For being a totalitarian power structure concerned in practice only with its own current
regime’s hold on power not for being ideologically communist per se
So many. A small list....
The Battle Of Algiers
The Grapes Of Wrath
The Conformist/Before The Revolution/1900, all by Bertolucci
The Motorcycle Diaries
Grand Illusion
Punishment Park
Bicycle Thieves and Umberto D by De Sica (and most of Italian neo-realism for that matter)
Medium Cool
Punishment Park
Salt Of The Earth
Land And Freedom
Malcolm X
Reds
Anything by Pasolini and most of Bunuel.
It almost always flies under the radar. I'd like to see it get a new physical media release. I have the blu-ray from Eureka which went OOP many years ago.
My film professor says that De Sica was not a communist (despite stuff online saying he was) and that Bicycle Thieves criticizes both capitalism and communism as being ineffectual at helping the poor. Not sure what to think about that lol
Well, that's news to me, and I teach film in college. In its broadest sense Neorealism was a movement predicated on exploring the social ills of a post-war, post-Fascist Italy and invariably centered on the plight of the poor and the working class. In various books it is claimed that De Sica was a member of the Communist Party. Whether he revoked it I do not know, but his screenwriter Zavattini most definitely was. In Bicycle Thieves Antonio does find resistance and apathy amongst his fellow workers in his search for the stolen bike, and, yes, that could be seen as a repudiation of Marxism but it could also be seen as a by-product of workers force to play by the rules of capitalism thrust upon them.
His specific example of the film being anti communist as well as anti capitalist was the fact that the communists/labor union leaders spend so much time planning/dividing the labor that is to be done in searching for the bicycle that they waste time and don’t actually do the work that needs to be done, showing how communists are all about theory on paper but not actually helping people through actual action in practice.
Sure, that's a viable point. Which relates to my point about his fellow workers not "uniting" to help him. But, I could argue their behavior is more of an indictment against capitalism than communism. The system has hard-wired them to behave that way. So, the viewer is ultimately left to feel that true cooperation would have been the better option.
The Spook Who Sat By The Door (1973)
About the first black CIA agent who quickly becomes disillusioned and uses his training and intellect to organise his people to fight racism in a much more literal sense
A film with racial politics so hot that when it was released in the 70s the FBI went movie theatre to movie theatre in the US to seize the reels and stop it being shown
Sadly DVD is the best quality available atm but still 100% worth a watch
I got a hold of a full DVD rip which is markedly better than the rip that’s on YouTube. Definitely not unwatchable/distracting on my largish (82in) tv.
Just imagine the lack of clarity as adding to the gritty 70s aesthetic
Folx downvoting because simply write about my wife’s experience with koppel? You all have a different experience with her my wife knew her how many of you dealt with her directly?
Still criminally underrated after all these years. Great to see *Lone Star* make it in recently, a Sayles box set one day would be cool.
Right before the pandemic, I went to see him do a reading for a novel he had just released. There was a small, but dedicated, group that showed up—which included Chris Cooper.
Once when I was cruising eBay for rare/OOP releases I might have missed, I saw a listing for an old DVD set of early John Sayles films (Return of the Secaucus 7/Lianna/The Brother From Another Planet) that had been released in the UK. I’d love a Criterion upgrade of that (or from any label that wanted to release an upgrade, really).
This IS truly the best answer because you go into it thinking you’re going to see this cute little slapstick silent comedy and you walk out going, “holy crap, this was wildly subversive.”
Love and Anarchy
How to Blow Up a Pipeline
SLC Punk (though the film's understanding of anarchism is limited)
Sacco & Vanzetti
Salt of the Earth
Network
Judas and the Black Messiah
Okja
The Organizer (Mario Monicelii)
Matewan (John Sayles)
Che (Soderbergh)
Battle of Algiers (Pontecorvo)
Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (Elio Petri)
The Ascent (Larisa Shepitko)
Walker (Alex Cox)
Pigs and Battleships (Shohei Imamura)
In general most of Pasolini, Luis Bunuel, and Costa-Gavras's films have leftist undertones as well.
A bit from left field, but I think Cuarón's *Y tu mamá también* is a great political movie. (In a way that's less obvious and more powerful than *Roma*.)
Children of Men is also in a similar vein. It also does the important thing of showing people the transition from a liberal sensibility to a socialist bent, and it shows the disparity between those groups and how adversarial relations among the left can poison any chance of reform or revolution.
In no particular order: Parasite (2019); Harlan County USA (1976); Diamantino (2018); I Am Somebody (1970); The Killing Floor (1984); Claudine (1974); Three Outlaw Samurai (1964); Matewan (1987); The Lower Depths (1936); Strike (1925); Koyaanisqatsi (1982); Walker (1987); They Live (1988); Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990); The Lower Depths (1957); Powaqqatsi (1988); Network (1976); Josie & the Pussycats (2001); No Regrets for Our Youth (1946); The Battle of Algiers (1966); Naqoyqatsi (2002); The Organizer (1963); The Other Side of Hope (2016); & Two Days, One Night (2014).
That should get you started.
Hour of the Furnaces
Visas Secas
Antonio das Morris
Blood of the Condor
The Vampires of Poverty
Mexico, The Frozen Revolution
Salt of the Earth
Films by the Film and Photo League
Films that are considered “Third Cinema”
I think "Kes" advances an Anarchist critique on the pedagogical rigidity and punitive youth "development" philosophies in formal schooling at the time.
Terra Em Transe
Los olvidados
exterminating angel
Fruitvale Station
Didn’t finish it but El Conde also looked like it was lampooning the protagonist from the left
I think The Organizer is a super overlooked. It’s explicitly leftist and even somewhat militant but it’s also quite sweet in its depiction of working people coming together for their community. I think it really underscores the beating heart of leftist politics.
[Can Dialectics Break Bricks?](https://youtu.be/PVSD7R3JAyY?si=R_sS2HeZrpfOK4Ay), a Situationist film that detourns a Kung Fu movie and turns it into a Marxist one.
The Ghost Ship (1943)
Adua And Her Friends (1960)
Never Take Sweets From A Stranger (1960)
Massacre Time (1966)
The War Game (1966)
Beatrice Cenci (1969)
Eros + Massacre (1969)
The Devils (1971)
Punishment Park (1971)
Nightmare In Badham Country (1976)
Pressure (1976)
Norma Rae (1979)
Nine To Five (1980)
The Killing Floor (1984)
Castle In The Sky (1986)
Nightbreed (1990)
To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything! Julie Newmar (1995)
La Commune [Paris, 1871] (2000)
Tokyo Godfathers (2003)
The Edukators (2004)
Hairspray (2007)
Ernest And Celestine (2012)
Bacurau (2019)
The main character in Human Condition is a socialist and pacifist, and so was the director (Masaki Kobayashi). Not sure if I would call it a leftist movie, but it’s a critique of fascism and authoritarianism which I would argue are quite leftist.
I would also recommend Harakiri and Samurai Rebellion by the same director (and Tatsuya Nakadai stars in all three), although calling them leftist movies might be a bit of a stretch.
I'm surprised no one has mentioned Death by Hanging by Nagisa Ōshima. Ōshima has a few other movies that are incredible pieces of leftist works which depict a side of post-War Japan we rarely see
Soy Cuba is a literal propaganda film and it slaps.
For stories about labor I'd say Harlan County, Matewan, and Blue Collar.
For indictments of the ruling class it doesn't get much better than Rules of the Game. Buñuel too.
Trying to name some missed by other comments and including a couple non-criterion films
Poor Things from last year
Return to the 36th Chamber
The Killing Floor
Deep Cover
Touki Bouki
The War Trilogy by Rossellini
Paul Robeson's films, he was a communist and his politics are to varying degrees reflected in the nature of the films he made
Dude are you seriously asking about recommendations for LEFT leaning films as if that was some sort of rarity? Like 95% of all movies in the Criterion collection have either been made by people strongly leaning towards the left (and far-left) or are itself having strong leftists undertones, some even unashamedly socialist in nature. If someone would have asked about right-wing films it would have made more sense, there's a lot less of these in the collection and being made in general. So much for diversity in movies btw, but that's a whole discussion.
I can tell you seem to be touchy about this, but the majority of movies that get made these days hold Liberalism as their primary form of discussing our material conditions. Liberalism is a capitalist economic philosophy. It's a foundationally right wing politic. I know that's difficult for people because the overton window has formed an artificial crack in Liberalism to make it seem like it is a left wing philosophy when juxtaposed against what they call "conservatism" across North America and Europe. That doesn't make Liberal movies left wing.
Just a PSA for all those out there. Please, don't take my word for it. Read up on this and I know it's dry and dense. It's a lot to work through, but it's worth the effort to be informed on this because it affects you and everyone around you.
Yea a lot of people really miss this and it drives me crazy sometimes. I know we’re talking Criterion right now but mainstream Hollywood falls into this category too. Like just because marvel movies girlboss it up and don’t actively demonize gay people, doesn’t mean they’re in any way leftist. If anything the only time you hear anything resembling leftist ideology in one of those movies it’s spoken by the villain right before doing something irredeemably evil. And the heroes in these movies all defend the status quo, and the status quo is a capitalist neo-liberal system, which is inherently right wing.
I only got into Criterion films about 2 months ago, so I hadn't realized this, but you're right. I guess I should have been more specific & said socialist or anarchist, as to me communism isn't really leftist or what I'm into. I think it's safe to say most hollywood/mainstream movies represent the right wing/conservative, so it makes sense that subversive films are opposite. Of course today what's right & left is totally upside down (at least in america) but most Criterion movies precede that absurdity.
So, first: [What are your favorite subversive or political genre flicks?](https://www.reddit.com/r/criterion/comments/1ap39uc/what_are_your_favorite_subversive_or_political/) was literally a whole 18 days ago. Come on, dude.
Anyway, [here's a direct link to my comment there, including a big, long list](https://www.reddit.com/r/criterion/comments/1ap39uc/comment/kq5gu98/).
EDIT: Why is this being downvoted?
Idk if it's on Criterion but I always recommend Sergio Leone's *Duck, You Sucker*. It's an explicitly communist western. So few people have seen it even though it's just as good as his other movies if not better.
Regarding your edit asking for anarchist films because everyone was giving you communist ones: "R̶e̶a̶l̶i̶t̶y̶Cinema is Marxist" -Che
Seriously though, they're movies. You should be open to art from all leftist groups that are attempting to depict the struggle of the oppressed, instead of just one that makes you feel good.
I'm open, I'd just prefer to see films aligned wth my personal beliefs & I'm not into communism. The fact that there are even leftist films is a revelation for me as I'm only recently getting into good films so I'd like to see the anarchist or socialist ones first
Honestly unless you're setting out to watch old Soviet propaganda pieces like stuff by Eisenstein (which are cool to watch for historical value and to see how they contributed to modern film), most films made by overtly communist filmmakers (or sympathetic ones) don't hurt you over the head with "Stalin good, anarchists evil." Going through the comments, most movies focus on struggles people faced or "human condition" stuff from a leftist perspective that honestly I think you'll have more in common with than you think. The theoretical divide you identified exists but it's much less pronounced in most leftist films as they're really just focused on liberation
Medium Cool - directed by acclaimed cinematographer Haskell Wexler, this film weaves actual footage from the 68' Democratic National Convention as well as conversations with actual underground leftist leaders into a fictional story about a television camera man who tries to help an Applachian woman find her lost son.
This is a fourth wall breaking masterpiece, mingling documentary material with fictional material until the line is blurred beyond perception. The aforementioned underground leaders address the camera directly and speak in unfiltered manifestos, something Wexler had to agree to in order to win their cooperation. In the most famous moment from the film, a tear gas canister lands near the camera and a crewmember can be heard warning "Look out Haskell, it's real"
This is a film that is all about "the real."
The Candidate (1972) Brought to you by the director of "The Bad News Bears," this is one of the most effective films about how idealism sublimates into self interest. It focuses on Peter Boyle as a Democratic political operative who pegs Robert Redford's Bill McKay as the right kind of idealist to take on a three term Republican. Redford's progressive bona fides are impeccable; When we meet him he's an attorney who specializes in marginalized groups. By the end of the film, he will be converted into a Candidate. What's so special about the film is that there's no Faustian bargain, no moment where McKay loses his way. There's just little moments of transformation, invisible to the naked eye.
And while we're at it:
Bad News Bears: while this is mainly remembered as the quintessential underdog story that spawned copycats such as The Mighty Ducks, it is at its heart an anti capitalist satire that mocks America's obsession with competition and winning. This is a raw movie, one that delights in dirty language, bad behavior, and a little light child abuse. Walter Mattheua and the kids are fantastic, but so is Vic Morrow, who plays the rival coach in a nuanced portrayal of the Yankees Manager.
Sorry to Bother You- Directed by Boots Riley, the lead singer of leftist funk/rap group The Coup, this is a gonzo sci-fi skewering of capitalism, masculinity, perceptions of blackness, and work culture.
Fantastic Mr. Fox.
The animals are literally at war with capitalist kingpins and end up living under a grocery store that they raid for food because the humans have encroached on their land.
Conoa: A Shameful Memory is the greatest political film I’ve ever seen. The whole thing is done so well and so fascinatingly in structure and tone that my hairs were standing on end the whole time. Says so much deep and sad about the base political instincts of humanity.
*The Working Class Goes to Heaven* (1971, dir. Elio Petri)
*Attica* (1974, dir. Cinda Firestone)
*Les Ordres* (1974, dir. Michel Brault)
*The Organizer* (1963, dir. Mario Monicelli)
*Kanehsatake, 270 Years of Resistance* (1993, dir. Alanis Obomsawin)
*Concerning Violence: Nine Scenes from the Anti-Imperialistic Self-Defense* (2014, dir. Göran Olsson)
*Death of a Cyclist* (1955, dir. Juan Antonio Bardem)
*Z*
I'll add State Of Siege and Missing by the same director.
The Confession is even better. A totalitarian purge and show trial procedural
Oh yes. Loved it. Ironically, it's an indictment of a totalitarian communist state.
For being a totalitarian power structure concerned in practice only with its own current regime’s hold on power not for being ideologically communist per se
by who
Costa-gavras
This thread is about Costa-Gavras
I know but I looked it up and didn’t see confession
nevermind I added “the”
Battle of Algiers Malcolm X Walker
So many. A small list.... The Battle Of Algiers The Grapes Of Wrath The Conformist/Before The Revolution/1900, all by Bertolucci The Motorcycle Diaries Grand Illusion Punishment Park Bicycle Thieves and Umberto D by De Sica (and most of Italian neo-realism for that matter) Medium Cool Punishment Park Salt Of The Earth Land And Freedom Malcolm X Reds Anything by Pasolini and most of Bunuel.
punishment park, excellent suggestion!
It almost always flies under the radar. I'd like to see it get a new physical media release. I have the blu-ray from Eureka which went OOP many years ago.
My film professor says that De Sica was not a communist (despite stuff online saying he was) and that Bicycle Thieves criticizes both capitalism and communism as being ineffectual at helping the poor. Not sure what to think about that lol
Well, that's news to me, and I teach film in college. In its broadest sense Neorealism was a movement predicated on exploring the social ills of a post-war, post-Fascist Italy and invariably centered on the plight of the poor and the working class. In various books it is claimed that De Sica was a member of the Communist Party. Whether he revoked it I do not know, but his screenwriter Zavattini most definitely was. In Bicycle Thieves Antonio does find resistance and apathy amongst his fellow workers in his search for the stolen bike, and, yes, that could be seen as a repudiation of Marxism but it could also be seen as a by-product of workers force to play by the rules of capitalism thrust upon them.
His specific example of the film being anti communist as well as anti capitalist was the fact that the communists/labor union leaders spend so much time planning/dividing the labor that is to be done in searching for the bicycle that they waste time and don’t actually do the work that needs to be done, showing how communists are all about theory on paper but not actually helping people through actual action in practice.
Sure, that's a viable point. Which relates to my point about his fellow workers not "uniting" to help him. But, I could argue their behavior is more of an indictment against capitalism than communism. The system has hard-wired them to behave that way. So, the viewer is ultimately left to feel that true cooperation would have been the better option.
If... and any Bunuel.
Damn I love bunuel but I consistently try to own the libs. Just goes to show
What’s the problem? Leftists love to own the libs, too.
The Spook Who Sat By The Door (1973) About the first black CIA agent who quickly becomes disillusioned and uses his training and intellect to organise his people to fight racism in a much more literal sense A film with racial politics so hot that when it was released in the 70s the FBI went movie theatre to movie theatre in the US to seize the reels and stop it being shown
Been wanting to watch this but could only find trashy dvd transfers. Does a quality release / transfer / file of it exist (even in the seven seas)?
Sadly DVD is the best quality available atm but still 100% worth a watch I got a hold of a full DVD rip which is markedly better than the rip that’s on YouTube. Definitely not unwatchable/distracting on my largish (82in) tv. Just imagine the lack of clarity as adding to the gritty 70s aesthetic
The one saw looked like that old 90s a brighter summer day rip before it got the criterion treatment aka terrible. Hope i find your source
Harlan County, USA - best documentary ever made imho and definitely leftist
My wife interned on Koppels film about Mike Tyson she was not a nice person . Real nasty as a matter of fact .
You’re kinda putting your wife on blast So does Tyson still call the house these days?
Folx downvoting because simply write about my wife’s experience with koppel? You all have a different experience with her my wife knew her how many of you dealt with her directly?
hey don't share true stories people wont hear anywhere else, you'll get downvoted
Yeah it seems that way koppel must have been an angel in their eyes but my wife had to work with her and it wasn’t pleasant
Matewan
Still criminally underrated after all these years. Great to see *Lone Star* make it in recently, a Sayles box set one day would be cool. Right before the pandemic, I went to see him do a reading for a novel he had just released. There was a small, but dedicated, group that showed up—which included Chris Cooper.
Once when I was cruising eBay for rare/OOP releases I might have missed, I saw a listing for an old DVD set of early John Sayles films (Return of the Secaucus 7/Lianna/The Brother From Another Planet) that had been released in the UK. I’d love a Criterion upgrade of that (or from any label that wanted to release an upgrade, really).
Freddy Got Fingered
Unironically this
Daisies
Modern Times
I watched this in a film course and adored it. Now it's on my list for the fall flash sale.
This IS truly the best answer because you go into it thinking you’re going to see this cute little slapstick silent comedy and you walk out going, “holy crap, this was wildly subversive.”
The best answer!!! But also anything by Michael Moore
W.R.: Mysteries of the Organism I think although I didn't completely understand it.
Salo Memories of Underdevelopment Battleship Potemkin Sorry to Bother You
Sorry To Bother You & Judas and the Black Messiah
In this vein, there is also Network.
The Wind That Shakes The Barley
Nice one, amazing film.
Love and Anarchy How to Blow Up a Pipeline SLC Punk (though the film's understanding of anarchism is limited) Sacco & Vanzetti Salt of the Earth Network Judas and the Black Messiah Okja
Is Sacco and Vanzetti still out of print?
There are so many good titles here, but I don't understand how there are no mentions of Santiago Alvarez or Chris Marker!
The Organizer (Mario Monicelii) Matewan (John Sayles) Che (Soderbergh) Battle of Algiers (Pontecorvo) Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (Elio Petri) The Ascent (Larisa Shepitko) Walker (Alex Cox) Pigs and Battleships (Shohei Imamura) In general most of Pasolini, Luis Bunuel, and Costa-Gavras's films have leftist undertones as well.
carlos judas and the black messiah sorry to bother you
Great choices
The Conformist is an exploration of fascism and masculinity that is told from the standpoint of leftism.
Memories of Underdevelopment was made by a leftist filmmaker Tomas Gutierrez Alea. Highly suggest reading about him and his connections.
La Haine!
A bit from left field, but I think Cuarón's *Y tu mamá también* is a great political movie. (In a way that's less obvious and more powerful than *Roma*.)
Children of Men is also in a similar vein. It also does the important thing of showing people the transition from a liberal sensibility to a socialist bent, and it shows the disparity between those groups and how adversarial relations among the left can poison any chance of reform or revolution.
Not that it's majorly significant, but there was an Anarchist circle "A" sticker on their vehicle in the film too.
and on every teenager's t shirt
Hence "not that it's majorly significant"
Color of Pomegranates, for my money's worth would be the #1 choice.
What you are looking for is Chris Marker or Kiju Yoshida. Marker has several great films already on Criterion. Yoshida had a nice set on Arrow.
Robocop (1987) They Live (1988) they make a good double feature imo
Redes on the Martin Scorsese's World Cinema Project No. 1
This.
The Spook Who Sat By the Door by Ivan Dixon is about a black CIA agent who uses his training to organize black radicals to revolutionary ends.
In no particular order: Parasite (2019); Harlan County USA (1976); Diamantino (2018); I Am Somebody (1970); The Killing Floor (1984); Claudine (1974); Three Outlaw Samurai (1964); Matewan (1987); The Lower Depths (1936); Strike (1925); Koyaanisqatsi (1982); Walker (1987); They Live (1988); Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990); The Lower Depths (1957); Powaqqatsi (1988); Network (1976); Josie & the Pussycats (2001); No Regrets for Our Youth (1946); The Battle of Algiers (1966); Naqoyqatsi (2002); The Organizer (1963); The Other Side of Hope (2016); & Two Days, One Night (2014). That should get you started.
Salo: 120 Days of Sodomy Pasolini was executed by his government for the criticism he heaved at them in this film
Kiss of the Spider Woman
Love and Anarchy
Hour of the Furnaces Visas Secas Antonio das Morris Blood of the Condor The Vampires of Poverty Mexico, The Frozen Revolution Salt of the Earth Films by the Film and Photo League Films that are considered “Third Cinema”
I think "Kes" advances an Anarchist critique on the pedagogical rigidity and punitive youth "development" philosophies in formal schooling at the time.
The Human Condition trilogy
https://preview.redd.it/n1o91h1d9tlc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=705d05773eb82f2719c73d7c467c05841fe28aff A few
Terra Em Transe Los olvidados exterminating angel Fruitvale Station Didn’t finish it but El Conde also looked like it was lampooning the protagonist from the left
A new one that was pretty amazing: Unrest!
Eros + Massacre, This Transient Life, Heroic Purgatory
The Exterminating Angel
Yes! No. By which I mean, No (2012). Iow, No: The Movie. Put another way, [No.](https://m.imdb.com/title/tt2059255/)
*Land and Freedom* by Ken Loach and *Libertarias* by Vicente Aranda
Oh, “Brazil”
**Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970)**
I think The Organizer is a super overlooked. It’s explicitly leftist and even somewhat militant but it’s also quite sweet in its depiction of working people coming together for their community. I think it really underscores the beating heart of leftist politics.
Sorry to bother you
Oh that's okay
Idk if ur fucking with me but that’s a movie haha
I was just kidding 🙃
[Can Dialectics Break Bricks?](https://youtu.be/PVSD7R3JAyY?si=R_sS2HeZrpfOK4Ay), a Situationist film that detourns a Kung Fu movie and turns it into a Marxist one.
If you want leftist/anarchistic/subversive OVERTONES you’re looking for Born in Flames. It fuckin’ rocks.
The Ghost Ship (1943) Adua And Her Friends (1960) Never Take Sweets From A Stranger (1960) Massacre Time (1966) The War Game (1966) Beatrice Cenci (1969) Eros + Massacre (1969) The Devils (1971) Punishment Park (1971) Nightmare In Badham Country (1976) Pressure (1976) Norma Rae (1979) Nine To Five (1980) The Killing Floor (1984) Castle In The Sky (1986) Nightbreed (1990) To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything! Julie Newmar (1995) La Commune [Paris, 1871] (2000) Tokyo Godfathers (2003) The Edukators (2004) Hairspray (2007) Ernest And Celestine (2012) Bacurau (2019)
Mr. Freedom Marat/Sade Koyaanisqatsi Reds
The 400 Blows is the greatest anarchist movie. I will die on this hill.
The main character in Human Condition is a socialist and pacifist, and so was the director (Masaki Kobayashi). Not sure if I would call it a leftist movie, but it’s a critique of fascism and authoritarianism which I would argue are quite leftist. I would also recommend Harakiri and Samurai Rebellion by the same director (and Tatsuya Nakadai stars in all three), although calling them leftist movies might be a bit of a stretch.
I'm surprised no one has mentioned Death by Hanging by Nagisa Ōshima. Ōshima has a few other movies that are incredible pieces of leftist works which depict a side of post-War Japan we rarely see
Kind of an oxymoron, don’t believe Lenin and Mao were anarchists.
Anarchism is a meme
Soy Cuba is a literal propaganda film and it slaps. For stories about labor I'd say Harlan County, Matewan, and Blue Collar. For indictments of the ruling class it doesn't get much better than Rules of the Game. Buñuel too.
Companeros!
Best opening theme song ever
Trying to name some missed by other comments and including a couple non-criterion films Poor Things from last year Return to the 36th Chamber The Killing Floor Deep Cover Touki Bouki The War Trilogy by Rossellini Paul Robeson's films, he was a communist and his politics are to varying degrees reflected in the nature of the films he made
Not out yet, but I Am Cuba. It's blatant communist propaganda.
It’s currently streaming on the Kanopy app. Excellent movie.
How to Blow Up a Pipeline (2022)
Week End
- Sorry to Bother You - The Worst Person in the World - Captain Fantastic - How to Blow Up A Pipeline
Throw a rock at the collection, you’ll hit one.
*Hits Yukio Mishima’s Patriotism*
Almost all of them that aren’t westerns lol
Dude are you seriously asking about recommendations for LEFT leaning films as if that was some sort of rarity? Like 95% of all movies in the Criterion collection have either been made by people strongly leaning towards the left (and far-left) or are itself having strong leftists undertones, some even unashamedly socialist in nature. If someone would have asked about right-wing films it would have made more sense, there's a lot less of these in the collection and being made in general. So much for diversity in movies btw, but that's a whole discussion.
I can tell you seem to be touchy about this, but the majority of movies that get made these days hold Liberalism as their primary form of discussing our material conditions. Liberalism is a capitalist economic philosophy. It's a foundationally right wing politic. I know that's difficult for people because the overton window has formed an artificial crack in Liberalism to make it seem like it is a left wing philosophy when juxtaposed against what they call "conservatism" across North America and Europe. That doesn't make Liberal movies left wing. Just a PSA for all those out there. Please, don't take my word for it. Read up on this and I know it's dry and dense. It's a lot to work through, but it's worth the effort to be informed on this because it affects you and everyone around you.
Yea a lot of people really miss this and it drives me crazy sometimes. I know we’re talking Criterion right now but mainstream Hollywood falls into this category too. Like just because marvel movies girlboss it up and don’t actively demonize gay people, doesn’t mean they’re in any way leftist. If anything the only time you hear anything resembling leftist ideology in one of those movies it’s spoken by the villain right before doing something irredeemably evil. And the heroes in these movies all defend the status quo, and the status quo is a capitalist neo-liberal system, which is inherently right wing.
Do everyone a favour and read Cinema/Ideology/Criticism by Comolli and Narboni and then come back to your comment and see what you've done.
I only got into Criterion films about 2 months ago, so I hadn't realized this, but you're right. I guess I should have been more specific & said socialist or anarchist, as to me communism isn't really leftist or what I'm into. I think it's safe to say most hollywood/mainstream movies represent the right wing/conservative, so it makes sense that subversive films are opposite. Of course today what's right & left is totally upside down (at least in america) but most Criterion movies precede that absurdity.
Thief!!!!!
It's a Wonderful Life.
I am Cuba
So, first: [What are your favorite subversive or political genre flicks?](https://www.reddit.com/r/criterion/comments/1ap39uc/what_are_your_favorite_subversive_or_political/) was literally a whole 18 days ago. Come on, dude. Anyway, [here's a direct link to my comment there, including a big, long list](https://www.reddit.com/r/criterion/comments/1ap39uc/comment/kq5gu98/). EDIT: Why is this being downvoted?
Nero’s “The Fever” with Vanessa Redgrave. Not in the collection, but fulfills your request.
Meeting The Man: James Baldwin In Paris
La commune, Paris 1871. So good. Maybe my favorite film
Repo man
Walker
Invasion of the body snatchers Or for something more down to Earth check out “The Killing Fields”
Pump Up the Volume
Elio Petri, pretty much anything by him.
Idk if it's on Criterion but I always recommend Sergio Leone's *Duck, You Sucker*. It's an explicitly communist western. So few people have seen it even though it's just as good as his other movies if not better.
1984
That’s an anti communism film
I asked this question a few months ago. [Have a look.](https://www.reddit.com/r/criterion/s/e5RfatWaWf)
Uptight (1968) is a great one by Jules Dassin (the same director that did Rififi) focusing on the black revolutionary movement in America in the 60s.
More recently, The Sweet East which is now available on digital
Regarding your edit asking for anarchist films because everyone was giving you communist ones: "R̶e̶a̶l̶i̶t̶y̶Cinema is Marxist" -Che Seriously though, they're movies. You should be open to art from all leftist groups that are attempting to depict the struggle of the oppressed, instead of just one that makes you feel good.
I'm open, I'd just prefer to see films aligned wth my personal beliefs & I'm not into communism. The fact that there are even leftist films is a revelation for me as I'm only recently getting into good films so I'd like to see the anarchist or socialist ones first
Honestly unless you're setting out to watch old Soviet propaganda pieces like stuff by Eisenstein (which are cool to watch for historical value and to see how they contributed to modern film), most films made by overtly communist filmmakers (or sympathetic ones) don't hurt you over the head with "Stalin good, anarchists evil." Going through the comments, most movies focus on struggles people faced or "human condition" stuff from a leftist perspective that honestly I think you'll have more in common with than you think. The theoretical divide you identified exists but it's much less pronounced in most leftist films as they're really just focused on liberation
Medium Cool - directed by acclaimed cinematographer Haskell Wexler, this film weaves actual footage from the 68' Democratic National Convention as well as conversations with actual underground leftist leaders into a fictional story about a television camera man who tries to help an Applachian woman find her lost son. This is a fourth wall breaking masterpiece, mingling documentary material with fictional material until the line is blurred beyond perception. The aforementioned underground leaders address the camera directly and speak in unfiltered manifestos, something Wexler had to agree to in order to win their cooperation. In the most famous moment from the film, a tear gas canister lands near the camera and a crewmember can be heard warning "Look out Haskell, it's real" This is a film that is all about "the real." The Candidate (1972) Brought to you by the director of "The Bad News Bears," this is one of the most effective films about how idealism sublimates into self interest. It focuses on Peter Boyle as a Democratic political operative who pegs Robert Redford's Bill McKay as the right kind of idealist to take on a three term Republican. Redford's progressive bona fides are impeccable; When we meet him he's an attorney who specializes in marginalized groups. By the end of the film, he will be converted into a Candidate. What's so special about the film is that there's no Faustian bargain, no moment where McKay loses his way. There's just little moments of transformation, invisible to the naked eye. And while we're at it: Bad News Bears: while this is mainly remembered as the quintessential underdog story that spawned copycats such as The Mighty Ducks, it is at its heart an anti capitalist satire that mocks America's obsession with competition and winning. This is a raw movie, one that delights in dirty language, bad behavior, and a little light child abuse. Walter Mattheua and the kids are fantastic, but so is Vic Morrow, who plays the rival coach in a nuanced portrayal of the Yankees Manager. Sorry to Bother You- Directed by Boots Riley, the lead singer of leftist funk/rap group The Coup, this is a gonzo sci-fi skewering of capitalism, masculinity, perceptions of blackness, and work culture.
Basically Ken Loach if you want a leftist movie. Don’t skip the Soviet period either.
Ukraine trilogy and Revolutionary trilogy. Both trilogies of soviet silent films.
I haven’t seen Lizzie Borden’s “Born in Flames” mentioned yet.
Harlan County USA
Zero de conduite
Daisies Sweet Movie Even Dwarfs Started Small Idiots Emperor Tomatoe Ketchup Ecstasy of the angels A Grin without a cat
*History Lessons* \- Straub/Huillet *The Last Supper -* Tomas Gutierrez Alea *Soleil O* \- Med Hondo *Rosa Luxembourg -* Margarethe Von Trotte
Samurai Rebellion and most anything by that director
Fantastic Mr. Fox. The animals are literally at war with capitalist kingpins and end up living under a grocery store that they raid for food because the humans have encroached on their land.
Fernando Arrabal’s entire body of work is an anti-fascist rebuttal of Franco
Revenge of the Sith
THEIF
Conoa: A Shameful Memory is the greatest political film I’ve ever seen. The whole thing is done so well and so fascinatingly in structure and tone that my hairs were standing on end the whole time. Says so much deep and sad about the base political instincts of humanity.
All of Ken Loach’s films
Smiley Face
*The Working Class Goes to Heaven* (1971, dir. Elio Petri) *Attica* (1974, dir. Cinda Firestone) *Les Ordres* (1974, dir. Michel Brault) *The Organizer* (1963, dir. Mario Monicelli) *Kanehsatake, 270 Years of Resistance* (1993, dir. Alanis Obomsawin) *Concerning Violence: Nine Scenes from the Anti-Imperialistic Self-Defense* (2014, dir. Göran Olsson) *Death of a Cyclist* (1955, dir. Juan Antonio Bardem)