Movies Similar to Essential Killing

The Breadwinner(2017)

A headstrong young girl in Afghanistan, ruled by the Taliban, disguises herself as a boy in order to provide for her family.

7.8

Armadillo(2010)

Danish soldiers are sent to Afghanistan in 2009 for 6 months, to help stabilize the country against the Taliban. They're stationed on Armadillo military base in Helman province. Unlike other war movies, this is the real deal – no actors.

7.0

Retrograde(2022)

The story of the last months of the 20-year war in Afghanistan through the intimate relationship between American Green Berets and the Afghan officers they trained.

7.1

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot(2016)

In 2002, cable news producer Kim Barker decides to shake up her routine by taking a daring new assignment in Kabul, Afghanistan. Dislodged from her comfortable American lifestyle, Barker finds herself in the middle of an out-of-control war zone. Luckily, she meets Tanya Vanderpoel, a fellow journalist who takes the shell-shocked reporter under her wing. Amid the militants, warlords and nighttime partying, Barker discovers the key to becoming a successful correspondent.

6.3

Jarhead 2: Field of Fire(2014)

Battle-scarred and disillusioned by the war, Corporal Chris Merrimette is put in charge of a unit whose next mission is to resupply a remote outpost on the edge of Taliban-controlled territory. While driving through the hostile Helmand province, a Navy SEAL flags down their convoy and enlists the unit on an operation of international importance: they must help an Afghan woman famous for her defiance of the Taliban escape the country. Without tanks or air support, Merrimette and his team will need all the courage and firepower they can muster to fight their way across the war-torn country and shepherd the woman to safety.

6.2

Restrepo(2010)

Directors Hetherington and Junger spend a year with the 2nd Battalion of the United States Army located in one of Afghanistan's most dangerous valleys. The documentary provides insight and empathy on how to win the battle through hard work, deadly gunfights and mutual friendships while the unit must push back the Taliban.

7.3

Dirty Angels(2024)

During the United States' 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan, a group of female soldiers posing as medical relief are sent back in to rescue a group of kidnapped teenagers caught between ISIS and the Taliban.

6.3

Sand Serpents(2009)

Jason Gedrick and a small group of Marines are stranded in the remote Afghan desert. But it ain't the Taliban that's worrying them, it's these giant refugees from Tremors. In fact the big worms prove to be an ally of sorts by doing better against the Taliban than themselves but battling these enemies is something not covered in their training.

4.0

Special Forces(2011)

Afghanistan. War correspondent Elsa Casanova is taken hostage by the Taliban. Faced with her imminent execution, a Special Forces unit is dispatched to free her. In some of the world’s most breathtaking yet hostile landscapes, a relentless pursuit begins between her kidnappers who have no intention of letting their prey escape them and a group of soldiers who risk their lives in pursuit of their single aim – to bring her home alive. This strong, independent woman and these men of duty are thrown together and forced to confront situations of great danger that inextricably bind them – emotionally, violently and intimately.

6.7

Warhorse One(2023)

A gunned down Navy SEAL Master Chief must guide a child to safety through a gauntlet of hostile Taliban insurgents and survive the brutal Afghanistan wilderness.

7.2

Mazar Sharif(2015)

An Iranian diplomat who miraculously survived Taliban's raid on the Iranian consulate in Mazar E Sharif (Afghanistan) narrates his 19 days of hide and escape to reach Iran's borders meanwhile on the other side, the Iranian troops are preparing for retaliation.

6.7

The Point Men(2023)

A group of Korean tourists is taken hostage by an extremist Taliban group in Afghanistan. The Korean government dispatches Jae-ho, known as one of Korea's most skilled diplomats, in order to handle the situation. Once he arrives, he asks for the Afghan government's cooperation and uses every means possible to free the hostages. However, his efforts go in vain. Due to his failure, he's forced to work with Dae-sik, a special agent who is an expert on the Middle East. As they begin making their move to get to the Taliban, the first hostage death occurs. With nowhere else to turn, the two become unlikely allies in a race against time to save the rest of the hostages.

5.8

Hollywoodgate(2024)

Immediately after the US pullout from Afghanistan, Taliban forces occupied the Hollywood Gate complex, which is claimed to be a former CIA base in Kabul.

8.3

12 Strong(2018)

A team of special forces head into Afghanistan in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks in an attempt to dismantle the Taliban.

6.3

Lone Survivor(2013)

Four Navy SEALs on a covert mission to neutralize a high-level Taliban operative must make an impossible moral decision in the mountains of Afghanistan that leads them into an enemy ambush. As they confront unthinkable odds, the SEALs must find reserves of strength and resilience to fight to the finish.

7.4

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Zolykha's Secret(2006)

A rural Afghan family living at the base of a mountain, struggles to survive during the last year of the Taliban and the beginning of a new war that still rages. Living under harsh and oppressive conditions, the family finds comfort in one another and in trying to rebuild their mountainous home. The youngest daughter, Zolykha, is specially receptive, curious and clairvoyant. Zolykha can sense and see spirits of strange men from the past that roam the hills and mountains behind her home. As Zolykha and her older siblings, Amena and Zalmai struggle to find meaning in life's natural and man-made tragedies, they discover new convictions to carry on.

0.0

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Voice of a Nation: My Journey Through Afghanistan(2013)

Jawed Taiman takes a distinct look at Afghanistan and lets the Afghan people have their say. En route through the different provinces, through urban and rural regions, in discussion with intellectuals and simple folk, politicians and Taliban fighters a multifaceted picture emerges of a country that is often portrayed as incomprehensible.

0.0

Entrenched(2018)

Four Australian soldiers become compromised when they capture a young Afghani boy spying on their reconnaissance position.

7.0

The Kite Runner(2007)

After spending years in California, Amir returns to his homeland in Afghanistan to help his old friend Hassan, whose son is in trouble.

7.3

Milk(2015)

Through an intimate and artistic lens, yet investigative and political, Milk brings a universal focus on the politics, commercialization and controversies surrounding birth and infant feeding over the canvas of stunningly beautiful visuals and poignant voices from around the globe.

7.5