31 Best Spanish Movies on Netflix (2021)

1. El Ciudadano Ilustre (The Distinguished Citizen)

Hilarious and moving tale of a famous Nobel Prize-winning author who returns to his backwater hometown in Argentina after many decades as an expat in Spain, with unexpected consequences.

Accents: Argentinian, European Spanish

2. I’m No Longer Here (Ya no estoy aquí)

Gorgeous, touching tale of a teen immigrant from Monterrey, Mexico.

In 2011, 17-year-old Ulises leads a gang called Los Terkos dedicated to the Kolombia or Cholombiano subculture. This lifestyle consists of dancing and listening to cumbia rebajada, a slowed-down version of Colombian cumbia. Los Terkos dress in bright, baggy clothes and sport homemade, eccentric hairdos.

After a misunderstanding with a local cartel, Ulises flees to the immigrant community of Jackson Heights, Queens to save his life.

This absorbing story is told in flashbacks. The nonprofessional actors bring great authenticity to the dialogue as well as the dance scenes.

Stick around for the end of the credits for behind-the-scenes footage of the young actors.

Some slang you’ll hear:

• sobres – Northern Mexican slang for “OK” or “Right on!”
• al chile – Mexican slang for “for real” or “seriously”
• morro(a) – Northern Mexican slang for “kid” or “dude.” Está morro means someone is young.

Accent: Mexican

3. Quien a hierro mata (Eye for an Eye)

^{No English subtitles available on YouTube. Watch subtitled trailer on Netflix.}

In this tense Spanish thriller, a cartel boss is released from prison due to illness, not realizing that the nurse in charge of his care plans to take revenge.

The Spanish title comes from the saying Quien a hierro mata, a hierro muere (“Who lives by the sword, dies by the sword”).

Accent: European Spanish

4. El hoyo (The Platform)

Those will strong stomachs and a taste for satire will enjoy Netflix’s viral thriller. The claustrophobic premise is an apt metaphor in these days of shelter-in-place.

Inside a vertical prison, inmates are assigned to a level and forced to ration food from a platform that moves between the floors. This dystopian Spanish horror film is a twisted social allegory about mankind at its darkest and hungriest.

Accent: European Spanish

5. Vivir dos veces (Live Twice, Love Once)

^{Note: No English subtitles available for YouTube trailer. Click to watch subtitled trailer on Netflix.}

Wistful, heartwarming Spanish comedy.

Emilio, a retired math professor in Valencia, is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. He and his daughter and granddaughter embark on a quixotic quest to reunite him with his childhood crush before his memory loss is complete.

Accent: European Spanish. Some dialogue in Catalan.

6. Roma

This Oscar-winning Netflix epic directed by Alfonso Cuarón delivers a vivid, emotional portrait of domestic life and social hierarchy set against Mexico’s political turmoil of the 1970s.

Accent: Mexican. Some dialogue in Mixtec, an indigenous language from Oaxaca.

7. Durante la tormenta (Mirage)

^{Note: No English subtitles available for YouTube trailer. Click to watch subtitled trailer on Netflix.}

Spanish thriller from the director of Contratiempo starring the talented Adriana Ugarte. A space-time continuum glitch allows Vera to save a boy’s life 25 years earlier, but results in the loss of her daughter, whom she fights to get back.

Accent: European Spanish

8. Soltera Codiciada (How to Get Over a Breakup)

A heartbroken ad copywriter living in Lima, Peru, is inspired to write a blog about life as a single woman and is surprised by her website’s success.

Light comedy based on the real-life blog Soltera Codiciada by Peruvian writer María José Osorio.

Accent: Peruvian

9. El Hijo (The Son)

^{Note: No English subtitles available for YouTube trailer. Click to watch subtitled trailer on Netflix.}

In this creepy psychological thriller set in Buenos Aires, painter Lorenzo’s life spirals out of control as he fears his wife is trying to isolate him from their infant son.

Based on a novel by Argentinian writer Guillermo Martínez.

Accent: Argentinian. Some limited dialogue in Norwegian.

10. Tarde Para la Ira (The Fury of a Patient Man)

This gritty, suspenseful revenge flick won four Goya awards. The tentative romance between a gentle Madrid laborer and a hard-working single mother becomes a struggle for survival when the woman’s violent boyfriend returns from prison.

Accent: European Spanish

11. Carteristas (Pickpockets)

^{No English subtitles available for YouTube trailer – click to watch trailer on Netflix}

Predictable but entertaining Netflix original film that follows three teen thieves learning what it takes to be successful pickpockets on the streets of Bogotá from a master in the art of deception.

Stunning location shots of Colombia’s capital, especially its amazing street art.

Accents: Colombian, European Spanish

12. Nuestros Amantes (Our Lovers)

Charming, creative rom-com with clever dialogue.

A love-challenged man and a woman he meets at a coffee shop begin dating, but only at the shop — and without knowing anything about each other.

Accent: European Spanish

13. 100 Metros

Moving film based on the incredible true story of a Spanish man in his 30s diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and told that within a year he would not be able to walk 100 meters.

To prove his naysayers wrong, he decides to train for the world’s most challenging endurance event, an Ironman Triathlon, assisted by his delightfully cantankerous father-in-law.

Accent: European Spanish

14. El Otro Hermano (The Lost Brother)

Dark Uruguayan/Argentinian thriller.

While settling the affairs of his murdered mother and brother, a man partners with a local thug in a life insurance scam, putting him on a sinister path.

Accents: Uruguayan, Argentinian (Note: I am not savvy enough to be able to tell the difference between these)

15. También la Lluvia (Even the Rain)

This Spanish film stars Mexican actor Gael García Bernal as a director who travels to Bolivia to shoot a film depicting Christopher Columbus’s conquest.

The crew find themselves facing a moral crisis as the Bolivian film extras violently protest the privatization of their water supply, paralleling the Spanish exploitation of the New World.

Accents: European Spanish, Bolivian, Mexican

16. Verónica

Horror fans should check out this much-hyped film by Spanish director Paco Plaza, director of the terrifying [REC] series.

Verónica is a Ouija-based horror movie loosely based on true events. It follows Verónica, a teenage girl who holds a séance with her classmates, unwittingly unleashing an evil force that terrorizes her and her family.

Accent: European Spanish

17. Contratiempo (The Invisible Guest)

A successful young entrepreneur has less than three hours to prove his innocence in the murder of his mistress.

Suspenseful mystery thriller from Spain with lots of twists and turns to keep you captivated.

Accent: European Spanish

18. El Laberinto del Fauno (Pan’s Labyrinth)

Netflix has readded this Mexican/Spanish dark fantasy drama written and directed by Guillermo del Toro. This fantastical tale won Oscars for its cinematography, art direction, and makeup.

The film tells the story of young Ofelia, who meets a mythical faun who claims she is destined to become princess of the Underworld. But first she must carry out three perilous tasks. Some intense scenes of violence.

Accent: European Spanish

19. El guardián invisible (The Invisible Guardian)

^{No English subtitles available for YouTube trailer}

This Spanish thriller follows Inspector Amaia Salazar, who returns to her Navarre hometown to catch a killer targeting teens. There, Amaia must confront the origins of her nightmares as she unfolds the darkest secrets of the Baztan valley.

Based on the eponymous novel by Dolores Redondo.

Part 1 of the popular Baztan Trilogy. Parts 2 and 3 are Legado en los huesos (The Legacy of the Bones) and Ofrenda a la tormenta (Offering to the Storm).

Accent: European Spanish. Some dialogue in Basque.

20. Adú

^{No English subtitles available for YouTube trailer – click to watch trailer on Netflix}

Three interlocking tales set in North Africa starring veteran Spanish actor Luis Tosar.

In a desperate attempt to reach Europe, six-year-old Adú and his older sister in Cameroon try to sneak into an aircraft hold. Not far away, an environmental activist witnesses the terrible scene of an elephant killed by poachers.

Meanwhile, thousands of kilometers to the north in Spanish Melilla, a group of civil guards faces a furious mob of African immigrants trying to cross the border fence.

Accent: European Spanish

21. 7 Años

This cerebral drama is Netflix’s first original film in Spanish.

Four friends make the gut-wrenching decision of who will go to prison for the crime they committed. A character play set in a single room, with terrific dialogue and performances.

Accent: European Spanish

24. El Faro de las Orcas (The Lighthouse of the Orcas)

Moving film shot in a remote area of Argentine Patagonia.

A Spanish mother travels to the ends of the earth with her autistic son in the hope that a ranger and a pod of wild orcas can help him find an emotional connection.

Accents: Argentinian, European Spanish

25. El Hombre de las Mil Caras (Smoke and Mirrors)

Complex Spanish thriller that takes the viewer on a whirlwind tour around the world. The film recounts the story of Francisco Paesa, a former agent of the Spanish secret service who faked his own death after an infamous corruption scandal.

Based on the non-fiction book Paesa, el espía de las mil caras by Manuel Cerdán.

Accent: European Spanish

26. Thi Mai, Rumbo a Vietnam

In this heartwarming comic drama, a determined mother travels to Vietnam along with her two friends to bring home the baby her recently deceased daughter had planned to adopt.

Accent: European Spanish

27. Toc Toc

In the mood for a silly comedy? This zany film based on a hit play follows a group of patients with OCD who wait for their flight-delayed doctor to arrive for their appointments, forcing them to endure each other’s oddball quirks

Accent: European Spanish

28. La Hora Final (The Last Hour)

In this compelling true story set in 1992, two Peruvian detectives go undercover to locate and capture the elusive leader of the Shining Path.

Accent: Peruvian

29. La noche de 12 años (A Twelve-Year Night)

Harrowing survival drama based on the real-life story of future Uruguayan president José Mujica and his fellow Tupamaro political prisoners, who fight to survive 12 years of solitary confinement and torture.

Accent: Uruguayan

30. Toro

An ex-con who has left his life of crime behind is dragged into conflict with the local mafia when his family is threatened.

Entertainingly frenetic thriller atmospherically set on Spain’s southern coast.

Accent: European Spanish

31. El silencio de otros (The Silence of Others)

This powerful documentary captures the struggle of victims of Spain’s 40-year dictatorship under the fascist general Francisco Franco, many of whom continue to seek justice.

Filmed over six years, it follows survivors — a man who passes his former torturer’s home every day, children of disappeared parents later found in mass graves, parents still searching for children seized at birth and handed to Franco’s allies — as they organize the groundbreaking Argentine Lawsuit to fight a state-imposed amnesia of crimes against humanity.

Accents: European Spanish, Argentinian

^{Banner image from Perdiendo el Norte © Atresmedia Cine}

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