Poverty movies and TV shows – page 4

List of poverty movies

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 7.7
 142K
Billy Elliot (2000)
Genre: Drama, Music
Country: UK, France
Duration: 110 min.
Story: Set against the background of the 1984 Miner's Strike, Billy Elliot is an 11 year old boy who stumbles out of the boxing ring and onto the ballet floor. He faces many trials and triumphs as he strives to conquer his family's set ways, ...
Style: inspirational, touching, feel good, uplifting, emotional ...
Audience: date night, family outing, kids, teens, girls' night ...
Plot: coming of age, ballet, working class, father son relationship, dancing, friendship, childhood, gay, audition, poverty, follow your dream, boxing ...
Time: year 1984, 20th century, y2k, year 2000, 90s ...
Place: england, northern england, london, europe
Is relevant ?
Two Days, One Night (2014)
Genre: Drama
Country: Belgium, France, Italy
Duration: 95 min.
Story: Sandra is a young woman who has only one weekend to convince her colleagues they must give up their bonuses in order for her to keep her job — not an easy task in this economy.
Style: depressing, independent film, sincere, serious, compassionate ...
Audience: teens
Plot: depression, unemployment, injustice, working class, female protagonist, solidarity, workplace, loss of job, employer employee relationship, moral dilemma, guilt, poverty ...
Time: year 2014, 90s, 2010s, 21st century
Place: belgium, france, ethiopia, europe
Is relevant ?
 7.8
 120K
Midnight Cowboy (1969)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 113 min.
Story: A naive male prostitute and his sickly friend struggle to survive on the streets of New York City.
Style: disturbing, realistic, depressing, controversial, cult classic ...
Audience: chick flick
Plot: friendship, dream, prostitution, fish out of water, gay, cripple, homosexual, gay slur, prostitute, cowboy, female nudity, sexuality ...
Time: 20th century, 60s, year 1969, 50s, 1950s
Place: new york, texas, florida, manhattan new york city, usa ...
Is relevant ?
 5.9
 11K
Life Stinks (1991)
Genre: Comedy
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min.
Story: A rich businessman makes a bet he can survive on the streets of a rough Los Angeles neighborhood for 30 days completely penniless. During his stay he discovers another side of life and falls in love with with a homeless woman.
Style: funny, humorous, entertaining, melancholic, semi serious ...
Plot: homeless, wealth, greed, rags to riches, social differences, survival, switching roles, self discovery, wager, homelessness, poverty, fish out of water ...
Time: 90s, year 1991
Place: arizona, usa, los angeles
Is relevant ?
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The Twilight Samurai (2002)
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 129 min.
Story: Seibei Iguchi leads a difficult life as a low ranking samurai at the turn of the nineteenth century. A widower with a meager income, Seibei struggles to take care of his two daughters and senile mother. New prospects seem to open up when the ...
Style: tense, emotional, realistic, atmospheric, sincere ...
Plot: samurai, sword fight, feudal japan, poverty, love, friendship, medieval, character study, tragedy, visceral, love story, assassination ...
Time: 19th century, 2000s, year 2002, y2k, 1800s
Place: japan, east asia, asia
Is relevant ?
 6.7
 676
A Way of Life (2004)
Genre: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 91 min.
Story: At 17 LeighAnne Williams has a six month old baby to look after, with only the help of three teenage squatters who flog stolen gear to make ends meet. A neighbour (actually from Turkey) across the street becomes target to her growing paranoia that ...
Style: realistic, psychological, disturbing, bleak, sad ...
Plot: poverty, vandalism, delusion, family relations, family problems, social relations, life is a bitch, society, custody, interracial relations, parents and children, immigrant ...
Time: 21st century
Is relevant ?
Life Is Not a Fairytale: The Fantasia Barrino Story (2006)
Genre: Biography, Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min.
Story: In the Lifetime® movie, THE FANTASIA BARRINO STORY: LIFE IS NOT A FAIRYTALE, a single teenage mother overcomes all odds - sexual abuse, poverty and illiteracy - by relying on her spectacular singing voice. She ultimately gains national prominence ...
Style: uplifting, realistic, serious, touching
Audience: girls' night
Plot: sexual abuse, poverty, family relations, biopic, teenage pregnancy, ambition, rising to stardom, aspiring singer, parents and children, artists and showbiz, youth, single parent ...
Time: 21st century
Place: north carolina
Is relevant ?
 5.5
 860
Explicit Ills (2008)
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min.
Story: The film follows four inter-connecting stories revolving around love, drugs and poverty in Philadelphia
Style: serious, uplifting, emotional, touching, freeze frame ...
Plot: poverty, family relations, dysfunctional family, social decay, hopes, human spirit, youth, society, lifestyle, drug dealing, drug abuse, teenage life ...
Time: year 2008, year 2007, 21st century
Place: philadelphia, usa
Is relevant ?
 6.4
 2K
Street Flow (2019)
Genre: Crime, Drama
Country: France
Duration: 96 min.
Story: Noumouké, from the suburb of Paris, is about to decide which brother's foot steps to follow - the lawyer student Soulaymaan or the gangster Demba.
Style: sincere, tense, captivating, psychological, disturbing
Audience: teens, boys' night
Plot: ghetto, poverty, three brothers, youth, ambition, life is a bitch, danger, rivalry, society, life philosophy, culture clash, small town ...
Place: france
Is relevant ?
Hide and Seek (2013)
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Country: South Korea
Duration: 107 min.
Story: A missing brother. Hide and seeks codes. A shocking truth for two different families and the struggle to save their families from someone who is already living inside their house.
Style: suspense, serious, suspenseful, exciting, tense ...
Plot: poverty, uncover truth, family in danger, family relations, siblings relations, estrangement, grudge, family secret, troubled past, hunting, homeless, pervert ...
Time: 21st century
Place: south korea, korea, asia
Is relevant ?
The Brass Teapot (2012)
Genre: Comedy, Fantasy, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 101 min.
Story: When a couple discovers that a brass teapot makes them money whenever they hurt themselves, they must come to terms with how far they are willing to go.
Style: entertaining, funny, stylized, semi serious, humorous ...
Audience: adult
Plot: greed, couple relations, poverty, obsession, gangster, police investigation, crime gone awry, bank robbery, vengeance, brutality, stupidity, dark humor ...
Time: 21st century
Place: usa
Is relevant ?
 7.4
 5K
Crimson Gold (2003)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Iran
Duration: 97 min.
Story: For Hussein, a pizza delivery driver, the imbalance of the social system is thrown in his face wherever he turns. One day when his friend, Ali, shows him the contents of a lost purse, Hussein discovers a receipt of payment and cannot believe the ...
Style: realistic, thought provoking, serious, atmospheric, sincere ...
Plot: poverty, motorcycle, life is a bitch, rich and poor, breaking point, resentment, discrimination, injustice, depression, realism, hypocrisy, pizza delivery boy ...
Time: year 2003, 21st century
Place: iran, middle east, persia, pakistan, tehran iran ...
Is relevant ?
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 6.4
 388
About Sunny (2011)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 103 min.
Story: As things unravel for a struggling single mother in Las Vegas, she must decide what she's willing to give up to get by.
Style: realistic, serious, captivating, emotional, psychological ...
Plot: poverty, life is a bitch, moral dilemma, society, working class, parents and children, family problems, down on your luck, single mother, youth, homeless, single parent ...
Time: 21st century
Place: las vegas, usa
Is relevant ?
 7.6
 9K
Metro Manila (2013)
Genre: Crime, Drama
Country: UK, Philippines
Duration: 115 min.
Story: Seeking a brighter future in megacity Manila, Oscar Ramirez and his family flee their impoverished life in the rice fields of the northern Philippines. But the sweltering capital's bustling intensity quickly overwhelms them, and they fall prey ...
Style: realistic, tense, serious, captivating, noir ...
Plot: poverty, heist, life is a bitch, society, rookie, gain trust, against the rules, corrupt law enforcer, mistrust, asian, sex, working class ...
Time: year 2013, 21st century
Place: the philippines, manila philippines, asia
Is relevant ?
In This World (2002)
Genre: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 88 min.
Story: Torn straight from the headlines, Michael Winterbottom's compelling and prescient 'In This World' follows young Afghan Jamal and his older cousin Enayat as they embark on a hazardous overland trip from their refugee camp at Peshawar, ...
Style: bleak, road movie, inspirational, disturbing, suspenseful ...
Plot: refugee, immigrant, politics, poverty, on the road, life is a bitch, friendship, hopes, danger, migration, society, death ...
Time: year 2002, year 2001
Place: middle east, afghanistan, iran, pakistan, turkey ...
Is relevant ?
 6.7
 3K
Joe the King (1999)
Genre: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min.
Story: A destitute 14 year old struggles to keep his life together despite harsh abuse at his mother's hands, harsher abuse at his father's, and a growing separation from his slightly older brother. Petty thefts for food grow into more major ...
Style: emotional, harsh, tense, rough, grim ...
Plot: coming of age, children, dysfunctional family, child abuse, working class, youth, boy, redemption, poverty, childhood, corporal punishment, debt ...
Time: year 1999, 70s, 90s
Place: usa, new york
Is relevant ?
 7.5
 5K
Bandit Queen (1994)
Genre: Action, Biography, Crime, Drama, History
Country: India
Duration: 119 min.
Story: Born a lower-caste girl in rural India's patriarchal society, "married" at 11, repeatedly raped and brutalized, Phooland Devi finds freedom only as an avenging warrior, the eponymous Bandit Queen. Devi becomes a kind a bloody Robin ...
Style: disturbing, controversial, political, realistic, bleak ...
Plot: rape and revenge, female warrior, rape, poverty, violent, indians, vengeance, feminist, assassination, sexual abuse, gang, kidnapping ...
Time: year 1994, 70s, 60s, 80s, year 1983 ...
Place: india, asia
Is relevant ?
 7.0
 42K
Hemlock Grove (2013)
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 46 min.
TV show
Story: One cannot quench his all-consuming thirst. The other cannot tame the beast clawing its way out. In the sleepy Pennsylvania village of Hemlock Grove, two young men struggle to accept painful truths: about family, themselves, the mystery of the White ...
Style: gothic, suspenseful, exciting, serious, scary ...
Audience: teens, boys' night
Plot: werewolf, supernatural, danger, vampire, small town, protagonist as suspect, social relations, investigation, family secret, family relations, desire, gypsy ...
Time: 2010s, 21st century
Place: pennsylvania, usa
Is relevant ?
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 7.4
 111K
Malena (2000)
Genre: Drama, Romance, War
Country: Italy, USA
Duration: 108 min.
Story: On the day in 1940 that Italy enters the war, two things happen to the 12-year-old Renato: he gets his first bike, and he gets his first look at Malèna. She is a beautiful, silent outsider who's moved to this Sicilian town to be with her ...
Style: erotic, sexy, sexual, melancholic, serious ...
Audience: adult
Plot: hot and sexy, world war two, older woman younger man relationship, coming of age, older woman younger man, wartime, longing, unrequited love, women, sexuality, life is a bitch, fascism ...
Time: 1940s, year 2000, ancient times, 20th century, year 1940
Place: italy, sicily, europe, southern italy, mediterranean sea
Is relevant ?
The Color Purple (1985)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 154 min.
Story: An epic tale spanning forty years in the life of Celie, an African-American woman living in the South who survives incredible abuse and bigotry. After Celie's abusive father marries her off to the equally debasing "Mister" Albert ...
Style: sentimental, uplifting, touching, inspirational, sad ...
Audience: chick flick
Plot: african american, incest, sexual abuse, domestic violence, rape, life is a bitch, feminism, slavery, incest rape, abusive relationship, wife abuse, lgbtq ...
Time: edwardian era, 20th century, 1930s, year 1985, 1920s ...
Place: africa, southern usa, usa, tennessee, georgia
Is relevant ?
 7.5
 13K
The Heirs (2013)
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: South Korea
Duration: 55 min.
TV show
Story: Heirs follows a group of privileged, elite high school students as they are groomed to take over their families' business empires. These wealthy students seem to have everything under control–except their love lives. Kim Tan is heir to the ...
Style: dorama, semi serious, social, uplifting, intense ...
Audience: teens, pre-teens
Plot: high school, rich and poor, love and romance, teenage love, heir, family business, social differences, rich man poor woman, high school life, bullying, poverty, love triangle ...
Time: 21st century
Place: korea
Is relevant ?
Life, Above All (2010)
Genre: Drama
Country: South Africa, Germany
Duration: 100 min.
Story: A touching mother-daughter relationship that reflects the modern South Africa.
Style: touching, serious, emotional, sincere, psychological ...
Plot: child prostitution, poverty, little girl, human spirit, family relations, estrangement, social relations, family problems, hopes, social misfits, society, youth ...
Time: 2010s, 21st century
Place: south africa, africa
Is relevant ?
 8.2
 98K
Swades (2004)
Genre: Drama, Musical
Country: India, USA
Duration: 210 min.
Story: Set in modern day India, Swades is a film that tackles the issues that development throws up on a grass root level. It is to this India, which is colorful, heterogeneous and complex that Mohan Bhargava (Shah Rukh Khan), a bright young scientist ...
Style: touching, sincere, patriotic, inspirational, uplifting ...
Audience: family outing
Plot: poverty, discrimination, village, immigrant, self discovery, obsessive quest, follow your dream, human spirit, homecoming, journey, social differences, change of heart ...
Time: year 2004, y2k, 2000s, 21st century
Place: india, middle east, asia
Is relevant ?
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To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
Genre: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 129 min.
Story: Scout Finch, 6, and her older brother Jem live in sleepy Maycomb, Alabama, spending much of their time with their friend Dill and spying on their reclusive and mysterious neighbor, Boo Radley. When Atticus, their widowed father and a respected ...
Style: touching, black and white, enigmatic, compassionate, sentimental ...
Audience: manly, chick flick, family outing, teen drama
Plot: lawyer, courtroom drama, courtroom, racism, small town, trial, single father, legal, rape, childhood, poverty, prejudice ...
Time: 1930s, year 1932, 20th century, year 1962
Place: alabama, usa, america, africa
Is relevant ?
 6.9
 19
Lhong Fai (2017)
Genre: Drama, Romance, Thriller
Country: Thailand
Duration: 80 min.
TV show
Story: Karnkaew, a girl studying in the province Bangkok. She can upgrade herself to a higher class when she gets an income as a courtesan. Her best friend is Chala, an unambitious girl who works as waitress to paid her credit fee. Karnkaew goes out with ...
Style: psychological, captivating, suspenseful, romantic
Plot: female protagonist, poverty, country girl, lifestyle change, changing lives, countryside, aspiration, social issues, social problems, direction and purpose, village life, society ...
Place: thailand, bangkok thailand
Is relevant ?
The White Tiger (2021)
Genre: Crime, Drama
Country: India, USA
Duration: 125 min.
Story: An ambitious Indian driver uses his wit and cunning to escape from poverty and rise to the top. An epic journey based on the New York Times bestseller.
Style: social, suspense, captivating, thought provoking, dramatic ...
Audience: date night
Plot: rise to the top, social injustice, poverty, corruption, master servant relationship, class differences, caste system, master and servant, rags to riches, chauffeur, religion, driver ...
Place: los angeles
Is relevant ?
All Together Now (2020)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min.
Story: An optimistic, talented teen clings to a huge secret: she's homeless and living on a school bus. When tragedy strikes, can she learn to accept a helping hand?
Style: captivating, thought provoking, touching, psychological, uplifting ...
Audience: teens, family outing, teen drama
Plot: dysfunctional family, homeless, poverty, school, mother daughter relationship, death of mother, parents and children, dream, best friend, friends, social relations, life is a bitch ...
Time: 2020s
Is relevant ?
Ali Zaoua: Prince of the Streets (2000)
Genre: Drama, Crime
Country: Morocco, Tunisia, France, Belgium, USA
Duration: 99 min.
Story: Ali, Kwita, Omar and Boubker are street kids. The daily dose of glue sniffing represents their only escape from reality. Since they left Dib and his gang, they have been living on the portside of Casablanca. They live in constant fear of Dib's ...
Style: serious, captivating, rough, bleak, crying ...
Plot: homeless, street kid, youth, juvenile delinquency, teenage life, poverty, kids in trouble, life is a bitch, friendship, society, gang, vengeance ...
Time: 90s
Place: africa, middle east, maghreb, morocco
Is relevant ?
 5.1
 2K
Now & Later (2011)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min.
Story: Sex, politics and American culture are mixed into a combustible combination in Now & Later. Angela is an illegal Latina immigrant living in Los Angeles who stumbles across Bill, a disgraced banker on the run. She takes him in. Through ...
Style: contemplative, talky, realistic, serious, sincere ...
Audience: date night, adult
Plot: explicit sex, male pubic hair, sex scene, male nudity, coitus, erotica, repression, poverty, unsimulated sex, bisexuality, free love, love affair ...
Time: 21st century
Place: nicaragua, los angeles, usa
Is relevant ?
 5.4
 2K
Mall Girls (2009)
Genre: Drama
Country: Poland
Duration: 82 min.
Story: Shopping malls - today's place of creating desires. Best jewelry, clothes, shoes. Unaffordable by young girls, but they "work" to get themselves sponsors for new items.
Style: serious, touching, realistic, tense, captivating ...
Plot: shopping mall, teenage prostitute, poverty, love and romance, teenage love, lifestyle, youth, friendship, misfit, school, adolescence vs adulthood, teenage life ...
Time: 21st century
Place: poland
Is relevant ?
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