Social Issue Dramas on Netflix
Last updated May 14, 2024
North & South
2004 | NR | 4.2 out of 5 StarsWhen her father moves his family to an industrial mill town, the parson's daughter, Margaret Hale, struggles to adapt to her harsh new surroundings. This BBC series is based on the popular novel by Elizabeth Gaskell.
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North & South
2004 | NR | 4.2 out of 5 StarsWhen her father uproots his family from their serene rural burg for an industrial mill town, parson's daughter Margaret Hale (Daniela Denby-Ashe) struggles to adapt to her harsh new surroundings in this BBC series based on Elizabeth Gaskell's novel. As her mother's health fails, Margaret throws herself into the fight for workers' rights and clashes with mill owner John Thornton (Richard Armitage). Sinead Cusack and Tim Pigott-Smith also star.
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To Save a Life
2009 | NR | 4.0 out of 5 StarsAfter tragedy strikes a childhood friend, Jake reevaluates his life. By reaching out to lonely outsider Jonny, Jake risks losing everything that matters most to him, including a college scholarship and his friends.
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For Colored Girls
2010 | NR | 4.0 out of 5 StarsTyler Perry directs his own adaptation of the Obie-winning stage play by Ntozake Shange, constructed as a series of poetic vignettes that collectively explore the lives of modern African American women.
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The Pursuit of Happyness
2006 | NR | 4.0 out of 5 StarsWill Smith earned an Oscar nomination for an inspiring performance opposite his real-life son Jaden in this tearjerker about a struggling single parent who's determined to build a better life for his family. Chris Gardner (Smith) is smart and talented, but his dead-end salesman job barely pays the bills. When he and his son are evicted, they face trying times as a desperate Chris accepts an unpaid internship at a stock brokerage firm.
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The Lady
2011 | NR | 4.0 out of 5 StarsBased on the inspiring true story, this epic yet intimate biopic tells the story of Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma's leading pro-democracy reformer who was held under house arrest for 15 years, and her English husband, who worked tirelessly for her release.
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LUV
2012 | NR | 4.0 out of 5 StarsThis indie drama portrays a single day shared by an 11-year-old boy and his uncle, who's recently rejoined the world after eight years in prison. When the older Vincent brings young Woody along on business, fresh lessons in life await them both.
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Flight
2012 | NR | 3.9 out of 5 StarsAfter his amazing safe landing of a damaged passenger plane, an airline pilot is praised for the feat, but has private questions about what happened. Further, the government's inquiry into the causes soon puts the new hero's reputation at risk.
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The Grapes of Wrath
1940 | NR | 3.9 out of 5 StarsTom Joad, a Depression-era everyman, leads his poor family on a harrowing journey from Oklahoma's Dust Bowl to the promised land of California in this adaptation of John Steinbeck's classic novel.
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Boyz N the Hood
1991 | NR | 3.9 out of 5 StarsIn this thoughtful drama, a South Central Los Angeles high schooler struggles to stay straight in a community polluted by drugs, violence and racism -- and his cynical but devoted father will accept nothing less than the best from him.
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Coach Carter
2005 | NR | 3.9 out of 5 StarsSamuel L. Jackson stars in the true story of high school basketball coach Ken Carter, who controversially puts school before sports and benches his entire undefeated team because of poor academic performance.
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The Source
2011 | NR | 3.9 out of 5 StarsIn a remote village in northern Africa, women have traditionally fetched water from a mountaintop well in the blistering sun. But Leila doesn't see why the men can't do their fair share, and unites the local women in a sex strike until they do.
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Mooz-Lum
2010 | NR | 3.9 out of 5 StarsThanks to a strict Muslim upbringing that largely shielded him from the outside world, Tariq's first year of college proves transformative. That is, until the 9/11 terrorist attacks invite growing suspicion and distrust from his angry classmates.
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The Cider House Rules
1999 | NR | 3.8 out of 5 StarsA surrogate son and protégé to a kindly physician who runs an orphanage in rural Maine, itchy Homer Wells sets off wide-eyed to see the world -- but cold reality soon intrudes on his youthful idealism and moral certitude.
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All Our Desires
2011 | NR | 3.8 out of 5 StarsYoung mother Claire, who's also a judge, is diagnosed with inoperable cancer and decides to keep it secret from everyone in her life. Instead, she focuses her last days on helping the working poor fight lawsuits from predatory credit agencies.
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The Rainmaker
1997 | NR | 3.8 out of 5 StarsWhen young attorney Rudy Baylor goes to work for a seedy ambulance chaser, he wants to help the parents of a terminally ill boy sue their insurance company. But to take on corporate America, Rudy and a scrappy paralegal must open their own law firm.
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Trade
2007 | NR | 3.7 out of 5 StarsWhen human traffickers kidnap his younger sister from their home in Mexico, desperate teenager Jorge turns to a jaded Texas lawman to help him rescue her before she disappears forever into the dark world of the international sex slave trade.
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Gentleman's Agreement
1947 | NR | 3.7 out of 5 StarsEnterprising reporter Phil Green (Gregory Peck), eager to blow the lid off anti-Semitism, accepts an assignment to pen a series of frank exposés for a progressive magazine. Looking for a new angle, Green poses as a Jew and soon endures the full spectrum of bigotry -- from being denied a job and use of public facilities to his son suffering a beating. Little by little, the journalist comes to understand the cruel effects of prejudice.
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Daddy's Little Girls
2007 | NR | 3.7 out of 5 StarsIn this drama from Tyler Perry, a powerful attorney falls in love with a janitor who's the single father of three daughters. Trouble comes in the form of his ex-wife, who reappears on the scene threatening to take away his children.
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Won't Back Down
2012 | NR | 3.7 out of 5 StarsIn this fact-based drama, two women from different classes and races (Viola Davis and Maggie Gyllenhaal) draw on their common bond of motherhood to fight institutional inertia and an antagonistic bureacracy to improve an inner-city school.
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Take the Lead
2006 | NR | 3.7 out of 5 StarsWhen a former professional dancer (Antonio Banderas) offers his skills to the New York public school system, his traditional methods clash with his students' hip-hop sensibilities. But the class ultimately creates a style that's uniquely their own. Alfre Woodard co-stars in this inspiring dance drama about the creative spark of collaboration, based on the real-life experiences of instructor Pierre Dulaine.
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The Sessions
2012 | NR | 3.7 out of 5 StarsAfter spending years in an iron lung, a man decides he wants to explore his sexuality for the first time, and hires a surrogate to aid the goal. Through their intensifying relationship, this indie drama illustrates the many forms love can take.
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Beyond Acceptance
2011 | NR | 3.7 out of 5 StarsThis drama tells of a family's struggle to accept 10-year-old foster child Evans, and their journey toward loving the unlovable. Their future's fraught with questions: Is Evans really beyond acceptance? Can they continue? Will Evans ever understand?
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Life, Above All
2010 | NR | 3.6 out of 5 StarsIn a tiny village near Johannesburg, 12-year-old Chanda is left to care for two younger siblings when her infant sister dies and her mother becomes gravely ill. But this isn't the only challenge she faces; the town has turned against her.
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Made in Dagenham
2010 | NR | 3.6 out of 5 StarsSally Hawkins stars in this cheeky dramatization of the landmark 1968 labor strike initiated by hundreds of women who rebelled against discrimination and demanded equal pay for their work in a London automobile manufacturing plant.
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