Debapriya Bhattacharya
Directed by Christian Zubert, ‘Exterritorial’ follows former special forces soldier Sara Wulf (Jeanne Goursaud), whose son, Josh (Rickson Guy da Silva), goes missing inside the premises of the US Consulate in Frankfurt during their visit to apply for a visa. When the officials in the building deny the existence of the child, Sara suspects a greater conspiracy at play and takes it upon herself to fight through all odds and save her son. In the process, she uncovers buried secrets from the time she was deployed in Afghanistan. The fast-paced German action thriller has been widely popular and ranked eighth on Netflix’s list of most-viewed non-English films of all time. If you wish to dive further into genre, here’s a list of movies similar to ‘Exterritorial’ that you can savor to satisfy your cravings of movies in the same vein.
8. The Forgotten (2004)
‘The Forgotten’ revolves around Telly Paretta (Julianne Moore), who loses her 8-year-old son, Sam (Christopher Kovaleski), in a plane crash. However, more than a year later, she is informed by her husband and her psychiatrist that she never had a child at all. The woman notices subtle changes in her surroundings, such as seemingly doctored photographs, and comes to the conclusion that someone is attempting to erase all traces of her son’s existence.
Setting out to gather solid evidence about Sam’s existence, Telly meets her neighbor Ash (Dominic West), whose daughter used to play with him. She discovers that, like herself, Ash is also being convinced that he never had a daughter. The two parents team up to solve the mystery and get their children back, but as they dig deep, they become aware of a mysterious entity who are following their every move. The science fiction psychological thriller by Joseph Ruben has a mother pulling out all stops to rescue her child even when the people around her try to make her question reality, much along the lines of ‘Exterritorial.’
7. Flightplan (2005)
‘Flightplan’ by Robert Schwentke follows Kyle Pratt (Jodie Foster), an American aircraft engineer based in Berlin, who is returning to the US with her 6-year-old daughter Julia (Marlene Lawston), and the body of her recently deceased husband. They are flying on a double-decker plane that Kyle designed. After taking a nap mid-air, she wakes up to find her daughter missing, and the flight attendant tries to convince her that she has been unaccompanied since she boarded the flight. While she has a hard time convincing anyone, Kyle refuses to stop looking for her daughter on the aircraft and stumbles across the real reason for the untimely death of her husband. Both ‘Exterritorial’ and ‘Flightplan’ deal with mothers who lose their child while trying to return to the United States, and become part of a greater plot as a result of their past.
6. Miss Bala (2019)
‘Miss Bala’ tells the story of Gloria Fuentes (Gina Rodriguez), a make-up artist who wishes to enter the Miss Baja California beauty pageant with her best friend Suzu Ramos (Cristina Rodlo). Things go off the rails as Suzu gets kidnapped, and Gloria leaves no stone unturned to get her back. Her efforts lead to her getting involved with law enforcement agencies as well as drug cartels, as director Catherine Hardwicke uses the film as a testament to a woman’s resilience and determination to save her loved one. While the bond between a mother and child is replaced with that between two best friends, ‘Miss Bala’ does not fail to deliver on the thrills and action scenes that define ‘Exterritorial.’
5. Run (2020)
‘Run’ opens with Diane Sherman (Sarah Paulson) giving birth to a premature baby, who fights for their life in an incubator in the hospital. Years later, the film follows Diane living with her teenage daughter Chloe (Kiera Allen), who suffers from multiple health conditions such as arrhythmia, hemochromatosis, asthma, and diabetes, while being paralysed from her waist down. Diane seemingly dotes on her daughter and supports her plan of going off to college. However, Chloe soon realizes that her health conditions are a result of Diane’s medications, and that the latter is obsessed with keeping her to herself. While the psychological horror thriller by Aneesh Chaganty deals with a mother’s love as in ‘Exterritorial,’ it flips over the concept to explore the darker side of love when it turns to obsession.
4. Peppermint (2018)
‘Peppermint’ follows Riley North, played by Jennifer Garner, a woman who witnesses her husband and daughter get gunned down by henchmen working for a powerful drug lord in front of her eyes. When Riley fails to get justice from the system as a result of corruption within the police and the judiciary, she decides to take matters into her own hands and goes on a gory rampage seeking vengeance. Directed by Pierre Morel, ‘Peppermint’ follows the theme of ‘Exterritorial’ where a mother faces all odds to take down those who have hurt her family.
3. Kidnap (2017)
‘Kidnap’ follows waitress and single-mother Karla Dyson (Halle Berry), who takes it upon herself to rescue her six-year-old son, Frankie (Sage Correa), after he gets kidnapped at a carnival. Karla refuses to back down from her pursuit of the kidnappers in the face of all threats, tracking them down on car and on foot in the taut action thriller directed by Luis Prieto. ‘Kidnap’ and ‘Exterritorial’ both portray mothers as an indomitable force when it comes to protecting their children, who never back down from a fight, no matter how brutal it gets.
2. Taken (2008)
‘Taken’ follows a retired CIA officer, Bryan Mills, who jumps into action after his teenage daughter, Kim, and her best friend, Amanda, are kidnapped by human traffickers during their trip to Paris. Directed by Pierre Morel, the film stars Liam Neeson as the lead and has him deliver the iconic line, “If you let my daughter go now, that’ll be the end of it. I will not look for you. I will not pursue you. But if you don’t, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you.” This dialogue embodies the essence of the entire film, which cemented Neeson’s position as an action star. ‘Taken’ swaps the protective parent as the father instead of the mother as in ‘Exterritorial,’ but it is an absolute must-watch in the same genre.
1. The Mother (2023)
‘The Mother’ revolves around an unnamed US military operative (Jennifer Lopez) involved in weapons trafficking who gives birth to a daughter, Zoe, and waives off her parental rights for her protection, after becoming an informant for the FBI. Twelve years later, the traffickers whom she betrayed kidnap Zoe (Lucy Paez) to lure her out of hiding. They are successful in their effort, but she arrives all guns blazing. Following the theme of ‘Exterritorial,’ the action thriller by Niki Caro demonstrates how deadly a mother can be when the safety of her child is in question.
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