Politics of Cinema

Need a warm cinematic hug from a group of close friends? Want to spend some time with people who get all your jokes? In this episode, we discuss The Return of the Secaucus 7 (1980), a foundational work of American leftist cinema. We also look closely at John Sayles' early career as a novelist and screenwriter in the buildup to his debut as a director. Follow us at:  Patreon  /  Instagram  /  Lette...

In this episode, we wrap up our look at depictions of fascism and authoritarianism on film with Charlie Chaplin's The Great Dictator (1940). Chaplin had the nerve to go fully anti-fascist and anti-racist at a moment when much of Hollywood was still pretending Hitler was just a distant "European problem". Chaplin mercilessly skewers Riefenstahl-style fascist pageantry and spectacle while also refus...

This week, we descend into the dark fantasy fairytale of Guillermo del Toro's  Pan's Labyrinth  (2006). Amid the rich craftsmanship of the fantasy world that Ofelia imagines, the film lays bare the horrors of Francoist Spain—all captured through Del Toro's anti-fascist cinema. The calculating evil of Captain Vidal, a devotee of Falangism and a violent patriarch, stands among the most iconic of Del...

After spending a number of episodes in the past, today we're jumping to the 2010's. We're looking at two documentaries from Joshua Oppenheimer;  The Act of Killing (2012) and The Look of Silence (2014). These docs reveal two different aspects of the chilling aftermath of Indonesia's 1965-66 anticommunist massacres, one looking at the perpetrators and one looking at the legacy of the victims. We al...

After examining Robert Kramer's  Ice (1970) fictionalize America in our last episode, we shift to West Germany to explore another cinematic portrayal of resistance to fascism in Rainer Werner Fassbinder's The Third Generation (1979). Set against West Germany's postwar society, Fassbinder sharply exposes how insincere revolutionary acts can become hollow gestures, exploited to justify expanded stat...

On this episode we wanted to see a depiciton of people resisting fascim, so we're looking at an Robert Kramer's  Ice (1970). It's our first American film in this series and the resistance we're seeing comes from a cell of New York Urban guerillas. They are fighting a dystopian version of the Nixon administration and its illegal war of imperialism in Mexico.   Kramer's film is less a straightforwar...

On this episode, we're leaving the 1960's behind and jumping to South Korea in 1980. In Jang Hoon's A Taxi Driver (2017) we get a wild sampling of genres in a remarkably well balanced film. It's  an action film. A single father supporting his daughter story. It's dramatic and also quite goofy. It's based on a actual events, but it's also highly fictionalized. It documents political history while b...

On this episode, we're staying in the late sixties for one more film as we watch Jean-Pierre Melville's  Army of Shadows (1969). A haunting portrayal of the French Resistance during the early days of World War II that serves as an existential reflection on what it really takes to fight an occupying force. Melville's muted color palette and precise framing underscore the suffocating atmosphere of o...

On this episode, we're staying in the late sixties as we watch Luchino Visconti's  The Damned (1969). Following our exploration rising authoritarianism in  Costa-Gavras' Z (1969) and reactionary Brazilian politics in Glauber Rocha's  Entranced Earth (1967), we're heading right into the Nazi den that is the von Essenbeck family in late 1930's Germany. A scathing critique of the German industrial el...

On this episode, we're heading to Brazil and discussing Glauber Rocha's Entranced Earth (1967), a pivotal work of the Cinema Novo movement. Following our exploration of Costa-Gavras' Z (1969), we're delving into the turbulent world of Brazilian filmmaking in the wake of the 1964 military coup. Entranced Earth isn't just a film; it's a cinematic rebellion against political corruption and authoritar...

Given the results of the US elections, we thought it would be a good idea to look at a great work of art to help with context and see how filmmakers can play a role in confronting state repression. It's a film we should have discussed at some point over the last four years: Costa-Gavras's political thriller Z (1969) .  To state the obvious, this depiction of government conspiracies, assassination...

For the last three years we've observed the month long celebration know as Noirvember, and this year is no exception. In 2021 we recorded an episode called Film Noir & Capitalism . For 2022 we went over to Japan and did two episodes looking at Yakuza Noir via Tokyo Drifter (1966) and A Colt is My Passport (1967) . Last year we focused in on Neo-Noir with and episode on Killing them Softly (2012) a...

October has arrived and as we are wont to do here at The Politics of Cinema, we are diving into an approiate theme within the horror genre to celebrate. In the past we've looked at; Fascism in Green Room (2015) , Humans Hunting Humans , Art House Horror , and the career of George Romero . This year we are heading into the thick of the woods to explore Folk Horror.  We discuss a few classics of the...

It's our 100th episode and to celebrate we're doing something a little different. This is a syncable commentary of one of the films that inspired this podcast - Boots Riley's  Sorry to Bother You (2018).  Sync up this episode with the film to watch along and hang out with us while we geek out over this brilliant directorial debut and biting social satire.  Follow us at:  Patreon  /  Twitter  /  In...

American cinema of the 1970's is generally known as the golden age of the paranoid thirller. Specifically, the paranoid political thriller. The genearl idealism of the 1960's was met with increasing cynicism by the 1970's, but do these films actually go for the politics of the era or are they just dealing with vibes?  In this episode, we focus on two films of the era;  The Parallax View (1974) and...

When it comes to great political films, subtlety is vastly overrated. Why not go all in and express a point of view? Or better yet, throw in a bunch of competing viewpoints and see how they bounce off each other. Sounds like the recipe for conflict, insight, drama, action-packed set pieces, and maybe a few killer needle drops.  Alex Garland's Civil War (2024) teeters on the edge of greatness, and...

On this episode, we take a look at Park Chan-wook's breakthrough film Joint Security Area (2000). Upon release, this film was the highest grossing film at the South Korean box office. Now, in 2024, it ranks at number 65. This really illustrates just how popular cinema is in South Korea.  Along with this film, we discus the rise of South Korean cinema around the world since 2000. From Oldboy to The...

On this episode we dive into one of Isaac's favorite films of the 2020's, Michael Sarnoski's   Pig (2021). Sure, on the surface it's a simple story of a man who just wants his beloved pig back. But, as Robin and Amir journey through the Portland culinary scene to find said pig, the film explores what it means to live a life true to oneself, the importance of rejecting marketplace expectations, and...

As we celebrate 3 years of the show, we decided to take a look at one of our favorite eras of American film - the 1970's. We're specifically looking at the Vietnam Anti-War Movement as captured by a fictional film and a documentary; Milestones (1975) and F.T.A. (1972). On this episode we discuss Francine Parker's documenatry,  F.T.A. (1972). Once again, we're also joined by special guest Jim Mille...

As we celebrate 3 years of the show, we decided to take a look at one of our favorite eras of American film - the 1970's. We're specifically looking at the Vietnam Anti-War Movement as captured by a fictional film and a documentary; Milestones (1975) and F.T.A. (1972).  On this episode we discuss Robert Kramer's experimental opus, Milestones , and are joined by special guest Jim Miller. Jim was an...

Luis Buñuel was a master at creating lasting images that stay in the viewers brain long after the film is over. He had a career that spanned multiple decades and working in multiple countries, yet he consistantly took aim at political and social elites.  In his 1962 masterpiece,  The Exterminating Angel , the acclaimed filmmaker crafts an allegorical comedy that confronts the socio-political reali...

On this episode, we're looking at two cinematic exampoles of the Palestinian expereince. One documentary and one fictionalized portrayal. The documentary, Gaza Ghetto: Portrait of a Palestinian Family (1985), captures exactly what the title implies. We get the lived experiences from grandmother down to grandchildren as they recount their experiences ranging from the 1948 exile to the 1967 war to t...

The fallout 2008 financial crisis has been portrayed on film in a number of ways; from documentary's like Iniside Job (2010) and Capitalism: A Love Story (2009) to ficiton films "inspired" by the events like  The Big Short (2015) and Margin Call (2011).  Andrew Dominik's Killing Them Softly (2012) takes a different approach. It starts with George V. Higgins' 1974 crime novel, itself the third in a...

This Halloween season we take a look at a recent film we hope gets to cult status soon,  Green Room (2015). Anton Yelchin and his bandmates are forced to battle against Patrick Stewart and his group of Neo-Nazis.  We get into the pros and cons of non-political punk bands, why the Pacific Northwest is such a haven for white ethnonationalists and when it's okay to swap out character arcs for a pure...

One of the topics that first inspired us to start this podcast, Resource Frontiers. Back in 2016, when Hell or High Water was released, Isaac and I were still working at our beloved art house theatre and our discussion of the film kept coming back to its multi-layered resource frontier setting. Settler colonial zones and the effects on indigenous populations were regular topics of conversations an...