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Movies like The Free World

Key Features:
Ex-convict, Redemption, Violence-moderate, Crime, Romance, Past trauma, Moral dilemma, Survival
Tone:
gritty, serious, suspense-driven
Target Audience:
Crime drama fans, Viewers interested in character studies, Fans of suspenseful narratives, Those seeking stories of redemption
Emotional Arc:
Desperation → Hope → Risk

The Free World

2016-09-23
The Free World Poster - Find Similar Movies

Following his release from a brutal stretch in prison for crimes he didn't commit, Mo is struggling to adapt to life on the outside. When his world collides with Doris, a mysterious woman with a violent past, he decides to risk his newfound freedom to keep her in his life.

Genres
Romance, Drama
Cast
Boyd Holbrook, Elisabeth Moss, Octavia Spencer, Sung Kang, Waleed Zuaiter, Stephen Louis Grush, Dane Rhodes, Austin Amelio, Vivian Fleming-Alvarez, Frederick Weller
Crew
Jason Lew, Jason Lew
Rating
6.152(56 votes)
The Free WorldThe Free World
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Levity
Levity(2003)
6.1

Manuel Jordan is a man who is free after serving 23 years for killing a teenager during an attempted robbery. After nearly two decades of staring at his victim's face on a newspaper clipping in his cell, the newly paroled man seeks redemption. Instead, redemption—in the form of a mysterious minister and two needy women— finds him.



The Free Will
6.9

After nine years in psychiatric detention Theo, who has brutally assaulted and raped three women, is released. Living in a supervised community, he connects well with his social worker Sascha, finds a job at a print shop and even a girlfriend, Nettie, his principal's brittle and estranged daughter. But even though superficially everything seems to work out Theo's seething rage remains ready to erupt.



Home
Home(2021)
6.7

An ex-felon returns home from prison and must confront the demons of his past.



O.G.
O.G.(2018)
5.9

Louis Menkins is five weeks away from being released after 26 years in prison. He is faced with the decision to put his own release at risk in order to protect a young man named Beecher from growing gang controversies.



Felon
Felon(2008)
7.1

A family man convicted of killing an intruder must cope with life afterward in the violent penal system.



Damage
Damage(2009)
6.6

An ex-con battles it out in the cage to pay for the operation that would save the daughter of his victim. Along the way he finds fatherly love, and friendship, in the most unlikely of places.



The Unforgivable
7.412

A woman is released from prison after serving a sentence for a violent crime and re-enters a society that refuses to forgive her past.



Miss Baek
Miss Baek(2018)
7.5

A woman's past as a convict follows her everywhere and because of this she doesn't open up to others. But then she strikes up a friendship with a broken child who has suffered from domestic violence and decides to save the girl from the cruel world. A man who holds feelings for the woman, tries to protect her in his own way.



Easy Money: Hard to Kill

JW is serving hard time in prison and struggling to get back on an honest path. There are glimmers of hope in his life – some venture capitalists are interested in a new piece of trading software he's developed, and while behind bars he's made peace with an old enemy. This all proves to be an illusion. On leave from prison, and back in contact with his former gang, JW learns that once you've walked in the shoes of a criminal there just may be no going back.



Small Crimes
5.383

A disgraced former cop, fresh off a six-year prison sentence for attempted murder, returns home looking for redemption but winds up trapped in the mess he left behind.



Prisoner's Daughter
6.143

Released from prison with terminal cancer, Max tries to reconnect with his estranged daughter and the grandson he’s never known. When his daughter’s abusive, drug-addicted ex-husband reappears, Max’s violent past comes back to haunt them all.



Outside In
6.162

An ex-con struggling to readjust to life in his small town forms an intense bond with his former high-school teacher.



Convict
Convict(2014)
6.508

Set in the dark and old Parramatta prison built by the original convicts our lead character Ray a war veteran finds himself serving 18 months for manslaughter after defending his fiance. He soon realizes that the prison boss has it in for him and does everything possible to break Ray even going after his fiance.



Galveston
Galveston(2018)
6.115

After a violent encounter, Roy finds Rocky and sees something in her eyes that prompts a fateful decision. He takes her with him as he flees to Galveston, an action as ill-advised as it is inescapable.



News of the World
6.9

A Texan traveling across the wild West bringing the news of the world to local townspeople, agrees to help rescue a young girl who was kidnapped.



A Somewhat Gentle Man
6.517

After serving a 12-year sentence for killing the man that slept with his wife, a man ponders whether he should try and reconcile with his family, or take revenge on those who turned him in.



Time
Time(2020)
6.8

Fox Rich, indomitable matriarch and modern-day abolitionist, strives to keep her family together while fighting for the release of her incarcerated husband. An intimate, epic, and unconventional love story, filmed over two decades.



Two Men in Town
7.1

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.



The Gateway
5.3

A social worker assigned to the care of the daughter of a single mother intervenes when the dad returns from prison and lures them into a life of crime.



Adulthood
Adulthood(2008)
6.2

After serving six years for killing his schoolmate, a young man learns that someone is out for revenge.



Innocence
Innocence(1997)
7.708

Yusuf is released from prison after serving a ten year sentence. Because of unexpected problems at his sister’s house, he finds himself in a cheap hotel where he meets a man, a woman, and a child who will change his life in unexpected ways…



All Day and a Night
6.218

While serving life in prison, a young man looks back at the people, the circumstances and the system that set him on the path toward his crime.



Female Fight Squad
6.149

A former fighter reluctantly returns to the life she abandoned in order to help her sister survive the sadistic world of illegal fighting and the maniac who runs it.



Standoff
Standoff(2016)
6

A troubled veteran gets a chance at redemption by protecting a girl from an assassin after she witnesses a murder. Holding a shotgun with a single shell, he engages in physical and psychological warfare in a desperate fight for the girl's life.



Crazy on the Outside

A recently paroled ex-con who has trouble adjusting to the wacky normalcy of life outside of prison. He has spent the last three years behind bars after getting caught committing a crime and taking the rap for his much more dangerous pal.



The Mustang
6.888

While participating in a rehabilitation program training wild mustangs, a convict at first struggles to connect with the horses and his fellow inmates, but he learns to confront his violent past as he soothes an especially feisty horse.



John Henry
5.259

Ex-gang member John Henry is a quiet man with a violent past. When two immigrant kids on the run from his former South Los Angeles gang leader stumble into his life, John is forced to reconcile with his past in order to try and give them a future.



London Boulevard
5.882

A parolee falls for a reclusive movie star while trying to evade a ruthless gangster.



The Baker
The Baker(2023)
6.273

A quiet, stoic man, lives a monk-like existence in self-imposed exile. When his estranged son is killed in a drug deal gone bad, he is left to look after a granddaughter he never knew existed, and he is forced back into a life he tried to put behind him.



Two Men in Town
5.5

A convict is released from prison in a small town in New Mexico. 18 years ago he killed a deputy. The then-and-now sheriff seeks revenge.



The Border
6.1

A corrupted border agent decides to clean up his act when an impoverished woman's baby is put up for sale on the black market.



Eden
Eden(2013)
6.471

After a night out with friends, Hyun Jae accepts a late night ride home from a young fire fighter. What begins as a night of promise quickly turns into a nightmare when she is abducted and imprisoned outside Las Vegas as a sex slave.



The Prison
7.1

An imprisoned ex-police inspector discovers that the entire penitentiary is controlled by an inmate running a crime syndicate and becomes part of the crime empire.



Clean
Clean(2004)
6.4

After she ends up in prison and loses custody of her son, a woman struggles to assimilate outside her former life and remain clean long enough to regain custody of her son.



Sunflower
Sunflower(2006)
7

Tae-sik gets out of a prison after spending 10 years for killing a man and wishes nothing but an ordinary life. A local lady welcomes him into her household like a son and he gets a second chance in life. His former gang tries to destroy his new home in order to build a night club but he won’t let them destroy his new family.



The Philly Kid
5.461

A former NCAA champion wrestler is paroled after 10 years in prison. Now, to save a friend's life, in a series of cage fights he must agree to do the impossible - lose.



Mona Lisa
Mona Lisa(1986)
6.9

George is a small-time crook just out of prison who discovers his tough-guy image is out of date. Reduced to working as a minder/driver for high class call girl Simone, he has to agree when she asks him to find a young colleague from her King's Cross days. That's when George's troubles just start.



Women in Cages
4.992

Carol Jeffries is a naive American woman staying in the Philippines. She is given ten years in prison after being set up by her drug-dealer boyfriend, Rudy. She endures the harsh conditions, sadistic head matron and attempts on her life, then convinces her cell-mates to try to escape with her through the jungle, in spite of the knowledge that ruthless trackers will be sent out after them.



A Vigilante
5.404

A once-abused woman devotes herself to ridding victims of their domestic abusers while hunting down the one she must kill to be truly free.



Text
Text(2019)
6.4

Ilya Goryunov has spent seven years in prison on false charges of drug trafficking. When Ilya is free he realizes that the old life that he yearned for is no more. Although he did not intend to take revenge on the man who sent him to prison, now there is no other way out.



Goodbye
Goodbye(2019)
6.993

Seville, Spain. Juan Santos, a convicted petty criminal, gets out of jail for a day to celebrate with Triana, his wife, the first communion of their daughter Estrella.



Jamesy Boy
6.404

Based on the true story of teenager James Burns who goes from a suburban street gang to a maximum-security prison cell surrounded by hardened criminals. He turns his life around in prison thanks to the unexpected friendship he forms with a convicted murderer who becomes his mentor.



Wild Bill
Wild Bill(2011)
6.8

Out on parole after 8 years inside Bill Hayward returns home to find his now 11 and 15 year old sons abandoned by their mother and fending for themselves. Unwilling to play Dad, an uncaring Bill is determined to move on.



Man of the West
6.6

Heading east to Fort Worth to hire a schoolteacher for his frontier town home, Link Jones is stranded with singer Billie Ellis and gambler Sam Beasley when their train is held up. For shelter, Jones leads them to his nearby former home, where he was brought up an outlaw. Finding the gang still living in the shack, Jones pretends to be ready to return to a life crime.



Norte, The End of History

An embittered law student commits a brutal double murder; a family man takes the fall and is forced into a harsh prison sentence; a mother and her two children wander the countryside looking for some kind of redemption.



Labor Day
Labor Day(2013)
7

Two strangers are drawn together under incredible circumstances. What starts as an unforeseen encounter over a long holiday weekend soon becomes a second chance love story.



Oasis
Oasis(2002)
7.7

A young man released from prison visits the widow of the man he killed drunk-driving and becomes infatuated with his cerebral palsy-stricken daughter.



Boy A
Boy A(2008)
7.109

Freed after a lengthy term in a juvenile detention center, convicted child killer Jack Burridge finds work as a deliveryman and begins dating co-worker Michelle. While out on the road one day, Jack notices a distressed child, and, after reuniting the girl with her family, becomes a local celebrity. But when a local newspaper unearths his past, Jack must cope with the anger of citizens who fear for the safety of their children.



Five Corners
5.767

A psychotic young man returns to his old neighborhood after release from prison. He seeks out the woman he previously tried to rape and the man who protected her, with twisted ideas of love for her and hate for him.



The Locksmith
5.923

A thief fresh out of prison, tries to work his way back into the life of his daughter and ex-fiancé. Determined, he is forced to use the skills he has as a gifted locksmith. Things take a tumultuous turn after an unexpected disappearance.



The Concrete Jungle

An unfortunate and naive girl is set up by her boyfriend and convicted of drug smuggling. She is sent to a women's correctional facility where she must constantly struggle to survive.



A Man of Reason
6.659

After spending a decade in prison, a hitman learns that he has a daughter and just wants a chance at a normal life. But his former mob boss wants him back at any cost, sending merciless assassins after him.



Cartagena
Cartagena(2009)
5.594

Muriel is beautiful, free-spirited and bed-ridden since a horrific accident. Leo is a drunk middle-aged ex-boxer. Desperate for work and unqualified, he interviews for Muriel, who hires him to cook and care for her against her better judgment. Initially out of his depth, Leo slowly wins Muriel's trust. As Muriel teaches him to read, he forces her to confront the joys beyond her window.



Bad Girls
Bad Girls(1994)
5.4

Four former harlots try to leave the wild west (Colorado, to be exact) and head north to make a better life for themselves. Unfortunately someone from Cody's past won't let it happen that easily.



Small Town Crime
6.366

Mike Kendall, a disgraced ex-cop, is fighting a losing battle with the bottle. When he finds a woman left for dead at the side of a road, Kendall turns private eye to track down her killers, taking one last shot at redemption.



Blood and Bone
7.4

In Los Angeles, an ex-con takes the underground fighting world by storm in his quest to fulfill a promise to a dead friend.



100 Women
100 Women(2002)
4.4

A young man returns to his ex-girlfriend and true love to discover the source of her increasing depression. As the young man earnestly tries to help his girlfriend through her troubles, their love begins to bloom.



Emancipation
7.8

Inspired by the gripping true story of a man who would do anything for his family—and for freedom. When Peter, an enslaved man, risks his life to escape and return to his family, he embarks on a perilous journey of love and endurance.



Tyler Perry's Divorce in the Black

Ava, a young bank professional is devastated when her husband Dallas abandons a marriage she is determined to fight for until fate intervenes, revealing Dallas' wicked deeds that have trashed their marriage, and once upon a time sabotaged Ava's destiny to be loved by her true soulmate.



The Escape
5.5

An ordinary woman makes an extraordinary decision which will change her life forever.



Return to Sender
6.116

A nurse mistakes a stranger who pays her a visit for her blind date and soon, the man rapes her and turns her life upside down. The woman works to reclaim her life and exact revenge on her assailant after he's paroled from prison.



2037
2037(2022)
7.412

Yoon-young, a 19-year-old girl who dreams of becoming a civil servant, is framed as a murderer and imprisoned in a women's prison.



The Samaritan
5.5

After twenty years in prison, Foley is finished with the grifter's life. When he meets an elusive young woman named Iris, the possibility of a new start looks real. But his past is proving to be a stubborn companion.



South of Heaven
6.5

Convicted felon Jimmy gets early parole after serving twelve years for armed robbery. Upon his release, he vows to give Annie, his childhood love, now dying from cancer, the best last year of her life – unfortunately it’s not that simple.



Brian Banks
7.2

An All-American football player's dreams to play in the NFL are halted when he is falsely accused of rape and sent to prison.



Abandoned Man
7.336

After serving time in prison for his brother's crime, a man warily reunites with family, finding hope and healing in a life-changing bond with his niece.



Savior
Savior(1998)
7.187

A hardened mercenary in the Foreign Legion begins to find his own humanity when confronted with atrocities during the fighting in Bosnia.



Frank and Penelope
7.3

A tale of love and violence when a man on his emotional last legs finds a savior seductively dancing in a run-down strip club. And a life most certainly headed off a cliff suddenly becomes redirected - as everything is now worth dying for.



Oldboy
Oldboy(2013)
5.925

A man has only three and a half days and limited resources to discover why he was imprisoned in a nondescript room for 20 years without any explanation.



Jailbait
Jailbait(2014)
5.293

A gritty coming of age thriller about a young girl sent to juvenile prison for the murder of her abusive step father. The film follows Anna Nix's journey into the dark world of an all girls jail where she discovers complex relationships, drugs, mental illness and her eventual search for redemption.



Imperial Dreams
6.6

A 21-year-old reformed gangster's devotion to his family and his future is put to the test when he is released from prison and returns to his old stomping grounds in Watts, Los Angeles.



Life
Life(1999)
6.7

Two men in 1930s Mississippi become friends after being sentenced to life in prison together for a crime they did not commit.



Supremacy
Supremacy(2014)
5.7

The story centers on paroled white supremacist who has just killed a cop, and takes a black family hostage. Within hours of being released from 14 years of solitary confinement in maximum-security Pelican Bay State Prison, Garrett Tully is on the run again. When he finds a house off a dirt road and takes a family hostage, he thinks the Aryan Brotherhood has his back–and his kidnap victims are black. The family’s patriarch, Mr. Walker, is a jaded ex-con who hates cops so much he disavowed his own son for becoming one. Seeing a familiar desperation in Tully, Walker refuses to call the authorities for help, causing familial tensions to escalate, and soon grave missteps are made.



Hannie Caulder
6.199

After she's raped by the outlaw trio who murdered her husband, a frontierswoman hires a bounty hunter to instruct her in the ways of a gun in order to exact her revenge.



R
R(2010)
6.8

The R of the title stands for the young protagonist, Rune, fearlessly played by Pilou Asbæk. Imprisoned for violent assault, he's a cocky, good-looking young man placed in the hardcore ward, where his survival depends on quickly learning the prison's parallel world of rules, honor, and obligations. R also stands for Rachid, a young Muslim prisoner who becomes Rune's friend and accomplice, defying the rigid racial stratifications among the inmates.



Clemency
Clemency(2019)
6.3

Years of carrying out death row executions have taken a toll on prison warden Bernadine Williams. As she prepares to execute another inmate, Bernadine must confront the psychological and emotional demons her job creates, ultimately connecting her to the man she is sanctioned to kill.



The Woman
The Woman(2011)
6

A lawyer puts his family in jeopardy when he captures the last member of a violent clan and tries to forcibly tame her.



The Spitfire Grill
6.413

Percy, upon being released from prison, goes to the small town of Gillead, to find a place where she can start over again. She is taken in by Hannah, to help out at her place, the Spitfire Grill. Percy brings change to the small town, stirring resentment and fear in some, and growth in others.



Detained
Detained(2024)
5.787

In the dead of night, Rebecca wakes in a decrepit precinct, accused of a hit-and-run. But a deadly scuffle reveals a sinister plot. With nowhere to turn, she must uncover the truth before it consumes her. But Rebecca harbors secrets darker than they know.



Pusher II
Pusher II(2004)
7.191

Tonny is released from prison - again. This time he has his mind set on changing his broken down life, but that is easier said than done.



Jailbirds
Jailbirds(2016)
5.6

In order to save the man she loves from jail, Mathilde takes his place by helping his break-out. While she exclusively relies on him to survive in this prison setting, Mathilde has not heard from him since her imprisonment. Isolated, with her son as her only support, she is now identified by the inmate number 383205-B. Will Mathilde become a convict like any other one?



Crime Wave
7.1

Reformed parolee Steve Lacey is caught in the middle when a wounded former cellmate seeks him out for shelter. The other two former cellmates then attempt to force him into doing a bank job.



Two Friends
5.86

Mona, a prisoner on work release, meets Clément, a shy actor. Desperate to impress Mona, Clément recruits his extroverted friend, Abel, to help. When Mona becomes more interested in Abel, it sets off a conflict between the two friends. Meanwhile, Mona attempts to keep her past hidden.



Redeemer
Redeemer(2014)
6.2

A former hit-man for a drug cartel becomes a vigilante to pay for his sins and find redemption.



It's a Free World...

Angie is a working class woman. After being fired, she decides to set up a recruitment agency of her own, running it from her kitchen with her friend, Rose. Taking advantage of the desperation of immigrants, Angie builds a successful business extremely quickly.



Joe
Joe(2014)
6.5

The rough-hewn boss of a lumber crew courts trouble when he steps in to protect the youngest member of his team from an abusive father.



Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story

Redemption tells the story of Stan "Tookie" Williams, founder of the Crips L.A. street gang. Story follows his fall into gang-banging, his prison term, and his work writing children's novels encouraging peace and anti-violence resolutions which earned him multiple Nobel Peace Prize nominations. After exhausting all forms of appeal, Tookie was executed by lethal injection.



Caged
Caged(2021)
6.3

An African American male is imprisoned and placed in solitary confinement after being found guilty of murdering his wife, as he's haunted by internal demons and his dead wife, and pushed to the breaking point by an abusive female guard.



Johnny
Johnny(2022)
7.326

After a court order sends him to work at a hospice, an ex-criminal strikes up a friendship with a compassionate priest who changes his life.



Redemption Day
5.9

When his wife is kidnapped by terrorists for ransom, veteran war hero Brad Paxton races against the clock to rescue her in a daring and deadly operation that pits him against powerful and dark forces.



Enough
Enough(2002)
6.659

Working-class waitress Slim thought she was entering a life of domestic bliss when she married Mitch, the man of her dreams. After the arrival of their first child, her picture perfect life is shattered when she discovers Mitch's hidden possessive dark side, a controlling and abusive alter ego that can turn trust, love and tranquility into terror. Terrified for her child's safety, Slim flees with her daughter. Relentless in his pursuit and enlisting the aid of lethal henchmen, Mitch continually stalks the prey that was once his family.



The Next Three Days
7.082

A married couple's life is turned upside down when the wife is accused of murdering her boss. Her husband John would spend the next few years trying to get her released, but there's no evidence that negates the evidence against her. When the strain of being separated from her husband and son gets to her, John decides to find a way to break her out.



A Perfect World
7.5

A kidnapped boy strikes up a friendship with his captor: an escaped convict on the run from the law, headed by an honorable U.S. Marshal.



Frankie and Johnny
6.8

When Johnny is released from prison following a forgery charge, he quickly lands a job as a short-order cook at a New York diner. Following a brief fling with waitress Cora, he develops an attraction for Cora's friend and fellow waitress Frankie. While Frankie resists Johnny's charms initially, she eventually relents when her best friend, Tim, persuades her to give Johnny a chance.



Reform School Girls
5.556

Jenny is sent to a women's reform school. It is run by evil warden Sutter and her henchwoman Edna. Jenny will stop at nothing to escape but she also has to deal with Charlie the bully.



Adopt a Highway
6.7

Russ Millings has just been released from prison after serving 21 years for a 3rd strike conviction for possessing an ounce of marijuana. As he tries to adapt to a world he doesn’t recognize – including trying to learn how to use the internet – he finds an abandoned baby in a dumpster behind the fast food restaurant where he works as a dishwasher. Unsure of what to do, and caught between impulses of kindness and panic, Russ soon realizes this could be his chance at redemption.



The Mother
6.627

A deadly female assassin comes out of hiding to protect the daughter that she gave up years before, while on the run from dangerous men.



Pigs 3
Pigs 3(2020)
6.55

Having spent years in prison, Franz Maurer is released and goes out into a new Poland, where nothing is as he remembered it to be. Who and what is waiting for the man who, for the last 25 years... hasn’t been doing anything? How will he find himself in a world where old principles and loyalty have ceased to exist? We will get to know that when fate reunites Franz and “Nowy”. Their meeting will change everything.



Trade
Trade(2007)
6.99

A Texas cop, whose own daughter might have been forced into sexual slavery, joins forces with a Mexican youth to find the boy's sister, who was abducted and forced into prostitution. Meanwhile, a Polish woman who was promised a better life in America also becomes a victim.

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