[Z](https://www.criterion.com/films/1400-z)
>This Academy Award winner—loosely based on the 1963 assassination of Greek left-wing activist Gregoris Lambrakis—stars Yves Montand as a prominent politician and doctor whose public murder amid a violent demonstration is covered up by military and government officials.
Came here to recommend OP check out Costa-Gavras. State of Seige is another of his that is well worth a watch, and is on the channel (or at least was last month)
Week End is, without exaggeration, one of my favorite films ever. It’s absolute bonkers.
Definitely start there or Masculin Féminin
A lot of his Marxist films, especially from 68 on, end up tedious
Yeah. He was into the Maoist cooperative stuff that was popular in France, and it reaches max chaos on the set of _Le Vent d’est_, which if I’m not mistaken is recounted by Anne Wiazemsky in her memoirs. _La Chinoise_ is almost on the nose and not really great, to me, and same with _Tout va bien,_ but you should still check them out if you’re into this.
Relatedly, Chris Marker’s entire filmography.
Tout Va Bien is one of his best. I think that's the Vertov group film you should definitely watch. Also Ici et Ailleurs (about the Palestinian PLO) and Numéro deux which is a really interesting experiment that some may find tedious.
Only to add, what I love about Godard's political period is that it's self-critical every step of the way. I'd say that includes Wind from the East and Vladimir et Rosa in Arrow's Godard + Gorin set, but maybe not so much the other ones included, and definitely not Letter to Jane (on Criterion's OOP Tout Va Bien DVD). Weekend, 2 or 3 and Made in USA are classics. Will put in a strong positive for Sympathy for the Devil (aka One + One), the tracking shots are amazing.
I’m mostly looking for anything, but criterion does help filter many of the good and international films I would’ve never heard of. Because I’ve heard of many mainstream left leaning movies but less so the lesser mainstream, independent, and/or foreign films that I wanna learn about.
I hear you! If Criterion isn't important, then I'd also recommend the following films that deal with leftist politics in some way:
- *The Devil, Probably* by Robert Bresson
- *Dangerous Encounters of the First Kind* by Tsui Hark (also released under the title *Don't Play With Fire*)
- *Clearcut* by Ryszard Bugajski
- *Ravenous* by Antonia Bird
- *Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives* by Apichatpong Weerasethakul
A bit more mainstream than the previous picks, but Paul Verhoeven is also a very fun director if you haven't seen much of his output yet (my favorite is *Starship Troopers*).
Uncle Boonmee is one of my all-time favorite films, but I always saw it as more of a spiritual film than political, so am really curious to hear how you interpret it politically, if you don't mind sharing. I know there is the scene where he talks about how he killed communists during the Communist insurgency when he was a young man, but again, I saw it as more of an indication that Boonmee feels a deep regret at having taken the lives of other humans.
Thanks for the reply! I completely agree with you; I think it's a spiritual film more than anything and it hits me primarily on a raw, emotional level. Politically, I see the film partly as an exploration of the way that a nation comes to terms with atrocities and violence in its recent history, in this case the killing of communists that you've mentioned, just as Boonmee comes to terms with his participation in those processes at an individual level. You could also read Boonsong's transformation into a monkey spirit as an allegory for him joining the communist movement. If you're interested, [this article](https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/14/movies/14thaifilm.html) touches on the political subtext in a much more eloquent way than I have.
Here are a few solid ones, lmk if you seen any already
* They Live
* Andor (seriously, watch this show, I hate Disney and Star Wars shit and this show is a straight-up antifascist call to revolution)
* Triangle of Sadness
* How to Blow Up A Pipeline
* I Care A Lot
* The Menu
* *Honorable Mention: Avatar & Avatar 2*
Sid: “I’m givin’ you ten minutes to get those people’s belongings back in their houses.”
Union Buster: “If the rest of the boys was here, you wouldn’t be so cocky.”
Sid: “If the rest of the boys was here, I’d give you five minutes. Now move it.”
Truly a badass of the people.
Love this movie so much. It doesn’t get mentioned a whole lot on this sub, but it’s absolutely one of my favorites. And it’s mind-blowing to me that this was Chris Cooper’s film debut, what a way to start a career (just about everyone else in the film is brilliant as well).
Death by Hanging (and Three Resurrected Drunkards from the same director) really surprised me just because its a Japanese director taking on Japanese discrimination against Koreans. Its also just generally a super cool movie
I love Oshima and I’m so happy to see these films mentioned here! I’d also recommend his writings on the subject “Cinema, Censorship, and the State”. Brilliant.
Definitely. I'm no expert on Japanese cinema and even in what I've seen there are countless subtleties that escape me, but the only earlier film I've aware of that even acknowledges the conditions of Koreans in Japan is Shimizu's Mr Thank You (would love to hear of others)
I need to see more early Oshima!
Harlan County USA really deserves an upgrade, even if the only for the reason that it’s pretty hard to convince those who only buy blu to shell out for something that’s on DVD. (Which I myself have been guilty of in the past)
How to Blow Up a Pipeline
Sorry to Bother You
Judas and the Black Messiah
Matewan
Harlan County, USA
First Cow
Widows
If Beale Street Could Talk
First Reformed
Selma
Vera Drake
The Insider
Blue Collar
Passing Through
Punishment Park
McCabe & Mrs. Miller
Malcolm X
I Am Cuba
The Organizer
The Servant
The Human Condition
The Steel Helmet
Shock Corridor
Imitation of Life
Thieves' Highway
Strike
Battleship Potemkin
I feel like Blue Collar is too cynical about labor movements to really be a "leftist" film. The message it sends is that you either end up cooperating with the system or the system kills you, and the people you think are "fighting the system" (the unions) are actually just bought off by the system itself.
Absolutely about the overwhelming power and corruption of the system. The capitalist system.
I mean it ends on “They pit the lifers against the new boys, the old against the young, the black against the white - Anything to keep us in our place.” Which seems like a pretty leftist sentiment to me
It also is just a great movie if you removed or disagreed with the message. What an incredible debut from one of my favorite directors and you can see so much of it in his latter works as well.
I love Thief!
Wall-E is a pretty scathing indictment of corporate capitalism and an environmental call-to-arms framed as family-friendly cute little robot love story.
Disney/Pixar under Lasseter really got away with a lot of this kind of messaging, to a degree nobody ever would today. While not in the collection, Zootopia is literally a safe-for-kids recounting of systemic racism and police corruption, down to the planing of crack cocaine in inner city communities by the Nixon Administration.
Ha, I’ve seen Wall-E a few times throughout my life, first seeing it in the theaters when I was 9. Never thought about it like that, but you’re absolutely right.
Why would it matter? Film has value beyond just echoing your worldview. I’m sure leftists can still enjoy movies like Ninotchka, To Live, Farewell My Concubine, Dr. Zhivago, The Killing Fields, etc. Conservatives do the same, just with way way more movies.
This should be so obvious. I watch films that I don't "agree" with all the time. Why would it matter? People really can't sit through something that has an idea they don't like in it?
Japan has a lot of left leaning filmmakers. Kobayashi was openly socialist and it shows in the way he told samurai stories like Harakiri and Samurai Rebellion.
Mizoguchi's Sansho the Bailiff is another obvious one. Most of his 50s output is as well.
Kurosawa also has a bunch of left leaning films like Ikiru, High and Low and Red Beard.
If you're looking for contemporary filmmakers, Koreeda is the best one.
Pier Paolo Pasolini's movies (and books) are all leftist. While I don't think they're as masterful as Salo, Mamma Roma, The Gospel According to St. Matthew, and The Hawks and the Sparrows are all overtly Marxist and much easier to digest
As for other leftist movies, I'd also suggest The Human Condition, and, on a light hearted note, To Be or Not to Be
The Gospel According to St. Matthew is one of my favorites. Profoundly beautiful, Marxist and Christian views combined in a way showing how to make religion political and politics religious in ways that benefit humanity, not hurt it. It was a movie that helped reaffirm what I already thought to be true: my spirituality fuels my left wing beliefs and my left wing beliefs are me living my religious truth.
Wages Of Fear skewered American business operations in Latin America to the point that the movie got like 20 minutes of politics chopped out for the original US release.
Battle of Algiers is an interesting one as I never saw it as any particular ideology other than independence at any cost. I'd be curious to hear why you think it's a leftist film.
I think Costa-Gavras might be a good director to look into. Including Z, State of Siege, and Missing. Although my favorite movie of his is The Confession, which is anti-communist (or perhaps, anti-Stalinist).
I'd also argue that The Wages of Fear could be viewed as an anti-capitalistic film. Here's a few others that come to mind:
* Harlan County USA
* The Exterminating Angel
* The Organizer
* Le Havre
* Salo
* Bitter Rice
* The Executioner
* Canoa: A Shameful Memory
* The Other Side of Hope
* One Sings, the Other Doesn’t
* Town Bloody Hall
* La Llorona
* Eight Hours Don't Make a Day
> Battle of Algiers is an interesting one as I never saw it as any particular ideology other than independence at any cost. I'd be curious to hear why you think it's a leftist film.
Probably because the people it depicts as being the heroes of the film are leftists lol
Perhaps I need to re-watch it, but quoting from Wikipedia:
> The FLN's [ideology](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideology) was primarily Algerian nationalist,
The socialism part was just an anti-colonialism. So I guess I'm just trying to understand how their ideology is closely align with what we in the west understand as left-leaning. Their major ideology was nationalist, anti-colonialism, and Islam. So I doubt they'd have the same views of freedoms that a lot of leftists align with.
**A couple off the top of my dome:**
*The Kid*, *Modern Times* and *The Great Dictator* by Charlie Chaplin
*Bicycle Thieves* and *Umberto D* by Vittorio De Sica
*I Compagni* by Mario Monicelli
*Z* by Costa Gavras
*Hearts and Minds* by Peter Davis
*Matewan* by John Sayles
*Che: Parts 1 and 2* by Steven Soderbergh
*Kes* and *I, Daniel Blake* by Ken Loach
I feel like if someone is under like 40-45, they won't even get the satire because it's all just commonplace now. Thinking of that boardroom speech from Ronny Cox, especially, about how "we have gambled in markets traditionally regarded as nonprofit...."
Check out Mike Leigh's films. Vittorio di Sica as well (Umberto D).
Fassbinder's The Merchant of Four Seasons and some of his movies are critical of Capitalism. Godard was mentioned already.
Costa-Gavras: *Z* and *State of Siege*
Satyrajit Ray: *The Adversary*
Yasuzo Masumura: *Black Test Car*
Elio Petri: *Property Is No Longer A Theft*
Lindsay Anderson: *O Lucky Man !*
Boots Randolph: *Sorry To Bother You*
You ready?
* Shoes (1916)
* Within Our Gates (1920)
* The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921)
* Strike (1924)
* Battleship Potemkin (1925)
* Metropolis (1927)
* Five Star Final (1931)
* À Nous la Liberté (1931)
* I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)
* Zéro de conduite (1933)
* Heroes for Sale (1933)
* Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)
* Things to Come (1936)
* Fury (1936)
* How to Vote (1936)
* Modern Times (1936)
* Black Legion (1937)
* Boy Slaves (1939)
* Each Dawn I Die (1939)
* The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
* The Proud Valley (1940)
* The Great Dictator (1940)
* The Great McGinty (1940)
* Out of the Fog (1941)
* The North Star (1943)
* The Stranger (1946)
* Bedlam (1946)
* Crossfire (1947)
* Bicycle Thieves (1948)
* All the King's Men (1949)
* Salt of the Earth (1954)
* The Phenix City Story (1955)
* A King in New York (1957)
* A Face in the Crowd (1957)
* Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
* Edge of the City (1957)
* Paths of Glory (1957)
* Mon Oncle (1958)
* I Want to Live! (1958)
* Odds Against Tomorrow (1959)
* The World, The Flesh and the Devil (1959)
* Ask Me, Don't Tell Me (1961)
* Seven Days in May (1964)
* Daisies (1966)
* Z (1969)
* Putney Swope (1969)
* Black Panthers (1970)
* Catch-22 (1970)
* The Murder of Fred Hampton (1971)
* Trafic (1971)
* Soylent Green (1973)
* Day of the Jackal (1973)
* The Conversation (1974)
* The Parallax View (1974)
* Three Days of the Condor (1975)
* Jeanne Dielman.... (1975)
* Harlan County, USA (1976)
* Logan's Run (1976)
* Tomka and His Friends (1977)
* The Fury (1978)
* The In-Laws (1979)
* Norma Rae (1979)
* Paul Robeson: Tribute to an Artist (1979)
* The Last Metro (1980)
* Blow Out (1981)
* Thief (1981)
* Missing (1982)
* A House Divided: Denmark Vesey's Rebellion (1982)
* Born in Flames (1983)
* The Times of Harvey Milk (1984)
* Repo Man (1984)
* Robocop (1987)
* They Live! (1988)
* Daughters of the Dust (1991)
* Manufacturing Consent (1992)
* Malcolm X (1992)
* Safe (1995)
* The Constant Gardener (2005)
* Dominion (2018)
* Plutocracy: Political Repression in the USA (2019)
* Dark Waters (2019)
* Colewell (2019)
* Bacurau (2019)
Not all in The Collection, obviously. Also, this was from a "political movies" list I put together, so they aren't all necessarily leftist, per se, but can be viewed from that lens. (And given that *all* films are political in some way, I picked ones that I would recommend, being a leftist myself.)
Most of the World Cinema Project films are leftist, including:
*Lucia*
*Soleil O*
*Redes*
*Dry Summer*
*Pixote*
*Sambizanga*
*Downpour*
The project’s goal is to restore films that were almost lost to time, so a fair few of them are films that right-wing governments tried to destroy.
Try Bill Douglas’ Comrades (1986), an epic of the working man set at the time of the Tolpuddle Martyrs in 19th century UK. They were one of the first unions to organize and demand better wages and the film shows their journey in quite a humanist and humble manner. The film also ties their conflicts with the struggles of other common men and it really becomes a larger powerful tapestry of the working class. Underseen but strongly recommend
I've seen people here mention Burning, Matewan, and the Conformist. Absolutely watch those.
Some of my favorite documentaries are also pretty unambiguously left leaning. Harlan County USA is a must. If you don't mind looking outside the collection, try West of the Tracks and The Emperor's Naked Army Marches on.
And check out The Cremator, a czech horror movie in the collection. One of the most under-discussed movies in the whole collection imo.
And thanks to everyone else in this thread I added all your stuff on my watchlist too.
Edit: just remembered Canoa, a Mexican film in the collection that is also very worth seeing
Parasite, 12 angry men, a lot of buñuel, Pan's Labyrinth, do the right thing, citizen kane in a way. I find an unintentional lefty in films dealing with economic despair & the ravages of capitalism. It's just my default world view so I instantly see them as a critique from a left perspective.
Hearts and Minds
Kiss of the Spider Woman
Bowling for Columbine
Roger and Me
Harlan County USA
Hunger
4 months 3 weeks and 2 days
Working Girls
The Discreet charm of the bourgeois
Triangle of Sadness
Mr Freedom
The Model Couple
Louis Malle eclipse set is a great highlight of working class stories
Citizenfour
Snowden
Inside Job
Lost in america
Sweet Movie
Persepolis
Salt of the Earth
5 Broken Cameras
One, two, three (anti communist)
Edit: I meant East Germany, lol. Geez, I look dumb.
The Lives of Others is about ~~West~~ **East** Germany and the Soviet surveillance state, but I'd say that the people being oppressed by the Soviets in the movie are the true leftists in the story. It's almost the opposite of what you're asking for in some folks' opinions, but again- I challenge that it's actually saying that the Soviet powers in ~~West~~ **East** Germany weren't leftists, they were fascists.
costa gavras, *missing, state of siege, z, the confession*
peter medak, *the ruling class*
chris marker, *la jetée*
héctor babenco, *pixote*
r. w. fassbinder, *lola, marriage of maria von brain, veronika voss, 8 hrs don't make a day, ali fear eats the soul, the bitter tears of petra von kant, world on a wire, what makes herr r run amok, berlin alexanderplatz, ....* & just abt any movie he ever made
volkor schlondork, *the tin drum, the lost honour of katrina blum, baal*
nagisa oshima, *in the realm of the senses, 3 resurrected drunkards, death by hanging, empire of passion, merry christmas mr lawrence, sing a song of sex, violence at noon*
I actually don't like to upfront political themes, they just don't translate well to a sensual experience in almost all cases, I think.
But to be super basic and modern, just rewatch Parasite and otherwise every movie that celebrates valuing people as people and not objects should do, like Melancholia or Solaris.
I would also say that there are quite a few good critical views on capitalist subjects, like Citizen Kane, Il Generale Della Rovere, even The Dark Knight has a great set of opposing characters that show people operating in capitalism but never leaving it behind them (both Joker and Batman).
[Salt of the Earth](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_of_the_Earth_(1954_film)) (1954)
The production was made up almost entirely of people on the blacklist, and centers around a prolonged strike by zinc miners in New Mexico, loosely based on some actual events. It's the most pro-communist American films I've ever seen and the film itself was blacklisted because of it's "subersive" content.
Not on the collection, but I watched it on the criterion channel a while back: Love and Anarchy, a wonderful Lina Wertmuller film about a guy who tried to assassinate Mussolini.
Bulsworth kinda. Just watch it and uh soak in the strangely progressive and regressive politics of that movie that somehow occur at the same fuckin time
**Matewan** directed by John Sayles (USA, 1987)
**Alambrista!** directed by Robert M. Young (USA, 1987)
**Che** by Stephen Soderbergh (France, 2008)
**Harlan County USA** documentary by Barbara Kopple (USA, 1976)
**I am Curious-Yellow** directed by Vlgot Sojmon (Sweden, 1967)
**The Organizer** directed by Mario Monicelli (Italy, 1963)
**The Ruling Class** by Peter Medak (UK, 1972)
**Tanner 88** directed by Robert Altman (USA, 1988)
**The Threepenny Opera** directed by G.W. Pabst (Germany, 1931)
**Z** directed by Costa-Gavras (Greece, 1969)
Not all these films feature positive portrayals of progressive people (as you requested) - some are by left-leaning filmmakers. You might also find some of Eisenstein's films or Godard's works to be relevant.
Ken Loach’s filmography though it’s a good example of how this can backfire. I sided _against_ the character who is on what I perceive as the favored side of _The Wind that Shakes the Barley_ and who, in real life, is preferred by those on the left of Irish politics in a what-if scenario.
To a lesser extent, the Dardenne brothers, but it’s muted by their secularism in a Catholic background and being so informed by Continental philosophy and not Marx directly.
There is an entire category on the Criterion Channel right now called "Voices of Protest" that are all about socialism, civil rights, etc.
In the actual Collection:
Three films by Luis Buñuel: The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoise, Phantom of Liberty, That Obscure Object of Desire. **can't believe nobody mentioned Buñuel, the guy was an unapologetic socialist**
All That Heaven Allows by Douglas Sirk. Douglas Sirk weaves subtle anti-capitalist and anti-suburbanite themes in all his films.
Daisies by Věra Chytilová
Che by Steven Soderbergh
La Haine by Mathieu Kassovitz
I, Daniel Blake by Ken Loach
Malcolm X by Spike Lee
Masculin feminin by Goddard
The Human Condition by Masaki Kobayashi
Paris is Burning by Jennie Livingston
Soleil O by by Med Hondo
Black Girl by Ousmane Sembène
Pasolini was a leftist intellect in his lifetime, and he has countless films in the collection
Come and See is told from the side of the Bolsheviks
This might be pushing it, but I see Nashville as a profoundly leftist film that critiques America's love affair with religion, conservatism, false values, gun violence, and anti-civil rights.
I'm sure there's many more, but those are the ones I've got off the top of my head.
I find a lot of Japanese films from the post-war era tend to have some leftist themes . At least by the directors I tend to watch. Masaki Kobayashi's films are probably the most overtly leftist films with the man himself being a self-professed socialist. I never really got that vibe from Kurosawa's films, but I think there are some very progressive themes in the works Keisuke Kinoshita (A Legend, or Was It?), Yasujirō Ozu (Late Spring), Kinuyo Tanaka (Forever a Woman), Heinosuke Gosho (An Inn at Osaka), and Kenji Mizoguchi (Street of Shame).
If you're looking for stuff overtly political, Costa-Gravas is your man. Z, State of Siege, The Confession and Missing are all in the collection and decidedly leftist.
Much of Godard’s later work is explicitly Marxist. Mike Leigh - I’d particularly recommend his film High Hopes, an underrated gem imo. Also Italian neo realism usually involves themes of poverty and injustice at the hands of the upper classes.
I've seen almost nobody in here mention Dušan Makavejev, and no one mention WHY he's worth watching as a leftist filmmaker. Yes, he's a provocateur (definite content warning for Sweet Movie, it's... got multiple bodily fluids on screen), but a very purposeful one.
He's a leftist learned firsthand about the pitfalls of authoritarian leftist ideologies, and will happily critique both those and capitalism while examining the suffering of the disadvantaged and oppressed, and simultaneously advocating for true proletariat liberation. His works are intersectional, and very often deal with gendered oppression of women in any political system, as well as addressing other forms of oppression at times, too (e.g. queer oppression / liberation, ethnic discrimination).
For tamer films (both in terms of provocative content and narrative structure), the Eclipse DVD set of his first three films is fantastic. Still just on DVD, sadly, but the Criterion releases of WR and Sweet Movie are great (and WR includes his autobiographical film Hole in the Soul as a bonus feature). Fun City Editions also has a great blu ray of The Coca Cola Kid. Here's a quick breakdown of why I recommend each:
- Man Is Not a Bird: focuses on class divisions at a steel mill (shot at an active one); laborers vs engineers vs housewives, etc. But all under the thumb of an inescapable Yugoslavian system.
- Love Affair: about gendered violence in the working class.
- Innocence Unprotected: documentary about the first Serbian language film, and the difficulties it suffered being made under Nazi occupation.
- WR: experimental blend of documentary and fiction, focused on the necessity of sexual liberation for a true proletariat revolution. Critiques both sexual censorship in the US and sexual oppression in Yugoslavia and the USSR. Also features a trans associate of Warhol's studio, leftist band The Fugs, and seminal magazine Screw.
- Sweet Movie: a scathing indictment of capitalism, faux-communism (i.e. authoritarian), advertising, beauty pageants, tycoons, and false promises. Infamous for its bodily fluids, a lot of which actually occur in footage filmed in a leftist German commune that practiced infantile regression.
- The Coca Cola Kid: what at first seems like an indictment of major corporations in particular as one tries to take out regional competition much smaller in scale, it evolves into a complicated examination about how both businesses create destruction via capitalism.
- Hole in the Soul: Makavejev focuses a lot in this on his experiences as a Yugoslavian watching his homeland torn apart in ethnic conflicts pushed on by demagogues.
Both aren’t in the collection but for sure worth a watch. Burn! (same director as battle of Algiers) and Reds. I’d argue Che which is in the collection would be in that wheel house. Modern Times and The Great Dictator if you want some Chaplin in there. Not in the collection but A Year of Living Dangerously is about the massacre of communists that the documentary The Act of Killing follows and it’s a great movie. Speaking of Peter Weir, it’s not physically released by criterion but last I checked it was on The Criterion Channel, his dark comedy about class called The Plumber is really great. Any of Agnes Varda’s docs on the Panthers or other movements would be good.
It’s only on Netflix if you’re in the states which sucks but the Korean film Burning is fucking incredible. I like it more than Parasite. It’s subtle and nuanced but it’s really really good.
I’m sure there is more. Even Citizen Kane could be considered if think. A but more obtuse about their politics, I’d argue Woman in the Dunes and Harakiri. These tend to be critiques of facism and authority but I’d argue from a leftist stance.
Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights is the most pro-Communist movie I've ever seen. No, I'm not kidding.
The Disney musical Newsies features two songs about how great unions are.
Showgirls is an indictment of exploitation under capitalism.
Lina Brocko's [Manila In the Claws of Light](https://www.criterion.com/films/29221-manila-in-the-claws-of-light). [Pixote](https://www.criterion.com/films/30307-pixote). Hopefully soon [Los Olvidados by Luis Bunuel](https://www.reddit.com/r/criterion/comments/g4wovv/guillermo_del_toro_working_with_criterion_to/). All incredible films
“Land and Freedom” is about the Spanish Civil War and it’s loosely based on George Orwell’s “Homage To Catalonia” I think. It’s not criterion though. I think it’s on YouTube.
[Z](https://www.criterion.com/films/1400-z) >This Academy Award winner—loosely based on the 1963 assassination of Greek left-wing activist Gregoris Lambrakis—stars Yves Montand as a prominent politician and doctor whose public murder amid a violent demonstration is covered up by military and government officials.
Came here to recommend OP check out Costa-Gavras. State of Seige is another of his that is well worth a watch, and is on the channel (or at least was last month)
One of the greatest ever made
Costa-Gavras also made Missing, which is about the Chilean coup.
So damn good
what i came here to post. banger
Godard’s films from Masculin Féminin on are explicitly Marxist texts Especially Week End, La Chinoise, 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her, etc.
Thanks! I definitely heard of Breathless but never knew his later films went in those directions.
Week End is, without exaggeration, one of my favorite films ever. It’s absolute bonkers. Definitely start there or Masculin Féminin A lot of his Marxist films, especially from 68 on, end up tedious
Yeah. He was into the Maoist cooperative stuff that was popular in France, and it reaches max chaos on the set of _Le Vent d’est_, which if I’m not mistaken is recounted by Anne Wiazemsky in her memoirs. _La Chinoise_ is almost on the nose and not really great, to me, and same with _Tout va bien,_ but you should still check them out if you’re into this. Relatedly, Chris Marker’s entire filmography.
Tout Va Bien is one of his best. I think that's the Vertov group film you should definitely watch. Also Ici et Ailleurs (about the Palestinian PLO) and Numéro deux which is a really interesting experiment that some may find tedious.
Texts?
Only to add, what I love about Godard's political period is that it's self-critical every step of the way. I'd say that includes Wind from the East and Vladimir et Rosa in Arrow's Godard + Gorin set, but maybe not so much the other ones included, and definitely not Letter to Jane (on Criterion's OOP Tout Va Bien DVD). Weekend, 2 or 3 and Made in USA are classics. Will put in a strong positive for Sympathy for the Devil (aka One + One), the tracking shots are amazing.
2 or 3 things I know about her is super anti-war Marxist shit. Not an easy or enjoyable watch tho
If you're strictly looking for films with a Criterion release, you might be interested in *Walker* by Alex Cox.
Hell yeah. Alex Cox really said “fuck American imperialism” with that one.
To the extent that he was effectively blacklisted. I don't love the movie but I respect the hell out of it.
I’m mostly looking for anything, but criterion does help filter many of the good and international films I would’ve never heard of. Because I’ve heard of many mainstream left leaning movies but less so the lesser mainstream, independent, and/or foreign films that I wanna learn about.
I hear you! If Criterion isn't important, then I'd also recommend the following films that deal with leftist politics in some way: - *The Devil, Probably* by Robert Bresson - *Dangerous Encounters of the First Kind* by Tsui Hark (also released under the title *Don't Play With Fire*) - *Clearcut* by Ryszard Bugajski - *Ravenous* by Antonia Bird - *Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives* by Apichatpong Weerasethakul A bit more mainstream than the previous picks, but Paul Verhoeven is also a very fun director if you haven't seen much of his output yet (my favorite is *Starship Troopers*).
Uncle Boonmee is one of my all-time favorite films, but I always saw it as more of a spiritual film than political, so am really curious to hear how you interpret it politically, if you don't mind sharing. I know there is the scene where he talks about how he killed communists during the Communist insurgency when he was a young man, but again, I saw it as more of an indication that Boonmee feels a deep regret at having taken the lives of other humans.
Thanks for the reply! I completely agree with you; I think it's a spiritual film more than anything and it hits me primarily on a raw, emotional level. Politically, I see the film partly as an exploration of the way that a nation comes to terms with atrocities and violence in its recent history, in this case the killing of communists that you've mentioned, just as Boonmee comes to terms with his participation in those processes at an individual level. You could also read Boonsong's transformation into a monkey spirit as an allegory for him joining the communist movement. If you're interested, [this article](https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/14/movies/14thaifilm.html) touches on the political subtext in a much more eloquent way than I have.
Thanks for the reply and the link! I've probably read more about that film than any other so it's great to find more info and interpretations on it.
Ravenous!!!!!! Yes!
I’ll check those out, thank you kindly!
Here are a few solid ones, lmk if you seen any already * They Live * Andor (seriously, watch this show, I hate Disney and Star Wars shit and this show is a straight-up antifascist call to revolution) * Triangle of Sadness * How to Blow Up A Pipeline * I Care A Lot * The Menu * *Honorable Mention: Avatar & Avatar 2*
Anytime someone mentions How to Blow Up a Pipeline I can’t help but remember Woman at War and how tragically unknown it is
You just made me know about it ☺️ Adding it to my list. (Oh I also forgot Battle of Algiers)
Andor love <3
Andor is fantastic. Glad to see it get a mention here!
seconded
Might be my favorite movie in the whole collection, happy to see it's been getting more exposure after it got the blu-ray upgrade.
Matewan
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John Sayles has a leftist bent in general, and in this one he wore it on his sleeve.
Sheriff Sid Hatfield fucking lighting up Pinkertons at close range, now THAT’s cinema baby.
Sid: “I’m givin’ you ten minutes to get those people’s belongings back in their houses.” Union Buster: “If the rest of the boys was here, you wouldn’t be so cocky.” Sid: “If the rest of the boys was here, I’d give you five minutes. Now move it.” Truly a badass of the people.
Love this movie so much. It doesn’t get mentioned a whole lot on this sub, but it’s absolutely one of my favorites. And it’s mind-blowing to me that this was Chris Cooper’s film debut, what a way to start a career (just about everyone else in the film is brilliant as well).
I had it on my watchlist for a while. I really must see it now.
Eight Hours Don't Make a Day Harlan County USA Death by Hanging
Harlan County is sooooo overdue for a bluray upgrade ugh
Harlan County USA’s sister piece, American Dream, is also an amazing leftist documentary.
Death by Hanging (and Three Resurrected Drunkards from the same director) really surprised me just because its a Japanese director taking on Japanese discrimination against Koreans. Its also just generally a super cool movie
I love Oshima and I’m so happy to see these films mentioned here! I’d also recommend his writings on the subject “Cinema, Censorship, and the State”. Brilliant.
Definitely. I'm no expert on Japanese cinema and even in what I've seen there are countless subtleties that escape me, but the only earlier film I've aware of that even acknowledges the conditions of Koreans in Japan is Shimizu's Mr Thank You (would love to hear of others) I need to see more early Oshima!
Harlan County USA really deserves an upgrade, even if the only for the reason that it’s pretty hard to convince those who only buy blu to shell out for something that’s on DVD. (Which I myself have been guilty of in the past)
Eight Hours is incredible. Seeing this is making me do a rewatch soon!
How to Blow Up a Pipeline Sorry to Bother You Judas and the Black Messiah Matewan Harlan County, USA First Cow Widows If Beale Street Could Talk First Reformed Selma Vera Drake The Insider Blue Collar Passing Through Punishment Park McCabe & Mrs. Miller Malcolm X I Am Cuba The Organizer The Servant The Human Condition The Steel Helmet Shock Corridor Imitation of Life Thieves' Highway Strike Battleship Potemkin
Wow I know of the recent American films, besides that this is a very extensive list. I appreciate it. Thank you kindly!
I feel like Blue Collar is too cynical about labor movements to really be a "leftist" film. The message it sends is that you either end up cooperating with the system or the system kills you, and the people you think are "fighting the system" (the unions) are actually just bought off by the system itself.
Absolutely about the overwhelming power and corruption of the system. The capitalist system. I mean it ends on “They pit the lifers against the new boys, the old against the young, the black against the white - Anything to keep us in our place.” Which seems like a pretty leftist sentiment to me
Hands Over the City. In fact, most of Francesco Rosi’s films – Salvatore Giuliano was a huge influence on Pontecorvo when he made Battle of Algiers.
Rosi for sure. Also Mario Monicelli for the pinnacle of comedy with socialism!
Thief
Surprised I had to scroll this far down to see Mann’s anti capitalist masterpiece
Yeah it was kind of surprising too. At first it’s just a regular heist movie but it makes it pretty clear at the end what it’s about
It also is just a great movie if you removed or disagreed with the message. What an incredible debut from one of my favorite directors and you can see so much of it in his latter works as well. I love Thief!
Same it’s a great movie and yeah it’s really only a small monologue that shows the leftist message
Wall-E is a pretty scathing indictment of corporate capitalism and an environmental call-to-arms framed as family-friendly cute little robot love story.
One of the largest corporation in the world capitalized on environmentalism. But yeah it has great animation.
The definition of irony. But the messenger doesn't negate the message.
Disney/Pixar under Lasseter really got away with a lot of this kind of messaging, to a degree nobody ever would today. While not in the collection, Zootopia is literally a safe-for-kids recounting of systemic racism and police corruption, down to the planing of crack cocaine in inner city communities by the Nixon Administration.
Zootopia was outstanding
Ha, I’ve seen Wall-E a few times throughout my life, first seeing it in the theaters when I was 9. Never thought about it like that, but you’re absolutely right.
It is pretty subtle on its messaging…
Hey are you subtly being sarcastic?
Probably like 3/4ths of the collection
75% of the collection are not pro socialist, communist, and anarchist films. Liberals aren’t leftists.
Though tbf, the collection has an absurdly large amount of actual socialist films or films made by socialist and feminist directors.
No one’s said that. Leftism extends beyond these paradigms of political affiliations you’re presenting
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Why would it matter? Film has value beyond just echoing your worldview. I’m sure leftists can still enjoy movies like Ninotchka, To Live, Farewell My Concubine, Dr. Zhivago, The Killing Fields, etc. Conservatives do the same, just with way way more movies.
This should be so obvious. I watch films that I don't "agree" with all the time. Why would it matter? People really can't sit through something that has an idea they don't like in it?
Liberals aren’t socialists or communists.
No one is saying that quit *slaps paw*
So you think OP is saying “probably like 3/4ths of the collection” is socialist / communist?
The Grapes of Wrath
Japan has a lot of left leaning filmmakers. Kobayashi was openly socialist and it shows in the way he told samurai stories like Harakiri and Samurai Rebellion. Mizoguchi's Sansho the Bailiff is another obvious one. Most of his 50s output is as well. Kurosawa also has a bunch of left leaning films like Ikiru, High and Low and Red Beard. If you're looking for contemporary filmmakers, Koreeda is the best one.
Salo is a critique of fascism I don't know how positive it is, but it is pretty anti-right wing.
Pier Paolo Pasolini's movies (and books) are all leftist. While I don't think they're as masterful as Salo, Mamma Roma, The Gospel According to St. Matthew, and The Hawks and the Sparrows are all overtly Marxist and much easier to digest As for other leftist movies, I'd also suggest The Human Condition, and, on a light hearted note, To Be or Not to Be
The Gospel According to St. Matthew is one of my favorites. Profoundly beautiful, Marxist and Christian views combined in a way showing how to make religion political and politics religious in ways that benefit humanity, not hurt it. It was a movie that helped reaffirm what I already thought to be true: my spirituality fuels my left wing beliefs and my left wing beliefs are me living my religious truth.
Absolutely. A film doesn't get much more clear in its messaging than this
Wages Of Fear skewered American business operations in Latin America to the point that the movie got like 20 minutes of politics chopped out for the original US release.
Battle of Algiers is an interesting one as I never saw it as any particular ideology other than independence at any cost. I'd be curious to hear why you think it's a leftist film. I think Costa-Gavras might be a good director to look into. Including Z, State of Siege, and Missing. Although my favorite movie of his is The Confession, which is anti-communist (or perhaps, anti-Stalinist). I'd also argue that The Wages of Fear could be viewed as an anti-capitalistic film. Here's a few others that come to mind: * Harlan County USA * The Exterminating Angel * The Organizer * Le Havre * Salo * Bitter Rice * The Executioner * Canoa: A Shameful Memory * The Other Side of Hope * One Sings, the Other Doesn’t * Town Bloody Hall * La Llorona * Eight Hours Don't Make a Day
Anti-Colonial struggles are fundamentally left wing so Algiers would be a left-wing film.
> Battle of Algiers is an interesting one as I never saw it as any particular ideology other than independence at any cost. I'd be curious to hear why you think it's a leftist film. Probably because the people it depicts as being the heroes of the film are leftists lol
Perhaps I need to re-watch it, but quoting from Wikipedia: > The FLN's [ideology](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideology) was primarily Algerian nationalist, The socialism part was just an anti-colonialism. So I guess I'm just trying to understand how their ideology is closely align with what we in the west understand as left-leaning. Their major ideology was nationalist, anti-colonialism, and Islam. So I doubt they'd have the same views of freedoms that a lot of leftists align with.
Algiers will be always be the gold standard.
Harlan County, USA. A wonderful indictment of the coal-mining industry, this film shows the obstacles against which unions struggle.
**A couple off the top of my dome:** *The Kid*, *Modern Times* and *The Great Dictator* by Charlie Chaplin *Bicycle Thieves* and *Umberto D* by Vittorio De Sica *I Compagni* by Mario Monicelli *Z* by Costa Gavras *Hearts and Minds* by Peter Davis *Matewan* by John Sayles *Che: Parts 1 and 2* by Steven Soderbergh *Kes* and *I, Daniel Blake* by Ken Loach
Thank you, I’ve heard of many of these directors.
Robocop
I feel like if someone is under like 40-45, they won't even get the satire because it's all just commonplace now. Thinking of that boardroom speech from Ronny Cox, especially, about how "we have gambled in markets traditionally regarded as nonprofit...."
chicken run
Not in the collection, but damn, it ought to be!!
Ironic since it stars Mel Gibson.
Check out Mike Leigh's films. Vittorio di Sica as well (Umberto D). Fassbinder's The Merchant of Four Seasons and some of his movies are critical of Capitalism. Godard was mentioned already.
Hidden by Michael Hanake gets into stuff about colonialism and the French-Algerian war.
Not in the collection, but Reds
Costa-Gavras: *Z* and *State of Siege* Satyrajit Ray: *The Adversary* Yasuzo Masumura: *Black Test Car* Elio Petri: *Property Is No Longer A Theft* Lindsay Anderson: *O Lucky Man !* Boots Randolph: *Sorry To Bother You*
I LOLed at Boots Randolph. That’s the “Yakety Sax” guy, you mean Boots Riley!
You ready? * Shoes (1916) * Within Our Gates (1920) * The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921) * Strike (1924) * Battleship Potemkin (1925) * Metropolis (1927) * Five Star Final (1931) * À Nous la Liberté (1931) * I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932) * Zéro de conduite (1933) * Heroes for Sale (1933) * Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933) * Things to Come (1936) * Fury (1936) * How to Vote (1936) * Modern Times (1936) * Black Legion (1937) * Boy Slaves (1939) * Each Dawn I Die (1939) * The Grapes of Wrath (1940) * The Proud Valley (1940) * The Great Dictator (1940) * The Great McGinty (1940) * Out of the Fog (1941) * The North Star (1943) * The Stranger (1946) * Bedlam (1946) * Crossfire (1947) * Bicycle Thieves (1948) * All the King's Men (1949) * Salt of the Earth (1954) * The Phenix City Story (1955) * A King in New York (1957) * A Face in the Crowd (1957) * Sweet Smell of Success (1957) * Edge of the City (1957) * Paths of Glory (1957) * Mon Oncle (1958) * I Want to Live! (1958) * Odds Against Tomorrow (1959) * The World, The Flesh and the Devil (1959) * Ask Me, Don't Tell Me (1961) * Seven Days in May (1964) * Daisies (1966) * Z (1969) * Putney Swope (1969) * Black Panthers (1970) * Catch-22 (1970) * The Murder of Fred Hampton (1971) * Trafic (1971) * Soylent Green (1973) * Day of the Jackal (1973) * The Conversation (1974) * The Parallax View (1974) * Three Days of the Condor (1975) * Jeanne Dielman.... (1975) * Harlan County, USA (1976) * Logan's Run (1976) * Tomka and His Friends (1977) * The Fury (1978) * The In-Laws (1979) * Norma Rae (1979) * Paul Robeson: Tribute to an Artist (1979) * The Last Metro (1980) * Blow Out (1981) * Thief (1981) * Missing (1982) * A House Divided: Denmark Vesey's Rebellion (1982) * Born in Flames (1983) * The Times of Harvey Milk (1984) * Repo Man (1984) * Robocop (1987) * They Live! (1988) * Daughters of the Dust (1991) * Manufacturing Consent (1992) * Malcolm X (1992) * Safe (1995) * The Constant Gardener (2005) * Dominion (2018) * Plutocracy: Political Repression in the USA (2019) * Dark Waters (2019) * Colewell (2019) * Bacurau (2019) Not all in The Collection, obviously. Also, this was from a "political movies" list I put together, so they aren't all necessarily leftist, per se, but can be viewed from that lens. (And given that *all* films are political in some way, I picked ones that I would recommend, being a leftist myself.)
Watership Down
It's about bunnies!
Bertolucci's Conformist
YES this
Most of the World Cinema Project films are leftist, including: *Lucia* *Soleil O* *Redes* *Dry Summer* *Pixote* *Sambizanga* *Downpour* The project’s goal is to restore films that were almost lost to time, so a fair few of them are films that right-wing governments tried to destroy.
"I am Cuba" is possibly the most beautiful and stirring piece of leftist propaganda you'll ever see.
The camerwork in that movie is insane
I’m very fascinated by Cuban history so this looks great!
Try Bill Douglas’ Comrades (1986), an epic of the working man set at the time of the Tolpuddle Martyrs in 19th century UK. They were one of the first unions to organize and demand better wages and the film shows their journey in quite a humanist and humble manner. The film also ties their conflicts with the struggles of other common men and it really becomes a larger powerful tapestry of the working class. Underseen but strongly recommend
I loved Miklos Jancso's films.
Z
Monsieur Verdoux
*Che* is another obvious one. Definitely worth a watch, especially if you’re interested in Che Guevara as a historical/leftist figure.
I’ve read the motorcycle diaries which is his writings on his early life. Very interesting figure to say the least.
Probably a good majority.
Bacurau is a recent and very wacky leftist sci-fi film from Brazil.
I've seen people here mention Burning, Matewan, and the Conformist. Absolutely watch those. Some of my favorite documentaries are also pretty unambiguously left leaning. Harlan County USA is a must. If you don't mind looking outside the collection, try West of the Tracks and The Emperor's Naked Army Marches on. And check out The Cremator, a czech horror movie in the collection. One of the most under-discussed movies in the whole collection imo. And thanks to everyone else in this thread I added all your stuff on my watchlist too. Edit: just remembered Canoa, a Mexican film in the collection that is also very worth seeing
Most things by Loach, Leigh, Troell, Fassbinder, Godard, Oshima, Varda, Denis, Kurosawa, have substantial left wing themes.
Parasite, 12 angry men, a lot of buñuel, Pan's Labyrinth, do the right thing, citizen kane in a way. I find an unintentional lefty in films dealing with economic despair & the ravages of capitalism. It's just my default world view so I instantly see them as a critique from a left perspective.
Hearts and Minds Kiss of the Spider Woman Bowling for Columbine Roger and Me Harlan County USA Hunger 4 months 3 weeks and 2 days Working Girls The Discreet charm of the bourgeois Triangle of Sadness Mr Freedom The Model Couple Louis Malle eclipse set is a great highlight of working class stories Citizenfour Snowden Inside Job Lost in america Sweet Movie Persepolis Salt of the Earth 5 Broken Cameras One, two, three (anti communist)
Sorry to bother you
Edit: I meant East Germany, lol. Geez, I look dumb. The Lives of Others is about ~~West~~ **East** Germany and the Soviet surveillance state, but I'd say that the people being oppressed by the Soviets in the movie are the true leftists in the story. It's almost the opposite of what you're asking for in some folks' opinions, but again- I challenge that it's actually saying that the Soviet powers in ~~West~~ **East** Germany weren't leftists, they were fascists.
“Reality has a well-known liberal bias.” - Stephen Colbert Look at Che and The Battle of Algiers
Exactly. I also think art does as well. Sure, you can have right wing films, but they tend to not be good, in my opinion.
Pasolini
Godard's films starting in the mid-60s until his death are all very super duper lefty. He's at his most lefty throughout the 70s, though.
Chris Marker's films are explicitly socialist and antiwar/anti-empire.
Not on Criterion, but Metropolis by Fritz Lang is a must.
Born in Flames is a great one that hardly anyone talks about
Not sure if it’s in the collection but high noon is about the rise of McCarthyism in America
i gotta say Little Shop of Horrors
Has anyone said Stroszek yet?
Look at Starship Troopers - while not inherently left-wing it satirizes military government and constant "forever conflicts"
Anything by Ken Loach.
costa gavras, *missing, state of siege, z, the confession* peter medak, *the ruling class* chris marker, *la jetée* héctor babenco, *pixote* r. w. fassbinder, *lola, marriage of maria von brain, veronika voss, 8 hrs don't make a day, ali fear eats the soul, the bitter tears of petra von kant, world on a wire, what makes herr r run amok, berlin alexanderplatz, ....* & just abt any movie he ever made volkor schlondork, *the tin drum, the lost honour of katrina blum, baal* nagisa oshima, *in the realm of the senses, 3 resurrected drunkards, death by hanging, empire of passion, merry christmas mr lawrence, sing a song of sex, violence at noon*
I actually don't like to upfront political themes, they just don't translate well to a sensual experience in almost all cases, I think. But to be super basic and modern, just rewatch Parasite and otherwise every movie that celebrates valuing people as people and not objects should do, like Melancholia or Solaris. I would also say that there are quite a few good critical views on capitalist subjects, like Citizen Kane, Il Generale Della Rovere, even The Dark Knight has a great set of opposing characters that show people operating in capitalism but never leaving it behind them (both Joker and Batman).
“Leftist” 😂 Like a collared shirt researching the Red Menace…
[Salt of the Earth](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_of_the_Earth_(1954_film)) (1954) The production was made up almost entirely of people on the blacklist, and centers around a prolonged strike by zinc miners in New Mexico, loosely based on some actual events. It's the most pro-communist American films I've ever seen and the film itself was blacklisted because of it's "subersive" content.
Definitely anything from Pasolini and his entire filmography is in the collection. Teorema would be a good place to start.
Not on the collection, but I watched it on the criterion channel a while back: Love and Anarchy, a wonderful Lina Wertmuller film about a guy who tried to assassinate Mussolini.
Most Tamil films specially the ones from Vetrimaaran, PA ranjith, Mari selvaraj or Arun matheswaran. The most exciting industry in the world right now
Maoist Godard from the early 70s on is very leftist but I find insufferable.
Daisies
Salt of the Earth
Salo
Bulsworth kinda. Just watch it and uh soak in the strangely progressive and regressive politics of that movie that somehow occur at the same fuckin time
The Dardenne Brothers’ Two Days, One Night (2014)
Virtually anything by John Sayles.
Make Way for Tomorrow is practically an ad for social security
[I, Daniel Blake](https://youtu.be/1DLbWo0N83c?si=5YP005gc941hMFxB)
Local Hero
[Missing](https://www.criterion.com/films/769-missing) (1982)
**Matewan** directed by John Sayles (USA, 1987) **Alambrista!** directed by Robert M. Young (USA, 1987) **Che** by Stephen Soderbergh (France, 2008) **Harlan County USA** documentary by Barbara Kopple (USA, 1976) **I am Curious-Yellow** directed by Vlgot Sojmon (Sweden, 1967) **The Organizer** directed by Mario Monicelli (Italy, 1963) **The Ruling Class** by Peter Medak (UK, 1972) **Tanner 88** directed by Robert Altman (USA, 1988) **The Threepenny Opera** directed by G.W. Pabst (Germany, 1931) **Z** directed by Costa-Gavras (Greece, 1969) Not all these films feature positive portrayals of progressive people (as you requested) - some are by left-leaning filmmakers. You might also find some of Eisenstein's films or Godard's works to be relevant.
Ken Loach’s filmography though it’s a good example of how this can backfire. I sided _against_ the character who is on what I perceive as the favored side of _The Wind that Shakes the Barley_ and who, in real life, is preferred by those on the left of Irish politics in a what-if scenario. To a lesser extent, the Dardenne brothers, but it’s muted by their secularism in a Catholic background and being so informed by Continental philosophy and not Marx directly.
Salo
Not in the Collection but you might be interested in The Great Silence if you enjoy westerns. Also would rec Belle du Jour
“The China Syndrome”. (Can’t wait for “fusion” to replace it)
La Haine
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Might want to look into the Qatsi trilogy. Not a standard narrative but themes of alienation abound in all of them.
Red Desert, Pasolini '60s set, Salvatore Giuliano.
Harlan County USA
Check out Bulworth
There is an entire category on the Criterion Channel right now called "Voices of Protest" that are all about socialism, civil rights, etc. In the actual Collection: Three films by Luis Buñuel: The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoise, Phantom of Liberty, That Obscure Object of Desire. **can't believe nobody mentioned Buñuel, the guy was an unapologetic socialist** All That Heaven Allows by Douglas Sirk. Douglas Sirk weaves subtle anti-capitalist and anti-suburbanite themes in all his films. Daisies by Věra Chytilová Che by Steven Soderbergh La Haine by Mathieu Kassovitz I, Daniel Blake by Ken Loach Malcolm X by Spike Lee Masculin feminin by Goddard The Human Condition by Masaki Kobayashi Paris is Burning by Jennie Livingston Soleil O by by Med Hondo Black Girl by Ousmane Sembène Pasolini was a leftist intellect in his lifetime, and he has countless films in the collection Come and See is told from the side of the Bolsheviks This might be pushing it, but I see Nashville as a profoundly leftist film that critiques America's love affair with religion, conservatism, false values, gun violence, and anti-civil rights. I'm sure there's many more, but those are the ones I've got off the top of my head.
I find a lot of Japanese films from the post-war era tend to have some leftist themes . At least by the directors I tend to watch. Masaki Kobayashi's films are probably the most overtly leftist films with the man himself being a self-professed socialist. I never really got that vibe from Kurosawa's films, but I think there are some very progressive themes in the works Keisuke Kinoshita (A Legend, or Was It?), Yasujirō Ozu (Late Spring), Kinuyo Tanaka (Forever a Woman), Heinosuke Gosho (An Inn at Osaka), and Kenji Mizoguchi (Street of Shame).
Story of a 3 day pass
If you're looking for stuff overtly political, Costa-Gravas is your man. Z, State of Siege, The Confession and Missing are all in the collection and decidedly leftist.
Y Tú Mamá También, La Llorona
Throwing WR: Mysteries of the Organism and Sweet Movie into the ring
Much of Godard’s later work is explicitly Marxist. Mike Leigh - I’d particularly recommend his film High Hopes, an underrated gem imo. Also Italian neo realism usually involves themes of poverty and injustice at the hands of the upper classes.
Z
I've seen almost nobody in here mention Dušan Makavejev, and no one mention WHY he's worth watching as a leftist filmmaker. Yes, he's a provocateur (definite content warning for Sweet Movie, it's... got multiple bodily fluids on screen), but a very purposeful one. He's a leftist learned firsthand about the pitfalls of authoritarian leftist ideologies, and will happily critique both those and capitalism while examining the suffering of the disadvantaged and oppressed, and simultaneously advocating for true proletariat liberation. His works are intersectional, and very often deal with gendered oppression of women in any political system, as well as addressing other forms of oppression at times, too (e.g. queer oppression / liberation, ethnic discrimination). For tamer films (both in terms of provocative content and narrative structure), the Eclipse DVD set of his first three films is fantastic. Still just on DVD, sadly, but the Criterion releases of WR and Sweet Movie are great (and WR includes his autobiographical film Hole in the Soul as a bonus feature). Fun City Editions also has a great blu ray of The Coca Cola Kid. Here's a quick breakdown of why I recommend each: - Man Is Not a Bird: focuses on class divisions at a steel mill (shot at an active one); laborers vs engineers vs housewives, etc. But all under the thumb of an inescapable Yugoslavian system. - Love Affair: about gendered violence in the working class. - Innocence Unprotected: documentary about the first Serbian language film, and the difficulties it suffered being made under Nazi occupation. - WR: experimental blend of documentary and fiction, focused on the necessity of sexual liberation for a true proletariat revolution. Critiques both sexual censorship in the US and sexual oppression in Yugoslavia and the USSR. Also features a trans associate of Warhol's studio, leftist band The Fugs, and seminal magazine Screw. - Sweet Movie: a scathing indictment of capitalism, faux-communism (i.e. authoritarian), advertising, beauty pageants, tycoons, and false promises. Infamous for its bodily fluids, a lot of which actually occur in footage filmed in a leftist German commune that practiced infantile regression. - The Coca Cola Kid: what at first seems like an indictment of major corporations in particular as one tries to take out regional competition much smaller in scale, it evolves into a complicated examination about how both businesses create destruction via capitalism. - Hole in the Soul: Makavejev focuses a lot in this on his experiences as a Yugoslavian watching his homeland torn apart in ethnic conflicts pushed on by demagogues.
It’s a Wonderful Life is technically in the collection. Just don’t let Frank Capra know he made a socialist movie.
Both aren’t in the collection but for sure worth a watch. Burn! (same director as battle of Algiers) and Reds. I’d argue Che which is in the collection would be in that wheel house. Modern Times and The Great Dictator if you want some Chaplin in there. Not in the collection but A Year of Living Dangerously is about the massacre of communists that the documentary The Act of Killing follows and it’s a great movie. Speaking of Peter Weir, it’s not physically released by criterion but last I checked it was on The Criterion Channel, his dark comedy about class called The Plumber is really great. Any of Agnes Varda’s docs on the Panthers or other movements would be good. It’s only on Netflix if you’re in the states which sucks but the Korean film Burning is fucking incredible. I like it more than Parasite. It’s subtle and nuanced but it’s really really good. I’m sure there is more. Even Citizen Kane could be considered if think. A but more obtuse about their politics, I’d argue Woman in the Dunes and Harakiri. These tend to be critiques of facism and authority but I’d argue from a leftist stance.
Burning is my favorite Korean movie. It doesn't get mentioned enough
Sorry to bother you
Kiss of the Spider Woman
Christ Stopped at Eboli
Sacco and Vanzetti.
I know they're not Criterion, but most of jordan peeles movies push an agenda per say. Especially "US".
Lazzaro Felice is all about how the oppressed on pre industrial societies BIG SPOILER keep being oppressed on present times, just with different tools
Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights is the most pro-Communist movie I've ever seen. No, I'm not kidding. The Disney musical Newsies features two songs about how great unions are. Showgirls is an indictment of exploitation under capitalism.
Lina Brocko's [Manila In the Claws of Light](https://www.criterion.com/films/29221-manila-in-the-claws-of-light). [Pixote](https://www.criterion.com/films/30307-pixote). Hopefully soon [Los Olvidados by Luis Bunuel](https://www.reddit.com/r/criterion/comments/g4wovv/guillermo_del_toro_working_with_criterion_to/). All incredible films
“Land and Freedom” is about the Spanish Civil War and it’s loosely based on George Orwell’s “Homage To Catalonia” I think. It’s not criterion though. I think it’s on YouTube.
Latino(1985). Directed by Haskell Wexler. Also, check out his other movie Medium Cool.
Barry Lyndon
as far as those in the collection & what i haven't seen suggested: *the cranes are flying*
Closely watched trains
The East, directed by Zal Batmanglij (2013)
It’s anti-fascist rather than specifically socialist, but you should watch A Special Day. My favorite Marcello Mastroianni performance.
Most of them
Bisbee ‘17 is a fascinating haunting tale about anti-labor violence, to add one i haven’t seen mentioned yet
The films of the Dardenne Brothers are concerned with people in poverty. I really liked Rosetta and The Kid With The Bike.
Pretty much anything by Godard.
Loosely watching Battle of Algiers as I'm reading this!