(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Here's a Dozen Great Movies Every Progressive Should Watch [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-02-09 The movie V for Vendetta popularized Guy Fawkes masking:) I love the unique capacity of movies and television to tell stories in ways no other communication method can. I especially love social commentary tales that reveal hidden truths and correctly predict future events and trends. Today I’m giving you excellent movies that succeed purely as cinema art, but also have serious content progressives find useful, entertaining, and compelling. Note: I avoid doing spoilers!!! Idiocracy: This 2006 film was suppressed and censored by the studio that sponsored it because it brutally exposes American society, which is portrayed as a dumbed-down, consumerist populace sated by carnivalesque pleasures, controlled by corporate overlords. Sound familiar? Initially marketed as a sci-fi romantic comedy, the movie is actually a stark, satirical political commentary that in many ways is now a documentary. What seemed like fiction in this 2006 film turns out to be accurately anticipatory of our current reality, including the non-stop propaganda of Fox News, the rise of con artist criminal politicians like Traitor Trump, environmental hellscape, overpopulation, and a sheeplike populace. I often hear from random people, including myself, that “America is an Idiocracy.” It’s no surprise the film was too honest and radical for 20th Century Fox, which refused to allow it to be released in theaters and sent it direct to DVD. It is now a cult classic, and you will see why. They Live: One of many entertaining, visceral “sci-fi” films by director John Carpenter, this 1988 film stars the late, great professional wrestler Rowdy Roddy Piper as a down-and-out unhoused construction worker who trudges into a homeless encampment in Los Angeles seeking a job, shelter, and food. What he discovers instead is that American society is brainwashed, sleepwalking, controlled by a greedy, exploitive elite. Sound familiar? They Live uses potent allegory to illustrate how people are tuned out of reality, disempowered, programmed, accurately described as “cattle.” It touches on racism, discrimination against the poor, the power of media, citizen activism, and police brutality. One of my favorite scenes is an epic, bone-shattering fight between Roddy’s character and his co-star—because the co-star refuses to see the truth about society. V for Vendetta inspired the Guy Fawkes mask style used by Occupy Wall Street, Anonymous Collective, Antifa, and other Left affinity groups. This 2005 film accurately predicts many facets of today’s United Kingdom and other countries where a fascist cabal is in charge. This cabal is almost identical to today’s Republican Party, with emphasis on homophobia, anti-environmentalism, corporatocracy, Christofascism, anti-immigrant, anti-poor, anti-worker. The screenplay was written by the Wachowskis (of Matrix fame), so the film is a non-stop political thriller. Some “anarchists” see V for Vendetta as a template for action against the corporate police state. Watership Down is a 1978 animated film based on a novel about a group of bunnies dealing with ecological destruction and social strife. It has some of the most poignant scenes in cinema, especially a haunting death scene framed by Art Garfunkel’s angelic voice singing the classic song Bright Eyes. As a hardcore environmentalist and animal rights activist, I was especially moved by the bunnies trying to cross roads, and unable to read a sign posted on their field indicating they’ll soon be bulldozed for human housing. The Report is a 2019 movie that was suppressed and censored because it’s a factual historical drama exposing the CIA’s use of torture and kidnapping after the 9-11 terror attacks. Aging Dianne Fenstein and other real-life people are portrayed as uninterested in or covering up international crimes committed by our intelligence agencies. Adam Driver, Annette Bening, Ted Levine and other award-winning actors make this a taut, sobering movie that leaves you outraged by official criminality and cover-ups. Network is one of the most iconic American films of all time. Released in 1976, it tells the story of a network news anchor who freaks out on air about the corruption of American society and the vulturous lack of ethics in the media. His famous defiant rant, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore,” is a call to action for all of us. The movie exposes the role of spectacle in media ratings, so the craven nature of the television news business is fully explicated. Network had nine Oscar nominations at the 49th Academy Awards, and won Best Actor, Best Actress (the wonderful Faye Dunaway), Best Supporting Actress, and Best Original Screenplay. Network is archived in the United States National Film Registry because it is "culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant.” The Candidate is a 1972 movie starring golden boy Robert Redford in his prime that won an Oscar for Best Screenplay. It’s probably the best “fictional” movie ever for showing how American politics is more about marketing, illusion, optics, and manipulation than it is about good governance. Redford looks gorgeous and perfectly plays the candidate running for an office he doesn’t know anything about. His increasing discomfort about the chicanery of a political campaign is perfectly-acted. WALL-E is one of my most cherished films. Released in 2008, its computer animation, special effects, plotline, characters and creativity are absolutely superb. The film evokes the endgame of anthropogenic mass extinction, AI, and societal collapse. It has many of the same themes as Idiocracy. I was very surprised to see Pixar Studios do such a serious, thoughtful film that’s been lauded internationally by film critics and cinema organizations. District 9 is an extremely creative, interesting, intelligent allegory, released in 2009. You quickly realize the movie is partially about apartheid, racism, bureaucracy, and alienation in South Africa, disguised behind a kick-ass sci-fi motif. Ex Machina, released in 2014, is the most prescient movie warning us about the inherent dangers of AI. The heroine of the movie, Ava, can be seen as a feminist revenge hero, a machine version of Lisbeth Salander from another incredible movie The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. The scenery, special effects, conflict, and especially the performance by Ava and the actor Oscar Issac are stellar. The Colored Museum is a 1991 film based on a theatrical play. Using dark satire, songs, dance, cultural props, and historic imagery, this is likely the most visceral, surreal dramatized portrayal of African-American experience ever created. I’m including the only version I can find anywhere, and it’s right here… THX 1138 is the 1971 American directorial debut film by George Lucas, produced by Francis Ford Coppola, starring Robert Duvall. Like They Live, 1984, Brave New World and other stories of a theocratic, techno-dystopic future, THX 1138 reveals we’re just cogs in a machine, trapped in tiny housing units, prohibited from engaging in normal human bonding, brainwashed, surveilled, herded by AI police. Note that most of these movies will have not been seen or even heard of by most people under age 35. Feel free to share these with the youngest people in your life. It’s a great way to educate them about serious issues from a progressive perspective. And please, feel free to share your favorite progressive-themed movies in the comments section. Get the popcorn ready! 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