Must See Movies About Politics

Often when we look at the political theater, it almost seems like the political maneuvers senators and generals pull are facelifted from the latest cinematic political thriller, almost as though real life is following a movie script. Still, Hollywood can't be beaten when it comes to entertaining political madness (as opposed to real life's soul crushing political madness). Cinematic politicians speak with unmatched eloquence, dressed to impress, and don't look like melted ice cream sundaes stuffed into a suit. Politicians in the movies may be sometimes corrupt, but oftentimes they fight for the American ideal. Or other times, we see the man--normal people, outside the political theater--fighting for the American way. That’s what audiences long for: a movie that can be at once thrilling, exciting, and inspiring. The very best political movies leave us breathless, leave us inspired, and leave us with an impression about what this country could be if only the cards fell just into place.

In the Loop is a political satire from 2009. It tells the story of a group of operatives from both sides of the Atlantic trying to put a stop to a war between two countries. Tom Hollander stars alongside Peter Capaldi (The 12th Doctor from Doctor Who) and James Gandolfini (Tony Soprano from The Sopranos). In all fairness, I only saw this movie after seeing a montage of Capaldi's most vulgar moments from the film. Half the fun is watching the characters bounce around in an outrageous manner. Much of the film's dialogue is memorable, quotable, and certainly inappropriate to quote.

But, while the political movie does indulge in its vulgarity, there remains an undeniable sense of realism (augmented by the fact that the film is shot at times like a reality television show). Rumor has it the director and actors read actual defense documents to prepare for this film. Presumably, everything they read helped them get into character, since, while the film does indulge often in the wacky, there is an undeniable sense of realism and weight to everything that transpires on screen.

Tim Robbins stars, writes, and directs this political movie (shot like a mockumentary) about the fictional politician Bob Roberts, an odd-ball singer running for a position in the US Senate, and his bizarre journey to the top. Many people believe him to be a total fraud, and... well, hilarity ensues.

This film sports a lot of noteworthy actors, including Alan Rickman, Susan Sarandon, James Spader, Tom Atkins, and a young Jack Black... but the star here is Robbins. Controversy sparked around the film when people pointed out how Roberts bared an unusual similarity to real-life politicians like George HW Bush, then-president of the United States, Bill Clinton, who was running for President at the time the film was released, and Rick Santorum, then the Governor of Pennsylvania. Of course, Robbins admits the film is less a parody of a specific politician, and more of the entire political system. Which, in turn, makes the film timeless.

Aaron Sorkin is among the greatest screenwriters of the modern age. Writer of A Few Good Men, The West Wing, The American President, The Social Network... the list goes on, but this political movie from 2007 is arguably one of his better works. The film is based on the real life US Congressman Charlie Wilson, who, along with CIA Operative Gust Avrakotos, helped push the Soviets out of Afghanistan by training and funding operatives in the country--a process that would be known as Operation Cyclone.

While the real life Operation Cyclone ended up giving money to people many assert helped create al-Qaeda, the film paints a more morally-black-and-white narrative about one man giving up the life of a playboy in order to do the right thing not only for his country but for those less well off than himself. This is to say nothing of the amazing cast in the film. Tom Hanks is of course wonderful as always, but he has to compete with the late-Phillip Seymour Hoffman, one of the greatest actors of the modern era, as well as Julia Roberts, Amy Adams, and Ned Beatty. These actors would elevate any script to greatness--but a script written by Aaron Sorkin? Oh, a script written by him is already one damn good script.

This brilliant--albeit cynical--dark comedy about political deception and lies demonstrates how we really can't trust anything. The President of the United States is caught having an affair with an underage girl, and it's up to a political spin doctor (Robert deNiro) to deter the public's attention from the affair. He does this by making up a fictional war in Albania. As more people become involved, the deception becomes harder to maintain, and, soon, things go spiraling out of control.

This political movie is kind of insane. Robert deNiro is in top form here, sharing the screen with Dustin Hoffman, who plays a Hollywood movie producer faking footage of deNiro's Albanian War. Along for the ride are Kirstin Dunst, Anne Heche, Dennis Leary, and William H Macy--all of whom bring their A-game to a story that, in essence, is about lying your way to the top. This film is more relevant than ever in a world where there are serious allegations of the current president of lying to the country's face to deter their attention from real problems. Who can you trust in a world like this?

Dr. Strangelove is the standard other political movies are held up to. This is the ultimate satire of the early years of the Cold War. Stanley Kubrick, arguably the greatest film director of the 20th Century, crafts a yarn about what would happen if a nuclear bomb were to be sent by an automated system at Russia, and how America, who fired said bomb, would try to smooth things over before the world crumbles into a nuclear holocaust.

What follows is brilliant satire making fun of American paranoia and jingoism, the relationship between America and the Soviets, and... Nazis. Yes. Nazis. Yes, this is a Cold War movie. An all-star cast of character actors fills the screen in this one, from Peter Sellers to George C Scott to a young James Earl Jones. The movie is meticulously directed and shot, as to be expected by mad genius Kubrick. It also has one of the most delightful depictions of nuclear holocaust ever. Just a great fun, if you're interested in watching people fight in the war room.

Lobbyists get a bad rap, don't they? We don't put much thought into them, and, when we do, we often label them as sleazy dirt-bag types before knowing their practices, their history, or even them as people. Which makes it fascinating how one of the best political movies in recent memories centers on a lobbyist spin-doctor for the tobacco industry. Jason Reitman, son of Ivan Reitman (Ghostbusters, Groundhog Day) and director of Juno, presents an interesting film about the American right to freedom of choice and speech... by way of tobacco industry.

Staring Aaron Eckhart (still a criminally underutilized talent), William H Macy, Maria Bello, JK Simmons, Katie Holmes, Sam Elliot, and Robert DuVall, the political movie is a very cynical comedy about the American right to get lung cancer from smoking, and how, in an odd way, the fact that we have the option to end our own lives prematurely thanks to cigarettes is kind of an amazing freedom we have as Americans. Even if you don't agree with its moral, the film leaves you thinking.

HBO has been on a roll lately. Game of Thrones. Westworld. In continuing to pump out well-crafted stories, they handed us this political movie, All the Way. Starring Bryan Cranston as Lyndon B Johnson, who is picking up the pieces following the JFK assassination, and running for president in the upcoming election. The film ends with LBJ's election at the end, all the while hinting at the coming conflicts to come.

Aside from being a very grim depiction of political life, it also presents a stunning performance by Anthony Mackie (you know, Falcon from the Marvel movies) as Martin Luther King Jr. This film really captures the tensions and prejudices that defined the 60s, such as racism, homophobia, and Soviet paranoia. While the film does its best to present the subject matter from a removed eye, it cannot help but show us at once how far we've come as a society and how we have yet to grow.

This atmospheric wartime drama directed by George Clooney stars David Strathairn, Robert Downey Jr, Patricia Clarkson, Jeff Daniels, and, of course, George Clooney. This film illustrates the tension between a news caster and the ever-powerful McCarthy in the height of the Cold War, dealing with the tense authority McCarthy held over American politics, and the almost ruthless invasion of American freedom taken to root out the Communist threat.

No bullets need fly to make a political movie tense. This film explores what happens when the media takes a direct stand against the actions of the government, exploring what media's role in society is when the government does that which goes against moral law. In that sense, it almost plays like a production of Antigone, though, obviously, this is based on real events. Again, in the modern political landscape, this film is more relevant than ever before.

As someone growing up in the 90s and 00s, I can assure you that this film hung over everyone's head as the war film of the generation. Sure, there are better films around the same time (Saving Private Ryan is perfect), but Black Hawk Down felt incredibly relevant in the years following 9/11, even though it had been (loosely) based on events that occurred almost a decade prior. Directed by Ridley Scott, the director behind classics like Gladiator, Blade Runner, and Alien, this bleak political movie depicts a military conflict in Somalia, and the attempted rescue of men stranded in the country, as well as take down would-be dictators set on attacking freedom head-on.

The film's cast is massive. Josh Hartnett. Ewan McGreggor. Eric Bana. Jason Isaacs. Orlando Bloom. Even a younger Tom Hardy. Everything about this film is intense, raw, and realistic (even if real life proved to be a little different than the events in the film). It was the war film for a generation of people growing up on the eve of a new war, and remains a potent example of film from that time.

Depicting war from the lens of a single soldier, Jarhead is a slow burn. Not a whole lot happens throughout... but, in many ways, that's the point. The film presents us with Anthony Swofford, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, a young soldier training to be a sniper, and shows us his experiences as he rises up the ranks, until he can finally go out on a mission. It presents the slow burn of war. The social isolationism of the soldier. The very real experiences. The lingering threat of death hovering over everything... and powerlessness.

The film was advertised as the next Black Hawk Down, but ended up occupying a very important niche in the political movie genre: the slow burn soldier story. Being a soldier isn't saving lives and combat all the time. Sometimes, it's tedious. Sometimes, it's exhausting. All of that is relayed in Jarhead, which is unrelenting in its slow-burn feel. Almost... draining... which is the point.

William Goldman is one of the unsung geniuses of the screenwriting world. The man does not get nearly enough credit in the film making world. The man is responsible for the scripts to one of the most quotable films of all time (The Princess Bride) and one of the most intense political movies ever created.... All the President's Men.

This cinematic classic, staring Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman, tells the tale of the men who uncovered the corruption in the Nixon Administration, leading up to the resignation of the President himself following the Watergate Scandal. The film follows the very real political intrigue following real life corruption and criminal action. On top of being based on a real story, and thus grounded in the real-world political scheming that followed Watergate, it's also just a really well made story, full of tension and intrigue throughout. Even though we as the audience know what happened in the end, the destination feels new and intriguing, with every turn leaving the viewers quivering in anticipation.

This film is, once again, a Robert Redford drama (though a little funnier than our last entry), and, once again, in our current political landscape, incredibly relevant. Robert Redford is a man running against an incredibly popular Republican Senator. Redford stands no chance of victory, so he speaks from the heart and says whatever is on his mind. But, as the election pushes on, Redford realizes he may have to play the political game to win the unwinnable election.

Political movies so often pull fast ones on the audience, but few play with our perspective on the political game like this one. We all know politicians need to tell lies in order to win elections, but our perspective on what lies need to be told and what truths should be established is played with in this film. The film implies that people want to be told flat nothings, and that the real issues will be neglected and forgotten--that elections are foretold, and, when the unexpected happens, no one knows what to do.

The whole thing is oddly relevant in our political atmosphere, as are a lot of political movies from years gone by. I only hope that younger viewers can revisit these classics so that they can, in the future, employ the wisdom of yesteryear when attacking the problems of today. Political movies may only be movies, but they are a reflection of the political reality we live with every day.