100+ Good True-story-based Movies & Shows to Watch

They say art imitates life, especially in the case of movies that are based on a true story. Whether you’re interested in historical events or iconic biopics, here are the best true story-based movies and shows to stream now.

Bob Trevino Likes It (2025)
Bob Trevino Likes It (2025)
7.9
Movie

Bob Trevino Likes It (2025)

With the anonymity of the internet, it’s hard to trust that the stranger on the other side would be a…

Belén (2025)
Belén (2025)
7.5
Movie

Belén (2025)

Given that this is based on a recent, real life case, and the defendant has chosen to remain behind the…

Toxic Town
Toxic Town
7.7
Show

Toxic Town

Toxic Town tells the true story of how toxic waste in the steel-making town of Corby, England led a group…

Song Sung Blue (2025)
Song Sung Blue (2025)
7.4
Movie

Song Sung Blue (2025)

Song Sung Blue gets its name from a Neil Diamond song, but rather than depict his life in a regular…

Black Warrant
Black Warrant
7.5
Show

Black Warrant

With the fresh-faced cast and the sleek camerawork, Black Warrant, at first, didn’t seem to be the gritty adaptation of…

Lockerbie: A Search for Truth
Lockerbie: A Search for Truth
7.5
Show

Lockerbie: A Search for Truth

Lockerbie is a devastating time-hopping journey that tells the story of how the UK’s deadliest terror attacks came to be…

Nickel Boys (2024)
Nickel Boys (2024)
8.3
Movie|Oscar · Golden Globe · BAFTA

Nickel Boys (2024)

The first things that grab your attention in Nickel Boys are its beauty and technicality. Director RaMell Ross, a large-format…

Running Point
Running Point
7.0
Show

Running Point

If you combined the family business shenanigans of Arrested Development with the behind-the-scenes league drama of Ted Lasso, then you’d…

The Girl with the Needle (2024)
The Girl with the Needle (2024)
7.8
Movie|Oscar · Golden Globe

The Girl with the Needle (2024)

Given the original real-life story behind it, perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising that The Girl with the Needle was so…

Masters of the Air
Masters of the Air
8.3
Show

Masters of the Air

It’s hard not to be swept away by the epicness of Masters of the Air. Produced by Steven Spielberg and…

Black Box Diaries (2024)
Black Box Diaries (2024)
7.7
Movie|Sundance · BAFTA · Oscar

Black Box Diaries (2024)

Continuing her fight to tell the world the truth about her sexual assault case, journalist Shiori Ito released Black Box…

A Man on the Inside
A Man on the Inside
7.6
Show|SAG · Golden Globe

A Man on the Inside

Man on the Inside may be a detective show, but at its core, it’s a series about the beauty and…

Griselda
Griselda
7.6
Show|Golden Globe

Griselda

With the success of Narcos, Netflix has created multiple shows about drugs in Latin America to the point that the…

Frida (2024)
Frida (2024)
7.5
Movie|Oscar · Oscar Winner · BAFTA

Frida (2024)

Frida Kahlo is an iconic Mexican painter, not just because of her outstanding art, but also because of her outlook…

Young Woman and the Sea (2024)
Young Woman and the Sea (2024)
7.7
Movie

Young Woman and the Sea (2024)

Young Woman and the Sea is a neatly told, inspiring story about a woman who went against the tide to…

Maamla Legal Hai
Maamla Legal Hai
7.3
Show

Maamla Legal Hai

With the stakes involved in plenty of cases, legal dramas tend to be more serious and dramatic. However, sometimes, ludicrous…

Coppola, the Agent
Coppola, the Agent
7.5
Show

Coppola, the Agent

Sports is undeniably exciting, but behind the scenes, there’s a whole world constructed just to get the players in the…

Cristóbal Balenciaga
Cristóbal Balenciaga
7.4
Show

Cristóbal Balenciaga

When Cristobal Balenciaga was in his prime, the courtier was lauded for his technique. More than anything, his dedication to…

Under the Bridge
Under the Bridge
7.4
Show

Under the Bridge

When it comes to true crime series, it’s rare to hear of teenage girls participating in murder. But it does…

Mary & George
Mary & George
7.3
Show|Spirit

Mary & George

After the likes of The Favourite six years ago, modern historical portrayals have now become more interested in the salacious…

God Save Texas
God Save Texas
7.5
Show|Sundance

God Save Texas

Sometimes thinking about your home state can feel complicated, because while it’s your home, the events and issues and controversies…

Scoop (2024)
Scoop (2024)
7.4
Movie

Scoop (2024)

To the untrained eye, a TV interview is just that: an interview, a simple (and at times rehearsed) back-to-back between…

City of God: The Fight Rages On
City of God: The Fight Rages On
7.2
Show

City of God: The Fight Rages On

City of God: The Fight Rages On is a traditional sequel. It takes place years after the events of the…

Wicked Little Letters (2024)
Wicked Little Letters (2024)
7.1
Movie

Wicked Little Letters (2024)

Is this the most thrilling head-scratcher we’ve seen in a while? No. Is it a rousing take on the feminist…

Becoming Karl Lagerfeld
Becoming Karl Lagerfeld
7.3
Show

Becoming Karl Lagerfeld

Becoming Karl Lagerfeld gets many things right—the fashion is spectacular, the drama is gripping, and the details feel true to…

Suncoast (2024)
Suncoast (2024)
7.0
Movie|Sundance Winner

Suncoast (2024)

In Suncoast, writer-director Laura Chinn takes the personal tragedy of losing her brother to cancer and weaves it into something…

Mutt (2023)
Mutt (2023)
8.3
Movie

Mutt (2023)

Just based off its title, Mutt is already a film that tackles a state of in-between, and perhaps what makes…

The Royal Hotel (2023)
The Royal Hotel (2023)
8.1
Movie

The Royal Hotel (2023)

The Royal Hotel sees Hanna (Julia Garner) and Liv (Jessica Henwick) resorting to take up a dire live-in job behind…

This World Can’t Tear Me Down
This World Can’t Tear Me Down
8.4
Show

This World Can’t Tear Me Down

This World Can’t Tear Me Down is a timely release on friendship, punk, and anti-fascism. From the Italian cartoonist Zerocalcare,…

My Love Affair with Marriage (2023)
My Love Affair with Marriage (2023)
7.6
Movie

My Love Affair with Marriage (2023)

It’s not often you get a female perspective on the USSR, much less a female artist with little means. Signe…

18×2 Beyond Youthful Days (2024)
18×2 Beyond Youthful Days (2024)
7.2
Movie

18×2 Beyond Youthful Days (2024)

We sacrifice so much for our dreams, so if it all fails, whether that be because of ourselves or because…

The Good Mothers
The Good Mothers
8.0
Show|Berlin

The Good Mothers

With years of films depicting Italian crime syndicates, most focus on their leaders – the Dons, the Capos, and the…

Nyad (2023)
Nyad (2023)
7.7
Movie|Oscar · Golden Globe · SAG

Nyad (2023)

After winning Oscars for their documentary work, filmmakers Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin make their narrative feature debut with…

Great Photo, Lovely Life (2023)
Great Photo, Lovely Life (2023)
8.0
Movie

Great Photo, Lovely Life (2023)

Biographical documentaries tend to depict exceptional people– people who are so great that everyone wants to know about them, and…

Simón (2023)
Simón (2023)
7.6
Movie

Simón (2023)

While we would like to think that we would do all we can to fight against a tyrannical regime, it’s…

Yellow Door: ’90s Lo-fi Film Club (2023)
Yellow Door: ’90s Lo-fi Film Club (2023)
7.7
Movie

Yellow Door: ’90s Lo-fi Film Club (2023)

Given a budget from Netflix to make a documentary on Korean film, some would have chosen instead to make one…

How to Have Sex (2023)
How to Have Sex (2023)
7.7
Movie|Sundance · Cannes · BAFTA

How to Have Sex (2023)

While named as a “how-to”, How to Have Sex is less of an instruction manual, and more of a collection…

The Promised Land (2023)
The Promised Land (2023)
7.5
Movie|Cannes

The Promised Land (2023)

In The Promised Land, director Nikolaj Arcel (A Royal Affair) and Mads Mikkelsen reunite to create another intense, enjoyable drama…

Cabrini (2024)
Cabrini (2024)
7.0
Movie

Cabrini (2024)

After drawing controversy for the embellished, modern day-set Sound of Freedom, director Alejandro Monteverde and writer Rod Barr pivoted to…

Bheed (2023)
Bheed (2023)
7.7
Movie

Bheed (2023)

COVID-19 raised concerns about sanitation and cleanliness, but in a society that just banned discrimination against “impure” castes seventy years…

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