10 Must-Watch Movies About Politics

Hey, wanna watch a movie about politics?

We know, we know. The real world is stressful enough right now, and you'd be within your rights to want to tune out. But we've got some picks that will hopefully help you see the worldwide political situation from a new angle, or maybe laugh at it—plus some lessons from these filmmakers and how they tackle the subject matter.

Let's dive in.

The Ides of March

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George Clooney directed, co-wrote, and starred in this adaptation of Beau Willimon's play about a campaign staffer (Ryan Gosling) who discovers his idealistic presidential candidate isn't quite what he seems. It came out of a particularly rich time in cinema (2011), where dark dramas like this had some real steam.

But Clooney originally planned to make the film earlier. He told USA Today he felt that time, closer to the early Obama era, wasn't right "for a cynical political movie. Now the cynicism seems to have come back."

Clooney and co-writer Grant Heslov took the play and focused on its characters. Heslov explained their approach to NPR:

"For us, the film was sort of less about politics than it is about moral dilemmas that people face when they're in those kinds of situations, where they have to make moral choices. And that's what we wanted to do with Ryan Gosling's character. We really wanted to chase him up a tree and force that character to make some very difficult decisions."

Remember, it always comes back to character.

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

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This list isn't all doom-and-gloom. How about some idealism? Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is all about the little guy taking on a corrupt establishment through a marathon filibuster. And politicians at the time hated it.

According to Britannica, U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom Joseph P. Kennedy tried to stop its distribution overseas. After the film's premiere, Senate Majority Leader Alben W. Barkley told Christian Science Monitor (via Slate):

"It showed the Senate made up of crooks, led by crooks, listening to a crook. … It was so vicious an idea that it was a source of disgust and hilarity to every member of Congress who saw it. … I did not hear a single senator praise it. I speak for the whole body."

Frank Capra definitely felt the ire. He wrote in his 1971 autobiography, The Name Above the Title, "By the time Mr. Smith sputtered to the end music, about one-third of Washington's finest had left. Of those who remained, some applauded, some laughed, but most pressed grimly for the doors" (via Boundary Stones).

This was a necessary story that cast the government in an unfavorable light that feels modern today. The fact that it made so many people mad means Capra did something right. Don't be afraid to take on those risky stories.

In the Loop

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Nobody makes a political comedy like Armando Iannucci. This British satire is a spin-off from Iannucci's television series The Thick of It (also incredible) and lampoons British-American politics, focusing on the lead-up to the Iraq War. The comedy here is biting and ridiculous—I still say "difficult difficult lemon difficult" occasionally.

Iannucci doesn't feel like political satire is his "brand," though, as he told Creative Screenwriting.

"All I'm interested in doing is making stuff that's funny. I suppose you write about stuff that interests you, and I've always been interested in politics because I want politics to work. Therefore, when I see politics failing or political arguments that are specious and illogical, I'm naturally drawn towards examining why they're like that. I suppose a lot of my comedy is to do with how people use rhetoric to mean something different from what the words they're using actually mean."

If you find something as a filmmaker that piques your curiosity, follow it. That interest and passion can be helpful as you're working on a project over the course of a few years.

The Candidate

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This one is often overlooked, in my opinion. Robert Redford plays Bill McKay, an idealistic lawyer recruited to run a doomed Senate race in California. Promised he can say whatever he wants since he can't possibly win, McKay's principles dissolve as victory becomes achievable.

The film's final line ("What do we do now?") is such a gut-punch.

Screenwriter Jeremy Larner won an Oscar for his script, drawing directly from his experience as a speechwriter for Eugene McCarthy's 1968 presidential campaign. In a 2016 interview with Brooklyn Magazine, Larner explained his approach.

"I could still go through The Candidate and tell you the origin of every scene, whether real or imaginary. Finally, they were all imaginary. There were a lot of things I'd observed from McCarthy and other candidates when I was interested in writing speeches at the time."

If you're writing about politics, try to get close to the real thing. Interview campaign workers, watch C-SPAN, and attend town halls.

Election

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Alexander Payne's satire follows overachieving high school student Tracy Flick and the history teacher who desperately tries to stop her from winning the position of student council president. On the surface, it's a teen comedy, but it's also a dissection of ambition and political maneuvering at any level.

Payne actually didn't focus on the politics.

"My interest in making [Election] then, and interest in revisiting that world now, is not at all based on wishing to comment on or satirize politics," Payne told MovieWeb. "I approached the original as a comedy, a human comedy, set in a political arena. So ipso facto, it becomes about politics. Maybe what gives legs to a political film is that the filmmakers aren't really interested in the politics. They're interested in the people, in the human comedy."

When you're writing political stories, the people matter more than the platform. Politics becomes the pressure cooker that reveals character.

Payne continued, "People act out their individual psycho-dramas in the public arena."

Vice

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Adam McKay's darkly comedic biopic follows Dick Cheney and his rise to power during the George W. Bush administration. Christian Bale vanishes into the role to play the man who was Bush's VP with cold calculation.

Many aren't a fan of the political figure, but McKay strove to understand him, at least as a character. The film invites some level of connection with him.

"If he's just a sociopath, it's game over," McKay told Mother Jones. He added later, "Feeling a little bad for Cheney in the end is good. I think there is a little part of him that realizes what he gave away. He'll never admit it."

Your protagonist, as we've said before, doesn't have to be likable, and that's definitely the case here. But even if you don't agree with your character, you, as a filmmaker, should still understand them. What makes them tick? Why do they make the choices they do? This doesn't always lead to sympathy, but it will lead to an interesting, fully fleshed-out person on screen.

Frost/Nixon

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People seem to forget about this Ron Howard film. It follows David Frost's interviews with Richard Nixon, addressing issues of accountability and political scandal. Frost/Nixon was written by Peter Morgan (of The Crown), based on his 2006 play.

Part of Morgan's research process involved meeting with David Frost, who cooperated in helping tell the story. Morgan said he usually tries to avoid meeting real-life counterparts because "it's a sensitive business and I don't want them to be hurt by what I do, but equally I want my editorial independence," he told Script Magazine.

"It was difficult because I knew that some of the things I'd be writing might be hurtful to him, and I take the responsibility of that kind of thing pretty seriously, given that he still has a career, he's still working," he added. "But I think we've both come through it okay."

Having a real-life figure available when you're writing about them can be a fantastic source, but remember, like Morgan does, that this is a complex situation to navigate. You want to honor the facts of what happened while also managing egos. Maybe your subject won't care and you can get away with it, much like James Mangold did in A Complete Unknown—but be prepared for the challenge either way.

Lincoln

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Daniel Day-Lewis plays the eponymous president in this Steven Spielberg historical drama. Its focus is on the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment and Lincoln's struggles during the end of his presidency.

We get Daniel Day-Lewis embodying the president here, and he's a joy to watch. Famously, it took Spielberg years to convince him to play the part.

"I couldn't see Lincoln beyond what I knew Daniel would bring to it," he said (via Deadline). "Which was going to be an out-of-body experience that would put us in a real-time encounter with the man, his legacy, and that century."

When Day-Lewis accepted, he took a year to prepare for the film.

Spielberg said he typically wouldn't pursue an actor after getting a no, but he knew Day-Lewis was the right choice. If you find yourself in this situation as a director, consider your relationship and standing carefully—this approach works best when you have an established reputation or existing relationship with the actor.

Make your insistence respectful and know when to accept a final no. If you do make another offer, come with something new that addresses their concerns (like Spielberg did with an improved draft) rather than simply repeating your request.

Jackie

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This is a movie that has stuck with me, despite its flaws. Jackie is a psychological drama about First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy in the aftermath of President John F. Kennedy's assassination. Natalie Portman plays the First Lady.

Shot like a horror film with a stunner of a soundtrack, this presents politics from a perspective that isn't often seen.

For director Pablo Larraín, that perspective is what brought him to the project.

"There's a lot on public record and a lot of information we can all access; in those days, it's especially incredible how accurate the information was," he told MovieMaker Magazine. "You can know minute by minute [how an event] happens. But then there are the things that happen behind doors, and that's where fiction starts and where you have your job. Otherwise, it would be a documentary, and that's not what we do. I guess the whole point is to instead of trying to tell people things they don't know, trying [to] bring a specific emotion and mood."

If you're working with a story that starts in truth, those moments that are unknown are where your creativity has the chance to shine. Immerse yourself in primary sources and historical context. Then, when you fill the gaps, ask yourself, given everything we know about this person, their circumstances, and the period, what would they most likely have said, felt, or done?

Your fictional additions should feel inevitable based on character and context, not arbitrary. As Larraín shows, the goal isn't to invent drama for its own sake.

Thirteen Days

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This political drama follows the most dangerous period of the Cuban Missile Crisis, the 13 days in 1962 when the Kennedy administration navigated the threat of nuclear war. The film conveys the gravity and drama of the crisis without losing sight of the personal struggles of the characters.

"There was a serious awareness on our part of not speculating too far afield, or interpreting too widely these events," producer Peter Almond told The Washington Post. "At the same time, of necessity, we compressed certain events for efficiency's sake. After all, we were trying to contend with 13 days of activity, incorporating events that precede those two weeks."

If you have to make adjustments to a historical story, timeline (especially compressing things to a tighter series of events) is a generally forgivable and easy change. A real person might take days or weeks to come to a major decision; in a movie, that should happen within a couple of hours you have.

Consider revisiting this one before watching Kathryn Bigelow's new film, A House of Dynamite.