Subgenre Sampler
Rental > Politics: 50 Films to Rent on VHS
- Berlusconi's Mousetrap (2002)
- Dir. Aaron Rip
- Eye–witness, partisan account of the G8 summit in Genoa, Italy, which led to serious clashes between police and protesters (leaving one dead…
- In a Land of Plenty (2002)
- Dir. Alister Barry
- Described as ‘the story of unemployment in New Zealand,’ this serves as a strong companion piece for SOMEONE ELSE'S COUNTRY, dir. Barry’s…
- Facing the Music (2001)
- Dir. Bob Connolly, Robin Anderson
- Art and commerce clash in corridors of academia at Sydney University, as budget cuts compromise the integrity and possible viability of the music…
- Diplomat, The (2000)
- Dir. Tom Zubrycki
- Panorama of East Timor’s struggle to regain independence from Indonesia following the 1975 invasion, expressed through the 24 year exile of former…
- Dirty Pictures (2000)
- Dir. Frank Pierson
Feat. James Woods, Craig T. Nelson
- Based on the true–story of how the Chicago Arts Centre was prosecuted in 1990 for obscenity over an exhibition of Robert Mapplethorpe's…
- Harlan County War (2000)
- Dir. Tony Bill
Feat. Holly Hunter, Stellan Skarsgard, Ted Levine…
- Based on the famous (and deadly) Union–vs–Company showdown in a Kentucky coalmine in 1976, this TV docudrama is an Emmy–nominated…
- Big Brass Ring, The (1999)
- Dir. George Hickenlooper
Feat. William Hurt, Nigel Hawthorne, Irene Jacob…
- Curiosity–piece that updates a dusty Orson Welles script from 1980. William Hurt plays a US presidential candidate, whose murky past is being…
- Cradle Will Rock (1999)
- Dir. Tim Robbins
Feat. John Cusack, Bill Murray, John Turturro…
- Caught between government paranoia and unionist principles in depression–era New York, a theatre troupe voice their dissent by attempting to…
- Punitive Damage (1999)
- Dir. Annie Goldson
- Emotive documentary about the ordeal of an ordinary New Zealand mother, Helen Todd, who ultimately sued an Indonesian general for punitive damages…
- Cold War (1998)
- Dir. Various
- With encyclopedia–like detail, this lengthy documentary series analyses every aspect of the Cold War, from the onset of frosty relations…
- Men with Guns (1998)
- Dir. John Sayles
Feat. Frederico Luppi
- Criminally denied a theatrical release, this masterful study of Third World realities is arguably prolific indie dir. John Sayles most accomplished…
- Waking the Dead (1998)
- Dir. Keith Gordon
Feat. Billy Crudup, Jennifer Connelly
- A curious, intriguing drama in which congressional candidate Billy Crudup is haunted by a woman (Jennifer Connelly) from his past, who he thought had…
- Windhorse (1998)
- Dir. Paul Wagner
Feat. Dadon, Jampa Kelsang, Richard Chang
- Shot on digital video under the noses of Chinese authorities in Tibet, this fiercely moral drama follows the fortunes of a family in contemporary…
- Mandela and De Klerk (1997)
- Dir. Joseph Sargent
Feat. Sidney Poitier, Michael Caine
- The political backdrop to Nelson Madela's release in 1991 from a South African prison is solidly dramatised in this telemovie. Stars Sidney Poitier…
- Port Djema (1997)
- Dir. Eric Heumann
Feat. Jean-Yves Dubois, Nathalie Boutefeu, Christophe Odent…
- A Paris surgeon gets into the thick of dangerous politics at an East African colonial port as he traces the footsteps of a murdered friend. Won Best…
- Second Civil War, The (1997)
- Dir. Joe Dante
Feat. Denis Leary, James Earl Jones, James Coburn
- Fairly realistic speculation of an American Civil War, occurring when present–day Idaho cedes from the Union, painted over with the lighter…
- Infiltrator, The (1995)
- Dir. John Mackenzie
Feat. Oliver Platt, Arliss Howard, Alex Kingston…
- Israeli journalist Oliver Platt infiltrates the modern–day German neo–Nazi movement to his considerable peril. Made all the more gripping…
- Moruroa - The Big Secret (1995)
- Dir. Michel Daeron
- A damning indictment of French nuclear testing program in the South Pacific. A French team investigate the impact of the tests on the neighbouring…
- White Man's Burden (1995)
- Dir. Desmond Nakano
Feat. John Travolta, Harry Belafonte, Kelly Lynch
- In an alternative America, blacks are members of social elite, and whites inhabit the urban ghettos. John Travolta plays a humble white factory…
- Beyond Rangoon (1994)
- Dir. John Boorman
Feat. Patricia Arquette
- The tragedies mount for a young doctor taking a recuperating holiday in late eighties Burma, on the eve of a violent crackdown by the ruling…
- Guarding Tess (1994)
- Dir. Hugh Wilson
Feat. Nicolas Cage, Shirley Maclaine
- Federal bodyguard Nicolas Cage is unable to escape his duties to the former First Lady (Shirley Maclaine) unwitting that there are a few apron…
- Bopha! (1993)
- Dir. Morgan Freeman
Feat. Danny Glover, Malcolm McDowell, Alfre Woodard
- Danny Glover plays a loyal police sergeant in 1980 South Africa who comes under fire from his militant son. Examines the less visible conflicts that…
- Burning Season, The (1993)
- Dir. John Frankenheimer
Feat. Raul Julia, Carmen Argenziano, Sonia Braga…
- Raul Julia stars as Chico Mendes, the activist who lost his life protesting the destruction of the Brazilian rain forests. The continued volatile…
- Fatherland (1993)
- Dir. Christopher Menaul
Feat. Rutger Hauer, Miranda Richardson
- Ambitious film posits an alternative history in which Germany controls Europe and is locked in a cold war with the U.S. twenty years after winning…
- La Scorta (1993)
- Dir. Rick Tognazzi
Feat. Ennio Morricone
- Bold dramatic thriller draws from real events surrounding the indictment of Mafia collaborators with the focus on the four bodyguards of a maverick…
- Seven Songs for Malcolm X (1993)
- Dir. John Akomfrah
- A tribute to the revolutionary activist compiles interviews with people that knew him and those that know much about him as well as authentic footage…
- Stalin (1993)
- Dir. Ivan Passer
Feat. Robert Duvall, Maximilian Schell, Joan Plowright
- Robert Duvall embodies the full–blooded treachery of the Soviet dictator in this mini–series biography shot on location in Moscow.
- Citizen Cohn (1992)
- Dir. Frank Pierson
Feat. James Woods
- James Woods plays Joseph McCarthy's crooked lawyer, Roy Cohn – a role meaty enough to sustain every ounce of his frustrated energy. The…
- JFK: Assassination Tapes (1992)
- Dir. John Barbour
- Largely a basis for Oliver Stone's opus, Jim Garrison himself speaks frankly about his investigation into the alleged cover–up surrounding the…
- Panama Deception, The (1992)
- Dir. Barbara Trent
- Oscar–winning film is unabashedly activist attempt to uncover some truths about the propaganda used to sanitise the U.S. Government's invasion…
- At Play in the Fields of the Lord (1991)
- Dir. Hector Babenco
Feat. Tom Berenger, John Lithgow, Daryl Hannah…
- Tom Berenger, John Lithgow, Darryl Hannah, Aidan Quinn, Kathy Bates and Tom Waits endured the two–year location shoot of Peter Matthiessen's…
- Closet Land (1991)
- Dir. Radha Bharadwaj
Feat. Madeleine Stowe, Alan Rickman
- Madeleine Stowe and Alan Rickman comprise the entire cast of this dramatic exercise that consists solely of an alleged subversive children's author…
- December Bride (1991)
- Dir. Thaddeus O'Sullivan
Feat. Saskia Reeves
- A rain–soaked melodrama set in '30s rural Ireland in which Saskia Reeves endures Catholic prejudice after giving birth out of wedlock. This is…
- Storyville (1991)
- Dir. Mark Frost
Feat. James Spader, Joanne Whalley, Jason Robards Jr.…
- The directing debut from TWIN PEAKS' co–creator. Upstart political candidate James Spader becomes involved in illicit activity. A gumbo of red…
- Berkeley in the Sixties (1990)
- Dir. Mark Kitchell
- A lively, dense study of 1960s counter–culture in microcosm, this chronicles the rise and fall of the student movement in a Californian campus…
- Cat Chaser (1989)
- Dir. Abel Ferrara
Feat. Peter Weller, Kelly McGillis, Charles Durning…
- The director atypically sidesteps controversy in adapting Elmore Leonard's political novel about a Miami hotel owner who courts danger when he…
- Fellow Traveller (1989)
- Dir. Philip Saville
Feat. Ron Silver, Hart Bochner
- A classy political thriller concerning the traumas of a blacklisted writer exiled in London during the McCarthy era.
- Open Doors (1989)
- Dir. Gianni Amelio
Feat. Gian Maria Volente, Ennio Fantastichini, Renato Carpentieri
- A resonant political drama set in corrupt fascist Italy about a juror's attempt to save a political murderer from the gallows.
- World Apart, A (1988)
- Dir. Chris Menges
Feat. Barbara Hershey
- True account of a teenage girl's isolated upbringing in aparteid–torn South Africa, whose obsessed mother is jailed for political activism in…
- T. Dan Smith (1987)
- Dir. Amber Film Collective
- Docu–drama chronicles of events leading to the imprisonment of a maverick Newcastle councillor. Made in collaboration with Smith himself, it…
- Comrades (1986)
- Dir. Bill Douglas
Feat. Keith Allen, Dave Atkins
- A compelling epic exposing the hypocrisy and inequality facing the Tolpuddle Martyrs, the 1830s Dorset farmers who were deported to Australia after…
- Half Moon Street (1986)
- Dir. Bob Swaim
Feat. Michael Caine, Sigourney Weaver
- Michael Caine and Sigourney Weaver play British diplomat and call–girl who become locked in escalating political intrigue.
- Candidate, The (1972)
- Dir. Michael Ritchie
Feat. Robert Redford
- Incisive political satire sees idealist Robert Redford run for the Senate, but finds his good intentions usurped by the system and the needs of…
- John Pilger's Documentaries That Changed the World (The Quiet Mutiny; Do You Remember Vietnam?; Year Zero; Death of a Nation) (1970-1994)
- Dir. David Munro, John Pilger
Feat. John Pilger
- Four of journalist John Pilger's most important documentaries, that exemplify his fiercely humanist perspective which makes few concessions to…
- Four Days in November (1964)
- Dir. Mel Stuart
- An unbiased view of events surrounding the death of JFK taken from more than eight million feet of newsreel footage encompassing joyous Kennedy…
- Farmer's Daughter, The (1947)
- Dir. H.C. Potter
Feat. Loretta Young, Joseph Cotten, Ethel Barrymore…
- Congressman Joseph Cotton's maid, Loretta Young, decides to run against him in the next election. A perceptive comedy that won an Oscar for Young.
- Native Land (1942)
- Dir. Leo Hurwitz, Paul Strand
- Impassioned and authentic, this landmark film call for social revolution in Depression–era America blends vivid re–anactments with actual…
- Marseillaise, La (1938)
- Dir. Jean Renoir
Feat. Pierre Renoir, Lisa Delamare, Leon Larive…
- Renoir's classic depicts events leading up to the French revolution in the 18th Century, electing to extract history from the heart of the common…
- October : 10 Days That Shook the World (1928)
- Dir. Sergei Eisenstein
Feat. Nikandrov , N. Popov, Boris Livanov
- A brilliant reconstruction of the momentous events of 1917, when revolutionary soldiers overthrew the provisional Government bringing Lenin and the…
- Day the Wall Came Down
- Chronicle of events that led to the falling of the Berlin Wall and the re–integration of East and West Germany.