Your top three political/historical movies please...for my netflix queue, Thanks.

[rndmprsn]

i love 12 angry men, best years of our lives, the candidate, all the presidents me...of course, also cradle will rock, war room, i could go on and on...anyhow, i need some suggestions...Thanks =]

[barbtries]

1. three days of the condor

the parallax view
all the president's men

off the top of my head

oh wait! war games

and then there are documentaries. i've stuck to theatrical what i could think of off the bat

[Postman]

65. JFK, The Insider,

n/t

[tulsakatz]

82. The Insider is another great one!

[JanMichael]

2. Reds

Reds, Reds!

[rndmprsn]

5. YES...one of my faves, how did i forget that one!

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

10. I rewatched Reds about a month ago. Great great film!!!!!

[whistle]

16. I agree "Reds" is among my top three favorites, also "Guilty by Suspicion"

...and an oldie "Grapes of Wrath".

[Kool Kitty]

170. I'm going to re-watch that tonight,

because it is Emma Goldman's birthday. One of my all-time faves.

[ColbertWatcher]

3. Thirteen Days, Distinguished Gentleman, Idiocracy! n/t

[tulsakatz]

35. definitely Idiocracy!

[ColbertWatcher]

38. It's got electrolytes! n/t

[tulsakatz]

51. haha.......

that's sooooo funny!!

Not to mention his attorney went to law school at Costco!!

I like that movie more every time I watch it!

[ColbertWatcher]

52. I wonder how Wal-Mart was able to keep their name out of it though. n/t

[tulsakatz]

80. I don't know........

maybe the guys who made it don't like Wal Mart...I never really thought about it before....

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

91. Something I saw tonight on television made me think we are living in the film Idiocracy

I was watching boxing on a cable channel and they ran an ad for an upcoming show on the G4 station to premiere later this summer. It's a new reality show called "Hurl!". It's all about getting people to eat as much heavy food as possible and then have them take wild amusement park rides. The last one to vomit wins. It would a perfect TV show for the world of the film Idiocracy. It reminded of a world where a movie like "Ass" with 2 hours of a derriere on screen is considered funny. Laughing at vomit. I think we're almost there.

http://defamer.com/5018045/new-g4-reality-show-hurl-has-america-woofing+up-its-vittles

[dixiegrrrrl]

160. Remember Carlin's rants on tv reality shows?

He had some far out ideas for them.
Executions was one.
Except what you mentioned is close to his ideas.

No so far out anymore.

[EV_Ares]

4. What was the one about Huey Long of Louisiana, that was really a pretty good

movie. There is a classic and then a remake of it.

[rndmprsn]

6. wasn't that all the kings men?

[EV_Ares]

28. Thats it, eom.

[cherokeeprogressive]

7. Dr. Strangelove

[yardwork]

136. My favorite movie of all time!

[pt22]

8. Inherit the Wind

;-)

[wryter2000]

9. A satire/comedy

But worth watching. The President's Analyst. From the 70's.

[Rick Myers]

11. What a great movie!!! Not many have seen that one!!!

:kick:

[Blue_In_AK]

74. That is one of my all-time favorite movies.

It's from 1968, I believe.

[wryter2000]

156. That sounds about right

A really great movie.

[Blue_In_AK]

162. Yep, the height of the psychedelic era.

The movie is a very, very funny send-up of that time, politically and socially. And rather prophetic in a funny sort of way in that the big villain of the piece was "TPC," The Phone Company. :rofl:

[begin_within]

12. "Soy Cuba" (1964) - a must see. Also "Salt of the Earth" (1954) and "El Norte" (1983)

All three are essential socio/political films.

http://www.netflix.com/Movie/I_Am_Cuba/24092535?lnkctr=srchrd-sr&strkid=154011950_0_0
http://www.netflix.com/Movie/Salt_of_the_Earth/70024589?lnkctr=srchrd-sr&strkid=2011264993_0_0
Oddly, "El Norte" isn't on Netflix, but any good video store and even some libraries have it

[davekriss]

84. Good choices

I completely forgot about El Norte, a good film. Just rewatched Salt of the Earth recently (was it on IFC?).

[begin_within]

86. Salt of the Earth is in the public domain now, you can watch it on Google Video or Archive.net

Soy Cuba has the best cinematography of any film made so far.

[lame54]

143. El Norte rocks

[CoffeeCat]

13. All The President's Men...

Loved that...and gives me some hope.

Somewhere lurking in the halls of some university journalism school--is a real Woodstein.

I just know it.

[villager]

14. Parallax View, Manchurian Candidate, and Nashville

n/t

[SeattleGirl]

22. The ORIGINAL Manchurian Candidate!

Man, that is one creepy movie, and Angela Lansbury is one creepy woman in that flick. :scared:

[tulsakatz]

36. that was great!

but you have to watch the original.....the remake was not nearly as good.

[PeaceNikki]

15. Iron Jawed Angels.

http://www.netflix.com/Movie/Iron_Jawed_Angels/60034798?trkid=222336&lnkctr=srchrd-sr&strkid=2097184000_0_0

From 1912 to 1920, a group of fiery young suffragettes led by Alice Paul (Hilary Swank) and Lucy Burns (Frances O'Connor) band together to wheedle the United States into adapting a Constitutional amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote. Along the way, they incur the wrath of President Woodrow Wilson (Bob Gunton) and anger other suffragette leaders (Anjelica Huston and Lois Smith). Directed by Katja von Garnier.

[ColbertWatcher]

20. Good pick. n/t

[Sydnie]

62. Most excellent movie!!!

It's a must see.

[PeaceNikki]

113. Indeed. It should be required viewing as part of American History.

I don't ever remember them telling us ANY of that in high school.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

17. Lawrence of Arabia. The original Manchurian Candidate. Dr. Strangelove. The Mouse That Roared.

Mr. Smith Goes To Washington. Born Yesterday. Wag The Dog. The recent HBO series on John Adams.

There are more and I couldn't stop at 3 so added a few more that popped to mind.

[XRubicon]

18. The Fog of War, All My Sons, Full Metal Jacket (nt)

[XRubicon]

39. Young Mr. Lincoln too...

J Palmer Cass...

[uppityperson]

19. To Kill a Mockingbird.

[stevil]

21. Check Out....

Catch 22

Missing

The Verdict (not really a political film but my favorite redemption story, if you have not seen it you will love it)

[Blue Belle]

23. The Americanization of Emily; Wag the Dog; Network

I have another list if you want documentaries...

[begin_within]

87. "Americanization..." is a great film!

[ReadTomPaine]

101. "The Americanization of Emily" is a wonderful movie..

[MinM]

24. Seven Days in May (1964)

[csziggy]

90. Or the 1994 remake The Enemy Within with Forest Whitaker

Not quite as good but still hard hitting.

[MinM]

126. I just watched Forest last night in 'The Great Debaters'

that was very good.
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2007/121407a.html

[csziggy]

161. I've liked him in almost every thing I have seen of his

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

25. "Paths of Glory", "Gandhi" and "Viva Zapata".

[eShirl]

26. The Lion in Winter

Peter O'Toole, Katherine Hepburn, Anthony Hopkins, Timothy Dalton, Nigel Terry (who would play King Arthur in Excalibur)

the prototypical powerful, dysfunctional family

[gateley]

27. Charlie WIlson's War --

Although not a BIG political or historical movie, I learned a lot about what was going on in Afghanistan, so it was educational AND really entertaining.

[Democrat 4 Ever]

125. Loved that movie but if you can catch the story of the real

Charlie Wilson on the History Channel. When I watched the movie starring Tom Hanks I thought that maybe Hanks was taking license and over playing this character. After watching "The True Story of Charlie Wilson" I realized there was no way Hanks or any other actor could overplay this guy. He is one of a kind and an original.

Charlie Wilson and several of the other people who aided and abetted Wilson in his war gave interviews, talked about the events, etc. Throughly fascinating. They ended the show talking about the results of arming Afghanistan and what it means today. Wilson was committing to overthrowing communism but appears to be surprised (sad?) that the country has turned against America now after all our help.

[PBS Poll-435]

29. Primary Colors

Mr Diane Sawyer is a brilliant story-teller.

He also did Charlie Wilson's War.

[MinM]

30. Salvador (1986)

is another very good one too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wok640NWVCQ

[Benhurst]

31. "Z" and "Missing"

[villager]

66. Costa-Gavras! Absolutely! Also Vischonti's "The Damned"

Both "Z" and "The Damned" will shock you into realizing how the far right is using the exact same playbook here in America...

[AlCzervik]

32. All the Kings men (original please), Manchurian Candidate (original please) and Inherit the Wind.

[tulsakatz]

33. V for Vendetta is my number 1!

(as if you couldn't tell from my sig)

And my all time favorite is All the President's Men (the watergate story) and Rendition was good too! Arlington Road was good....it wasn't really about politics but it was about a guy who suspected his neighbor was a terrorist.

And speaking of terrorist suspicions there is another interesting film with Peter Krause called Civic Duty. Krause is an unemployed guy and shortly after 9/11, he suspects his muslim neighbor of being a terrorist.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

34. Gore Vidal's Lincoln

and The Commission are both quite interesting.

[scarletwoman]

37. Gandhi, Syriana, Apocalypse Now. (nt)

[kiva]

40. Some of my favorites have already been listed above, but also:

Good Night and Good Luck
Notorious (and pretty much all of Hitchcock's work)

And my new favorite historical group, the Sharpe films--a series of films about the Peninsular Wars, produced by a British company.

[bunkerbuster1]

41. Almost anything by John Sayles

Men with Guns, Matewan, Eight Men Out--nearly all have some political component, and nearly all are either great or at least worth watching.

[scarletwoman]

46. Brother From Another Planet -- one of my all time fave movies!

John Sayles certainly has a unique body of work. Sayles' "Secret of Roan Innish" is another one of my all time favorites -- not political, of course, but definitely humanist.

sw

[bunkerbuster1]

54. Been meaning to watch Roan Innish with my kid...

Got it on VHS somewhere, need to dig it out. Thanks for reminding me!

(or just put it in the Netflix queue...)

[scarletwoman]

58. It's a gorgeous movie, one of my all time favorites. It's the kind of movie I wish had been made

when I was growing up, and was so hungry for brave girl role models.

DO watch it with your kid!

sw

[davekriss]

89. Ah, another "Brother" lover!

I just posted similar kudos. How can one not love a film that ends with the Brother, rescued from the interstellar fascists by a multitude of janitors, waitresses, and other everyday people -- then that wonderful moment when the Brother, with a grateful smile, points upwards, silently asking if they too come from distant stars. The large, equally mute janitor (who laid a watchful eye on the Brother early in the film) slowly shakes his head, no, and instead points down firmly to this earth. There are Brothers and Sisters everywhere, and we too will come out of the woodwork to save our own! (Then there's the scene when the Brother injects himself with heroin and Sayles uses a fisheye lens to do a slow pan of the cold tenement flats -- we understand a little why some self-medicate themselves out of the pain and poverty of their everyday existence, Then there were those first scenes when the Brother is on Ellis Island and is overwhelmed by the residual vibrations of all who passed through those halls! And, of course, there was the scene with the bored girl who resigned herself to just "shoot it down" when the inevitable sh*t comes, until the Brother gives her a thrill by speeding up the game. This, along with Jarmusch's Stranger than Paradise, also made in 1984, were such lovely early films during the resurgence of independent film, they in part helped get me through the Reagan eighties. But I stray off subject, "political/historical".)

[bunkerbuster1]

112. Man. I've gotta see that again.

I'd forgotten about some of those scenes.

And it's really not straying off subject. I would argue that virtually every Sayles film is political/historical to some extent.

[davekriss]

122. You know, you're right

Brother is about the experience of an Outsider entering our culture and learning to survive. Sayles even has the Brother enter at Ellis Island! When he escapes to Manhattan and surfaces in Harlem, what does Sayles show us? Streets filled with people. Different people form different cultures. A plenitude of diversity. It was easy for the Brother to blend in and hide. From there he makes his way to the neighborhood bar from which most of the rest of the film spins.

[davekriss]

85. Though not qualifying for this list...

...Brother from another Planet is one of my favorite small films.

[Nederland]

42. Blade Runner, Citizen Kane, Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Just to get a nice mix of genres...

[JackRiddler]

43. "The Battle of Algiers," "Z" and "Paths to Glory."

You will not find three greater works than these. Seriously.

[AP]

116. Battle of Algiers, Battle of Algiers, Battle of Algiers.

[JackRiddler]

124. Yes. Battle of Algiers!

The Criterion edition is incredible as far as the extras go, including a documentary in which the director visits Algiers again in 1991 as the country goes into crisis with the rise of the Islamist party, and interviews with many of the original participants.

[BurtWorm]

130. I was just about to say Battle of Algiers,

and those other two are also excellent, of course.

:toast:

[malaise]

44. Reds, The Distinguished Gentleman and

A man for All Seasons.

[RoseMead]

45. Schindler's List, The Killing Fields, The Last King of Scotland

But not before bed. :scared:

[Beaverhausen]

47. Good Night, and Good Luck

[The Magistrate]

48. 'Matewan', Sir, If They Have It, And Put It To The Front Of The Queue

You will be glad you did....

[saltpoint]

78. Enthusiastically seconded.

Outstanding choice.

[ThomWV]

132. If it were possible to give 2 seconds then here I am - I was in Matewan last week

You would be surprised and not surprised. As I stood at the flood gate which now borders the town to the southwest and looked down on the town itself all I had to do was mentally remove the new buildings and it looked just as I had imagined it would having only seen it in the movie. There is more to it than that though, you really have to travel through the region to understand what happened there. The movie captures it. It is a must see for anyone who wants to understand the labor movement.

[hyphenate]

49. It's not one of my favorites

but I would suggest Bulworth since no one else has mentioned it;

Anything with Robert Redford in it or directed by--even his "non-political" films have a left wing slant (Sneakers, All the Presidents Men, The Candidate, 3 Days of the Condor, Ordinary People)

One film it took me forever to get is Sean Connery in "Wrong is Right" -- this is an absolute must. It might be difficult to line up--most of my DVD stores didn't have it--had to get it from a 3rd party.

[Bennyboy]

50. Network.......

2001,The Magic Christian.....

[Midwestern Democrat]

53. 2 other films not yet mentioned - "Advise and Consent"; "The Best Man"

[proud2BlibKansan]

55. Dick

It is hilarious. Check it out.

[Gabi Hayes]

96. genius! from the acting to the plotting....everything

highest rec

[ColbertWatcher]

108. Holy crap was that movie funny!

They played it like everyone was in junior high school or something!

Too funny!

[proud2BlibKansan]

141. I caught it by accident a year or so ago and loved it

I was amazed I had never heard of it before.

[SergeyDovlatov]

56. V for Vendetta, Unknown War, The Palermo Connection

[tech3149]

57. Sophie Sholl The Final Days

I think we need some of the White Rose Society determination these days.

[Historic NY]

59. I picked the "The Best Years of our Lives" too........

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036868/trailers-screenplay-vi730792217

its about the moment in time when war ends and life must begin again.

[MadMaddie]

60. V for Vendetta one of my favorites.

[Wilber_Stool]

61. 'Breaker' Morant ...........n/t

[Reader Rabbit]

120. I was gonna say that!

Brilliant film. Just brilliant.

[Wilber_Stool]

163. Read the

synopsis from IMBd. I could not say it better:

A Plot for Warriors of Any Epoch, 2 March 2005
10/10
Author: Dr. Victor S. Alpher from Austin, Texas USA

After first encountering "Breaker" Morant during a bout of insomnia in 1984 on cable, I have repeatedly come back to this film as one of my all-time classics--covering war, politics, tactics, transitions to manhood involved in all wars--and injustice.

Although set during the Boer War, the account of three officers tried for murder during a war in which the opponents were dressed as civilians has its obvious parallels to the 21st Century. It is absolutely amazing how similar a court marshal can be out on the "velt" of South Africa, in Washington, D.C., or during a purely uniformed war in which all protagonists are easily identifiable.

Three Australian volunteers for the "Bushvelt Carbineers", recruited to fight against civilian-clad commandos (reportedly the first use of the term), find themselves charged with murder, and set as an example by the British in order to prevent Germany from entering the war on the side of the Boer (Dutch) inhabitants of South Africa. In one incredulous encounter between a British officer and Lord Kitchener, the officer spouts the British line "they lack our altruism" (referring to German interests in the gold and silver mines of South Africa), to which Lord Kitchener grudgingly responds, "Quite." A sham trial from start to finish, the Australians are defended by military attorney with experience in "land conveyancing and wills" to which one of those charged, "the latter might come in handy." The film is replete with irony and tragicomic circumstances, as this "new war for a new century" presages many of the conflicts that would come later in the 20th century, and many of the clear paradoxes and trying aspects of the war against terror--again, in which one side is not uniformed, does not conduct war according to any known "rules" of "civilized warfare" (an oxymoron if ever there was one). It has lost none of its cutting edge in the 25-odd years since its release.

[yardwork]

138. That one is a good reminder of the history of British imperialism, too

which shines a light on what the U.S. is doing right now in Iraq and Afghanistan. Very timely film to see again.

[Wilber_Stool]

164. You too..............n/t

[yardwork]

166. I'll never forget the line in that film where one of the defendants says

that the British are ashamed of the war and looking for scapegoats.

I thought about that during Lynddie England's trial.

[blonndee]

63. Syriana, Good Night and Good Luck.

I've seen Syriana at least ten times and always find something new.

[Fireweed247]

64. Since two were already taken- Idiocracy and V for

I just have to add The Motorcycle Diaries is an excellent movie about Che Guevara that just stayed with me for weeks and I have loved him ever since.

Also Thank You For Smoking!!!

[Jade Fox]

67. Gentleman's Agreement.....

It's an oldie, but I was stunned to learn just how blatant anti-Semitic discrimination used to be in this country.

[Blue Belle]

148. That's a great movie...

I forgot about that one.

[stillcool]

68. Network

Arthur Jensen:
You have meddled with the primal forces of nature, Mr. Beale, and I won't have it, is that clear?!You think you have merely stopped a business deal - that is not the case! The Arabs have taken billions of dollars out of this country, and now they must put it back. It is ebb and flow, tidal gravity, it is ecological balance. You are an old man who thinks in terms of nations and peoples.There are no nations! There are no peoples! There are no Russians! There are no Arabs! There are no Third Worlds! There is no West! There is only one holistic system of systems, one vast and immane, interwoven, interacting, multi-variate, multi-national dominion of dollars! Petro-dollars, electro-dollars, multi-dollars, reichmarks, rins, rubles, pounds and shekels! It is the international system of currency which determines the totality of life on this planet. That is the natural order of things today. That is the atomic, and subatomic and galactic structure of things today. And you have meddled with the primal forces of nature, and you will atone!

He pauses for a moment - and speaks normally with a question to Beale, but then continues:

Am I getting through to you, Mr. Beale? You get up on your little twenty-one inch screen and howl about America and democracy. There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM, and ITT, and AT and T, and DuPont, Dow, Union Carbide, and Exxon - those are the nations of the world today. What do you think the Russians talk about in their councils of state - Karl Marx? They get out their linear programming charts, statistical decision theories and mini-max solutions and compute the price-cost probabilities of their transactions and investments just like we do. We no longer live in a world of nations and ideologies, Mr. Beale. The world is a college of corporations, inexorably determined by the immutable by-laws of business. The world is a business, Mr. Beale. It has been since man crawled out of the slime, and our children will live, Mr. Beale, to see that perfect world in which there's no war or famine, oppression or brutality. One vast and ecumenical holding company, for whom all men will work to serve a common profit, in which all men will hold a share of stock, all necessities provided, all anxieties tranquilized, all boredom amused. And I have chosen you to preach this evangel, Mr. Beale.

[ThoughtCriminal]

69. The Man

Not the completely unrelated movie that is showing on TBS tonight
I'm thinking of the 1972 Movie based on a Irving Wallace novel about America's first black President.

I have not seen it since the early 70's so I'm not sure how well it holds up, but it might be interesting:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068912/

[readmoreoften]

70. The Battle of Algiers, The Trials of Henry Kissenger, A Place Called Chiapas

[Fire Walk With Me]

71. Network, Why We Fight, Fahrenheit 9/11.

Control Room deserves an honorable mention.

Edit: Other are correct, must add V For Vendetta and Good Night, Good Luck.

[Blue_In_AK]

75. Why We Fight was a great one. n/t

[LaPera]

72. Wag the Dog, Bob Roberts & Dr. Strangelove.....And The Candidate & any of Michael Moores films.

[HeeBGBz]

73. John Adams

I just watched most of that.

[girl gone mad]

76. A Face in the Crowd.

Can't believe it wasn't mentioned yet.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050371/

[lame54]

144. most excellent - Andy Griffith is great

[Manifestor_of_Light]

77. The Keeper:The Legend of Omar Khayyam

2005, directed by Kayvan Mashayekh. His next project is a movie about Cyrus the Great.

About Omar Khayyam, astronomer & mathematician, advisor to the Sultan, and his conflicts with his friend Hassan, who becomes a religious fanatic and starts the Hashashin. Also has Khayyam's modern day descendants and their search for their roots in Persia. Has Vanessa Redgrave.

Absolutely the best movie I've ever seen.

Filmed in Houston and Uzbekistan.

Available at: www.greatomar.com

Movie trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFtpuUyDdcc

Music video:
Go to www.shanimusic.com and scroll down to the right and click on "From Here to Beyond" video.

[tblue37]

79. _The Seduction of Joe Tynan_, starring Alan Alda & Meryl Streep.

But good luck finding it.

[davekriss]

81. Several personal favorites come to mind

Two by Costa-Gavras come to mind:
-- Z
-- Etat de siege (State of Siege)

A personal favorite, Sydney Pollack's Three Days of the Condor

The Official Story

Oliver Stone's Salvador

Some more recent films:
-- Rendition
-- Syrianna


OK, that's more than 3, I'll stop there.

[tammywammy]

83. The Contender with Joan Allen

[Stardust]

95. Definitely!

[papapi]

88. "The Year of Living Dangerously", "Queen Margot", "Before Night Falls"....

and many, many others.

[tomreedtoon]

92. "The Manchurian Candidate," "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?"

and The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

The original Manchurian Candidate showed how governments are willing and able to make human beings into robots that kill at will.

They Shoot Horses is about how society grinds you down and uses you.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show demonstrates that anyone unlucky enough to trust anyone else will get screwed, and have an entire audience of people mocking them as well.

[LeftyMom]

93. Red Cherry

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114243/

[JackRiddler]

94. Here is a discussion of documentaries with a list of a lot of great ones:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x345930

Above all, I'd say:

Why We Fight
The Corporation
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

Also:

9/11: Press for Truth

[PatSeg]

165. And Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room

The Corporation is probably my favorite - seen it three times.

Also, Who Killed the Electric Car?

[depakid]

97. Judgment at Nuremburg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judgment_at_Nuremberg

[Gabi Hayes]

98. State of Siege, Love and Anarchy, Bob Roberts, Nashville,

Defence of the Realm, Black and White and in Color, The Spider's Stategm, FTA (Fuck the Army, Jane Fonda/Donald Sutherland), Steelyard Blues (silly, but appropos of its time), The Whistleblower, Monty Python and the Holy Grail (sillier), The Missionary

[MinM]

99. Power (1986)

Richard Gere plays a Karl Rove-type political operative.

[jgraz]

100. Some good ones on this list. I'll add Manufacturing Consent and reiterate Network

[Swamp Rat]

102. "1984," "Fahrenheit 451," and the documentary "Idiocracy."

[Lydia Leftcoast]

103. State of the Union, in which Spencer Tracy plays a Republican candidate who

is more liberal and populist than most Democratic candidates today.

[LeftishBrit]

154. I've seen that; it's really good!

Has anyone mentioned "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington"?

[Gabi Hayes]

104. ha ha ha America>>>>see link below

http://www.atom.com/funny_videos/haha_america/

[cherokeeprogressive]

105. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee

[Greyhound]

106. Catch-22, All the Presidents Men, Fahrenheit 451, M*A*SH*, and of course as somebody

mentioned up thread, Dr. Strangelove.

[LeftishBrit]

107. "Missing", "The Candidate" and one of my personal favourites, 'The Farmer's Daughter'

[ColbertWatcher]

109. Another three...The Crucible, Quiz Show and Conspiracy...

...the TV movie starring Kenneth Branagh about the Wannsee Conference.

(I am trying not to repeat anyone else's choices)

[halliburtonsux]

110. 'State of Siege,' 'Z,' 'The Andromeda Strain (2008 version)'

The first two are Costa-Gavras classics.

[enigmatic]

111. 3

Matewan(1987)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matewan

A Face In The Crowd(1956)

http://aleckerr.blogspot.com/2007/07/kazans-face-in-crowd-still-relevant.html

Special Bulletin(1983)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Bulletin

[MiniMe]

114. The American President

I love that movie, and boy does it hit the mark.

[Aristus]

123. Second that! Here is one of the best-written political speeches ever,

even if it's fictional:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44R5BapEdYY

[scheming daemons]

128. Along the same lines... "Dave"

[MiniMe]

135. Another good movie

But for real life, The American President was spot-on as far as the dems and rethugs have been lately, and it was produced before there was a W. Richard Dreyfus IS GWB

[Thothmes]

115. My picks

Tora, Tora, Tora, Glory, Red Badge of Courage, Zulu.

[bertha katzenengel]

117. "Breach" - dramatized, to be sure, but it's based on history

and of course it's political.

A stunning movie.

[Echo In Light]

118. Fahrenheit 451, Orwell Rolls In His Grave, Manufacturing Consent: Chomsky and The Media

[LanternWaste]

119. 13 Days

13 Days. A docudrama concerning the Cuban Missile Crisis starring Bruce Dern as Jack Kennedy (and hoo-boy! he pulls it off great!). Also dramatizes really well the divisions between administration and the Joint Chiefs.

Schindler's List. 'nuff said.

Henry V (Branagh's '98 adaption). Every time I listen to his Agincourt soliloquy, I want to join the British army and fight the French (just kidding).

Best Years of Our Lives, starring Dana Andrews. It still surprises me that this obviously anti-war war movie came out so soon after the end of the 'Good War'.

Restoration Robert, starring Downey Jr. and Sam Neill. It's a wonderful period piece that takes place in the days of Charles II.

[Phillycat]

121. The recent John Adams miniseries on HBO was brilliant.

[scheming daemons]

127. Bullworth

[ThomWV]

129. "Matewan"

Look it up on line. It is an outstanding movie if you want to understand a little bit about the struggle of the labor movement in the Appalachian coal fields early in the last century.

[BurtWorm]

131. The Weather Underground

Spin
Missing
The Battle of Algiers

[pinto]

133. The King of Hearts.

[AngryAmish]

134. Disorderlies

[ceile]

137. Ghandi, The Wind That Shakes the Barley, Michael Collins

[road2000]

139. Don't think these have been named...

Joe
Dr. Zhivago
Easy Rider
George Wallace (Gary Sinese was brilliant)
Inn of the Sixth Happiness
Lost Horizon

(Edited to add Casablanca)

[harun]

140. Mine

These I like for their political "message", albeit not all are political/historical movies...

El Che: Investigating a Legend (2003)
The Motorcycle Diaries (2004)
Metropolis (1927)
Malcolm X (1992)
Dr. Strangelove (1964)

Metropolis (1927) Germany, not the new anime, is a true gem. It is classified as more sci/fi but has an excellent political message. The fact that they made this in 1927 is mind blowing. The effects in it can hold their own today and it is a masterpiece.

I actually had ordered the new anime for this and they mistakingly sent me the 1927 German film. Before sending it back I thought I might as well check out what it was about and figured I would watch it anyway. VERY glad I did.

As for the list you have probably seen them all save the first, but anyway...

[lame54]

142. JFK...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TTo8DI4r9s

[arcadian]

145. 'Seven Days in May', 'Michael Clayton' , 'They Live'

n/t

[lame54]

146. Canadian Bacon...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6p_6wvByFg

[road2000]

147. Fail-Safe n/t

[noiretextatique]

149. Z

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065234/

and To Play the King

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108962/

[SidneyCarton]

150. Seven Days in May

[ieoeja]

151. "Thank You For Smoking". And nobody suggested the musical, "1776"?

What better homage to the great men Benjamin Franklin and John Adams than having actors protray them singing dirty songs about Thomas Jefferson getting laid?

[2hip]

152. If you like dark comedy -

"what if you kill somebody whose death makes the world a better place?" In this movie, Dems pick off bigoted, racist, homophobic, sexist Repugs one by one...


The Last Supper

Every Sunday, a group of five college buddies (Cameron Diaz, Annabeth Gish, Courtney B. Vance, Ron Eldard and Jonathan Penner) invite a guest over and exchange views on various topics. When a heated discussion during one gathering leads to the death of a racist visitor, it gives the quintet a warped idea: They'll invite an undesirable person each week -- and then kill and bury him! But exactly how long can the friends get away with murder?

http://www.netflix.com/Movie/The_Last_Supper/60025645?trkid=222336&lnkctr=srchrd-sr&strkid=956709126_0_0

[LeftishBrit]

153. Did anyone mention "The Grapes of Wrath"?

One excellent film about American politics was "The Best Man".

We have IMO surprisingly few good political movies about British politics; though we've had some great TV series - the best was "Yes Minister" which became "Yes Prime Minister" with the 'hero's' promotion.

[Faygo Kid]

155. HBO's "Path to War;" "Inherit the Wind;" "The Fog of War" (last is documentary)

Really have to put in a plug for "Path to War," a superb, engrossing HBO film about how we got into Vietnam. Michael Gambon is superb as LBJ, and Alec Baldwin is great as McNamara. The cast is uniformly excellent, and it's the last movie directed by John Frankenheimer ("The Manchurian Candidate"). It is a must-have movie for any such collection.

[L0oniX]

157. V

[dixiegrrrrl]

158. all The King's Men 1949 version...

1949 version won an Oscar for a reason.
I found the Sean Penn version almost unintelligible..all that fake Southern accent mumbling.

Follow it with State of the Union, Spencer Tracy 1948,
with Angela Lansbury
doing her cool evil villianess role.
And Tracy in a similar film, The Last Hurrah.

I know these are "old" films, but they go to show that nothing much changes in the political game.

Oliver Stone's JFK is tops for me, but you almost have to watch it 3-4 times to get all the details.
It will make you think.

Netflix has a good list with ratings for each one..

[yeswecanseattle]

159. Street Fight, Can Mr. Smith Get to Washington Anymore?, Primary colors

Street fight was great

[PatSeg]

167. Most of my favorites have been mentioned already

I own many of them. I don't think anyone mentioned Constant Gardener, Empire of the Sun, or Glory yet.

Also I prefer the remake of All the Kings Men, as it is closer to the book. It wasn't received well by critics or audiences, but I liked it.

[Radical Activist]

168. Harlan County, USA

Be sure to get the documentary, not the movie with a similar name.

Two other less known favorites of mine:
Sir! No Sir!
Z

Z has subtitles but the message is universal.

[question everything]

169. The Best Man

just watched it last week.

[lame54]

171. RECOUNT

[cascadiance]

172. I'll try to add a list here of mine...

I'm trying to weed out many of the others here already mentioned (many of which I would also have here as well if not mentioned already).

Some newer films that might be hard to get to watch (not on DVD yet, and not in wide theatrical distribution either):
War, Inc. - I haven't seen this yet, but I'm looking forward to seeing it this coming week, since it just opened today here at the Hillcrest in San Diego.
Kill the Messenger - Saw this in Vancouver on Sibel Edmonds. America REALLY NEEDS to see this film. I believe it shows a window of the heart of the conspiracies in Washington today. Try and see it at a film festival, etc. if it comes near by. At least see the shorter version online.
Taxi to the Dark Side - There is a reason this got last year's Oscar for documentary. Nuf said!
Shadow of the Holy Book - This probably will be in wider distribution this coming year too. It is also inditing of our companies who deal with a dictatorship like Turkmenistan and in typical fashion, sacrifice their morals for the buck.

The 11th Hour ( a good follow up from Leonardo Di Caprio to "An Inconvenient Truth")
1900 (a historical record of Italy during the last century. Donald Sutherland as a brown shirt is choice!)
American Blackout (Tells Cynthia McKinney's story and so much more!)
Battlestar Galactica (third season - the first four episodes is as good a parable to Abu Ghraib and Iraq as you'll get in either film or TV now, though might be hard to "start" here without seeing the previous series content)
Blood Diamond (good stuff on the mess of the diamond trade in Africa and the wars around it)
Born on the Fourth of July (I don't think anyone's mentioned this one yet)
Brazil (actually a lot of political commentary in this one, who's whole plot starts from a "bug in the computer")
Bush's Brain (one of the first good documentaries on Karl Rove)
Children of Men (tries to ask the questions of what REALLy is important as the world spins out of control in the future)
Cinema, Aspirins, and Vultures - German trying to escape his identity ties to Nazi Germany during WWII on a road trip with a Brazilian in Brazil.
Citizen Stan (this is more of a personal revelation for me, in terms of how Stan's career is closely associated with my fathers on a personal level, but the filmmaker calls him the real life Forrest Gump of our times)
A Clockwork Orange (what is cruel and unusual punishment)
Crimson Tide (excellent submarine drama on whether to start WWIII without confirmed orders)
Crude Awakening (another good film on the shortage of oil, etc.)
Death of a President (postulates the fictional assassination of George Bush, but is actually a decent commentary on what could happen tragically with the breakdown of our civil liberties here now)
Enemy of the State (Warns of us how our privacy rights are really being screwed now)
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (what happened with Enron really shown well here
Fahrenheit 451 (The original book burning flick is good too)
Falcon and the Snowman (The theme song sung by David Bowie, "This is Not America" will really ring well in your ears today!)
The Fixer (how the Soviet Union used to torture prisoners)
Future of Food - well done about genetic engineering threats to our food supply.
Gattaca - Genetic engineering of humans in the future is downright scary
McLibel (how folks went after McDonalds and WON!)
Gangs of New York (shows the dangers of "privatized" fire departments and other government breakdowns)
Grave of the Fireflies (one of the saddest and most real anime films you'll ever see about Japanese kids trying to survive the Tokyo bombings in WWII, would be a good double feature paired with "The Fog of War")
Hacking Democracy (A must to understand the threats on our voting systems now)
The Handmaid's Tale (this is so much a vision of what's happening today!)
House of Sand and Fog (VERY sad story about Iranian immigrants and others conflicts to survive here in today's country)
Hunting of the President (excellent rundown on what happened with Whitewater, impeachment, and other related issues)
In the Valley of Elah (you need to see this to understand the ticking time bomb of PTSD)
Iraq for Sale (Greenwald's excellent account of Iraq war that shows its about helping war profiteering)
It Happened Here (a good 60's film alternative universe conjecture of what would happen if England lost to the Nazis in WWII)
Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade (an anime film projecting another alternative universe when the nazis and japanese won WWII, and the gray areas of who are good guys and bad guys in that future)
Khartoum - how the British's last days occupying Khartoum in the Sudan happened in the face of insurgents of that period.
Kingdom of Heaven (Get the director's cut! A lot more full account of the story and less emphasis just on the final battle scene. Really a level treatment of what happened during the crusades. One of Ridley Scott's best films)
Leona's Sister Gerri - learn about the real life tragic story of a fellow DUer's mother who died during the days when abortion was illegal before Roe v. Wade!
The Making of (how a kid becomes a terrorist)
May 6th (very interesting view of the murder of one of Holland's leader, Pim Fortuyn)
Message, The - older classic film uniquely shot about Muhammed without showing any shots of him (all point of view) by a filmmaker who was recently a tragic victim of fighting in the middle east recently himself.
Minority Report - our future of being sentenced for crimes we might be "predisposed" to commit!
Our Brand is Crisis! - See how messed up our "operation" headed up by James Carville that was working in Bolivia's elections was.
The Night of Truth (revenge and reconciliation between two warring factions in an African nation)
Peace One Day! - former actor Jeremy Gilley's efforts to have one day declared as an annual holiday where every conflict would put down its arms and have a day of peace!
Platoon! - Still remember a lot of the tragedies in that account of Vietnam.
Prisoner Or: How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair - very indicting look of our taking prisoners in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Queen, The - Very good and personal look at how Tony Blair and the Queen handled Princess Diana's death.
The Russians are Coming, The Russians Are Coming - This shows the fear of "reds" in comedic fashion in those days of the 60's that is just as irrational as much of the fear of Muslims, etc. are today.
Sand Pebbles - Shows many tragedies of an American ship caught up navigating through the Chinese revolution many years back starring Steve McQueen in one of us better films.
Siege, The - very prophetic view of what might happen after a big terrorist event in New York before 9/11 happened.
The Song Spinner (this is so much a good parable on fascism, musical expression, and censorship, great for kids!)
Spy Game - another good political thriller with Robert Redford
Starship Troopers - previewed the fascism that was going to take over our military when it was made many years ago.
Take, The - Awesome film on how workers in Argentina used the law to fight back as their economy was failing which featured Naomi Klein and her husband the filmmaker.
Three Kings - George Clooney in this film on first Iraq war, which forecasts some of the nebulous moral boundaries we face now.
Washington, You're Fired! (really summarizes well what's wrong with DC these days)
Woodstock! - This has to be here someplace. Best political concert movie of all time!
Yes Men! - Very good satirical humor "skit adventures" directed at corporatists.

[rndmprsn]

173. WOW...thanks for all of these awesome picks.

i've seen a good many, but many i have added to my list...thanks again.