Are There "Positive" Political Films? (1 Viewer)

[Chuck Mayer]

That bad, huh? I'd agree.

 

[Richard Kim]

Let's not forget Padme Amidala. She's pretty much a straight shooting politician in all three PT films.

 

[glen_esq]

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.

 

[andrew markworthy]

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'.

 

[Kevin M]

Boy, not many....um...Invaders From Mars?

 

[MichaelBA]

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!

 

[andrew markworthy]

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.

 

[Nathan V]

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

 

[Sam Favate]

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.

 

[ChrisWiggles]

malcom x?

 

[Kevin Hewell]

When I first saw the title of this thread the film that came to mind was The American President.

 

[MichaelBA]

How are politics or politicians shown in an overall positive light in MALCOLM X?!

The film implies the government was partly responsible in his death even!

NIXON?!

THE CANDIDATE?!

Do these films show politics or politicians in an OVERALL positive light?!

Is my thread THAT unclear? Or are there simply not that many movies that do this?

 

[andrew markworthy]

This set me thinking that there is proabably no film about colonialism which can show a politician in a convincing positive light. Any politician who is pro-colonialism of course falls foul of the modern mood, and any on the other side will almost inevitably be seen as unrealistically nice.

 

[ChrisWiggles]

i was being sarcastic

i was going to mention another film like one of the waco conspiracy films, or a michael moore film but i didn't want to set off a bunch of nonsense.

I am also thinking conjunction junction how a bill becomes a law, whatever that cartoon is called i like that one!

 

[george kaplan]

There are probably a number of films that show politicians of the American side of the American revolution in a positive light. For example, 1776, Johnny Tremain, etc.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

Uhh, that would be "I'm Just a Bill", "Conjunction Junction" was about ... uhhh... conjunctions (and, but, or, nor).

Jeff - A child of the seventies ... (singing) "Weee the people, in order to form a perfect union..."

 

[ChrisWiggles]

yeah, i don't remember the name of the cartoon, people remember "conjunction junction," but "im just a bill maybe not so much."

 

[Brian-A]

Of course, the counterpart to this is the Simpsons' "The Amendment Song" that shows the government in a less than ideal light.

 

[Lewis Besze]

If they were showed on too much on the "positive" light it wouldn't come accross as realistic to me. Yeah, not too big of fans of their "kind".
It's funny you asked about this. EW just had an article how Hollywood avoided political themed movies after 9/11.Now they have a bunch in the works and some will be released soon. I have a feeling they won't too "flattering".

 

[MichaelBA]

Right, the Schoolhouse Rock stuff. Not exactly films, but all the "America Rock" bits from that series ARE very pro-politics, pro-government. Don't want to engender cyncism in children of tender years! Of course, some of the songs about expansion in the West completely blip over Native Americans, so these 'toons DO engender quite a few half-truths.