Second half of the 20th century (1945-1990)Special recommendation
Dr. Strangelove
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) Director: Stanley Kubrick Actors: Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden Runtime: 95 min Hilarious and very intelligent (also terrifying at the time it was made) Cold War black comedy that completely reveals insanity and absurdity ...
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Documentaries
The Stanford Prison Experiment
The Stanford Prison Experiment Runtime: 29 min In the summer of 1971 at Stanford University professor Philip Zimbardo set an experiment in which the basement of the Department of Psychology was converted into prison and the group of 24 volunteers was randomly divided into guards and prisoners. This research, whose ...
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Based on actual eventsSecond half of the 20th century (1945-1990)Special recommendation
All the President’s Men
All the President’s Men (1976) Director: Alan J. Pakula Actors: Dustin Hoffman, Robert Redford Runtime: 138 min During the U.S. presidential campaign of 1972, Washington Post reporters Karl Bernstin and Bob Woodward investigated the break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C. An ...
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Dystopias, Fiction
Laputa: Castle In The Sky
Tenkû no shiro Rapyuta (1986) Director: Hayao Miyazaki Run-time: 124 min Air pirates, army and government agents wants to abduct Sheeta, a girl with mysterious necklace with crystal pendant. She meets boy by the name of Pazu who plans to construct a plane and set off in search for the ...
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Based on actual eventsFirst half of the 20th century (1900-1945)Special recommendation
Last Waltz in Sarajevo (or Belle Epoque)
Belle epoque ili poslednji valcer u Sarajevu (1990 / 2007) Director: Nikola Stojanović Actors: Slobodan Ćustić, Davor Janjić, Vita Mavrić Runtime: 135 min On the 28th June 1914, 19-year-old Gavrilo Princip, member of the secret revolutionary group Young Bosnia (Mlada Bosna), shot dead the archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir presumptive to ...
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Based on actual eventsSecond half of the 20th century (1945-1990)
Medium Cool
Medium Cool (1969) Director: Haskell Wexler Actors: Robert Forster, Verna Bloom, Peter Bonerz Runtime: 111 min A realistic movie centered around a TV cameraman and his relationship with a single working class mother, made in the social atmosphere of a mass political awakening and loss of trust in the legitimacy ...
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Based on actual eventsFirst half of the 20th century (1900-1945)Special recommendation
Grave of the Fireflies
Hotaru no haka (1988) Director: Isao Takahata Runtime: 89 min A tragic story of two Japanese children left on their own in the midst od World War II. In the spring of 1945 U.S. bombers dropped napalm on Kobe, at the time the sixth-largest city in Japan with about one ...
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Pre-20th century
The Round-up
Szegénylegények (1966) Director: Miklós Jancsó Actors: János Görbe, Zoltán Latinovits, Tibor Molnár Runtime: 90 min The year is 1869 in Hungary – the government has decided to deal with uncontrolled elements in order to stabilize the system. In an improvised prison which has elements of a concentration camp a large ...
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First half of the 20th century (1900-1945)
Catch-22
Catch-22 (1970) Director: Mike Nichols Actors: Alan Arkin, Art Garfunkel, Richard Benjamin Runtime: 122 min This anti-war comedy of the absurd attempts to show the defeat of the rational mind in the face of the madness of war. A squadron of U.S. B-25 bombers is deployed on a small Mediterranean ...
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Dystopias, Fiction
A Report on the Party and the Guests
O slavnosti a hostech (1966) Director: Jan Nemec Actors: Ivan Vyskocil, Jan Klusák, Jiri Nemec Runtime: 68 min This simple and intelligent movie skillfully and effectively questions conformism and obedience to authority. It was made within the framework of the Czechoslovak New Wave and banned as “subversive” after the Soviet ...
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DocumentariesSpecial recommendation
Shoah
Shoah (1985) Director: Claude Lanzmann Runtime: 566 min Shoah is the Hebrew term for the Holocaust, the genocide of approximately six million of European Jews conducted by Nazis (and their collaborators) during World War II. It is very difficult to find the words to express or think about the Nazi ...
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Based on actual eventsSecond half of the 20th century (1945-1990)Special recommendation
Chronicle of the Years of Fire
Chronique des Années de Braise (1975) Director: Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina Actors: Yorgo Voyagis, Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina, Leila Shenna Runtime: 177 min It is very rare to see colonialism depicted from the perspective of the enslaved. In this great Algerian movie, director Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina succeeded in showing the essence of colonial rule and ...
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Documentaries
Statues Also Die
Les statues meurent aussi (1953) Directors: Chris Marker, Alain Resnais Runtime: 30 min The narrator says in the opening sequence: “When men die, they become history. Once statues die, they become art. This botany of death is what we call culture.” This documentary makes an excellent analysis of the cold ...
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Based on actual eventsContemporary period (after 1990)Special recommendation
Shake Hands with the Devil
Shake Hands with the Devil (2007) Director: Roger Spottiswoode Actors: Roy Dupuis, Owen Sejake, James Gallanders Runtime: 112 min General Roméo Dallaire was the Force Commander of the UN peacekeeping force in Rwanda (UNAMIR) in the moment when, at the beginning of April 1994, the Rwandan army and paramilitary forces ...
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Contemporary period (after 1990)
Enemy of the State
Enemy of the State (1998) Director: Tony Scott Actors: Will Smith, Gene Hackman, Jon Voight Runtime: 126 min Although it is a blockbuster thriller with a Hollywood happy ending, this is also one of the first movies to realistically deal with modern high-tech surveillance and the state offensive against personal ...
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Based on actual eventsSecond half of the 20th century (1945-1990)
Bloody Sunday
Bloody Sunday (2002) Director: Paul Greengrass Actors: James Nesbitt, Allan Gildea, Tim Pigott-Smith Runtime: 107 min Bloody Sunday, also known as the Bogside Massacre, was an incident on 30 January 1972 in a neighborhood in Derry, the second largest city of Northern Ireland. British soldiers opened fire on a protest ...
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Second half of the 20th century (1945-1990)
Defence Of The Realm
Defence Of The Realm (1986) Director: David Drury Actors: Gabriel Byrne, Greta Scacchi, Denholm Elliott Runtime: 96 min A British journalist follows the story of a politician who might have contact with a KGB agent, but eventually comes up to a much larger discovery. It appears there has been some ...
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Dystopias, Fiction
Week end
Week end (1967) Director: Jean-Luc Godard Actors: Mireille Darc, Jean Yanne Runtime: 105 min A couple prepares for the weekend. He doesn’t love her, she doesn’t love him. Both have someone on the side and wish that the other gets killed. This weekend they are going to the hospital where ...
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Contemporary period (after 1990)Special recommendation
Syriana
Syriana (2005) Director: Stephen Gaghan Actors: George Clooney, Matt Damon, Jeffrey Wright Runtime: 128 min A movie about the impact of the oil industry and petroleum politics on the Middle East, but also on world politics. Syriana is a term used by Washington think-tanks to describe a hypothetical re-shaping of ...
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Based on actual eventsSecond half of the 20th century (1945-1990)Special recommendation
The Professor
Il Camorrista (1986) Director: Giuseppe Tornatore Actors: Ben Gazzara, Laura del Sol, Leo Gullotta Runtime: 164 min Outstanding movie about the Mafia in southern Italy at the end of the 1970s. In the beginning of the movie, the authors say they hope that viewers will strengthen their belief in the ...
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