Movies Like ‘Being Heumann’ for Viewers Drawn to Stories of Collective Action
‘Being Heumann’ arrives on Apple TV on November 13 after a limited theatrical release on November 6, with Ruth Madeley and Mark Ruffalo in the lead roles. The drama chronicles disability rights activist Judy Heumann and the 1977 occupation of a federal building in San Francisco.
Anyone looking for movies like ‘Being Heumann’ will find that the closest matches share its focus on civil rights campaigns, determined organisers and ordinary people challenging systems that refuse to listen. The selections below move from documentary to comedy drama, and each connects to the film through activism, solidarity or the lived experience of disability.
‘CODA’
‘CODA’ was written and directed by Siân Heder, who also made ‘Being Heumann’. It won the Oscar for Best Picture in 2022 as the first streaming film to take the prize. The story centres on Ruby, the only hearing member of a Deaf family, who balances her responsibilities at home against her ambition to pursue music. One critic observed that, like its predecessor, ‘Being Heumann’ places disability at the centre of its story.
‘Milk’
The film tells the story of Harvey Milk, who became one of the first openly gay men elected to public office in California. It is set mainly in 1970s San Francisco, where he builds a movement for equal rights. The shared city and decade give it an immediate link to ‘Being Heumann’, and both films treat grassroots organising as slow, public work.
‘Selma’
The film follows the campaign led by Martin Luther King Jr. to secure voting rights for Black Americans, centred on the 1965 marches from Selma to Montgomery. It pays close attention to the organising, negotiations and resistance surrounding those marches. Viewers who responded to the strategy and pressure behind the occupation in ‘Being Heumann’ will recognise the same dynamic here.
‘Pride’
Directed by Matthew Warchus, the film portrays how LGBTQIA+ activists from London joined the campaign to support Welsh villagers during the 1984 miners’ strike. The activists were initially rejected by the unions, so they focused their fundraising on one small Welsh mining town and eventually visited it. It blends political conflict with warmth, awkward encounters and humour, and it stresses solidarity across different groups.
‘Made in Dagenham’
Directed by Nigel Cole and starring Sally Hawkins, the film dramatises the 1968 strike at the Ford Dagenham plant, where female workers walked out to protest sexual discrimination and demand equal pay. The strike was successful and led to the Equal Pay Act. British humour keeps the story lively without losing sight of its serious subject.
‘Norma Rae’
Directed by Martin Ritt, the film follows a textile factory worker in Alabama. After seeing difficult working conditions and unfair treatment, she begins organising her colleagues to form a union despite opposition from management. Released close to the era depicted in ‘Being Heumann’, it captures how collective action can begin with one person who is tired of being ignored.
‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’
The film dramatises the 1969 federal trial of seven men charged in connection with protests surrounding the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Its sharp dialogue and moments of dark comedy explore the tension between protest, government authority and the right to dissent. Its focus is broader than disability rights, but the confrontation between activists and the institutions judging them will feel familiar.
‘Just Mercy’
The film tells the story of lawyer Bryan Stevenson and his work challenging wrongful convictions and unequal treatment in the American criminal justice system. Its tone is more serious than ‘Being Heumann’, but both stories show how legal protections can mean little when those responsible for enforcing them fail to act fairly. Viewers who finish Judy Heumann’s story may wonder whether her occupation sits closer to the community portrait in ‘Crip Camp’ or to the courtroom persistence of ‘Just Mercy’, and the comments are open for anyone who wants to make that case.
