Must See Movies

Conza88

Conza88

Member
Joined
Oct 15, 2007
Messages
11,472
The point of this is to collect must see quality movies, tv shows, & series that pertain to our movement of peace, freedom, liberty & prosperity including government inefficiency & immorality. Films that encourage individualism over tyranny, self-responsibility over paternalism, and that offer a hearty dose of against-the-grain individualism etc. Movies that enlighten about the current state of affairs, as well as heed warning & inform should be added here.

Please provide a synopsis, link to imdb, trailer and any liberty reviews. The message should be explicit and clear. Make a case for it's inclusion, otherwise it won't be. Make me want to watch it. If something doesn't belong, speak up! If you agree with something, recommend it. All of these have been suggested by folks at Mises.org, Lew Rockwell and Ron Paul forums. I will link to the reviews where possible. Many have several elements within them and I tried to add them to the most predominant category.

Anti-Slavery / Self Ownership

Anti-State / Anti-Status Quo

Antiwar

Anti-Welfare

Business / Entrepreneur

Childrens / Cartoons / Anime

Conspiracy / Corruption

Dystopia's

Gangster

Immigration / Martial Law

Individualist / Anti-Collectivist / Anti Conformist

Libertarian / Justice / Injustice

Libertarian Westerns *

Mass Media / Free Speech / Freedom of Expression


Racism

Revolution / Anti-Occupation

Satire / Comedy

Sci-Fi

Terrorism / Foreign Policy / Empire

TV Series

 
Last edited:
Smiley Gladhands said:
It's quite a great distopian anti-bureaucracy movie. Robert DeNiro plays a rogue electrician. It also deals with the issues of terrorism and government oppression.

This movie rocks. I'd highly recommend it.

:)
Click to expand...

brumans said:
Doctor Zhivago

http://imdb.com/title/tt0059113/

Lots of other cool facts here:
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/page?id=3393725
Choose Ron Paul, then go to "Favorite Things"
Click to expand...

Primbs said:
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

Because of "the director's belief in the difference that one individual can make. This theme would be expanded even further in Capra's It's a Wonderful Life and other films."

"Mr. Smith goes to Washington has been cited as one of the quintessential whistleblower films in American history."

"It is now viewed as an excellent depiction of how activists mobilize grassroots support to preserve unique places from corrupt government development projects."
Click to expand...

Ps.. I realise a thread like this might have been around before? I did a search for 'movie' in title thread.. went back all 7 pages, and couldn't find it. So feel free to point me in the direction of a libertarian movie list if there is one. :D
 
Gladiator. Link to review.

This, like Blade Runner, is a political film, which should be banned by governments with any desire to control their populations, as was Three Hundred Spartans back in the sixties. It does not date itself with over-commentary on the problems of the day. Deny it though the pundits will , it is a film that talks to our youthful political idealism, right to the heart, and Crowe’s brilliant, economic final scene, the vista of Rome as the Tiber flows at the end, speak not of some colorful but forgotten era, but of us, as we look too like Colosseum spectators on the events that made a part of what we are today, so long ago.

What about Lord of the Rings? I provided a link to a review with criticisms of it. But I think it may be a bit too anal? The things mentioned like the ents etc.. the greenies would love, but you could argue since their alive (lol) they are their own property... and sauron doesn't own the lands of the forest that he burnt to begin with.. (haha - I'm talking about lord of the rings.. what's the world coming too) :D

Anyway; come across this whilst browsing lewrockwell and the mass pages on movie reviews.

In this story J.R.R. Tolkien demonstrates that power can corrupt even the best of people. People who start out with good intentions can be seduced by this power until their primary goal becomes maintaining that power, and not the good intentions which motivated them to seek the power in the first place.

It's also got one all seeing, all powerful, all knowing eye... kind of like one world government aye?
 
Last edited:
Are you going to add Documentaries to your list? I could add a ton starting with Why We Fight.
 
Freedom's flicks: The 20 best libertarian movies of all time

Editor's note: It all started, said the editors of the Orange County Register, when they got bored with President Clinton's scandal-of-the-day, and decided to compile a list of the "20 Best Libertarian Movies of All Time."

It was late November 1998, the elections were over, the impeachment hearings seemed to be a "fizzle," and there was nothing to do at the Orange County Register -- one of the most consistently small-"l" libertarian newspapers in the country -- except "watch a movie."

And, while they were at it, to decide which staff favorites did the best job of celebrating liberty on film.

Why? Well, "if the American Film Institute can come up with a list and the Vatican can come up with a list, why not libertarians?" they asked.

They were looking for movies, they said, "that encourage individualism over tyranny, self-responsibility over paternalism, and, well, that offer a hearty dose of against-the-grain individualism."

Their process was simple (if somewhat passionately debated): Nine staff members from the newspaper's Opinion and Commentary pages brainstormed a list of over 100 titles, and then winnowed it down to the Top 20 with two ballots.

When that was completed, the staff of the Orange County Register then speculated about the worst movies of all time, from a libertarian point of view.

"You won't find any of the Star Trek series on the list, for instance, because the crew's exploration efforts were in service to the 'Federation.' Mitigating circumstance: The Federation forbade any interference with alien cultures -- although the crew of the Enterprise violated the 'prime directive' every chance they got," they wrote.

"You also won't find James Bond films on the list -- Bond accepted without question the government's missions and besides, private enterprise was demonized as the Dark Side of Man."

But enough about the bad movies. Here is the Orange County Register's list of the greatest "movies for freedom lovers" of all time.

1. Brazil (1985). Watch the painful inner workings of a futuristic bureaucracy where individualism is crushed. Directed by Monty Python alum Terry Gilliam, the movie is a surrealistic view of a society in which everything seems to be run by a kind of global DMV. Trying to fix a bureaucratic snafu that led to the arrest of the wrong man, lowly bureaucrat Sam Lowry becomes himself the enemy of the state.

Brazil is a zany classic of the libertarian belief in the importance of individual's dignity and freedom against an all-powerful government. Given the increase in government of recent years, it's even more chilling than when first released 13 years ago.

Best libertarian moment: Harry Tuttle, played by Robert DeNiro, becomes the most-wanted criminal by breaking into buildings to perform heating ventilation and air conditioning repairs without -- horrors! -- a permit.

2. A Man for All Seasons (1966). St. Thomas More is beheaded for opposing the tyranny of Henry VIII.

Best libertarian moment: Just before his execution, More utters a final sentence of defiance against the tyrant: "I die His Majesty's good servant, but God's first."

3. Braveheart (1995). Mel Gibson plays William Wallace, who leads the Scots in their fight against British tyranny.

Best libertarian moment: As his torturer begins the fatal evisceration, Wallace shouts out one last word before he dies: "Freeeeeedommmmm!"

4. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956, original version). In a quiet California town, folks are being replaced with look-alike alien pod people who sap each individual's humanity in the name of the common good. A great sci-fi drama that doubles as a devastating critique of totalitarianism.

Best libertarian moment: Kevin McCarthy describes how shocking it is to watch people he knows drained of their humanity and individualism. It happens all the time without the pods, he explained, but usually over a lifetime rather than instantaneously.

5.The Fountainhead (1949). Scripted by Ayn Rand from her novel, it's a bold story of an architect who endures poverty and scorn rather than give in to the prevailing egalitarian values of his architect-competitors. The movie, although a bit turgid, well reflects her uncompromising philosophy of individualism.

Best libertarian moment: The whole movie is a libertarian moment. If we had to pick one, it would be where Howard Roark (Gary Cooper), defending himself in court after having blown up his own housing project because conventional thinkers meddled with its design, gives a Randian speech, saying: "The reasoning mind cannot work under any form of compulsion."

6. Fahrenheit 451 (1966). It's based on the Ray Bradbury book about how freedom lovers learn books by heart to subvert a futuristic totalitarian government that attempts to control people's thoughts by banning and burning books.

Best libertarian moment: At the end, people are walking around in the rebel encampment in the woods, defying the book burners by each memorizing a book.

7. Casablanca (1942). The immortal Rick and Ilsa fight the Nazis. Rick is a capitalist who used to run guns and now operates a bar and cafe, with "secret" illegal gambling games going on in the back room.

Best libertarian moment: When Nazi Major Strasser threatens to invade New York City, Rick makes a great argument against gun control: "Well, there are certain sections of New York, Major, that I wouldn't advise you to try to invade."

8. Schindler's List (1993). Probably the best dramatic depiction of the horrors of the Nazi extermination regime. Director Steven Spielberg avoids preachiness by showing a dramatic story of one "righteous gentile" who helped save Jews from Auschwitz.

Best libertarian moment: Oskar Schindler, played by Liam Neeson, is horseback riding near Krakow, Poland, and comes upon Nazis mistreating Jews and he realizes the Jews' humanity. From then on, he uses all his talents, resources, and cunning to save every person he can.

9. The Quiet Man (1951). Kind of a John Ford Western set in director Ford's beloved Ireland, with epic fistfights over Maureen O'Hara and no government in sight. Besides, we couldn't have a Top 20 list like this without John Wayne on it.

Best libertarian moment: The barroom brawls where disagreements were settled voluntarily -- without even the interference of the police.

10. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975). Who are the sane ones in a psychiatric ward? Jack Nicholson, playing McMurphy, resists arbitrary authority.

Best libertarian moment: After the electroshock treatment that's supposed to subdue him and make him less anti-social, McMurphy remains as feisty as ever.

11. Gone With the Wind (1939). The Yankees invade Tara, burn private property in Atlanta, and kill people. After the war, Scarlett and Rhett beat carpetbaggers at their own game and become wealthy capitalists.

12. What About Bob? (1991). The best critique of psychology and psychiatry outside a Thomas Szasz book, and more hilarious. It stars Bill Murray in his funniest role as a "multi-phobic" patient driving psych-jockey Richard Dreyfus nuts.

13. The Searchers (1956). The Duke makes our list again in John Ford's epic, playing the fiercely individualistic Ethan Edwards.

14. The Ten Commandments (1956, tie). Moses (Charlton Heston) leads the Israelites out of slavery to Pharaoh (played with bald-headed bravado by Yul Brynner). Then on Mt. Sinai, God gives Moses the Decalogue, including the favorites of libertarians: "Thou shalt not steal" and "Thou shalt not covet."

14. Ninotchka (1939, tie). "Garbo speaks" ran the ads touting the former star of silent films. She does so in one of the funniest anti-communist movies ever made. Similar story remade as "Silk Stockings" (1957) with Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse, and delightful dancing.

16. Sleeper (1973). Woody Allen's anti-utopian comedy is one of his funniest. It's a takeoff on Orwell's "1984" in which a Big Brother-like dictator destroys freedom while Woody and Diane Keaton organize a revolution.

17. Duck Soup (1933). The Marx Brothers turn war into anarchy. All hail, Freedonia!

18. Star Wars (1977), plus sequels. Aided by cute droids, Luke, Princess Leia, and smuggler Han rebel against the ultimate Evil Empire.

19. Network (1976). It's a send-up of the TV media that still packs a wallop 22 years after its opening. The scream of nutty anchorman Howard Beale, "I'm mad as Hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!" in real life became the rallying cry of the late Howard Jarvis two years later in his fight to enact the Proposition 13 tax cuts [in California].

20. The Godfather (1972). When you outlaw drugs and gambling, you get corrupt politicians and cops, murder, and great gangster movies.

Reprinted with no permission of The Orange County Register, copyrighted 1998.
 
Here's a couple oldies that might make the list.

Blade Runner
Logan's Run
A Clockwork Orange
 
SnappleLlama said:
Only the greatest anime ever!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akira_(film)

Czech it! :D
Click to expand...

Notable motifs in the film include youth culture, delinquency, psychic awareness, social unrest and future uncertainty weighed against the historical spectre of nuclear destruction and Japan's post-war economic revival. The film also explores a number of psychological and philosophical themes, such as the nature of corruption, the Will to power, and the growth from childhood to maturity both in individuals and the human race itself.

Sounddddds pretty good ;)

Dorfsmith said:
Wow, completely missed that! Can't wait to dig in and add what I missed to my netflix queue
Click to expand...

Well... someone seems to think it's still only worthy of hot topics.. :rolleyes: beats me as to why..
 
Conza88 said:
Notable motifs in the film include youth culture, delinquency, psychic awareness, social unrest and future uncertainty weighed against the historical spectre of nuclear destruction and Japan's post-war economic revival. The film also explores a number of psychological and philosophical themes, such as the nature of corruption, the Will to power, and the growth from childhood to maturity both in individuals and the human race itself.

Sounddddds pretty good ;)



Well... someone seems to think it's still only worthy of hot topics.. :rolleyes: beats me as to why..
Click to expand...

Well that would explain it. I posted a link to the thread on my board so at least my friends can find it. It's a fantastic list :cool:
 
Dr. Strangelove. All the King's Men. And the Will Rogers version of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court isn't as pointedly preachy, but it is great fun. All the President's Men deserves a mention, too...
 
Dorfsmith said:
Well that would explain it. I posted a link to the thread on my board so at least my friends can find it. It's a fantastic list :cool:
Click to expand...

You have to be a member to be able to see it.. Lol, which makes it even more frustrating.

The Castle (1997)- Genre: Comedy. Starring Michael Caton, Anne Tenney.
A man’s home is his castle. At least that is the opinion of Darryl Kerrigan (Caton) and his family, who live close to the Melbourne airport. That’s never been a problem, until the airport wants to expand onto his land. Finding out that his home is to be “compulsorily acquired,” Darryl decides to fight back, no matter how hopeless it seems. A great movie about liberty and the right to private property.
Best libertarian quote: Lawyer-“There is an ironclad agreement between federal, state, and local governments and the Airports Commission.”
Darryl Kerrigan-“Well, where’s the agreement with Darryl Kerrigan?”

Antz (1998) Genre: Comedy. Starring Woody Allen, Sylvester Stallone.
Z, a worker ant, tries to break free from his totalitarian society in order to meet the princess. After switching with a soldier ant, he ends up becoming a hero and must work to foil a plan by the ant general to exterminate the worker population and institute regimentation of the colony. Strong themes of individuality, anti-conscription, anti-fascist, and anti-communism are throughout the movie. Or maybe we’re just reading too much into it. ;)
Best libertarian quote: Z- “Mindless zombies capitulating to an oppressive system.”
Princess- “Wanna dance?”
Z- “ABSOLUTLY!”

Minority Report (2002) Genre: Sci-Fi, Action. Starring Tom Cruise, Colin Ferrell.
A great movie exploring the aspects of pre-destination vs. free will. In the future, Washington, D.C. is void of murder. Due to three “pre-cogs,” who can see the future, and the Department of Pre-Crime, potential murders are arrested before they commit the murder. But can people change their future? If they know they are going to commit a crime, do they have a choice? This movie explores the ultimate trade-off of liberty for security.
Best libertarian quote: Pre-cog- “You can choose…..”
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Occam's Banana
NV - jury awards $34M to exonerated 16-year convict after police framed her for 2001 killing
Replies
3
Views
735
Occam's Banana
Occam's Banana
Anti Federalist
Ohio heat wave
Replies
1
Views
225
jkr
jkr
Brian4Liberty
RIP John Sykes - Guitar player and singer
Replies
10
Views
649
Working Poor
Working Poor
J
The End Fruit of the Israeli Attack on America on 9/11 is Here, Gen. Wes Clark, "...And Finishing off, Iran." Well Played, Khazars
Replies
4
Views
67
James_Madison_Lives
J
ClaytonB
Let us remember the torture and rape of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui
2 3 4
Replies
72
Views
297
acptulsa
acptulsa
Back
Top