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The 1A Movie Club sees the most significant political films

As "movies" lost their novelty and became a major entertainment form, picture theatres became more substantial and dignified than the earlier Nickelodeons.
As "movies" lost their novelty and became a major entertainment form, picture theatres became more substantial and dignified than the earlier Nickelodeons.

Filmmakers from around the world have long used cinema as a means of political expression.

Many associate the rise in political films with the 1930s. But even before that, productions like D.W. Griffith’s 1915 film “Birth of a Nation” and Sergei Einstein’s 1925 film “Battleship Potemkin” had achieved major notoriety for their dynamism – and for being politically provocative.

Nowadays, the term “political” refers to more than just electoral politics. During the women’s liberation movement of the late 1960s, an essay by writer and feminist activist Carol Hanisch alleged that even “the personal is political.”

How do we define political cinema? What role do films play in shaping public opinion on politics and our political institutions?

The New Republic has compiled a list of the 100 most significant political films of all time. We host a panel of film critics to discuss the films that made it – and those that didn’t.

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Lauren Hamilton