Political Docos
Due to the great influx of socio-political documentaries over the last couple of years, Alice thought it was time they had a section of their own. Included here are political bios ('Comandante', 'Mahatma Gandhi: Pilgrim of Peace'); films dealing with the mechanics of politics ('Rats in the Ranks', 'The War Room'); and those dedicated to political issues as diverse as homelessness ('It Was A Wonderful Life'), the death penalty ('Mr Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A Leuchter Jr'), corporate depletion of natural resources ('End of Suburbia'); civil rights ('4 Little Girls') and corruption ('Fahrenheit 911). Undoubtedly two stars of the genre are two very different men, extroverted funnyman, Michael Moore ('Roger and Me') and soft-spoken professor, Noam Chomsky ('Manufacturing Consent'), pictured.
The Unwinking Gaze: The Inside Story of the Dalai Lama's Struggle for Tibet (2008)
7.3/10
Director: Joshua Dugdale
Starring: H H Dalai Lama
Filmed over 18 months, 'The Unwinking Gaze' follows the Dalai Lama as he tries to engage the Chinese government over the future of Tibet. The unpreced... Read more
The War on Democracy (2006)
8.3/10
Director: Chris Martin
Starring: John Pilger
Social activist John Pilger helms this muck-raking documentary - an unflinching dissection (and evisceration) of U.S. policies in Latin America during... Read more
The Weather Underground (2002)
7.6/10
Director: Sam Green, Bill Siegel
Thirty years ago, a group of young American radicals called The Weathermen announced their intention to overthrow the U.S. government. Fueled by outra... Read more
The World According to Bush (2004)
7.9/10
Director: William Karel
A.k.a. "Le Monde Selon Bush". On 20 January 2001, amid high controversy and with no clear majority, eight years after his father, George W. Bush moved... Read more
The World Without The US (2009)
Director: Mitch Anderson, Jason J Tomaric
What would happen should the USA withdraw its military from around the world? Now, perhaps more than any other time in history, the position of the Un... Read more
The Yes Men (2003)
6.9/10
Director: Chris Smith, Dan Ollman, Sarah Price
Starring: Andreas Bichlbauer, Mike Bonanno, Sal Salamone, Michael Moore
A comedic documentary following Andy and Mike, prankster activists who set up a website mimicking the World Trade Organisation. Finding themselves inv... Read more
This Divided State (2004)
7.5/10
Director: Steven Greenstreet
Starring: Michael Moore, Sean Hannity, Kay Anderson
The conservative right battles the liberal left when filmmaker Michael Moore's scheduled talk at Utah Valley State College ignites a firestorm of cont... Read more
This is Not a Film (2011)
7.5/10
Director: Jafar Panahi, Mojtaba Mirtahmasb
Starring: Jafar Panahi
This clandestine documentary, shot partially on an iPhone and smuggled into France in a cake for a last-minute submission to Cannes, depicts the day-t... Read more
This Is What Democracy Looks Like (2000)
7.8/10
Starring: Michael Franti, Noam Chomsky, Susan Sarandon
This film, shot by 100 amateur camera operators, tells the story of the enormous street protests in Seattle, Washington in November 1999, against the... Read more
Tibet: Cry of the Snow Lion (2003)
7.6/10
Director: Tom Peosay
Starring: Narrated by, Martin Sheen, H H Dalai Lama, Robert Thurman, etc ...
Ten years in the making, this award-winning documentary exposes the real cost of the 1950 Chinese invasion of Tibet. Powerfully chronicled through de... Read more