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Are There "Positive" Political Films?

post #1 of 45
11/23/05 at 9:04am
Thread Starter 
I know this is an extremely delicate subject on HTF, so if this thread needs to be closed before it's even open, I completely understand.

But I will try to word my question carefully:

What films depict politicians or politics in a wholly or even mostly "positive" light?

Lots of negative depictions of both, veering from total corruption of the system and those participating in it to maybe at best showing a few singularly exceptional untainted individuals, e.g., Lincoln in YOUNG LINCOLN or only perhaps the Founding Fathers in 1776.

I think a television program like THE WEST WING shows politics and politicians, overall, quite positively.

Any films that do that?
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post #2 of 45
11/23/05 at 9:19am
Shouldn't this be in the "Movies" forum?
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post #3 of 45
11/23/05 at 9:20am
DAVE starring Kevin Kline portrays a politician the way a politician should be.
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post #4 of 45
11/23/05 at 9:20am
Quote:
What films depict politicians or politics in a wholly or even mostly "positive" light?


TEAM AMERICA. (Just kidding, but I still love it!)

Good question. It should be able to be discussed as long as the focus stays on the films, without member's injecting their own politics...which would lead to other members' attacks...which would lead to your thread being shut down.

I would also be interested in seeing some suggestions. Although, Hollywood movies about politics without politics wouldn't be very...well,..."Hollywood"...if you know what I mean.
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post #5 of 45
11/23/05 at 9:22am
Thread Starter 
TEAM AMERICA! That's great!

I don't think DAVE qualifies because there's too much overall corruption of the political system and the political players, with only a good and pure outsider, non-politician able to set things straight for the good and pure, but previously shunted aside, vice-president.

But this thread should have been in Movies.

Sorry!:b
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post #6 of 45
11/23/05 at 9:25am
The American President was a fairly positive film, with the same sort of idealized President that Martin Sheen plays in The West Wing.
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post #7 of 45
11/23/05 at 9:46am
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
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post #8 of 45
11/23/05 at 10:02am
Within this discussion, could we could also include suggestions for movies that take shots at politicians in general, for laughs, without taking sides or making statements? Eddie Murphy's THE DISTINGUISHED GENTLEMAN came to mind, but there are countless others. No doubt this list would be much longer.
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post #9 of 45
11/23/05 at 10:14am
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, of course. The dramatization of the Cuban Missle Crisis - Thirteen Days.
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post #10 of 45
11/23/05 at 10:31am
Air Force One - not a political movie per se, but showing the president and vp in a very positive light.

Seven Days in May - positive portrayal of the president and other politicians, though a negative portrayal of a general wanting to be president.
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post #11 of 45
11/23/05 at 10:34am
Blast! Kaplan beat me to it by five seconds. Seven Days in May, by all means, as a film which shows the good meaning of the word "politics".
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post #12 of 45
11/23/05 at 10:42am
MichaelBA's original post specified that he was not talking about movies that "show a few singularly exceptional untainted individuals," which would unquestionably rule out Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, where the entire Senate is stacked against Mr. Smith.
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post #13 of 45
11/23/05 at 10:52am
Here are five off the top of my head; most are in the "politicians in a mostly positive light" category:

THE DEVIL & DANIEL WEBSTER (1941)
THE LAST HURRAH (1958)
THE FARMER'S DAUGHTER (1947)
GABRIEL OVER THE WHITE HOUSE (1933)
KISSES FOR MY PRESIDENT (1964)
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post #14 of 45
11/23/05 at 3:01pm
Quote:
The dramatization of the Cuban Missile Crisis - Thirteen Days

Or the earlier version, "The Missiles of October".
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post #15 of 45
11/23/05 at 3:08pm
Quote:
But this thread should have been in Movies.
I'll move it there from HT Software.

Quote:
It should be able to be discussed as long as the focus stays on the films, without member's injecting their own politics...which would lead to other members' attacks...which would lead to your thread being shut down.
Great summary!

M.
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post #16 of 45
11/23/05 at 4:04pm
Gandhi (1982)
The Candidate (1972)
Disraeli (1929)
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post #17 of 45
11/24/05 at 1:20am
Zombie Lake
Dr. Stangelove (If you think about it, the president is pretty level-headed through the whole ordeal)
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post #18 of 45
11/24/05 at 3:46am
Quote:
Gandhi (1982)


Um, not really - if memory serves me correctly, it showed the Brit politicians in a very negative light (and was also somewhat over-flattering about Gandhi).

How about The Young Mr Pitt (1942) starring Robert Donat?
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post #19 of 45
11/24/05 at 5:31am
I remember when Air Force One was released, Harrison Ford appeared on David Letterman's show, and each time the camera cut to Ford, there would be words on the screen that said "Harrison Ford: Ass-Kickin' President!" The president in AFO is as positive a character as those in The American President or The West Wing.

Bill Pullman's president in Independence Day is also shown in a positive light.

Jimmy Smits' Senator Organa is the only honest man left in the Republic in Revenge of the Sith.

I also think Anthony Hopkins showed Richard Nixon in a fairly positive light in Oliver Stone's Nixon.
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post #20 of 45
11/24/05 at 6:15am
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Jimmy Smits' Senator Organa is the only honest man left in the Republic in Revenge of the Sith.

Actually, if you watch the deleted scenes on the ROTS DVD, you'll see that there were others (Mon Mothma for instance). Just nit-pickin'!


Overall I'd say politicians get about as much respect from Hollywood as science and scientists do.
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post #21 of 45
11/24/05 at 7:27am
Quote:
Overall I'd say politicians get about as much respect from Hollywood as science and scientists do.
That bad, huh? I'd agree.
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post #22 of 45
11/24/05 at 8:02am
Quote:
Actually, if you watch the deleted scenes on the ROTS DVD, you'll see that there were others (Mon Mothma for instance). Just nit-pickin'!


Let's not forget Padme Amidala. She's pretty much a straight shooting politician in all three PT films.
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post #23 of 45
11/24/05 at 12:18pm
Quote:
Um, not really - if memory serves me correctly, it showed the Brit politicians in a very negative light (and was also somewhat over-flattering about Gandhi).

Somewhat over-flattering is a bit of an understatement. Gandhi is showed very positively, heroically even - as the politician who wrestled Indian independence away from the British.
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post #24 of 45
11/25/05 at 1:10am
Quote:
as the politician who wrestled Indian independence away from the British.


Um ... Britain didn't have Indian independence; oh, never mind.

What I meant was that there were bad, even malicious sides to Gandhi's policies. He wasn't quite the saint he appears in that film. It also sidelines the efforts of a great many other politicians and activists who arguably took even greater personal risks than Gandhi.

That isn't to deny that Gandhi was a great man - but over-idealised portraits do no-one any favours.

Incidentally, my grandmother met Gandhi on his visit to Lancashire (briefly alluded to in the Attenborough film). She was a noted local singer and she was asked to sing a few local folk songs for him. After her recital, she chatted to him. Many decades after the event, I asked her what her memories of him were. All I got out of her was 'he was very thin'.
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post #25 of 45
11/25/05 at 1:18am
Boy, not many....um...Invaders From Mars?
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post #26 of 45
11/25/05 at 3:17am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
my grandmother met Gandhi on his visit to Lancashire

What an incredibly cool thing to be able to say!

Andrew, what specific acts of political "malice" do you attribute to Gandhi? Seems a strong word, so I'm curious what you think.

On a smaller, perhaps trivial level, the film certainly didn't give a full picture of the private man, especially regarding his in-your-face idiosyncracies that hardly seem the stuff of a modern "saint": daily enemas and obsessions with bowel movements, sleeping naked with and getting frequent naked massages from teenage girls, etc.

No doubt, however, that the film GANDHI does NOT show politics and politicians -- either British or Indian -- in a positive light!
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post #27 of 45
11/25/05 at 6:40am
Quote:
political "malice" do you attribute to Gandhi?


Actually, 'malice' is too strong a word - what I meant was that he could disregard key issues (such as the necessity at times for pragmatic statesmanship rather than unrealistic idealism, being rather too fond of the simple agrarian life over basic industrialistation, etc) to the point where it was detrimental to his cause and India's. Because these actions could be carried out with implacable will, it at times appeared to be a malicious disregard of what was best. However, since this was done in a genuine spirit of trying to do good, 'malicious' is inappropriate.
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post #28 of 45
11/25/05 at 12:09pm
Sam, if I remember correctly, Richard Nixon is not portrayed in anything approaching a positive light in Oliver Stone's briliant Nixon. The film doesn't villainize him, but it doesn't glorify him either. Good points otherwise.

This thread is an interesting topic, in that besides revealing how few 'positive politics' movies there actually are, it also reveals the sheer difficulty in portraying a fully heroic, flawless dramatic character with no internal conflict. I thought Gandhi suffered from "segmented biopic disease," in which the film is about a series of events that the main character participated in, rather than being about the character itself. And the film was one-sided and traditional as hell.

Regards,
Nathan
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post #29 of 45
11/25/05 at 1:05pm
Quote:
Sam, if I remember correctly, Richard Nixon is not portrayed in anything approaching a positive light in Oliver Stone's briliant Nixon. The film doesn't villainize him, but it doesn't glorify him either.


I guess what I meant was that since Stone's movie showed a Nixon that the audience could have some sympathy for, that was more positive than how he was portrayed in other films. I'm not someone who ever had sympathy for Tricky Dick, but I felt I understood him a little better after Stone's movie.
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post #30 of 45
11/25/05 at 9:58pm
malcom x?
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