26 Best Spanish Movies on Amazon Prime (2020)

1. Cartas a Elena (2012)

Sweet and sentimental story set in Chihuahua’s beautiful Copper Canyon.

Young Emilio and his adoptive father deliver mail as well as read and write letters for the illiterate villagers. Emilio feels saddened by the difficult news sent by relatives working north of the border and begins inventing happy letters for his customers.

Accent: Mexican

2. A la mala (2015)

In this cute romantic comedy set in Mexico City, struggling actress Maria Laura (Aislinn Derbez) finds a lucrative new career when her best friend begs her to flirt with her boyfriend to test his fidelity.

After being hired by women across the city, Maria is given a gig that should be business as usual until she ends up falling head over heels for her latest mark.

Mauricio Ochmann and Aislinn Derbez became a couple while filming this movie. They are now married.

Look for a cameo by Eugenio Derbez, the father of Aislinn Derbez.

Accent: Mexican

3. ROCÍO (2019)

Beautiful, moving film about Darío Guerrero, an undocumented Harvard student who self deports himself and his dying mother to seek alternative treatment in Mexico.

Woven from footage collected over a quarter of a century, ROCÍO is the story of a mother’s love and the American Dream.

The story received national attention because Darío was not allowed to return to the US, even with his DACA status. He started this hourlong documentary as his thesis at Harvard, where it received top honors.

Even the trailer is wonderful.

Accent: Mexican

4. La Leyenda de la Llorona (2011)

Inventive animated adventure perfect for language learners. Part of a popular film series based on famous Mexican legends.

A group of kids try to stop a vengeful ghost from kidnapping youngsters who wander the woods at night.

English subtitles only.

Accent: Mexican

5. Los olvidados (The Young And The Damned) (1950)

The haunting story follows a group of juvenile delinquents who live a violent and crime-filled life in Mexico City’s squalid slums. Pedro, the youngest gang member, evinces a spark of decency, but remains a tragic victim of circumstances beyond his control.

Accent: Mexican

6. Chico & Rita (2012)

Features the music of (and animated cameos by) Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Cole Porter, Dizzy Gillespie, Woody Herman, Tito Puente, Chano Pozo, and others.

Accent: Cuban

7. El Crimen del Padre Amaro (2002)

This film starring Gael García Bernal and Ana Claudia Talancón was a huge success in its native Mexico and a commercial success in the United States. Nominated for a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar.

Note: Unfortunately, this film seems to come and go frequently from free Prime streaming, so if you don’t find it available, try adding it to your watchlist and checking back later.

Accent: Mexican

8. América (2011)

When her abusive boyfriend takes away her daughter, América escapes from her idyllic Caribbean village in Puerto Rico to a new life in New York City.

She works long hours as a nanny to raise money so that her daughter can make the journey and join her, but soon her troubled past hunts her down.

Accents: Puerto Rican, Mexican, Dominican, Colombian

9. Camila (1984)

This beautiful and tragic older film based on a true story received a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar nomination.

In 1840s Buenos Aires, Argentina, a beautiful young socialite named Camila falls in love with Ladislao, a Jesuit priest. After several failed attempts at fighting his own feelings, Camila and the priest embark on an ill-fated torrid affair. The ending is haunting.

The film’s themes of political oppression and censorship resonated with Argentinian audiences, since the country’s brutal right-wing dictatorship had only ended a year before its release.

Accent: Argentinian

10. Sólo Química (2016)

Fun and light rom-com from Spain.

Nineteen year old Oli falls for her TV idol and embarks on a Cinderella-like romance filled with luxury, fame, success and money.

It seems she has found her fairy tale ending, until she learns good chemistry and true love are not one and the same.

Accent: European Spanish

11. El Violín (2005)

Haunting, beautifully filmed drama about the struggle between the peasants and military in 1970s-era Mexico.

Warning: begins with a few minutes of graphic scenes of violence. However, the moving story of heroic defiance that follows makes up for these short scenes.

Accent: Mexican

12. Pelo Malo (2013)

In much of Latin America, curly Afro-textured hair is referred to as pelo malo, or bad hair.

In this heart-rending coming-of-age film set in the slums of Caracas, a nine-year-old boy’s obsession with straightening his hair and becoming a pop singer elicits a tidal wave of homophobic panic in his mother.

Accent: Venezuelan

13. El Abrazo de la Serpiente (Embrace of the Serpent) (2016)

Through parallel stories set 30 years apart, this absorbing odyssey follows two Western scientists who travel deep into the Amazon jungle looking for a rare plant that possesses healing powers, with an enigmatic shaman as their guide.

Nominated for Best Foreign Language Film Oscar in 2016.

Incredibly, the film includes dialogue in nine languages: Cubeo, Huitoto, Ticuna, Wanano, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Catalan, and English, so it might not be the best choice if your only objective is to improve your Spanish.

This hypnotic film is highly recommended though for those interested in Amazonian cultures.

Accents: Colombian, European Spanish

14. El Baño del Papa (The Pope’s Toilet) (2007)

This award-winning comedy portrays the story of John Paul II’s visit to a small Uruguayan town in 1988.

50,000 people are expected and the locals believe selling food and local wares will make them rich, but petty smuggler Beto has a better idea — to build a toilet.

Accent: Uruguayan

15. Cuatro Lunas (4 Moons) (2014)

A sensitive portrait of gay boys and men in modern-day Mexico.

Four stories about love and self-acceptance: An eleven year-old boy feels attracted to his male cousin. Two college students start a relationship and one of them refuses to come out. A long-lasting male relationship is in serious trouble when one feels attracted to somebody else. An old family man is obsessed with a young male prostitute and tries to raise the money to afford it.

Accent: Mexican

16. Ma Ma (2016)

This old-fashioned tear-jerker stars Oscar-winner Penelope Cruz as Magda, a woman determined to live life to the fullest in the face of her recent breast cancer diagnosis.

Accent: European Spanish

17. El Dedo (2014)

After years of dictatorship, a remote village formally becomes a town with the birth of its 501st inhabitant, creating an opening for the position of mayor.

Based on a true story, this whimsical comedy celebrates democracy while gently poking fun at village life.

Thanks to travel and pet writer Tina of 21 Pup Street for recommending this one!

Accent: Argentinian

18. Alamar (2009)

Beautiful but slow-moving docufilm about a boy about to move to Rome with his Italian mother who embarks on a final epic voyage to the gorgeous Mexican coast with his native father.

Note: Not a lot of dialogue to practice your Spanish. More of a poetic meditation on the simple rhythms of life of these Mexican fishermen.

Accent: Mexican

19. Sueño en Otro Idioma (I Dream in Another Language) (2017)

Haunting and poetic film about the last two speakers of an indigenous language, who had a quarrel in the past and haven’t spoken to each other in over 50 years.

Martín, a young linguist, undertakes the challenge of bringing the old friends back together and convincing them to speak once again to save the language from extinction.

Winner of the Sundance Film Festival Audience Award.

Accent: Mexican. Some dialogue in Zikril, a fictional indigenous language created for the film.

20. La Buena Vida (2015)

Beautiful, tragic documentary set in the village of Tamaquito, deep in the forests of Colombia.

Here, nature provides the people with everything they need. But the Wayúu community’s way of life is being destroyed by the vast and rapidly growing El Cerrejón coal mine.

Determined to save his community from forced resettlement, leader Jairo Fuentes negotiates with the mine’s operators in what soon becomes a fight for survival.

Accent: Colombian. Some dialogue in the Wayúu language.

21. No Manches Frida (2016)

Note: Available free on Amazon with a Pantaya channel trial.

Funny screwball comedy in which an ex-con works as a substitute teacher in order to retrieve the loot he buried under a high school’s new gym.

Subtitles in Spanish only.

Accent: Mexican

22. La Distancia Más Larga (The Longest Distance) (2014)

Beautiful and touching film that tells the story of a 10-year-old boy who travels to the country to meet his grandmother and rebuild family ties. Little does he know this will be the grandmother’s last journey as she is ill and wants to die in Mount Roraima, the place where she once was happy.

This award-winning Venezuelan/Spanish co-production contrasts the chaos and violence of Caracas with the natural paradise of Venezuela’s Gran Sabana region.

Accents: Venezuelan, European Spanish

23. Narco Cultura (2012)

Most interviews are in Spanish.

Accent: Mexican

24. Return to Cuba (2016)

After 18 years in Italy, Barbara Ramos returns to live in Cuba. Shot over a period of three years, this documentary chronicles her life after the Fidel Castro era, in the wake of liberal reforms and reconciliation with the US. Joyful, heartwarming film.

Accent: Cuban

25. La Luciérnaga (The Firefly) (2013)

Accent: Colombian

26. Una danza para mi Habana (Dancing for my Havana) (2015)

Tap the photo to watch the trailer on Amazon

In this inspirational, music-filled drama, young Cuban dancers struggle to achieve fame and fortune on the world stage.

Accents: Cuban, some European Spanish