Counter Cultural Programming

By Michael Atkinson, In These Times. Posted May 27, 2004.

The November firefight approaches and here we are, awash in a media flashflood of press secretary prevarication, corporate indictment dodging and in-your-face presidential lies. Gay marriage is the year's burning flag used to incite the ignorant, while the pundits lend credence to flat-out absurdisms just by debating them -- that Antonin Scalia's outrageous conflicts of interest may not give the "appearance" of conflicts of interest, that Halliburton may not be "profiting" from a war launched for its benefit, that The Passion of the Christ may in fact have been divinely inspired. (Certainly, the millions of tax dollars poured into "faith-based" institutions and used to buy ticket blocs can be seen as a gift from God to Mel Gibson.) And, of course, the nine-figure White House marketing launch is pure skullduggery, grinning with Christian manifest destiny and transparent jingoism.

What do we do for counter-programming? Don't rely on present-day Hollywood, that brothel of military celebration and half-measure liberalism. Instead, rent some of these firecrackers, the best left movies ever made, and keep the flags of discontent flying.

Zero de Conduite (1933) With this early talkie, legendary filmmaker Jean Vigo's lyrical genius reinvents schoolyard rebellion as all-purpose, anti-authoritarian anthem. Essential radical viewing in any year.

It's a Wonderful Life (1946) OK, it's not Christmas and this poor movie may already be bled dry for most of us, but take another look: It's the most passionate, anti-big business, pro-Socialist Hollywood film until Reds 34 years later. If Dick Cheney overacted more, he'd be Mr. Potter.

Salt of the Earth (1954) Independently made by real union miners and McCarthy blacklistees, this gutsy little epic remains the premier American union film. It met with federal opposition at every step of its production and distribution, and Mexican star Rosaura Revueltas was imprisoned and deported as a Communist. That this landmark is all but forgotten in the mainstream and the anti-union On the Waterfront is consistently celebrated cannot be happenstance.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956/1978/1993) This sci-fi nail-biter scenario -- made three times in three political climates but never exhausted -- stands as a trifold vision of every liberal's nightmare: the conservative, empathy-free homogenization of society. As walking metaphors go, you can't get more visceral.

Paths of Glory (1957) One of the very best anti-war movies -- Stanley Kubrick doing WWI -- and so an eloquent reminder for the home-frontier about artillery-ground soldier meat and self-interested authority.

The Manchurian Candidate (1962) The ultimate conspiracy thriller, despite the fact that its sky-high assassination plot -- which chillingly forecast Dealey Plaza by just a month -- is blamed on Sino-Soviet brainwashers. Here was the first movie to dare suggest that U.S. politics is a parliament of whores and criminals.

Lawrence of Arabia (1962) The official antidote for jolly-ho Brit Empire colonialism -- here, the white hero is an egomaniacal, exotica-drunk fop, standing in for imperialists everywhere.

Les Carabiniers (1963) International cinema's premier radical, Jean-Luc Godard, takes a lampooning cudgel to war and patriotism. Simple and merciless.

The Best Man (1964) Master upstart Gore Vidal wrote this election-year dogfight in 1960, but he could be writing it right now. Possibly the least naive American film ever about electoral combat.

The Battle of Algiers (1965) A classic, semi-documentarian portrait of "low-intensity," neo-colonialist warfare from the Arab freedom fighters' P.O.V. -- still pertinent enough to warrant a Pentagon screening late last year.

A Report on the Party and its Guests (1966) A John Ashcroft party film, this Czech parable about informant culture and social oppression is creepy, inexorable and criminally underseen.

Greetings (1968) Brian De Palma's first film and possibly the most incendiary American youth film of the '60s. Why aren't there new fist-shakers like this, and audiences for them, today?

Punishment Park (1971) Brit dystopian Peter Watkins prophecizes the Ashcroft effect: Vietnam-era protestors and lefties are arrested, tried tribunally and surreptitiously executed in the desert.

The Candidate (1972) Robert Redford as Howard Dean? This realistic farce plays presidential politicking as media mah-jongg, and the voters lose.

State of Siege (1972) Greek troublemaker Costa-Gavras explores the Tupermaro guerrillas in '70s Uruguay, but the villain is a kidnapped government agent used to initiate right-wing coups.

The Parallax View (1974) A jittery Warren Beatty nightmare -- the star's first liberal statement -- about JFK-like assassinations as an integral ingredient in American politics.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974/2003) Bush Country and low-rung consumerist capitalism have never been so scary; the new remake gets credit for prescience.

The Battle of Chile/The Pinochet Case (1975/2001) Possibly the most outraged political document ever made, an on-the-scene, Holy Shit record of the U.S.-supported 1973 coup and its recent denouement. A must-see.

Harlan County USA (1976)/American Dream (1990) Barbara Kopple's documentaries track the reality of the worker majority struggling to keep their livelihoods and unions.

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