The Top 10 movies about politics – here we talk about some serious stuff. Because politics is what dictates our lives and what forms the world we are living in. It has always been this way.
We collected the best films about historical events and all kinds of political games in the main English-speaking countries of the world:
- What it’s like to be a fragile woman in a harsh British government.
- How FBI politics lined up.
- Why the whole world scolds Dick Cheney.
- How to get the crowd to tick the right place.
It is not easy to remain people on the other side of the podium. Every day you have to answer for millions of lives, sign papers that always ruin someone’s families and destinies, and get used to the idea that “cons” and “losses” often actually mean human sacrifices. And journalists are vigilantly watching all this 24/7, hoping to catch on to any awkwardness and paint its full-fledged political conspiracy.
How people from big politics manage to restrain the horns and hooves torn from under the skin under the calls of power – we look at the political thriller movies, we compare it with life. Here are 10 of the best movies about politics of all time.
Miss Sloane (2016)
To be a gun or not to be is one of the ongoing civil rights debates in America. According to the film, Elizabeth Sloan is an experienced lobbyist, but the woman never developed professional indifference to the object of promotion. Faced with a bill to abolish restrictions on the purchase and possession of weapons, Sloan publicly refuses to advance the cause of personal principles and moral requirements – such highly moral behavior of a citizen responsible to the society in a lobbying company is equated with a ticket to the labor exchange. But Elizabeth did not even have time to get upset and upload her resume to the local headhunter: the heroine receives a job offer from a competitor company. The new company sees a threat behind civilian firearms, and Elizabeth’s professionalism, multiplied by personal convictions, can shoot the idea of spreading weapons at close range. Disputes about the Second Amendment, the rights to self-defense, and school shootings – fight. Such a terrific political thriller.
The Iron Lady (2011)
A film about Margaret Thatcher – the first woman to become a prime minister of Great Britain. And one of the best political drama movies. You can evaluate her leadership in different ways, but Meryl Streep played Margaret on the screen unequivocally cool. In the cinema, the story of Margaret will be shown from the end, and the formation of a strong and strong-willed woman is presented in the memoirs of a lonely older woman with dementia – ironic and sad. Still, the harsh reality is enough for the most cynical pessimists.
The film won two Academy Awards: Best Actress (the third in Meryl Streep’s career) and Best Makeup. It’s arguably one of the well-made movies about politics.
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Vice (2018)
Dick Cheney is a man who was nominated for the World Stupidity Award as “The Stupidest Man of the Year”, but at the same time worked in the administrations of four American presidents, and under the younger Bush was even vice-head of state. Dick lost the title of the great fool to a judge caught self-satisfying with the use of a hand pump during meetings. Still, they did not stop laughing at the politician: the image of Cheney, who shot his friend on the hunt, was “Family Guy”, in “The Simpsons” the imperious vice president used a memory eraser from “Men in Black” on Smithers, and they did more satirical pictures with Dick than with Pepe the Frog and Drake in an orange jacket. Cheney also advocated the war in Iraq and actively defended the legality of water torture – if someone has breathing problems, it will hurt even to read about this atrocity. In general, there is definitely something to tell about this American politician, and there is something for Christian Bale to gain another record 20 kilograms for – it is almost impossible to recognize the actor in this film.
Dick Cheney has been repeatedly accused of colluding with his former oil bosses and working directly with Hell, and in the film, he does not even appear to be a partner but rather a half-brother of Satan. Not everything is worth believing – when Cheney served as Secretary of Defense under Bush Sr., the Americans, if they did not like him, then definitely recognized him. But it’s not customary to talk about the good in satire, and Adam McKay’s film is a concentrated satire.
Darkest Hour (2017)
Not only Christian Bale can transform. In this film, behind the incredible make-up of Winston Churchill, Gary Oldman hides his beautiful face, and even Cinderella never dreamed of such magic. The last, by the way, did not even dream of Oscar, Golden Globe, and BAFTA, which Oldman took to himself after the role of the most famous prime minister of Great Britain.
The film will show how Churchill came to power and refused to negotiate peace with Hitler, explain how the prime minister’s relationship with the ruling dynasty developed, tell how the British political elite treated the cigar and bulldog lover, and explain how the Dunkirk operation worked. The film is focused on a specific period in the career of the great Briton, so the finale does not feel like an understatement and unjustified hopes:
- Everything is in its place.
- Churchill is magnificent and terrible at the same time.
- The love of the people is conditioned.
- The respect and hatred of colleagues are justified.
Edgar (2011)
A movie about a man who turned the FBI from an insignificant office with four hundred agents into a powerful organization of many thousands to which Americans trusted their lives. John Edgar Hoover led the FBI for forty-eight years, including the Great Depression, World War II, the Cold War, and the Korean War. Under Hoover, John Dillinger was neutralized, rock and roll was persecuted for the use and distribution of drugs, and the formidable letter “F” also appeared under John Edgar. Until 1935, the Bureau of Investigation was not federal. Hoover was a strong and powerful man. Others do not live happily ever after in structures, do not get rooms in Masonic temples, and do not become heroes of political dramas. Half a century to control one of the most significant authorities in the United States – Hoover’s hands hardly ever trembled.
Milk (2008)
Harvey Milk was included in Time’s “100 Heroes of the 20th Century” list, a library, a school, and an entire square in San Francisco were named after him, and Barack Obama awarded Milk the Presidential Medal of Freedom. It is a pity that posthumously – the first of the open LGBT politicians elected in the United States did not know all this because Harvey was shot dead.
Milk participated in the most prominent gay pride parade of his time, won free public transport, campaigned for the rights of the elderly and disabled, was one of the leaders of the eight-kilometer protest march through San Francisco, opposed the Briggs Initiative, according to which all schools should fire gay teachers and anyone who supported their rights; and finally won his primary political victory – he received a seat on the city council. An eloquent, honest, people-minded leader is a hero for an adult fairy tale, which, by some miracle, became a biography. Sean Penn is amazing here and it’s one of the best movies about politics of all time.
Harvey Milk and John Edgar Hoover aren’t the only politicians Dustin Lance Black has written about.
The Ides of March (2011)
In this film, the story of big politics unfolds in the backyard sandbox of American Democrats. Stephen Myers is a young but intelligent and promising politician who works in the headquarters of Mike Morris, the governor with a claim to the presidency of the United States. But in order to climb this high step, Morris must first win the primaries, and young Stephen sincerely believes in the candidacy of his boss. The governor is seen by Myers as an ideal future president, honoring citizens’ holy freedoms and rights, so that work in the campaign headquarters does not require a guy to deal with conscience and self-flagellation. But George Clooney would not make a naive utopian comedy out of his fourth film: flawless people are not allowed beyond the government’s front door, and soon Stephen Myers will not only have to be disappointed in his superiors but also show his young, sharp teeth to surrounding predators.
Wag the Dog (1997)
Good marketers know how to sell stale shawarma, and especially talented ones can hide the serious crime of the head of state behind a fictitious war. On the eve of the presidential election, the big guy from the white house is accused of sexual harassment, a scandal is about to erupt, and the consequences will be more noticeable than a nuclear mushroom. To distract the people from both smoke and fire, Presidential adviser Konrad Brin hires Standee Motts, and together the men invent a non-existent war with terrorists in Albania. And while TV viewers listen to the news in horror and sob over songs about fictional patriotic soldiers, the guys from the CIA are perplexed in a special agent way: how could intelligence not notice the threat of nuclear war?
By the way, for those who like to manipulate without restrictions, The Sims Medieval game has a plot with reference to this film: a medieval king must hide his adviser’s adultery with a princess, and the monarch is offered a fictional war or a non-existent epidemic to choose from. Fans of covid conspiracies will also be pleased. It’s one of our favorite movies about politics.
Lincoln (2012)
Oscar for Best Actor (Daniel Day-Lewis) and Production Design. The name of the sixteenth president of the United States is most likely familiar even to those who have no idea what the name of the first was. So there are hardly any surprises for the audience in this film: Abraham Lincoln is trying to end slavery and the Civil War, and Steven Spielberg is enjoying universal adoration and nominations for prestigious awards. No vampire hunting and deep flashbacks about the childhood and early political career of the great Abe: this is a very serious and mostly conversational movie about the historical events of 1865. But there will be something to look at: the era is recreated with all the Spielberg scope. It’s arguably one of the best movies about politics ever made.
Brexit (2019)
Brexit is the exit of the UK from the European Union, and this exit took place on January 31, 2020. But the filmmakers are not prophets: here they talk about the 2016 referendum, in which more than half of the votes were for leaving sunny Europe for a foggy sunset. The film’s protagonist, Dominic Cummings, is a genius spider who set up nets in bars and on unsuspecting streets, catching sleepy apolitical flies and violent conservative mosquitoes, and then completely extended his black power to the free Internet. Historical events are not always written by luxuriously dressed people in important houses with flags, and the ink of history is not always someone’s blood.
There is no thriller and tension in the film, and the finale is known in advance, but it is interesting to look beyond your “for” or “against”, and find out the complex history of the formation of your own political beliefs. And Cummings is so cool that he breaks the “fourth wall” from the start. It’s one of the coolest movies about politics.
We hope you love our political movies list. Can you add another title here? Use the comment section for this!
