Next issue’s Critics will be a film special, so in honour of this we have conducted a completely un-scientific poll of NS staff to find the greatest political movies. “Political” was taken in its broadest sense – the only stipulation being no documentaries. You’ll have to wait until Thursday’s magazine to find out the top ten, but for now here’s the longlist.
Tell us in the comments thread below: which films have we missed out? And what would make your top ten?
All the President’s Men dir: Alan J. Pakula (1976)
Battleship Potemkin dir: Sergei Eisenstein (1926)
Casablanca dir: Michael Curtiz (1942)
Chinatown dir: Roman Polanski (1974)
Do the Right Thing dir: Spike Lee (1989)
Downfall dir: Oliver Hirschbiegel (2005)
Dr Strangelove dir: Stanley Kubrick (1964)
Godzilla dir: Ishirō Honda (1954)
Gomorra dir: Matteo Garrone (2008)
Goodbye, Lenin dir: Wolfgang Becker (2003)
Hunger dir: Steve McQueen (2008)
In the Loop dir: Armando Iannucci (2009)
Independence Day dir: Roland Emmerich (1996)
Kadosh dir: Amos Gitai (1999)
La Chinoise dir: Jean-Luc Godard (1967)
La Haine dir: Mathieu Kassovitz (1995)
La Planete Sauvage dir: René Laloux (1973)
Land and Freedom dir: Ken Loach (1995)
Lone Star dir: John Sayles (1996)
Meantime dir: Mike Leigh (1984)
Milk dir: Gus Van Sant (2008)
Mr Smith Goes to Washington dir: Frank Capra (1939)
My Beautiful Laundrette dir: Stephen Frears (1985)
Nashville dir: Robert Altman (1975)
Persepolis dir: directed by Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud (2007)
Platoon dir: Oliver Stone (1986)
Pratidwandi (The Adversary) dir: Satyajit Ray (1971)
Salò or the 120 Days of Sodom dir: Pier Paolo Pasolini (1975)
Strawberry and Chocolate dir: Tomás Gutiérrez Alea (1968)
Team America: World Police dir: Trey Parker (2005)
The Battle of Algiers dir: Gillo Pontecorvo (1967)
The Candidate dir: Michael Ritchie (1972)
The Conformist dir: Bernardo Bertolucci (1970)
The Last of England dir: Derek Jarman (1988)
The Lives of Others dir: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (2006)
The Trial dir: Orson Welles (1962)
W dir: Oliver Stone (2008)
Waltz With Bashir dir: Ari Folman (2008)
Xala dir: Ousmane Sembene (1975)
Z dir: Costa Gavros (1969)
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