Dramas based on real life on Netflix
Last updated January 22, 2025
Alpha Dog
2006 | NR | 3.4 out of 5 StarsNick Cassavetes helms this gritty, ensemble drama with a cast that includes Justin Timberlake, Sharon Stone and Bruce Willis, based on the true story of Jesse James Hollywood -- one of the youngest men ever to appear on the FBI's Most Wanted list. Emile Hirsch stars as drug-peddling Johnny Truelove (a fictionalized Hollywood), who, in the process of following in his criminal father's footsteps, finds himself facing a lifetime behind bars.
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Greetings from the Shore
2007 | NR | 3.4 out of 5 StarsTrying to raise tuition money during her last summer before college, Jenny takes a job at an elite Jersey Shore yacht club, where she finds romance with a working-class boy and gets caught up in illegal activities involving Russian sailors.
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The Countess
2008 | NR | 3.4 out of 5 StarsBlaming her advancing age for a failed romance with a younger man, 16th-century Hungarian countess Erzebet Báthory begins murdering virgin girls and bathing in their blood, believing that the grim ritual will restore her youthful beauty.
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An Englishman in New York
2009 | NR | 3.4 out of 5 StarsJohn Hurt plays celebrated, iconic gay author-artist Quentin Crisp (the subject of Sting's song, "Englishman in New York") in this pseudo biopic that chronicles Crisp's high-profile move from London to New York's Bowery in the 1980s. Cynthia Nixon, Swoosie Kurtz, Denis O'Hare and Jonathan Tucker also star in Richard Laxton's long-anticipated sequel to the groundbreaking, made-for-television adaptation of "The Naked Civil Servant."
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Howl
2010 | NR | 3.4 out of 5 StarsJames Franco steps into the shoes of famed Beat poet Allen Ginsberg in this star-studded biopic centered around Ginsberg's poem "Howl" and the widely publicized obscenity trial that followed its publication in 1957.
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Henry of Navarre
2009 | NR | 3.4 out of 5 StarsThis historical drama from director Jo Baier follows the fortunes of Henry of Navarre (Julien Boisselier), a 16th-century French Protestant who led a rebellion against France's powerful Catholic queen, Katherina de Medici (Hannelore Hoger). Lured into a royal marriage of convenience and then betrayed, Henry endures a massacre, escapes prison and eventually rises to the throne as Henry IV, one of France's most enlightened monarchs.
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Of Gods and Men
2010 | NR | 3.4 out of 5 StarsA group of French Trappist monks making their home in the Algerian mountains have ample reason to believe they're in danger. But their assumption that there can be common ground between Islam and Christianity leads them to remain at the monastery.
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Omar Killed Me
2011 | NR | 3.4 out of 5 StarsWhen an elderly woman is found murdered in her basement, a message she allegedly scribbled on the wall identifies the killer as Omar, her longtime gardener. But a journalist covering the case sets out to prove that Omar was framed.
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The Heineken Kidnapping
2011 | NR | 3.4 out of 5 StarsIn 1983, wealthy brewer Alfred Heineken is kidnapped by a gang of young hoodlums in Amsterdam and held for ransom. When the ransom is paid and Heineken is released, he sets out to exact revenge on his captors in this thriller based on a true story.
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The 300 Spartans
1962 | NR | 3.3 out of 5 StarsA tiny cadre of Greek warriors from Sparta defend a mountain pass at Thermopylae against the overwhelming invasion of a vicious Persian Army. Led by King Leonidis, the Spartans' army consisted primarily of a security force that guarded the palace.
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A Matador's Mistress
2008 | NR | 3.3 out of 5 StarsIn the 1940s, Manuel Rodríguez Sánchez, known to the world as Manolete, owned the Spanish bullring. This searing biopic follows his notorious affair with movie siren Lupe Sino at the height of his fame, and his death in the ring at age 30.
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Cass
2008 | NR | 3.3 out of 5 StarsRaised by white parents in London, Jamaican-born orphan Cass (Nonso Anozie) uses violent aggression to propel himself to the top of a dangerous street gang. A prison sentence and a new love (Natalie Press) inspire Cass to try a new direction in life, but a would-be assassin's bullet shows him that the cycle of violence he set in motion isn't broken easily. Jon S. Baird directs this provocative drama based on a true story.
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Eat Pray Love
2010 | NR | 3.3 out of 5 StarsRecent divorcée Liz decides to reshape her life, traveling the world in search of direction. She heads to Italy, India and Bali, indulging in delicious cuisine while seeking the true meaning of self-love, family, friendship and forgiveness.
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No
2012 | NR | 3.3 out of 5 StarsIn this engaging drama from Chile, Gael García Bernal portrays René Saavedra, a hot-shot ad executive who creates a controversial media campaign opposing military dictator Augusto Pinochet during the referendum on his presidency in 1988.
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The Dirty Picture
2011 | NR | 3.3 out of 5 StarsThis Bollywood biopic is based on the life of Indian sex symbol Silk Smitha, whose 1980s celebrity slowly faded into a lonely and forgotten existence. Silk's story also includes a fairy-tale romance with Surya Kant, her longtime favorite leading man.
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De-Lovely
2004 | NR | 3.2 out of 5 StarsKevin Kline stars as the celebrated 20th-century composer Cole Porter, who looks back on his life unfolding like one of his musicals, replete with drama, suspense and joy -- at the center of which is his mercurial relationship with his wife, Linda (Ashley Judd). After meeting in Paris, the couple marries with the understanding that Porter -- who penned many hits, including "Anything Goes" and "It's De-Lovely" -- is gay.
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The Middle of the World
2004 | NR | 3.2 out of 5 StarsIt's a known fact that desperate people will be driven to take desperate measures. And when we say &NFi;driven&NFi_;, we mean it -- literally. This movie is based on the incredible true story of a man who takes his wife and five children on a 2,000-mile bicycle trip across Brazil in search of a decent job. Stars Cláudia Abreu and Manoel Sebastião Alves Filho.
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Taking Woodstock
2009 | NR | 3.2 out of 5 StarsA twentysomething man finds his life forever changed in the summer of 1969 when he offers up his parents' motel in the Catskills as a home base for Woodstock organizers and then helps the show go on by donating an all-important music festival permit.
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Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky
2009 | NR | 3.2 out of 5 StarsSeven years after she was inspired by the bold debut of Igor Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring," famed fashion designer Coco Chanel (Anna Mouglalis) -- reeling from the death of her beau, Boy Capel (Anatole Taubmann) -- meets and falls for the Russian composer (Mads Mikkelsen) in 1920s Paris. A forbidden romance ensues in Jan Kounen's sumptuous period drama, the closing film of the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.
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Screwed
2011 | NR | 3.2 out of 5 StarsIn this crime drama based on a true story, a soldier who served a traumatic tour in Iraq gets a job as a prison guard and is drawn into an underworld of corruption, drug trafficking and brutality.
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The Gangster
2012 | NR | 3.2 out of 5 StarsBased on a true story and set in 1950s and '60s Bangkok, this Thai crime drama tells the tale of Jod, a promising young gangster moving through the ranks of the city's mafia as he battles for turf against rival gangs and the Chinese triads.
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Amelia
2009 | NR | 3.1 out of 5 StarsHilary Swank stars as famed aviator Amelia Earhart in this dramatic biopic that follows the daring pilot's rise from obscurity in Kansas to her troubled marriage to businessman George Putnam (Richard Gere), who recruited her for her first transatlantic flight. Mira Nair (The Namesake, Vanity Fair) directs; Ewan McGregor, Joe Anderson, Christopher Eccleston and Mia Wasikowska co-star.
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Le Dernier pour la Route
2009 | NR | 3.1 out of 5 StarsAfter nearly destroying his career, his health and his relationship with his family, journalist Hervé finally acknowledges that he is an alcoholic and begins the hard work of rebuilding his life in this insightful drama.
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J. Edgar
2011 | NR | 3.1 out of 5 StarsLeonardo DiCaprio stars in this riveting biopic as J. Edgar Hoover, the longtime FBI director as notorious for his overzealous methods of law enforcement as for the rumors regarding his cross-dressing and close relationship with protégé Clyde Tolson.
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Morlang
2003 | NR | 3.0 out of 5 StarsJulius Morlang is a successful artist who's been happily married for 15 years to Ellen, his creative muse and personal manager. But when Ellen confesses to an affair, Morlang takes his psychic revenge by bedding a young sycophant. Loosely based on a true story, this drama from the Netherlands explores the potent motives of jealousy, betrayal and revenge.
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