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

[glen_esq]

If you're looking for a film that shows a politician in a positive light, one portraying a politician as a saint would serve nicely I think.


MichealBa - most political dramas need conflict to make an interesting film for the viewer. People have listed films where the 'hero' of the film is portrayed positively, most of these films have their political opponents as villians.

Here's your question: What films depict politicians or politics in a wholly or even mostly "positive" light?

If you meant the main character, I think Malcom X meets that criteria. Gandhi, and The Candidate do as well.

Do you a mean a film where every single politician is shown in a positive light? You didn't make that clear in your question, but there won't be many of those, they'd be pretty dull films.

 

[MichaelBA]

I don't think there's a single politician shown in THE CANDIDATE in a wholly or almost wholly positive light, "Bill McKay" included.

And Malcolm X wasn't a politician (an elected representative in a system of government), unless the term is figuratively stretched quite a bit.

I think Haggai, who posted above, quoted and understood my original question best:


And that would rule out Malcolm X and Bill McKay and Gandhi, etc.

The type of film like THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT is what I'm talking about. A film that OVERALL shows the majority of politicians and the majority of a political system in a positive light. Exceptions that show the negative minority side, something that could fuel the drama, would be acceptable as long as they are clearly indicated to be the MINORITY. So, not EVERY politician has to be positive, but the majority will and so will the entire political system too, overall and in general.

Maybe there really are VERY few films like this?

 

[Lew Crippen]

Per Michaels's last post, any movie about politics, will necessarily depict politics in manifold ways—examining issues from several perspectives. It follows that movies about politics that do not portray some aspects (perhaps many) in a negative light will not work as drama (or comedy).

Further, a movie does not have to have its central character as a politician in order to be about politics. Gandhi for example (as has been pointed out) was not a politician in the sense that he held office or even ran for office. Regardless it would be nitpicking in the extreme to argue that he was not political and that any reasonable depiction of his life, must necessarily include politics.

 

[MichaelBA]

I wasn't interested at all in whether a political film "worked" or not. Bad or good, I was just interested in a list of films that showed politics or politicians in an overall positive light. That's it.

GANDHI is about politics, surely. But it doesn't show politics or politicians in an overall positive light.

Oh well.

 

[mattCR]

It is very difficult to have someone with power, ie, a president, etc. in a role as a true protagonist without having a political antagonist. The reason for this is because if you have someone of significantly lesser power as his antagonist, the movie would be boring.

Let's face it, a movie about a great political leader (either party) and their dire struggle with a crazed letter writer from Spitoon, Illinois. It just isn't that motivating. You have to have a protagonist with an actual challenge; so you can do it with a foreign antagonist (like "13 Days") or a domestic one, but it's hard to do it without an opposing political force.

I'm sure their are some childrens movies where the politician is basically Deux Ex Machina, and serves as the lever for terminating ill toward a protagonist.