#20: Dirty Politics in the United States

by Dr. John Ruhland

The movies on this list are well suited to watching as a group to stimulate political discussions. You can find them at independent video stores. Many are also available at public libraries.

*highly recommended **must see

*100 KILOS. R. Seville, 2001. The true story of marketing of cocaine in African American neighborhoods in order to fund the CIA's Nicaraguan Contras.

ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN. 1976. Watergate: just one of many covert Republicrat activities, but this one is exposed and becomes a scandal.

**AMERICA AND THE HOLOCAUST: DECEIT AND INDIFFERENCE. 1994. From the PBS series, The American Experience. US immigration policy caused many Jews to die.

**A PERFECT CANDIDATE. RJ Cutler & David Van Taylor, 1996. Oliver North for Senate?! This campaign shows "lesser evil politics" for what they are. It also shows how the Democratic Party takes advantage of African Americans in this game.

**THE BATTLE OF CHILE. Patricio Guzman, Part 1 1975, Part 2 1976, Part 3 1979. Documentary of the overthrow of a popularly elected democratic government. President Salvador Allende, is killed and the government overthrown with the help of the US CIA.

*BOB ROBERTS. Tim Robbins, 1992. Excellent story of typical "contemporary" Republicrat candidate, with shady backers, except this one is a folk-singer with catchy lyrics.

**BULWORTH. Warren Beatty, 1998. A former radical turned liberal politician becomes re-radicalized when he falls for a progressive hit-woman.

*THE CONTENDER. Rod Lurie, 2000. Behind-the-scenes politics when President attempts to replace deceased VP with a woman.

*EXECUTIVE ACTION. 1973. JFK assassination investigated with much actual news footage. More trouble in Republicratland.

GEORGE WALLACE. John Frankenheimer, 1997. Wallace's political career. Film shows the use of racism as a political tool, without adequately exploring the reasons for racism.

**HIDDEN WARS OF DESERT STORM. Audrey Brohy & Gerard Ungerman, 2000. Documentary.

IMAGE OF AN ASSASSINATION. H.D. Motyl, 1998. Beautiful restoration of the only known film documentation of the assassination of JFK, clearly contradicting the single bullet explanation by the congressional committee assigned to investigate the assassination.

**IT'S RAINING ON SANTIAGO. Helvio Soto, 1974. Gripping history of the CIA masterminded coup in Chile led by fascist General Auguste Pinochet.

JFK. Oliver Stone, 1991. Dramatic recreation of the president's assassination introduces much compelling evidence.

*THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE. 1962. Anti-Communist brain-washing.

*THE MEN WHO KILLED KENNEDY. Nigel Turner, The History Channel, 1988. A look at some of the assassination evidence, including pieces that have not previously come to light.

THE MISSILES OF OCTOBER. Anthony Page, 1974. TV version of the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 with a pro US bias, but interesting anyway.

**THE PANAMA DECEPTION. 1992. Shows pattern of US involvement abroad since the Vietnam War, control of media, US profiting from drugs (see 1984).

THE TAILOR OF PANAMA. John Boorman, 2000. Mediocre spy film that does however expose the imperialistic aims of the Panama invasion during the Bush/Reagan era.

PARALLAX VIEW. Alan Pakula, 1974. Warren Beatty stars in this thriller showing a technique used for political assassination. Many parallels with the JFK assassination.

POWER. Sidney Lumet, 1986. Except for the typical Hollywood happy ending, a revealing look at the forces at work in electing candidates.

*SALVADOR. Oliver Stone, 1985. El Salvador as created by the US, with James Belushi.

*THE SECRET GOVERNMENT. Mark Levin, Bill Moyers, 1987 The Iran-Contra Affair.

**SEVEN DAYS IN MAY. John Frankenheimer, 1963. Flag-waving military leaders lead a coup against a president who signed an anti-nuclear treaty. Interesting in light of the assassination of President Kennedy by similar conspirators.

**THE REVOLUTION WILL NOT BE TELEVISED. The story of the CIA's attempted overthrow of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez under Baby Bush and Dick Cheney's guidance.

*THE SIEGE. Terrorists strike NYC, and people of Middle Eastern heritage become targets. One general uses the attack as a pretext for attempting to achieve a personal goal. Does any of this sound familiar?

THIRTEEN DAYS. Roger Donaldson, 2000. The Cuban Missile Crisis from the American point-of-view, most notable for its description of the military industrial complex's attempt to provoke a full-scale war.

UNCOVERED: THE WHOLE TRUTH ABOUT THE IRAQ WAR. Robert Greenwald, 2004. Documents the lies emanating from Baby Bush's administration in order to build public support for the Gulf massacre.

UNDER FIRE. 1983. News reporters in Nicaragua during the revolution, Gene Hackman, Nick Nolte.

*WAG THE DOG. Barry Levinson, 1997. President starts a war to divert attention and to increase his popularity. Starring Robert DeNiro and Dustin Hoffman.

WILL: G. GORDON LIDDY. 1981. Campy, terribly acted account of the Watergate break-in, nevertheless gives another view into workings of US government.

WINCHELL. Paul Mazursky, 1999. Career of gossip columnist who brought attention to the threat of Hitler, but whose downfall came when he was at McCarthy's bidding.