“Hunger” (2008)
There’s always been a distinctly political edge in the work of filmmaker Steve McQueen. Sometimes it’s very much on the surface, as it was in his Oscar-winning drama “12 Years a Slave.” Sometimes, it’s embedded within the mechanics of a familiar genre narrative, as was the case with 2018’s feminist heist thriller, “Widows.” “Hunger” is McQueen’s feature debut, and it’s the loudest, most unsparing expression of his political worldview that we’ve seen to date. The film is more or less a one-man show, starring McQueen’s frequent collaborator Michael Fassbender as Bobby Sands, an Irish freedom fighter and prisoner who participated in a grueling hunger strike that almost killed him. Throughout the film, Sands is subjected to assorted forms of physical torment, and the scenes where he is assaulted by prison guards may be triggering for viewers who have grown weary of seeing civilian bodies being repeatedly brutalized by America’s police force. And yet, the film poses galvanizing questions about how far true radicals must go in order to make a statement in the face of discrimination. What we wouldn’t give to see Mr. McQueen direct a film like this one again.
“Carlos” (2010)
Olivier Assayas is a director who understands the natural symbiosis that exists between rock n’ roll culture and outsider mystique. It’s a point he returns to time and time again, in films as varied as “Cold Water” and “Demonlover.” “Carlos,” which is either a five-and-a-half-hour movie mosaic or a lengthy crime miniseries, depending on whom you ask, is about many things. One of the major things it’s about, and the reason why we ultimately included it on this list, is the necessity of revolution, and the inherent danger of charismatic ideologues. Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, better known as Carlos the Jackal, was a Venezuelan-born terrorist who was more often than not vicious and uncompromising in his liberation tactics. While Marxism as an ethos no doubt holds many worthy tenets, Assayas raises probing questions about how far a radical should go in devotion to their cause. “Carlos” is one of this director’s finest accomplishments: an engrossing treatise on the double-edged nature of militancy that has the scope and heft of a classic novel.
“Selma” (2014)
Ava DuVernay has always had one foot in the school of cinema, and the other in the realm of social justice. The topic is never far from the filmmaker’s mind, whether it’s in “13th,” the can’t-miss doc about mass incarceration and state-sanctioned oppression, or last year’s Netflix series “When They See Us,” which dramatized the injustices of the Central Park Five. “Selma” is DuVernay’s most overtly commercial work to date, unless you count “A Wrinkle In Time.” It is also an urgent reminder of how much work Americans have to do in order to achieve the magnanimous principles to which Dr. Martin Luther King aspired. The film depicts the 1965 protest in which Dr. King and a host of nonviolent civil rights demonstrators marched for five days from Selma to Montgomery in Alabama, all in the name of voting rights. Some moderate Democrats have recently misinterpreted Dr. King’s wisdom in the name of dissuading protestors from pilfering businesses (King actually believed that “riots [were] the language of the unheard”), but “Selma” understands that if you hold your ground with enough comrades at your back, sooner or later, the authorities will have no other choice but to listen.
“Chi-Raq” (2015)
What, you thought a list about movies that deal with civil unrest would have just ONE Spike Lee joint on it? In a filmography that teems with incendiary rage and rhetoric, “Chi-Raq” might just be Spike Lee’s most explosive directorial outing. It’s a (very) loose adaptation of the classic Greek comedy “Lysistrata” that makes time to skewer Chicago’s gun violence epidemic, hip-hop posturing, and modern sexual politics. Those who accuse “Chi-Raq” of not being tonally disciplined enough are missing the point. Like an angry mob of protestors, “Chi-Raq” is combustible to the point of detonation. Its primary point is not to placate but to enrage. In that regard, the movie is quite successful: it taps into the impotent sense of fury felt by all too many in our country who can see that their needs are being outright disregarded by those in power. “Chi-Raq” also manages to strike a unique balance between raunchy madcap comedy and genuine tragedy without giving its viewers tonal whiplash, which is an accomplishment in and of itself.
“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” (2016)
One could make a very convincing argument for “Rogue One” as the grimmest “Star Wars” movie in the entire canon. Certainly, Gareth Edwards’ steely sci-fi tentpole lacks the cartoonish sugar-rush buzz of the George Lucas prequels, and also “The Last Jedi’s” propensity towards burning the Jedi order down and taking the mustier narrative conventions of “The Force Awakens” with it. “Rogue One,” to its credit, isn’t so concerned with fan service that it avoids killing off some of its primary characters; such is the privilege of being a “Star Wars” spin-off, we suppose. What makes “Rogue One” resonant when viewed today is that it’s technically about an uprising: a proletarian coalition who plot getting one over on the Empire, fascist oppressors that they are, by stealing plans for the Death Star. It doesn’t hurt that Ben Mendelsohn, one of Hollywood’s best bad guys, plays the unctuous, loathsome Orson Krennic as the type of guy Mitch McConnell might hang out with. We’re not here to point fingers, but let’s also not forget that the guy murders a scientist in the movie’s opening scene.
“Detroit” (2017)
One of the many things we are learning from the ongoing nationwide protests is that you should never assume that the police are your first line of defense. Cops across America have acted abhorrently at these displays, raining hell upon innocent bystanders and employing tear gas and rubber bullets in situations that absolutely do not call for such tactics. Kathryn Bigelow’s harrowing “Detroit” understands that there is a certain kind of deluded, toxic individual who is drawn to the idea of law enforcement for all the wrong reasons. In Bigelow’s film, this archetype is personified with horrifying, reptilian power by Will Poulter, Jack Reynor, and Ben O’ Toole, who play a trio of vile, bigoted police officers who unleash an onslaught of abuse on Black civilians during an extended standoff at the Algiers Motel (the movie also makes time to visualize the 12th Street Riot of 1967). For a director who’s made her share of movies about cops, Bigelow does her best to grapple with the dehumanizing effects of militarized policing. “Detroit” is divisive, mainly in regards to whether or not it is Bigelow’s right to tell this particular story, but the fact that we’re still dealing with the same injustices that the movie depicts over half a century later certainly says something.
“LA ‘92” (2017)
Any Angelino of a certain age who doesn’t live on the Westside of the city can probably tell you a story about where they were and what they were doing in April of 1992 when the city was nearly torn asunder as a result of the egregious verdict in the trial of Rodney King, who was beaten to within an inch of his life by a deplorable squadron of LAPD officers. During a time when many wishy-washy white folks are bemoaning the cyclical violence that comes part and parcel with civil disobedience, a film like 2017s “LA ‘92” is a stark reminder that the collateral damage of public protest is almost always symptomatic of a broader systemic issue. Daniel Lindsay and T.J. Martin directed this bleak but essential documentary which acts as a warning to those who condemn rioting without seeing it as a logical expression of impotent, unacknowledged fury. The old adage of “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” seems all too terribly prescient when one considers the parallels between the chaos sewn in 1992 and what’s happening on the streets of our nation at this moment.
Honorable Mentions:
Ron Shelton’s “Dark Blue,” in which Kurt Russell plays a deeply prejudiced LAPD officer who is forced to question his institutional allegiance in the heat of the ‘92 Los Angeles riots. Martin Scorsese’s “Gangs of New York,” which examines the ugly, inherent tribalism that has long divided America’s race-and-class-based factions. The 2019 “Les Miserables” is a drama whose central message seems all but impossible to ignore.
Gus Van Sant’s “Milk,” in which the problematic-but-talented Sean Penn gives a warm, heartfelt, uncharacteristically subtle performance as pioneering gay activist Harvey Milk. Dee Rees’ “Mudbound,” one of the more undervalued and underseen social dramas of 2017. And let’s not forget “Pump Up The Volume,” a ’90s gem about the power of radio and the uproar it can cause.
John Singleton’s “Rosewood,” which dramatizes the 1923 Rosewood Massacre, and was only relegated to this category due to the undeniable built-on prophesy offered up by the other Singleton movie that ultimately made this list. We mustn’t count out “Sorry To Bother You,” the gloriously bonkers directorial debut of real-deal radical Boots Riley, whose thoughts on our current, tragic situation are very much worth reading.
There is also Kathryn Bigelow’s end-of-times cult classic “Strange Days,” which offers weirdly relatable and thrilling entertainment for our current, apocalyptic times. “Gook,” which uses the racially-motivated 1991 murder of Latasha Harlins at the hands of a Korean liquor store owner as a platform to examine strained relationships between Black and Korean Angelinos during the ‘92 uprising. Also, “Within Our Gates,” one of the finest films made by the great Oscar Micheaux, that early trailblazer of African-American cinema whose filmography deserves more thorough appreciation in white circles. And, finally, Vernon Sewell’s “The Wind of Change,” which was an early, all-too-rare example of a film that dared to confront the racism that has long plagued the United Kingdom.
We implore all of our readers to remain safe, while, at the same time, remaining vigilant. This madness is far from over, and the only way we will make it out the other side is if we remain united against the fear-mongering and fascism enforced by Donald Trump and militarized police forces across the country. In the meantime, donate time and money to worthwhile social justice organizations (preferably ones that are Black-owned). Share resources that will allow others to donate and make contributions. Support Black-owned local businesses. Acknowledge your privilege. Show up to the protests if you can. Take the time to educate people in your life who may not necessarily “get it.” At the end of the day, we are all in this together.
Thank you for reading.
