My current top 10 politics films, with links to Amazon

I watched the excellent political thriller Breach recently and with it also being post Oscars weekend wondered what would make my top 10 politics related films.

This could well form the basis of the Politics Film Club I have been chatting to my students about.

1. The War on Democracy. I’m a big fan of John Pilger and whilst this may not be a crowd puller, it is arguably the best piece of filmmaking out there on the malign force of American foreign policy. Biased? Probably. Controversial? Definitely. Eductional? You bet.

2. The Fog of War. Amazon’s own review (well, why reinvent the wheel?): “The Fog of War, the movie that finally won Errol Morris the best documentary Oscar, is a spellbinder. Morris interviews Robert McNamara, Secretary of Defense in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, and finds a uniquely unsettling viewpoint on much of 20th-century American history.”

3. Mississippi Burning. When teaching affirmative action I get students to have a look at this since the excellent cast (it features Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe) help to brilliantly relate the story of the disappearance of two civil rights workers in the deep south in 1964.

4. Bowling for Columbine. I doubt there are many blog readers who have not seen Michael Moore’s rage against the gun industry post Columbine. Hopefully, then, you’ll agree that this Oscar winning documentary deserves its place on this list.

5. Taking Liberties. Released in 2007, this is supposedly the UK’s answer to Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 and looks at how New Labour has eroded our liberties over the last decade.

6. Taxi Driver. A dark, violent and disturbing movie that may not first appear to have anything to do with politics. But Robert De Niro’s part as a dysfunctional loner who is simultaneously confused and disgusted by the city he inhabits works as a vivid account of seventies America bewildered about its direction after Nixon and Watergate.

7. Land and Freedom. I got this Ken Loach effort free with a national newspaper recently and rewatching it over ten years after it was first released still left me impressed by its emotional power.

8. JFK. There are two Oliver Stone films on this list, and this tale of the alleged conspiracy related to Kennedy’s assassination makes it on here due to the long scene in court near the film’s end where Kevin Costner offers his summation.

9. Election. A high school civics teacher, played by Matthew Broderick, faces his nemesis in the shape of an uber-ambitious student, Reese Witherspoon. One for anyone who has witnessed close hand the battle to be head of the 6th Form Council!!

10. Platoon. Of the raft of Vietnam films out there, this one from Oliver Stone, which focuses on the grim reality of conflict is my favourite and definitely worthy of its four Oscars.