Marx Bros up to and Including “Room Service”.
This is the list of movies which I’ve identified as either having a clear pro-liberty message or is suitable as a metaphor for liberty:
http://www.vforvoluntary.com/wiki/RecommendedMovies
I would like to extend this list but often I find libertarians not critical enough.
I’m a big fan of super hero movies. My favorites are Ironman and Batman Begins(best retelling of Batman’s origins ever).
Das Leben der Anderen… awesome movie. Brazil is also good.
Clayton -
@Nielsio: I’m curious why you put Antz in the list? I’ve watched portions of it and, from what I can tell, it’s just your typical Statist narrative… the good ants reluctantly go to war to save society from evil ants trying to invade and impose their evil social system.
Clayton -
Something weird is going on. Either you’re confusing it with another movie, or you’ve totally missed the point of the movie, which seems weird because from beginning to end it’s completely anti-collectivist.
I’d go as far as saying it’s one of the best if not the best pro liberty movie out there.
Just the first few minutes make this clear:
I also enjoyed V for Vendetta (from the Wachowski brothers… surprise!) but it was no Matrix.
The movie V was a horrible, horrible adaptation of the comic. In fact its pretty much a case study in how NOT to adapt source material. The only good thing about the film was the casting. Particularly the always great Natalie Portman(who still lookes beautiful even with a shaved head) and Hugo Weaving who did a fantastic job portraying a character whos face was never seen(then again hes always been one of hte more underrated actors of recent years)
I would agree that There Will Be Blood is not anti-capitalist, or at least not obviously so. A story about a capitalist who happens to become a monster need not be implying that all capitalists are monsters at heart, just as a story about a crooked politician need not be an indictment against the entire political system (though it should be!). The film also goes out of its way to extol the benefits that Plainview’s capital and entrepreneurship will bring to the oil-rich town (it will bring railroads, commerce, schools, etc.), and Plainview does care about his workers (whether his reasons are noble or not) and, from what I recall, is fairly honest and honorable in his business dealings. Perhaps this is meant as irony or still not enough to forgive the supposed problems of capitalism, and perhaps P.T. Anderson is a raging anti-capitalist, but one would need an anti-capitalist bias to read the film as an indictment of capitalism.
TWBB is a favorite of mine, along with Serenity, Star Wars, LotR, 12 Monkeys, The Social Network, and a whole bunch of others. I’ve been growing tired of movies the last few years, in favor of television. I find that 2-3 hours with characters just doesn’t cut it any more.
I just saw a film that was nominated for Best Foreign Picture (it was Greek) named “Dogtooth.” A very interesting story. Creepy at first, but after the movie ended, it clicked and I “got it.” I’d recommend it too.
bal (turkish for honey) was pretty good. i think solaris is one of the most tastful sci-fi movies around, odysey 2001 was good too.
i am a sucker for wwii movies with germans in them. stalingrad, untergang, rome open city, longest day.
A top ten for me is difficult, but here is a rough top ten made up on the spot that tries to incorporate as many genres as possible:
- Pulp Fiction — probably my favorite movie of all times.
- Carlitos’s Way
- Twelve Monkeys — actually, I didn’t see this until very recently, but I thought it was a great movie.
- Jackie Brown
- Inglorious Basterds [sic.]
- Apocalypse Now!
- American History X
- Full Metal Jacket
- Pan’s Labyrinth
- Gladiator