28 Best Spanish Movies on Netflix (2020)
Watching Spanish-language movies on Netflix is a great way to practice vocabulary and listening skills. Spanish films also allow you to learn about other cultures and gain exposure to different accents and slang.
If you are an intermediate or advanced learner, I recommend watching with Spanish subtitles as studies show it enhances language learning. I also jot down any interesting new vocabulary and add it to my Anki flashcards later.
Here are some of the top Spanish movies on Netflix streaming in the US as of January 3, 2020. If you’re not in the US, just click the title to check if the show is available in your country. Watch these films while you can, because content disappears as licensing agreements expire.
There are so many great Mexican movies on Netflix that I created a separate list for them. Also, don’t miss my recommendations for Spanish-language TV shows on Netflix.
If you’re an Amazon Prime member, be sure to check out my lists of Spanish-language movies and Spanish-language TV shows free for members on Amazon Prime Video.
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. Perdiendo el Norte (Off Course)
Cute and entertaining Spanish comedy about two overeducated and underemployed young Spaniards who move to Berlin to find professional jobs, but end up working in a Turkish cafe. Some hilarious moments of cultural misunderstanding.
Accent: European Spanish
3. 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.
4. 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
5. 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
6. 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.
7. Tarde Para la Ira (The Fury of a Patient Man)
Accent: European Spanish
8. Carteristas (Pickpockets)
Click to view 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
9. 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
10. 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 decided to train for the world’s most challenging endurance event, an Ironman Triathlon, assisted by his delightfully cantankerous father-in-law.
Accent: European Spanish
11. El Otro Hermano (The Lost Brother)
Accents: Uruguayan, Argentinian (Note: I am not savvy enough to be able to tell the difference between these)
12. 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
13. Palmeras en la Nieve (Palm Trees in the Snow)
Spectacular film that follows the journey of a young Spanish woman to her family’s plantation in Africa to uncover generations of family secrets.
Accent: European Spanish. Some dialogue in Aragonese, one of Spain’s minority languages.
14. Verónica
Horror fans should check out this much-hyped new arrival on Netflix from 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
15. Todos lo saben (Everybody Knows)
Academy Award winners Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz star in this tense thriller.
Journeying back from Argentina to her small Spanish hometown for her sister’s wedding, Laura must grapple with long-buried secrets when her daughter is abducted.
Accents: European Spanish, Argentinian
16. 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
17. 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
18. 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
19. Neruda
This unconventional biopic of Nobel Prize-winning Chilean poet Pablo Neruda mixes history and fantasy. Gael García Bernal plays a fictional policeman tasked with hunting down the Communist writer as part of a government crackdown on political dissidents. Beautiful shot but at times a little slow.
Accent: Chilean
20. 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
21. Fe De Etarras (Bomb Scared)
Netflix’s second Spanish-language film is a controversial dark comedy about a dysfunctional group of wannabe Basque terrorists awaiting word about a new mission while Spain makes a run at the World Cup title. Most of the cast are big names in Spain but relatively unknown in the US. Best for those an interest in recent Spanish history and the Basque conflict.
Accent: European Spanish
22. La Llamada (Holy Camp)
Popular Spanish film adaptation of a cult musical comedy. Two rebellious teen girls who love reggaeton music have a life-changing brush with the divine at a camp run by nuns. Very funny and relatable despite the unlikely plot.
Accent: European Spanish
23. 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
24. El Hombre de las Mil Caras (Smoke and Mirrors)
Complex Spanish thriller that takes the viewer on a whirlwind tour around the world. Based on the non-fiction book Paesa, el espía de las mil caras by Manuel Cerdán. The film stars Eduard Fernández as Francisco Paesa, a former agent of the Spanish secret service who faked his own death after an infamous corruption scandal.
Accent: European Spanish
25. 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
26. 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
27. 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
28. 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
More Netflix Suggestions
- Errementari: The Blacksmith and the Devil -- A brutal blacksmith tortures a demon he blames for his misery, unaware a trespassing orphan is about to change everything. It’s in Basque, not Spanish, but this creepy fairy tale based on Basque folklore is worth a watch. Watch the trailer on Netflix.
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Have feedback on these movies or more Spanish movie Netflix recommendations? Some of my best suggestions come from readers! Please share your thoughts in the comments.
All images © Netflix
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Ingrid retired early from software engineering at 43 to devote herself to language learning and travel. Her goal is to learn a new language to fluency every two years. Currently, she speaks English, German, and Spanish, and is learning Portuguese.
Suggested reconsideration of your terms:
Peninsular Spanish
Continental Spanish (Latin America)
HOWEVER, there is not one form of Castilian spoken in Spain but multiple, with a diversity of slang terms, accents, cadences, deliveries, etc. ….now multiply that by 100++ across the many regions of the Spanish speaking Americas (including migrant to 3rd generation mixed speakers in “anglo” America).
Just thinking of the country with the largest amount of Spanish speakers in the world, Mexico and its diaspora, one would have many differences across regions, education levels, vocational jargons, ancestries and socio-economic strata. Just like English.
Saludos, ThePostNational.com @ThePostNational @TechGuerrero
Thanks for your comment. I know the term peninsular Spanish is often used in Spain; I’ve been using European Spanish instead, as I thought it would be less confusing for my mostly North American audience.
And agree with you on the mind-boggling diversity of dialects… I’ve mainly focused on Mexican and European Spanish and keeping the vocabulary and grammar differences straight is a real challenge at times!
Thanks for these lists!
I appreciate Netflix’s variety of audio and caption languages and wish Amazon offered as many choices. I get a lot out of watching shows in another language dubbed AND captioned in Spanish, such as “Tabula Rasa” and “42.” They must use different translators for audio and captions so I get to see synonyms: sometimes I know one and then can learn the other on the fly. It’s also interesting to see one translator use the second person form when the other chooses the more formal third person in dialog. I don’t feel so bad being confused about when to use which when separate professional translators make different choices
Thanks, Dave, that’s a good tip for learners to watch their favorite shows dubbed into Spanish. And interesting idea to compare and contrast the audio and caption translations!
I always look forward to the updates on your blog as I’m trying to learn Spanish using the Netflix method (plus traveling, community college course, and online Fluencia). One new Netflix show that I really am enjoying is Hache. It uses European Spanish and is a really well done production… very suspenseful.
Thanks so much for the recommendation! Looks like a great show. I’ve added it to my TV list: https://www.secondhalftravels.com/spanish-language-tv-shows-netflix/.
Bravo Ingrid, formidable esfuerzo!
I applaud your pastimes and thank you for these excellent recommendations.
I’ve seen some and know those are real gems.
I would like to offer another one: “El Ministerio del Tiempo”. This is a recent TV series that shows realistically what would happen if time travel were possible.
I will sign up to receive your updates and look forward to that.
Thanks so much! Agree that El Ministerio del Tiempo is a great series. If you haven’t yet, be sure to check out my list of Spanish TV on Netflix, where I include it and others: https://www.secondhalftravels.com/spanish-language-tv-shows-netflix.