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Anti-Capitalist, Anti-Imperialist and Anti-fascist ‘Canon’

For Zebra

I get asked a lot about good left wing or anti-capitalist (or anti colonialism, anti imperialism, anti fascism). I kept giving off the cuff suggestions and feeling I was missing so many out. 

When Zebra asked me, I wanted to do it right. So, I made this.

Note: it only goes on the list if I’ve seen it and think it’s a good vessel for its politics. This is not a comprehensive list of leftist cinema, this is a curated selection of suggestions for people who want to watch great, and potent, leftist films.

Here is a list of the films that people have claimed ‘do not belong’ here. It’s… interesting.

Block or Report
  • 9 Souls
  • The Act of Killing
  • Aguirre, the Wrath of God
  • Akira
  • Ali: Fear Eats the Soul
  • All the Beauty and the Bloodshed
  • Antiporno
  • The Arbor
  • Army of Shadows
  • The Ascent
  • Atlantics
  • Babe: Pig in the City
  • Bacurau
  • The Bad Sleep Well
  • Bait
  • Bamboozled
  • The Battle of Algiers
  • Battleship Potemkin
  • Beau Travail
  • Bicycle Thieves
  • The Big City
  • Black Girl
  • Black Panthers
  • The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975
  • Blacks Britannica
  • Blue Collar
  • Born in Flames
  • Brassed Off
  • Brazil
  • Bullet in the Head
  • Burning
  • Caché
  • Close-Up
  • Collective
  • Come and See
  • The Conformist
  • Crash
  • The Crime of Monsieur Lange
  • Céline and Julie Go Boating
  • Daisies
  • Dawn of the Dead
  • Day of the Dead
  • Death by Hanging
  • The Death of Mr. Lazarescu
  • Dersu Uzala
  • Desperate Living
  • The Devils
  • The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
  • A Dog's Will
  • Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
  • Election
  • Embrace of the Serpent
  • Emitaï
  • Entranced Earth
  • Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
  • Fiddler on the Roof
  • First Cow
  • Fist of Fury
  • Fitzcarraldo
  • The Florida Project
  • Fox and His Friends
  • Germany Year Zero
  • The Girls
  • The Gleaners and I
  • The Grapes of Wrath
  • The Great Dictator
  • Halloween III: Season of the Witch
  • Hanagatami
  • Harakiri
  • A Hidden Life
  • High-Rise
  • Hoop Dreams
  • The Host
  • The Human Condition I: No Greater Love
  • Hunger
  • I Am Cuba
  • I, Daniel Blake
  • If Beale Street Could Talk
  • Illusions
  • In Fabric
  • The Iron Giant
  • Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles
  • Josep
  • Kes
  • The Killing of a Chinese Bookie
  • Koyaanisqatsi
  • LA 92
  • La Chinoise
  • La Haine
  • Le Corbeau
  • Le Trou
  • The Lego Movie
  • The Look of Silence
  • The Lower Depths
  • Mad Max: Fury Road
  • Malcolm X
  • Man with a Movie Camera
  • The Marriage of Maria Braun
  • Masculin Féminin
  • Meantime