Historical movies-can you suggest any?

[benhur]

Can anyone suggest historical movies, especially relating to Russia, Germany etc., preferably with a pro-leftist slant? Such as something related to Nazism, October revolution, Spanish civil war, Paris commune and the like? Important historical events as background for the movie.

[JohannGE]

Lots on Spain including film here:-

http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/9820/

Links to three Sergei Eisenstein films here:-

http://www.marxists.org/subject/art/film/index.htm

and an index of audio/visual sources here:-

[brigadista]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Come_and_See

fantastic film

[Killfacer]

it has nothing to do with any of those things but:

Double Impact
Conan the Barbarian
Conan the Destroyer (who thought the sequel would be as good as the original??!?!)
Cyborg

[Pogue]

Land and Freedom - Spanish Civil War, great film

REDS - the definiative film on the October Revolution

1900 - Rise of fascism in Italy and Communist fightback

[x359594]

REDS - the definiative film on the October Revolution

Respectfully, I can't agree. Sergei Eisenstein's October (USSR 1927) is much closer to being definitive than Warren Beatty's Reds. Eisentien's film was made to commerorate the 10th anniversary of the revolution and benefitted from the participation of actual revolutionaries. Certainly the interviews in Beatty's film were eyewitnesses to the history of John Reed's career but none were actual participants in the revolution.

Another good film about the October Revolution is the documentary Ten Days That Shock the World (UK 1967) titled after John Reed's book. It's narrated by Orson Welles.

Also interest is The Nine Lives of Nestor Makhno (Russia/Ukraine 2001) directed by Nikolai Kaptan which covers the period of the February Revolution to the end of the civil war.

I would argue that Peter Watkin's La Commune (Paris 1971) (UK 2003) is the definitive film version of the history of the Commune.

Spy Sorge (Japan 2003) is a three hour epic about the Soviet spy Dr. Richard Sorge who created an espionage network in the Far East and placed an operative in the Prime Minister's office and penetrated the German Embassy in Tokyo.

[LOLseph Stalin]

REDS - the definiative film on the October Revolution


Damn, you beat me to posting that! I want to see that movie and i've heard it was made by leftists.

[x359594]

...i've heard it [Reds] was made by leftists.

Warren Beatty who directed Reds and starred as John Reed is a liberal associated with progressive politics, which is to say, he's probably to the right of everyone at Rev.Left. However, the co-screenwriter Trevor Griffiths is a British Marxist who wrote several outstanding plays and teleplays (originally produced in the UK) that dealt with working class issues and other subjects from an unambigously Left perspective.

[LOLseph Stalin]

Warren Beatty who directed Reds and starred as John Reed is a liberal associated with progressive politics, which is to say, he's probably to the right of everyone at Rev.Left. However, the co-screenwriter Trevor Griffiths is a British Marxist who wrote several outstanding plays and teleplays (originally produced in the UK) that dealt with working class issues and other subjects from an unambigously Left perspective.

Hmm...ok. I still want to see the movie though. I've heard it won several oscars as well! I think in like 1982 or something. That's slightly ironic, considering that was still during the red scare.

[x359594]

...I've heard it [Reds] won several oscars as well! I think in like 1982 or something. That's slightly ironic, considering that was still during the red scare.

By all means it's worth seeing. The fact that it won Oscars is not necessarily a recommendation though. By far the most valuable part of the movie are the interviews with the "witnesses" interspersed throughout the narrative. These are old timers who actually knew John Reed and Louise Bryant, and their testimonies are fascinating.

Yes, Reds was released during the Reagan era as was another left-leaning epic, Ragtime. That movie was directed by Milos Forman who worked in the Polish cinema in its 1960s heyday before coming to Hollywood. It's also worth seeing and would make a good double-bill with Reds.