# Favorite activist movie.



## simple living mama (May 4, 2005)

Was there a movie that might of kick started that activist in you? Mine was Michael Moore's Roger and Me. I saw it about 19 years ago and found myself doing guerrilla activist art on the side of the 405 freeway in California on those full moon nights.


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## MamaFern (Dec 13, 2003)

i love(d) rodger and me as a youngster.. and still do.! and all of michael moores movies are inspiring.....

the corporation is a great one..i met mark achbar and saw the film at a showing he did..but thats a much newer film and i was already a hardcore activist by then..

the film(s) that most inspired me most to be an activist would have to be "manufacturing consent.. noam chomsky and the media" i saw them when i was pretty young and i was just struck by what noam chomsky had to say about corporate media and the world in general.. since then ive read a lot by him and i continue to be horrified and amazed at the same time by the state of our world.

another good film..the weather underground


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## PiePie (Oct 2, 2006)

_American Dream_ is one of DH's all-time favorites.


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## FoxintheSnow (May 11, 2004)

The Witness and Peaceable Kingdom are amazing!


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## swimswamswum (Oct 26, 2005)

I like Roger and Me too. I actually like all of Michale Moore's movies.

I also really like "The Yes Men", "Super Size Me" and "The Corporation". I like a lot of activist documentaries as well, my favorites are "A Closer Walk", "Promises" and "Born into Brothels".

I liked the Weather Underground, too. There's a fantastic BBC documentary about the Black Panther movement and the FBI (and "mysterious" deaths) that I was really taken with, but I can't remember its name (our PBS channel showed it).

I pretty much like anything on Independent Lens and Frontline as well.


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## jempd (Feb 27, 2002)

Harlan County is another good one.

I would really like to see the Spike Lee movie about Hurricane Katrina and NO called When the Levees Break but it is not out in theaters yet. Did anyone see the Gore global warming movie?


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## FoxintheSnow (May 11, 2004)

Oh I thought of another one. A Place of Rage. It's about WOC and Feminism. Really good (although the music and cinematography has a dated feel)


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## Shonahsmom (Mar 23, 2004)

I loved Iron Jawed Angels, about the suffragist movement.

I recently saw an amazing documentary called "Favela Rising." One of the most inspiring examples of peaceful activism I have ever seen. Its available on Netflix.


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## emma_goldman (May 18, 2005)

Oooh! I hafta add these to my lists!

Has anyone seen "At The River I Stand" about the end of MLK's life and his support of the Poor People's Movement (and the Memphis Sanitation Worker's strike)?

I tear up every time. Very powerful.


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## PiePie (Oct 2, 2006)

just bumping this up for our netflix queues...


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## amyleigh33 (Nov 2, 2006)

For a bit of a different take, here are some really good movies that are about activists (both fictional and real ones) that are really good:

- Steal This Movie (about Abbie Hoffman who was first a civil rights activist in the 50s, however this movie highlights more of his anti-war activist career; apparently the man was a real chauvinist pig according to people I've met who knew him, but still a really good flick)
- Running On Empty (about parents who used to be activists and have been living "on the run" for their kids' entire lives)
- What To Do In Case of Fire (German movie about group of "Anarchists" who build a bomb and it goes off 20 years later ... yadda yadda ... has a lame-o ending but it's kind of fun at first)
- The Edukators (another German film reminiscent of the above, about a couple of guys who call themselves the Edukators and break into wealthy people's homes, steal nothing, but rearrange everything and leave notes saying things like, "You have too much money." and with a much better ending.)

Documentary:
- The Take by Naomi Klein (about workers re-opening shut down factories as Worker Owned Co-Operatives)
- Life and Debt (VERY good documentary about Jamaica's banana export industry)
- This Is What Democracy Looks Like (great Independent Media film about the 1999 Seattle anti-WTO protests; truly and graphically demonstrates who police are employed to protect)
- Meet Your Meat (www.meetyourmeat.com) - Have you?
- A Cow At My Table (film about animal agribusiness produced by Jennifer Abbot, co-producer of the great movie, "The Corporation")

I could probably list way more but these are some really good ones.


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## MountainMama (Dec 4, 2001)

We watched "Eyes on the Prize" when I was in high school and I've been inspired ever since.


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## Lucysmama (Apr 29, 2003)

Another vote for "The Corporation", Mike Moore's movies are good too, if you need an easy intro to social problems. They are sort of geared to the generally clueless, but there is a need for that, obviously.


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## FoxintheSnow (May 11, 2004)

Eyes on the prize was great! I took a class based on that series.

"The one thing I did right was the day I started to fight. Keep your eyes on the prize. Oh Lord."


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## 2crazykids (Jun 19, 2005)

Another vote for The Corporation

I like the Motorcylce Diaries too, insipired me to learn more of Che Guevera and the other revolutionaries...


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## Anarkissed Mama (Oct 30, 2006)

I watched Deadly Embrace: Nicaragua, the World Bank and the IMF around the time that it came out in 1999 just before moving to a village there. It was great prep for me. Helped me to understand how the poverty of that country had been produced and perpetuated. I also recommend Life and Debt about Jamaica and and so-called free trade.


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## greenwoman2006 (Feb 1, 2006)

The Emerald Forest, 1985. I was 17 years old. At least that is the earliest politically motivated film that I can think of.

My FIL is in a documentary "One Day in October" (?) that contains film of him protesting at the University of Wisconsin, Madison during the Vietnam war. The cops broke his fingers and then beat him to unconsciousness. They showed it on PBS.


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## Anarkissed Mama (Oct 30, 2006)

Oh yeah! The End of Suburbia is a doc about Peak Oil and life after oil. A little spooky but very thought provoking...


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## LLobsterTV (Aug 11, 2006)

Has anyone seen "Invisible Children"? It's all the rage with my university's social work association. They're actually showing the movie tomorrow night, but I'm not going to be able to make it. If you've seen it, what do you think?


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## mamadawg (Jun 23, 2004)

The Panama Deception & Manufacturing Consent. And for romance, Reds.


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## St. Margaret (May 19, 2006)

The corporation is my current fav... I bought it and keep showing it to my students and trying to get others to watch it... b/c it's so comprehensive and most people have no clue or framework for any of this stuff. I can normally get them to watch it by calling Fanta "the Nazi cola" and then they are intrigued, lol


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## kaya3 (Nov 30, 2001)

anything by mike moore of course

this is what a democracy looks like

the high price of low cost - about walmart


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## amyleigh33 (Nov 2, 2006)

I just thought of another one, Go Further by Woody Harrelson is kind of strange and slow paced; but he leads a group traveling by bike talking about raw foodism, alternative fuel, etc. while a bus running on Hemp Seed Oil follows them down the West Coast ... and Woody's so cute


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## REDBREAST (May 6, 2006)

My favorites are Mickey in Haiti, made me want to get up and fight at that very moment!!! Salt of The Earth, Motorcycle Diaries, Malcolm X, Reds, and Panthers.


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## Roccomamma (Jan 9, 2006)

Another vote for "Corporation" , and I also loved the documentary about Walmart "High Cost For Low Price" or something like that. Im adding these other suggestions to my list!


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## E.V. Lowi (Sep 16, 2005)

I just saw 'An Inconvenient Truth' Al Gore's treatise on global warming and it served to put everything else into perspective. It's really scary in a "get off your a$$ and do something" kind of way.


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## artgoddess (Jun 29, 2004)

After I pull my ancient ass up off the floor from reading how many of you remember Roger and Me from your childhood years I'll put in my first activism movie memory. Choices of the Heart, a made for TV movie about Jean Donovan a missionary in El Salvador. That was the first activism movie I remember really loving. Reds bored me to tears as a kid.


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## glendora (Jan 24, 2005)

I love _Bob Roberts_.


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## zinemama (Feb 2, 2002)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *artgoddess* 
After I pull my ancient ass up off the floor from reading how many of you remember Roger and Me from your childhood years I'll put in my first activism movie memory. Choices of the Heart, a made for TV movie about Jean Donovan a missionary in El Salvador. That was the first activism movie I remember really loving. Reds bored me to tears as a kid.

Choices of the Heart was so good! Melissa Gilbert in a whole new light, indeed.

I also got inspired by The Times of Harvey Milk, a really well-done documentary.

And of course, Norma Rae and Silkwood. And Matewan!


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## Gitti (Dec 20, 2003)

Anyone seen ?

Talk about needing to do something...


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## maxmama (May 5, 2006)

"This is What Democracy Looks Like" -- I was in the WTO protests and watching this made my eyes hurt all overagain. I grew up in Seattle, and during the protests it felt like a fascist state.


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## mamadawg (Jun 23, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *maxmama* 
"This is What Democracy Looks Like" -- I was in the WTO protests and watching this made my eyes hurt all overagain. I grew up in Seattle, and during the protests it felt like a fascist state.

I think I'm in that movie. I was there too, and I'm in one clip...I think that's the one. That was an amazing experience, hurt eyes & all. I think all of our eyes hurt that day.


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## counterGOPI (Jan 22, 2005)

'some mother's son' although i dont like the ending.


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## mamaofthree (Jun 5, 2002)

I saw a movie that really moved me it was called "Yesterday" it was the (fictional) story of a woman with AIDS in Africa. Although it was a fictional character it is a true story as so many people are suffering with AIDS in Africa. It made me cry and cry.

I am making a list of all these movies I have not had time to see.

What is "Some Mother's Son" about?

H


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## counterGOPI (Jan 22, 2005)

its about the hungerstrike in ireland and bobby sands last months. amazing!!
i take so much from the political prisoners of ireland. i htought of them eevryday when i did my hunger strike in jail here.


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## cutekid (Aug 5, 2004)

Welll after Bowling for Columbine, Micheal Moore lost my respect. (I believe in owning guns...unless of course the goverment disarms as well)

Freedom to Facism.

That movie really opened my eyes to just what's going on with my "TAX" money.

Denise


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## E.V. Lowi (Sep 16, 2005)

cutekid said:


> Welll after Bowling for Columbine, Micheal Moore lost my respect. (I believe in owning guns...unless of course the goverment disarms as well)
> 
> [/QUOTE
> 
> It was my understanding that this movie was about FEAR MONGERING--not guns. That was just a secondary thread running through about how easy it is for a child to purchase guns and to stockpile ammunition. It wasn't strictly an anti-gun movie.


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## MisaGoat (Jul 10, 2006)

I just finished watching the corporation.


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## emma_goldman (May 18, 2005)

Has anyone seen "la Battaille d' Algiers" (Battle of Algiers)?

WOw. Just WOW. and some of the actors are the actual revolutionary leaders.

No, it's true for me too: "The Future of Food" really hit me. Is anyone gonna watch "Fast Food Nation"?

What are some recommended Chiapas related flicks?


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## MrsTittlemouse (Apr 17, 2006)

We just watched I know I'm Not Alone, a documentary by Michael Franti it is activism through heart opening.
He travels to Bagdhad, West Bank, and Palestine to meet with the people and to bring back real images of who they are, instead of the ones fed to us through the media. I really appreciated a movie that helped me to connect to those that are in the battle zones.


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## smellyann82 (Feb 6, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *LLobsterTV* 
Has anyone seen "Invisible Children"? It's all the rage with my university's social work association. They're actually showing the movie tomorrow night, but I'm not going to be able to make it. If you've seen it, what do you think?

dh just showed invisible children to his justice club (HS). we watched it last week. wow. that's all i can say. amazing film. he purchased it online for 20 bucks and they give you 2 copies. nice deal.

and to chime in...Romero got me started with south american issues/school of the americas. since then i've enjoyed the corporation wholeheartedly, and out foxed is pretty good. michael moore of course.


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## simple living mama (May 4, 2005)

OMG. I started this thread and thought it died out long ago. I'm going to make a big pot of tea tomorrow and read, read, read!


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## Kellie_MO4 (Jan 14, 2006)

ClosetLand... My drama teacher brought it in for a few of us to watch my junior year of high school... awesome movie


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## lilsparrow (Apr 19, 2006)

I just recently watched WHO KILLED THE ELECTRIC CAR. Fantastic movie. I'm gonna check out some of the others on this thread.

I also like Hotel Rowanda. That one just crushed me.


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## mamabadger (Apr 21, 2006)

Manufacturing Consent

The Yes Men

Doctor Strangelove

Wag the Dog


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## mamaofthree (Jun 5, 2002)

I watched The Future of Food. It made me want to cry. Sometimes I feel so helpless...







:

H


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