Films on social change and revolution

[undeterred]

Can anyone recommend a link to a website that lists something like this?
Or, can anyone recommend films that deal with this subject that aren't well known, including documentaries?

Thanks!

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1. "Salt of the Earth" (1953 or 1954)

[undeterred]

2. thanks- I just found something on it

Salt of the Earth is based on a 1950 strike by zinc miners in Silver City, New Mexico. Against a backdrop of social injustice, a riveting family drama is played out by the characters of Ramon and Esperanza Quintero, a Mexican-American miner and his wife. In the course of the strike, Ramon and Esperanza find their roles reversed: an injunction against the male strikers moves the women to take over the picket line, leaving the men to domestic duties. The women evolve from men's subordinates into their allies and equals.

http://www.organa.com/salt.html

Included in the prestigious National Film Registry of the Library of Congress, Salt of the Earth represents a milestone in the history of American movies. It was produced, written, and directed by filmmakers who were still blacklisted when the film was made in 1953, during the anticommunist witch-hunts that plagued Hollywood (and the entire country) at the height of the McCarthy era. While the filmmakers faced misguided suspicion of promoting anti-American sentiments, the film was financed in part by the International Union of Mine, Mill, and Smelter Workers, which strongly supported this powerful social-realist drama about a strike by Mexican American zinc miners in New Mexico. Featuring a prominent role for blacklisted actor Will Geer (later famous as Grandpa on TV's The Waltons), the story intensifies when the strikers are forced to stop picketing and their wives take up the cause. Focusing on one struggling couple to illustrate its themes of individual dignity and human rights, the film was released in only 13 theaters nationwide in 1954, receiving a majority of highly positive reviews. Still, Salt of the Earth was surrounded by controversy before, during, and after its production, and it was widely misinterpreted as a call for social revolution. It remained largely unseen in America until the 1960s, but this boldly independent film has since been duly recognized for its artistic and social importance. --Jeff Shannon

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5. It's hard to find, and the sound quality is poor, but it's worth watching.

If any movie is crying out for a remake this is the one.

[Bluerthanblue]

3. "The Strawberry Statement"- "Billie Jack", and

... 'Katherine' with Sissy Spasak ..these are oldies, off the top of my head- (not a great place to be i admit):eyes: the most recent i've seen that comes to mind is ... "Beyond Borders" with A. Jolie was pretty good-

[undeterred]

10. thanks

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

4. Here's some of my favorites:

"1900" (Italian)
"Viva Zapata"
"The Grapes of Wrath"
"To Live" (Chinese)
"To Kill a Mockingbird"
"Gandhi"
"The Battle of Algiers" (French Doc)
"Hearts and Minds" (French Doc - in English)
"A Raisin in the Sun"
"Missing"
"Men With Guns" (American in Spanish)
"The Organizer" (Italian)
"Love and Anarchy" (Italian)
"A World Apart" (Brit)
"Biko"
"Prisoner of the Mountains" (Russian)
"The Thief" Russian
"The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner" (Brit)
"Lonely Are the Brave"
"El Norte"

Just off the top of my head.

[undeterred]

6. Wow, thanks

I am organizing a movie night for a student political group around the theme of "revolutions".

[Nay]

7. "Reds," "Night of Living Dangerously"

[ultraist]

8. Spike Lee

Forthcoming:

SPIKE LEE FILMS A DOCUMENTARY ENTITLED "WHEN THE LEVEE BROKE"

Critically acclaimed director Spike Lee is going to New Orleans to film a documentary that will show the clash between race and politics in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

The documentary entitled When the Levee Broke is being made for HBO and will use "factual journalism, not creative narrative" to discuss New Orleans. Since being ravaged, the city has become a focal point for black political activists and conspiracy theorists, a topic Lee is likely to touch in his film.

What about Malcom X?

[undeterred]

9. Cool

I think Spike Lee's "Do the Right Thing" is one of the best films I have seen on the subject of violence/social change. And its funny.

And yes, I think Malcolm X is a key person to study too.

[curt_b]

11. here's a few more

John Sayles "Maitwan"
Costa-Gravas "Z", "Missing"
Eisenstein "Battleship Potemkin"

and another big thumbs up for Salt of the Earth

[1932]

12. Norma Rae. Grapes of Wrath. Good Night, Good Luck.

[1932]

13. The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.

[1932]

14. Lumumba: Death of a Prophet.

The director, Raol Peck, has a couple films on social change and revolution and imperialism and capitalism, but not all of them are available in the US.