Movie recommendations for current political scene.

[jayctravis]

I recently rewatched BRAZIL which was probably made in the environment of IRA terrorist bombings, and it has special resonance for today's political climate.

DONNIE DARKO (The Director's Cut). I loved this movie when it came out and they have just recently released a longer reedited version which explains what's going on better and has some surprising additions, including political overtones (set during Bush/Dukakis race) and probably the best explanation of agnosticism I've heard. The movie is epic, involving time-travel, parallel universes, the "drug them to keep them happy" medical industry, and smurfs.

Also a trilogy: CUBE, HYPERCUBE, and CUBE ZERO. Great independent films that came out of Canada. These are survival horror about people who seem to be prisoners but don't remember why inside a maze made of nearly identical cubes holding traps that could kill them at any moment. The second movie is optional unless you're a math geek into the concept of tesseracts, but CUBE ZERO pays off the confusion of the first movie and muses on the "I just follow orders" conflict.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

1. The Seige

Also Dave to give us a little optimism. Maybe Black Hawk Down and Hotel Rwanda? :shrug:
Duckie

[blogbear]

6. The Incredible Mr. Limpid..(sp?) ?

Don't know who shrub thinks he is or where he's taking us..but I wish he were a fish (eaten by a shark)..

[flygal]

52. Was that the guy from World's 2004?

It was in Germany? I remember seeing a skating competition when some guy got out looking like that.

[havocmom]

2. I, Robot and Manchrian Candidate

First hits on the threat of personhood for the corporation (robots). Second hits corporate owning of president.

[Midnight Rambler]

3. Dr. Strangelove

Seems to be about where we're headed.

[ComerPerro]

21. And the "remake", Canadian Bacon

[bryant69]

4. Hmmmm

Duck Soup - by the Marx Brothers - my favorite film by them, and perfect for right now. Banned in Mussolini's Italy.

Wag the Dog, of course.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[malmapus]

5. Wag the Dog even

Was just watching that again and it so reeks of what we are in now, with the whole "War on Terror" and state that this country is in.

[Jade Fox]

7. I finally saw "Saved!" last weekend....

I thought it was a riot! Some dead-on stuff about how un-Christian
these right wing Christians actually are.

[stanwyck]

8. Just watched "Failsafe"

and was amazed by Walther Matthau's character's dead-on foretelling of neocon philosophy.
"The Pelican Brief" has some interesting political overtones (as do other movies of Grisholm's books). Especially in light of "activist judge" accusations by the right.
And, of course, "The Handmaid's Tale"...scary considering the American Talibangelicals and their influence with the Bush administration.

[lectrobyte]

9. They Live

I'm all out of bubblegum.

[The Traveler]

53. "I've come to kick ass and chew bubblegum ...

... and I;m all out of bubblegum."

That flick is a classic.

[Jade Fox]

10. "Seven Days In May"....

about an attempted military coup in the United States.

Scary and brilliant.

[VOX]

18. And the timing is now perfect to watch it, with the Preakness coming up...

The Preakness will be two weeks after the Kentucky Derby this Saturday. The race figured prominently in the plot.

Perfect time of year to watch this classic! :thumbsup:

[lectrobyte]

11. Three Days of the Condor

Oil fields. Oil. That's it, isn't it? This whole damn thing was about oil! Wasn't it? Wasn't it?

It's simple economics. Today it's oil, right? In ten or fifteen years, food. Plutonium. Maybe even sooner. Now, what do you think the people are gonna want us to do then?

[Touchdown]

12. Starship Troopers

"Naked force has solved more conflicts than any other way in history."

"A murderer was caught this morning and sentenced today. Execution tonight, all net, all channels."

"I find the thought of a bug with brains offensive!"

"Let me tell you something! I'm from Buenos Aires, and I say kill 'em all!"

"You don't approve. Well too bad! We're in this for the species, boys and girls. It's about simple numbers...they have more!"

Fascism in the future. What could be better? Would you like to know more?

[jayctravis]

13. Yes, I loved Starship Troopers.

Wasn't there also a thing about the only people who could vote were in the military?

The final montage at the end was quite disturbing. I think some people see this as a brainless action flick and write it off, but the whole thing is dark satire. Set in a foreign desert planet even.

I love the scene where the "empath" comes up to the brain bug at the end and reads it's thoughts. "It's scared!"

[AllegroRondo]

20. They brushed over the military voting thing in the movie

it was much better in the book.

All high school students are required to take a class on government to graduate. The class must be taught by a citizen (someone who has served in the military) and there are no grades.

[Ravenseye]

34. Honestly I always thought that was a good idea

I liked the concept from the book that you had to take a class specifically about what it means to be a citizen. What it means to be part of the community, a part of your country, your planet. I liked that if you didn't want to be a citizen, you were a civilian and nobody held it against you. You just didn't vote or run for political office. You could go to Harvard and get your education and run a business or whatever. To be a citizen you had to serve your country/world for no less than 3 years or whatever. That service didn't have to be front line military work (but as they show in the movie Rico the main character doesn't test too well). That work to be a citizen could be lots of different things, but you're doing it for no pay essentially. Just room and board, and you're contributing to your nation/planet. After your term is done, they can release you and off you go to the private sector..as a citizen. If they still need you, you're still in.

I liked that. I don't think it's all that bad an idea.

[Touchdown]

37. Except, there is no individuality in that society.

Things are clean, people seem happy (don't they all on state run TV?) there's little strife, money is made, people are well to do, but humanity, the things that make life worth living, are distinctly missing from both book and movie...I would say intentionally at least on Verhoeven's part. Heinlein made no apologies for what he thought.

whether being a "civilian" or vassal by choice is concerned, we all should be aware that when others with anopther agenda gain control of the government, things change. At this point in time, in Buenos Aires, the world government holds nothing against those who cannot vote or participate. What happens 10 years after the book's end when *Bush's great, great grandson is appointed Sky Marshall? Something to think about.

[Ravenseye]

42. I don't know if I'd say that

There seems to be plenty of individuality. Rico's background is definately different from that of Carmen in the movie. The book didn't really pose too many questiosn or show earth that much. it was a 'space adventure' that had some of heinlein's occasionally wacky thoughts interspersed. The movie did it's own thing based on it.

They had sports and athletic competition, they had theater, they had art, music, dancing...I'm not sure what you mean by the things that make life worth living being missing. What were they missing?

As far as being a 'civilian' is concerned. Hey. It's a choice. If you're not willing to risk your life for your country and/or give yourself to create a better world (remember...not all are in the infantry...sciences, and other non-violent areas were included)...if you're not willing to at least learn about what's going on then why should you get an ignorant say in who runs the governemnt that you base on who you'd rather have a beer with. Remmeber it's not just 'service' but the classes prior to that. You had to pass the citizenship class to even apply.

As far as Bush's great great grandson being appointed Sky Marshal...Well if he's qualified then fine. I don't hold multi-generational grudges. But if your point is that he didn't earn it I'd say you need to read the book again. Once you signed up it was based on what you did. No national guard outs. If you're military you fight. If you're the new Sky Marshall you can pretty much feel confident that they earned the right to be there just by surviving that long. Whether they're a good Sky Marshall....well that's different, and if they suck they'll be replaced.

Remember the Sky Marshall isn't the leader of the government, just the military. The government is still elected, just to run for office or vote you had to serve. You still can't be military and government at same time.

[AllegroRondo]

44. I also liked the classroom scene (from the book)

where the teacher asks them WHY they only allow citizens to vote or run for office.

The students say the standard things, about how these people have demonstrated that they will put the good of society above their personal well being, etc.

The teacher points out a more obvious answer - because IT WORKS.

[Touchdown]

48. You missed my point.

Those who have no power or voice, whether earned or not are ALWAYS at the mercy of those that are in power. And public service is no indication that anyone with greed, or other nefarious reasons could be placed, by election, fiat or whatever to do harm. Multi-generational harbingers aside, what happens when some future transportation resource baron, born with a silver spoon in his mouth, recived bailouts for all his failures, AFTER his service is over and used to blow up frogs with fireworks as a kid, then steals an election from the Vice-Sky Marshall, only to invade a bug planet based on lies (which is what really DID happened in the film), decides that civilians don't deserve to own businesses, have houses, or ultimately...live?

The government IS the military in Heinlein's world, or didn't you getthat part in the polemic chapter half way into the book? Democracy failed, and the generals took control and restored order.

Criticizing the government was never an option in either book or movie, that's what I mean by individuality. As far as theater, cinema or art, etc. I would have to guess that a sci-fi Guernica would not be given it's own exhibit, a space marine Fight Club would no be filmed, nor would an anti-bug war Broadway play about war protesters singing "let the sunshine in" and prancing around with long hair would be endorsed.

Heinlein's kinder, gentler caste system is just that, a caste system.

[Ravenseye]

50. You missed my point also.

I dont' want to live in Heinlein's world....I want to live in a world where to participate in governing you have to particpate.

Maybe the people in Heinlein's world without a voice are at the mercy of those that are in power. The thing is in that world, it's their choice.

There are billions of people in our world without a voice that are at the mercy of those that are in power. They have no choice.

How is that better?

As far as whether they dont' allow freedom of speech in Heinlein's Starship Troopers world we don't really know that. The generals restored order because democracy failed. It didn't say they limited freedom of expression. Why do you say that criticizing the goverhment wasn't an option in either the book or movie? In the movie at least Rico's father critizied becoming a citizen.

As far as voting, that's a mixture from the movie and the book which are different. In the movie, I think..I"m definatley confused now...they could vote, cause the one wanted to run for office.

The generals had a coup de tat....they didn't remain the government, they reformed it.

[Touchdown]

55. The constant canard from Heinlein apologists

...is that there were other forms of service, not just military. Whenever I get into a debate about this book, people never fail to bring this up. This is mentioned 3 times in the book, almost as an afterthought, but it's just a diversion to placate critics of the society in which he utopianizes without a full examination of what ultimately comes from such a caste system, whether voluntary or not.

This book was not about Johnny Rico; Forest Ranger, or Johnny Rico; Firefighter, or Dizzy Florez; Paper pushing tax adjuster. This was about the military, and the glory, honor and ultimate rewards for sacrificing. Certainly noble causes in themselves, but when military service is elevated to a level of divine worship, as was exuded throughout his 240 pages, it becomes a polemic about warrior worship, not about what other "services" people can choose to go into, which Heinlein had no obvious interst in exploring, since ST had no sequel. He merely placed those in there, so that his hero worship could be softened. I got exactly what he wanted to say.

In a perfect world, everybody would be involved. People would participate in civic duties, protect the commons, vote, and keep informed on current events, but as human nature shows, comfort breeds apathy, and ego boosting delivers a sense of entitlement. Once they exit their "service", these people are part of an elite, and the contemptuous disdain for those who choose not to volunteer seeps out of every page. My question has always been, when does one with such an entitlement delusion decide that those who choose not to be citizens deserve less that they have now? Heinlein never answers that, and neither do his fans.

The movie delved little into the voting requirements, but the shower scene explored some of the reasons for citizenship, such as journalism, politics, career, having babies (which is easier for citizens), etc. The book made it clear that voting is not rewarded until service is complete. The movie lifted many of Heinleins polemics, as well as much of his dialog right out of the pages. It is faithful in showing EXACTLY what kind of society he envisions...warts and all. Purists bash the movie because they think Verhoeven made fun of Heinlein's incomlplete utopia, and they're right. Heinlein's world is laughable on it's face, as it shows when it's taken at face value and put on film.

[Ravenseye]

56. It's a Space Adventure

For crying out loud, it's a pulp space adventure book. Look at the other stuff that was being read or watched at the time it came out. War stories, Western adventures, guns, etc. Taking any of Heinlein's books too seriously, and out of their context as mostly young male adventure reading, is a problem. In one he promotes a quasi-fascist state, in another naked free love and anarchy.

To look at any work and negate all ideas from it because you don't like how the author puts it together is extremely close minded, in my opinion and limiting. I'm extracting certain ideas and saying they're worthy of discussion. If you don't want to do that, fine, but don't keep turning the discussion back to the overt militaristic themes of the book because that's not what I'm focusing on.

I'm looking at simply the aspect of a voting citizen/non-voting citizen dynamic.

To answer the one question that you posed in this area. "When does one with such an entitlement delusion decide that those who choose not to be citizens deserve less that they have now?"

I don't know. That's the problem with all systems though. How do we design a system to be non-exploitable. In every system someone will try and corrupt it, so the question is how does this system prevent that. It could be done in a few ways, but any government can be changed. Any law can be overridden, any ammendment, can be ammended.

So the answer is...I don't know. Nobody knows. Perhaps no system CAN be perfect. Every system of government, and every actual government will eventually become corrupt.

A little revolution isn't a bad thing.

Maybe government is cyclical. Bring in a fair form. Over time it corrupts to the point where someone stands up and turns it over to make a new fair form....over time it corrupts...and so on....

I don't claim that the system of government in Heinlein's world is wonderfull. I just think it's worth talking about. In fact I like Arthur Clarke's ideas in...shit....Distant Light of Earth? I forget the name...Basically he breifly mentions how the only people who can run for political office are those that don't want to run for political office...essentially. I think that'd work a hell of a lot better than either ours or Heinlein's systems.

[Touchdown]

57. Of course it's worth talking about.

I wouldn't be continuing this if it wasn't a fascinating subject. One thing about Heinlein that I have to concede, is that in most of his better works, he does spark debate, either pro or con. From that I have to give him his props and say he was a brilliant writer. Even so brilliant as to disguize a critique of modern democracy as an adventure novel aimed at teenagers. Face it, if it was that pulpish and banal, then none of us would have heard of ST, as it would've been lost to the dustbins of mediocrity, along with those dozens of Mickey Spillane copycats. Love or hate ST, it is a brilliant book. Of that respect of the simple adventure yarn, I have to disagree.

Never read Clarke, never had a reason not to though. I should pick something of his up. Rama?

"A little revolution isn't a bad thing." Very true, but the goal of human society is (or should be) to have the least corruptible form of government so revolution either becomes seldom used, or obsolete. I'm not smart enough to posit what such a government would look like. It looks like Constitutional republics take 200-300 years to make revolution necessary, pure democracies about 200 years (Greece). Heinlein's? Who knows, but I believe it would take a lot less time to corrupt his. Although not fascist on it's merits alone, some of the jingoistic aspects, as well as his advocacy of corporal/capital punishment of his society certainly resemble it. Those take less than 12 years to corrupt.

I guess my real question would be is how to get people involved without resorting to individual rewards for getting involved, or denial of involvement or privelege because of a life less approved of. Some states forbid running for office unless the candidate declares him/herself a believer in Judeo-Christian religion. We may be closer to Heinlein's world than we think.

[Ravenseye]

59. Every Government Will Become Corrupt

It's just a matter of time...

You're right about Heinlein. If he was a hack writer we wouldn't be talking about him, but it was pulp adventure. The thing is, as we're saying it really isn't. He sneaks in his books thoughts or ideas that truly spark discussion. That's what elevates his books above the other pulp that shared the bookshelves of the time. The point is that they were SELLING space adventure. What the reader got was an idea, sometimes shocking, sometimes thought provoking.

Clarke for me is hit or miss. Though when he hits I really love his books. Rama didn't really grab me as much as some others. Childhood's End, Songs of Distant Earth (the one I mentioned before), the whole 2001 2010 2061 3001 Space Odyssey thing. My favorite recently of his is actually 'co-written' by Stephen Baxter as well...The Light of Other Days.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0312871996/qid=1115404887/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/104-7068326-1123963

Not as thought provoking as Heinlein, but good solid quick reads. Good dorky beach books.

Anyway...Yeah I just can't imagine a system that isn't corruptable. It'd have to be really really really intricate with numerous checks and balances. That's sort of one of the things I think Heinlein may be trying to say also. It's a trade off. You can have freedom but you'll have corruption. You can have no corruption, but you'll have no freedom. The only way to remove the ability of government to be corrupted is to have so many rules and so much beauracracy that we'd get tied down, maybe literally, by red tape.

The question then is "How much corruption versus how much freedom?" What is a good balance. Right now I think our country is tipped in the direction of corruption. For instance if the Insurance companies couldn't lobby or spend any money whatsoever on politicians in any shape or form...how long would it take till we had universal health care? But to prevent a company, or individual, from talking to, or contributing to a candidate or politicion is restricting freedoms. The question is should we restrict that freedom, in order to reduce corruption. In that situation I would say we should.

Maybe our system is perfect. Maybe a perfect system is one that corrects itself like a metronome. You can't keep it pointed at the top without locking it into place. if you let it go it's going to swing back and forth and back and forth. That's the perfect system. One that self corrects. Occasionally taking away freedoms and removing corruption, occasionally letting freedoms seep back in and increasing corruption....back and forth and back and forth...

[The Traveler]

54. Actually ...

in the book, people IN the military could not vote. Full citizenship was conferred only after a completed term of service. Said duties were not necessarily military ... there were other forms of service. They were all hard. Career military people could not voite until they retired.

The idea was to keep people who were not willing to sacrifice for the common good from voting. Heinlein took a lot of heat over this book, but unjustly so. Think of it as a thought experiment, motivated by what he regarded as voter apathy and vapidity in the 1950s. After watching millions of folk vote for GWB with little to no knowledge of the issues, it is hard for me to criticize him for that.

[funflower]

14. Fahrenheit 451

The 1966 version, or just, please, please read the book. My copy of the book talks about a remake of the movie that is apparently in the works.

[walldude]

15. Wow another Cube fan

Although I thought Cube Zero was kinda lame... While some I would have recommended have already been listed (Strangelove, Brazil, They Live) I have a few others:

Equilibrium
Fahrenheit 451
The Dead Zone
Invasion Of The Body Snatchers

The deepest parallels I have seen lately though come from the Star Wars series, The Republic elects a new leader who is secretly working on building his own Empire from the inside..

[jayctravis]

17. I guess I was just in the right frame of mind...

But I love how they essentially echoed the original movie with a framing story, I was constantly matching people up with their equivalents in the first movie "he's the army guy, that's the mathematician" which paid off very well at the end.

Loved the Yes/No machine and the humor. The villain was great. Great choices too...how the control room was wall to wall filing cabinets, suggesting cubes.

[walldude]

19. Didn't pick up on the filing cabinet cube thing

what I did like about it was the way they showed the guys thought process by using the chess game... Waiting for the final movie..

[jayctravis]

22. There's going to be another one?

What will it be? TetraCube?

I thought the second movie had interesting ideas but didn't make any good plot use of the timeshifting or 4-D nature of a hypercube -- although the elderly woman's apparent alzheimer's should have been utilized to show that EVERY time she entered a new cube her entire reality changed. The scene where the same person showed up at four different doors should have had a payoff scene where that character opened doors at different times in the movie to see the reverse of the scene in the original cube.

What I would like for them to do in a 4th movie is make the cubes move like normal but also rotate and shift gravity which stays with a character (like the Escher print), so that there could be times when people would be in the same room but unable to reach each other due to different perspective gravity.

My only slight gripe is that there is always a brief explanation that the rooms are marked with coordinates that the mathematician character can figure out, but since the cubes *move* the audience is not in on it. Closest was in Cube Zero where they realized the letters made it a 26x26 matrix...which made the realization "This is the only cube labelled with Z's!" sort of make sense, but when they show a map of the configuration the cubes aren't arranged into an even cube...rather a random 3-D scrabble layout looking thing.

[chalky]

16. Three Kings. n/m

[G_j]

23. Hotel Rwanda for an idea of what hate radio can do, also

documentaries:
"Berkeley In The Sixties"
"Yes Men"
"Life and Debt"
"Fog Of War"
(etc.)

[AP]

24. How many DU'ers do Netflix?

[AP]

25. Spartan, Spider Man 1&2, The Matrix

The Spider Mans are about the role of the US in the world (great power required great responsibility) and the role of man in society (looking after your fellow man) and about how the university and learning should triumph over the militar industrial complex (Spiderman represents the former, and the Green Goblin the latter.

Spartan is about anti-arab racism, it's a commentary on the fraud of "white slavery" and on the crappiness of the media.

The Matrix is a metaphor for the world we're living in today.

[AP]

26. Supersize Me/Life & Debt/The Revolution will Not Be Televised/Trials of...

...Henry Kissinger.

Supersize Me is about how corporations are often not on the side of the consumer.

Life & Debt is about the flow of wealth from "developing" nations to developed, wealthy nations (so that developing nations become less developed and developed nations develop even more wealth).

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised is a lesson in how bad tries to triumph over good and fails.

Trials of Henry Kissinger is a lesson in how awful American foreign policy has been thanks to Henry Kissinger.

[G_j]

30. Trials of Henry Kissenger

a must see for sure, as well as the others you mention.


Have you seen Yes Men?

[AP]

32. The Yes Men is in my Netflix queue

[G_j]

36. enjoy!

both eye-opening and hilarious!

[Joe Power]

27. Duck Soup

Hail Freedonia!!!

[JHB]

28. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

C'mon, tell me it was a coincidence that idiot theiving Galactic President Zaphod Bebblebrox spoke with a twang...

[jayctravis]

46. "You can't be president of the Galaxy with an entire brain"

...or something.

[Sapphire Blue]

29. 'Veronica Guerin' , 'The Gatekeeper', 'The Magdalene Sisters'

... and 'Freeze Frame'

[stanwyck]

58. I bet our Talibangelicals

salivate while watching The Magdalene Sisters. Imagine punishing all those wanton girls while getting your laundry done! That movie is their version of hardcare porn. Young nubiles being forced to be servile to religious zealots. Lifelong slavery under the guise of benevolent religious guidance.
Oh, how the Talibangelicals must love that movie...rewinding over and over while committing acts "against nature."

[sweetheart]

31. The corporation; the fog of war;

Start trek... the one with the borg... i don't know the name #6
or something.

[LunaC]

33. "The Last Supper" (NOT religious!)

I LOVED this movie......great dialogue and a twist at the end (although you kinda' see it coming.)


http://www.mediacircus.net/supper.html

Finally, a movie starring a Saturday Night Live alumnus that is actually good! "The Last Supper" is available on video now. It begins as a twenty-something black comedy and ends as a chilling thesis on the dangers of extremism, whether it be ultra-left wing or ultra-right wing. It begins innocently enough as a Sunday dinner among friends, all graduate students, who reject right wing values, but are merely content to talk about rather than act on it.

Enter the unexpected dinner guest, a racist truck-driving neo-nazi, who begins to spout his rhetoric at the dinner table. The dinner party quickly degenerates into a hostage-taking and the racist soon lies dead on the floor, stabbed in the back. After the initial shock subsides, the five friends decide to bury the dead man in the backyard.

Like the juicy red tomatoes that they plant over the man's grave, the boldness of their actions and left-wing extremism grow as the five protagonists decide to do the world a service by inviting the Hitlers of the world to their house for Sunday dinner. If their guest fails to recant their right-wing ways, they are poisoned with wine in a blue bottle and buried in the backyard alongside the other victims, to provide more nourishment for their tomato crop. And so a progression of guests come and go... a homophobic priest, a pro-life activist, an anti-environmentalist (hey, it's Jason Alexander!), a high school student against birth control, a book-banning
librarian...

In their drive to rid the world of right wing extremists, they themselves succumb to the very same extremism, only at the other end of the political spectrum. It is a dialogue-driven story, with insightful nuggets on the perils of ideological fanaticism and the need for tolerance of all views in society, and some cute scenes where the characters are driven to distraction by their conversations. In terms of film-making techniques, there is a recurring contrast found in the use of colours to represent the opposing political forces. This culminates in a final scene where the five friends meet who they believe to be the embodiment of all that is evil in the right-wing world, a Rush Limbaugh-ish caricature: as they eat dinner and views are exchanged on politics, the scenery outside the windows alternates between red and blue with each lightning flash-- symbolizing the battle being fought in the world outside and at the dinner table.

[Sparkly]

35. Judgment at Nuremberg, in the sense of

responsibility, looking the other way, guilt, making excuses, seeking absolution, etc. Some of the moments in that film could apply to Abu Ghraib.

[hatrack]

38. Downfall - change the uniforms and Bushies become the NSDAP

All worshiping The Leader, all deaf to reality, all blind to truth, all prepared to go down with the ship and take the temple down with them rather than admit that their boy is what he is - a fool, a liar and a self-righteous turd.

[Morose]

39. Bob Roberts

Paralax View
Gladiator

[MotorCityMan]

40. Bob Roberts

That one actually was scary, how much it mirrored what is going on now.

[Javaman]

41. I wish there was a DU recommended Movie and book list on here.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

43. Gandhi, War and Peace, Viva Zapata, Reds, Hearts and Minds,

To Live (Chinese), To Kill a Mockingbird, The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, Paths of Glory, Missing, The Sorrow and the Pity (French), The Cuckoo (Russian), Prisoners of the Mountain (Russian), The Toy Drum (German), Men With Guns.

[G_j]

45. has Bullworth been mentioned?

[bvar22]

47. Manchurian Candidate,

The Matrix (all 3)

The Beast
(not Peter Benchly, but the story of a Russian Tank in Afghanistan that gets separated and eventually destroyed by a group of Afghanis who chase it down on foot. This was made before the US invasion of Afghanistan.
This is a MUST SEE.

[cybildisobedience]

49. Network

Although what is served up as news these days is in more extreme and intolerable than what they envisioned.

[jayctravis]

51. I can now also add...

MARIA, FULL OF GRACE.

Harrowing but ultimately uplifting foreign film of a young girl who becomes a drug mule.

[midnight armadillo]

60. Pi. The Butcher Boy. Requiem for a Dream.

Our society is losing its collective mind, might as well watch movies about madness.

[jayctravis]

61. Word up for Darren Aronofsky

Requiem for a Dream - there's how to educate teenagers about the dangers of drug use.

He's doing a movie about the fountain of youth next, I read.

[0rganism]

62. Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0413845/