
Is relevant ?
 5.9
 2K
Down by Love (2016)
Genre: Biography, Drama, Romance
Country: France, Belgium
Duration: 110 min.
Story: A man, a woman. A prison director, his inmate. An impossible love, a true story.
Style: erotic, explicit
Audience: adult
Plot: infidelity, married man, older man younger woman relationship, extramarital affair, adultery, prison, older man young girl relationship, obsession, sex with a minor, female nudity, girl man relationship, nudity ...
Is relevant ?
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