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MestnyiGeroi's "100+ Politically Bold Movies"

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A subjective selection of films that I have seen (and can recall) that are politically bold in nature. Boldness here is not defined simply by the power of the statement made, but by an element of risk in making the film—that risk being at the least some degree of potential flak or backlash, and at the most the loss of career or even life.

I am sure I’ve missed dozens of deserving choices, so any recommendations are welcome. And again, obviously this list is subjective and arbitrary; a complete list of all politically courageous films would number in the thousands, surely.

And finally, while it can well be argued that all things are political, I have limited my selections to films that entail politics in the most conventional sense, rather than, say, a movie that is shocking in its treatment of religion or gender, etc.

The movies are listed in chronological order.

[Here is a companion list of Politically Craven Movies—http://www.listsofbests.com/list/54692]

  1. 1.
    J'Accuse
    by Abel Gance

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  2. 2.
    Within Our Gates
    by Oscar Micheaux

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  3. 3.
    ?
    The Symbol of the Unconquered (1920)
    by Oscar Micheaux

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  4. 4.
    Jewish Luck (Jidische Glickn; Evreiskoe schast’e)
    by Alexis Granowsky

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  5. 6.
    The Passion of Joan of Arc - Criterion Collection
    by Carl Theodor Dreyer

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  6. 7.
    White Shadows in the South Seas
    by W.S. Van Dyke

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  7. 8.
    Luis Bunuel's L'Age d'Or

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  8. 9.
    ?
    Westfront 1918 (1930)
    by Georg Wilhelm Pabst

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  9. 11.
    A Nous La Liberte - Criterion Collection
    by René Clair

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  10. 12.
    The peach girl

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  11. 13.
    Boudu Saved from Drowning - Criterion Collection
    by Jean Renoir

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  12. 14.
    I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang
    by Mervyn LeRoy

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  13. 15.
    Wild Boys of the Road
    by William A. Wellman

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  14. 17.
    King Vidor's Our Daily Bread

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  15. 18.
    Black Fury (1935)
    by Michael Curtiz

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  16. 19.

  17. 20.
    Grand Illusion - Criterion Collection
    by Jean Renoir

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  18. 21.
    Dead End
    by William Wyler

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  19. 22.
    ?
    Confessions of a Nazi Spy (1939)
    by Anatole Litvak

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  20. 23.
    The Grapes of Wrath
    by John Ford

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  21. 25.
    Citizen Kane
    by Orson Welles

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  22. 26.
    How Green Was My Valley
    by John Ford

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  23. 27.
    The Little Foxes
    by William Wyler

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  24. 29.
    The Best Years of Our Lives
    by William Wyler

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  25. 31.
    Paisa (Roberto Rossellini)
    by Roberto Rossellini

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  26. 32.
    Monsieur Verdoux
    by Charles Chaplin

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  27. 33.
    Body and Soul
    by Robert Rossen

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  28. 34.
    Bicycle Thieves (Criterion Collection)
    by Vittorio De Sica

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  29. 35.
    The Big Clock (Universal Noir Collection)
    by John Farrow

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  30. 36.

  31. 37.
    Spring in a Small Town (Full Sub)

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  32. 38.
    Germany Year Zero
    by Roberto Rossellini

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  33. 40.
    Gun Crazy
    by Joseph H. Lewis

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  34. 41.
    Thieves' Highway - Criterion Collection
    by Jules Dassin

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  35. 42.
    The Set-Up
    by Robert Wise

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  36. 43.
    All the King's Men
    by Robert Rossen

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  37. 44.
    Champion
    by Mark Robson

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  38. 45.
    Intruder in the Dust (1949)
    by Clarence Brown

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  39. 47.
    The Man in the White Suit
    by Alexander Mackendrick

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  40. 48.
    High Noon (Collector's Edition)
    by Fred Zinnemann

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  41. 49.
    The Life of Oharu (1952) (Import All Region)
    by Kenji Mizoguchi

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  42. 50.
    Forbidden Games - Criterion Collection
    by René Clément

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  43. 51.
    Ugetsu - Criterion Collection
    by Kenji Mizoguchi

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  44. 52.
    The Wages of Fear - Criterion Collection
    by Henri-Georges Clouzot

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  45. 53.
    Salt of the Earth

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  46. 54.
    The Night of the Hunter
    by Charles Laughton

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  47. 55.
    Night and Fog - Criterion Collection
    by Alain Resnais

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  48. 56.
    The Big Knife
    by Robert Aldrich

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  49. 57.
    The Searchers (Two-Disc Anniversary Edition)
    by John Ford

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  50. 58.
    The Carnival Night / Karnavalnaya Noch
    by Eldar Ryazanov

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  51. 59.
    Nights of Cabiria - Criterion Collection
    by Federico Fellini

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  52. 60.
    Sweet Smell of Success
    by Alexander Mackendrick

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  53. 61.
    A Face in the Crowd
    by Elia Kazan

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  54. 62.
    The Wide Blue Road

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  55. 65.
    Fires on the Plain - Criterion Collection
    by Kon Ichikawa

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  56. 66.
    Room at the Top
    by Jack Clayton

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  57. 67.
    Breathless

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  58. 68.
    Saturday Night And Sunday Morning
    by Karel Reisz

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  59. 69.
    Victim (Ws B&W)
    by Basil Dearden

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  60. 70.
    Ivan's Childhood / Ivanovo Detstvo (1962)
    by Andrei Tarkovsky

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  61. 71.
    Exterminating Angel
    by Luis Bunuel

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  62. 72.
    Mamma Roma - Criterion Collection
    by Pier Paolo Pasolini

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  63. 73.
    This Sporting Life

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  64. 75.
    The Americanization of Emily
    by Arthur Hiller

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  65. 76.
    The Battle of Algiers - Criterion Collection
    by Gillo Pontecorvo

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  66. 77.

  67. 78.
    Andrei Rublev - Criterion Collection
    by Andrei Tarkovsky

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  68. 79.
    Kes
    by Ken Loach

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  69. 80.
    The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
    by Ronald Neame

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  70. 81.
    ?
    Z (1969, Costa-Gavras)

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  71. 82.
    Little Big Man

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  72. 83.
    The Sorrow and the Pity

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  73. 84.
    Aguirre, the Wrath of God
    by Werner Herzog

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  74. 85.
    The Conversation

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  75. 87.
    Hearts and Minds - Criterion Collection
    by Peter Davis (II)

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  76. 88.
    Dersu Uzala
    by Akira Kurosawa

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  77. 89.

  78. 91.
    Network
    by Sidney Lumet

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  79. 92.
    That Obscure Object of Desire - Criterion Collection
    by Luis Buñuel

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  80. 93.
    Killer of Sheep

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  81. 94.
    The Tree of Wooden Clogs
    by Ermanno Olmi

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  82. 96.
    Norma Rae

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  83. 97.
    Pixote
    by Hector Babenco

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  84. 98.
    El Norte [NTSC / Region 1 - Latin American Import]
    by Gregory Nava

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  85. 99.
    Brazil

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  86. 100.
    Come and See
    by Elem Klimov

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  87. 101.
    Shoah

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  88. 103.
    Matewan

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  89. 104.
    Salaam Bombay (Widescreen Special Edition)
    by Mira Nair

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  90. 105.
    Little Vera
    by Vasili Pichul

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  91. 106.
    Do the Right Thing

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  92. 107.
    Roger & Me

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  93. 108.

  94. 109.
    ?
    City Of Hope - 1991 - John Sayles

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  95. 110.
    Raise the Red Lantern
    by Yimou Zhang

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  96. 111.
    JFK - Director's Cut (Two-Disc Special Edition)
    by Oliver Stone

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  97. 112.
    Glengarry Glen Ross
    by James Foley

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  98. 113.
    Manufacturing Consent - Noam Chomsky and the Media
    by Peter Wintonick

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  99. 114.
    Bob Roberts

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  100. 115.
    The Blue Kite
    by Zhuangzhuang Tian

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  101. 116.
    To Live

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  102. 117.
    Bombay
    by Mani Ratnam

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  103. 118.
    Lone Star
    by John Sayles

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  104. 119.
    Prisoner of the Mountains
    by Sergei Bodrov

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  105. 120.
    Men With Guns
    by John Sayles

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  106. 121.
    Starship Troopers
    by Paul Verhoeven

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  107. 122.
    Mad City
    by Costa-Gavras

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  108. 123.
    Rosetta / La Promesse [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - Belgium ]
    by Jean-Pierre Dardenne

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  109. 124.
    The Insider

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  110. 125.
    Traffic
    by Steven Soderbergh

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  111. 126.
    Dark Days

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  112. 127.
    Life And Debt
    by Stephanie Black (II)

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  113. 128.
    One Hour Photo (Widescreen Edition)
    by Mark Romanek

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  114. 129.
    The Bourne Identity (Widescreen Extended Edition)
    by Doug Liman

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  115. 130.
    Bowling for Columbine

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  116. 131.
    Bus 174
    by José Padilha

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  117. 132.
    Uncovered - The Whole Truth About the Iraq War
    by Robert Greenwald

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  118. 133.
    ?
    Fahrenheit 9/11
    by Michael Moore

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  119. 134.
    Outfoxed - Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism
    by Robert Greenwald

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  120. 136.
    WMD: Weapons of Mass Deception
    by Danny Schechter

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  121. 137.
    Good Night, and Good Luck (Widescreen Edition)
    by George Clooney

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  122. 138.
    Syriana (Widescreen Edition)
    by Stephen Gaghan

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  123. 139.
    Tsotsi
    by Gavin Hood

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  124. 140.
    Paradise Now

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  125. 141.
    Offside

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  126. 142.
    An Inconvenient Truth
    by Davis Guggenheim

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This is MestnyiGeroi's list. Only MestnyiGeroi can edit it. You can make your own version of this list.
Created by MestnyiGeroi on Apr 23, 2008.