A few of mine —

A Grin Without a Cat [Chris Marker, 1977] The Battle of Chile [Patricio Guzmán, 1979] Harlan County U.S.A. [Barbara Kopple, 1976] Lucia [Humberto Solás, 1968] Attica [Cinda Firestone, 1974] La Commune (Paris, 1871) [Peter Watkins, 2000]

  • thethirdgracchi [he/him, they/them]
    ·
    4 years ago
    • Hands over the City by Francesco Rosi. Generally anything by Rosi is great—for those who love The Battle of Algiers, he was going to direct that film if Pontecorvo passed—but I think this is his strongest film that displays the pure corruption involved in city development in post-WWII Italy.
    • Bicycle Thieves by Vittorio De Sica is the quintessential workers drama about how the average worker gets screwed over again and again. De Sica made sure his actors were actual workers, and the movie itself is wonderful.
    • The Organizer by Mario Monicelli is about a giant strike at a factory in late 19th century Italy, and it's a great account of labor rights.
    • Hunger by Steve McQueen is about Bobby Sands, the IRA member who went on hunger strike and helped to push one of the largest waves of revolutionary energy in Northern Ireland.
    • La Haine by Mathieu Kassovitz is a truly great film about a group of friends dealing with the aftermath of a riot in a Paris suburb after the Parisian police violently arrested and later killed an Arab boy. Huge parallels to George Floyd in the US, and a perfect case for ACAB.

    Happy to offer more recs as well, but I'd start with these as all are fantastic. Z and Wind That Shakes the Barley are also amazing but have already been mentioned here.

  • Odo [any]
    ·
    4 years ago

    Soy Cuba (1964) is.. the best propaganda film of all time.

    I've been meaning to watch Lucia, The Battle of Chile and La Commune but I have a hard time watching stuff that is not available in HD, I suck.

    Lucia is going to be released by Criterion soon and I found La Commune in HD on VOD the other day, so I guess I have no excuses anymore.

  • JarJizzy [none/use name]
    ·
    4 years ago

    Documentaries:

    Lifting the Veil - https://www.filmsforaction.org/watch/lifting-the-veil-obama-and-the-failure-of-capitalist-democracy-2011/

    Spin - https://www.filmsforaction.org/watch/spin/

  • skollontai [any]
    ·
    4 years ago

    Missing (1982) and Z (1969) by Costa-Gavras. Missing in particular is good to watch with lib parents.

  • cummunist [he/him,they/them]
    ·
    4 years ago

    The Wind that Shakes the Barley.

    About Ireland in the 1920's and the struggle for independence, with the freedom fighters of Ireland being divided between the socialists and the pure nationalists.

  • danisth [he/him]
    ·
    4 years ago

    Not strictly leftist, but Century of the Self is an amazing docu series by Adam Curtis. I watched it when I was pretty lib and I think it did a lot to push me left when I was in university.