ReelPolitik

The Top 11 Political Movies of 2011

A blog about film and politics, and the politics of filmmaking.

Anthony Kaufman is a film journalist and critic, who has written for the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Village Voice and Slate, and contributes regularly to Variety, indieWIRE, the Wall Street Journal Online and the Utne Reader.
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Articles

Protest Songs: "Under African Skies" and the Power of Music Docs

By Anthony Kaufman
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May 9, 2012 11:34 AM
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Reviews

There are no shortage of music docs out there, and more than a few also intermingle song with notions of political protest ("Sing Your Song," "Amandla: A Revolution in Four Part Harmony," "The Refugee All Stars"). And while I'm not necessarily a fan of the genre, I was particularly moved by two new films that tackled the role of musical artists and Apartheid-era South Africa at Sundance this year, "Searching for Sugar Man," which opens later this summer, and "Under African Skies," which is getting a limited release, starting this weekend.

By Anthony Kaufman
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May 8, 2012 11:24 AM
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Reviews

Going into Bobcat Goldthwait's murder-spree social satire "God Bless America," which is opening in theaters this week, I was highly skeptical. We've been down the road of murderous social commentaries before (see "Natural Born Killers"; actually, don't). But never taking itself too seriously, this slighty outrageous, breezy exercise in renegade violence is an angry liberal's wet-dream-come-true -- a tale of vengeance for NPR listeners everywhere.

By Anthony Kaufman
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May 7, 2012 10:10 AM
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News

I couldn't help myself. Not because I'm a fan of comic books, blockbusters or Josh Whedon, but because I'm always curious about a cultural phenonemon, and often feel the need to interrogate what is at play in our most popular movies, and especially since this may be the most popular one of all time. "The Avengers" embodies what I've always felt about Hollywood juggernauts: they're a hodgepodge of political views and ideological undercurrents, colliding with each other to create a mainstream entertainment that, if you look close enough, manages to uphold old-fashioned reactionary American values. Here, it's such myths as militaristic might, individual sacrifice and the renegade American hero--allthough, it also seems to throw a bone to contemporary liberal views on energy policy at the same time.

By Anthony Kaufman
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May 3, 2012 3:54 PM
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News

No one likes a monopoly. Even an anti-capitalist like me knows that a lack of competition leads to higher prices as well as less freedom and innovation for everyone in the marketplace. That's why the story of Withoutabox, the film festival submission system that is the undisputed standard for the indie film industry, caught my attention, and why I've reported on the company for this Indiewire story, "Why Withoutabox Has 400,000 Indie Filmmakers, 1,000 Film Festivals -- and Frustrated Customers."

By Anthony Kaufman
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May 1, 2012 9:40 AM
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News

Now that the third and final trailer of "The Dark Knight Rises" has emerged--on Occupy Wall Street's May Day, no less--it's hard not to see some major zeitgeisty OWS issues coming to the fore. Not only do we have the film's ominous call for class warfare -- “You think this can last?" says the would-be Catwoman. "There’s a storm coming, Mr. Wayne.... when it hits, you’re all going to wonder how you could live so large and leave so little for the rest of us" -- but now we have some images to go along with it, including a brief shot of sparks exploding from inside the New York Stock Exchange.

By Anthony Kaufman
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April 30, 2012 9:47 AM
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The Cannes Film Festival isn't best known for its nonfiction, but ever since Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" won the top prize in 2004, there has been a steady increase in the number of important docs at the fest, many of them with a heavily activist bent, from Moore's own "Sicko" in 2007 to "Inside Job" to last year's BP oil spill doc "The Big Fix." This year, my money is on the newly announced documentary "Trashed" to be this year's event doc, complete with a star, Jeremy Irons, and a significant global issue: the dangers of pollution and the world’s overflowing problem of waste.

By Anthony Kaufman
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April 26, 2012 9:57 AM
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Tonight, at 8pm EST, a documentary calling itself "the first definitive film to emerge from Zuccotti Park," "#whilewewatch," will have its world premiere online at SnagFilms.com (Indiewire's parent company). Made with "full access and cooperation from the masterminds who made #OccupyWallStreet a reality," according to a press release, the film was directed by Kevin Breslin (“Living for 32") and includes interviews with Priscilla Grim (a journalist with The Occupied Wall St Journal); Justin Wedes (an educator and activist), journalist and technologist Tim Pool and Jesse LaGreca from Daily Kos--who will also be on hand for a conversation at the Paley Center in New York. Though the trailer gives little insight into the film beyond the chaos of protest and police crackdowns, it looks like it will be a largely flattering portrait of the movement.

By Anthony Kaufman
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April 25, 2012 8:57 PM
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Reviews

"The docs are good," says one industry insider, on two separate occasions, as I pass them by during the Tribeca Fest over the past few days. Indeed, I saw a handful of the nonfiction competition films at the fest, and I can confidently say that six were strong. I saw two dramatic films that I thought were worth my time (more on those in another post), but based on the advice of others, the docs were far and away superior to the narrative films on display. Here's a rundown of my top 5. But I could also have mentioned "The Flat" and I heard great things about "Ballroom Dancer," as well.

By Anthony Kaufman
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April 22, 2012 11:44 AM
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News

It's a pyrrhic victory for documentary filmmakers eveywhere. Last Thursday, a U.S. Tax Court judge ruled that filmmaker Lee Storey could write off hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses from the making of her film "Smile `Til It Hurts: The Up with People Story" (see picture below). Documentarians--including some who are currently under audit by the I.R.S.--were watching the case closely, as the outcome severely impacts their bottom line. But while the Storey case has effectively shifted the government's view from considering the profession a mere hobby, which would not allow a right-off, it also highlights the money-losing nature of the form.

By Anthony Kaufman
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April 12, 2012 9:17 PM
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3 Comments

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Earlier this week, when it was announced the National Endowment of the Arts was slashing more than a $1 million from funding PBS shows, including major cuts to important (and embattled) documentary programs "Independent Lens" and "P.O.V.," documentary filmmakers were rightly outraged. Part of their frustration and rancor lead to some interesting back-and-forths on Twitter, involving NEA media arts director Alyce Myatt, a former PBS programming executive, who oversaw the cuts.

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RT @antkaufman: Cannes 2012 Preview: What Could Be This Year's THE ARTIST? http://t.co/5ViNhQa7
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RT @TedHope: Hey @antkaufman can you or someone start the BAN SHOOTING IN N.CAROLINA petition (until they allow same sex marriage)? http://t.co/okBe1ZHQ
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