Top 100 Political Films

A commenter mentioned this the other. A while back The New Republic put together a top 100 political film list. TCM is showing a bunch of them based on that.

I’ve seen most of these films, not surprising. Mostly, this is a very good list. There are a lot of outstanding obscurities on here, such as Punishment Park, which is fantastic if you like people screaming ideology at each, which of course I do. The top films are all pretty great. The Battle of Algiers is in my view the greatest film of all time and it should be first on this list. The Manchurian Candidate is of course astounding as 2nd.

There are some weaknesses down the list. First, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is not a political film. Yes, Jimmy Stewart eventually becomes a senator but that’s really not the point of the film. There’s a few films like this. As great as The Passion of Joan of Arc is, I don’t see how you consider it a political film in the context of how it was made. I mean, yes, it is about a war, but that’s just not really about politics in any meaningful way. I guess 100 is a lot of films.

And there are some notable films missing. Mario Monicelli’s The Organizer is perhaps the most egregious, but that’s not exactly a prominent film really. I am genuinely surprised that Mikhail Kalatozov’s I Am Cuba isn’t on there, as that’s a fantastic film and one of the most important political films to come out of Soviet Union’s alliances in the Global South. I might argue that Preston Struges’ Sullivan’s Travels is a political film based on some of these selections. Also, The Grapes of Wrath isn’t on there and that’s a big omission. Rosselini’s Rome Open City is another omission. And while this list does a great job of obscure films, one it does miss is Hideo Sekigawa’s remarkable and furious film Hiroshima, from 1953 and it’s really amazing that got made under the occupation.

But still, this is a very fine list and you should watch as many of these as possible.