Films

The revolution introduced me to art, and art, in its own turn, brought me to the revolution.

Sergei Eisenstein

Saturday, 17 September 2016 14:14

'If we stop fighting, the world will die': a review of Casablanca

Written by Phil Brett

in Films

Phil Brett draws some lessons for today's refugee crisis from Casablanca. Casablanca often features in lists of favourite films, and often receives highbrow scoffing. The novelist and critic Umberto Eco, for example, says of the movie, 'To make a good story, a single archetype is usually good enough. But Casablanca…

Friday, 19 August 2016 15:58

Films for Corbyn

Written by Andrew Warburton

in Films

Andrew Warburton interviews one of the organisers of screenings of some socialist films at the islington Mill, Salford. One proof of Jeremy Corbyn’s ability to inspire grassroots action among Labour members and in the community as a whole is the ever-expanding list of cultural projects and activities bearing the name…

jeremy corbyn Momentum Islington Mill

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Sunday, 19 June 2016 17:36

Once Upon a Time this West was full of Radicals: Sergio Leone, Revolution and Religion

in Films

Written by James Crossley

James Crossley analyses Sergio Leone's spaghetti Westerns, unearthing their twin discourses of a materialist explanation of American capitalism and an expression of a revolutionary Christianity. Even if someone has somehow not seen Sergio Leone’s Westerns, the poncho-wearing, cigar-smoking, gun-toting, stubble-growing image of its breakout star, Clint Eastwood, as well as…

Sergio Leone Clint Eastwood Ennio Morricone Fistful of Dollars The Good the bad and the ugly once upon a time in the west

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Tuesday, 07 June 2016 19:21

Sleaford Mods: Invisible Britain

in Films

Written by Will Stone

Is there a British band in today's music industry that definitively reflects or comments on the consequences of Tory austerity? Or one that is a direct reaction to 21st century Toryism? Well, the makers of new documentary Sleaford Mods: Invisible Britain seem to think so. But who are the Sleaford Mods? Not…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Tuesday, 26 April 2016 15:19

Streams from the same water: a review of The Pearl Button

in Films

Written by Elliott O'Sullivan

Elliot O'Sullivan reviews the second film in Patricio Guzman's trilogy about Chilean culture and politics. 'We are all streams from the same water', says the narrator in Guzman's new film. There are moments of wide eyed wonder in The Pearl Button, and there is plenty of sorrow and heartbreak as…

Guzman Chile cultural genocide

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Thursday, 10 March 2016 12:38

The Big Short

in Films

Written by Alex Simpson

Is 'The Big Short' a big con? Alex Simpson looks closely at a film where Robin Hood steals money from the rich and keeps it for himself. At heart, ‘The Big Short’ – which just won Best Adapted Screenplay at the Oscars – is a parable. Much like Robin Hood,…

finance capitalism Wall Street Hollywood

Friday, 19 February 2016 21:56

Don't Tell Him Pike!

Written by Mark Perryman

in Films

Mark Perryman describes Dad’s Army as the most popular front of them all. 1968 was a tumultuous year. The Tet Offensive, the civil rights movement, the May events of ‘Paris, London, Rome, Berlin/We shall fight, we will win’ and the Prague Spring. This was also the year, 15th April to…

Dad's Army AntiFascism

Thursday, 04 February 2016 22:17

Dark Light

Written by John Smith

in Films

John Smith, the avant garde film maker, has kindly offered Culture Matters his short film, Dark Light. Below, he introduces it. The only time I’ve visited a communist country was when I went to Poland in 1980, not long after Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government was first elected in Britain. I first…

London Warsaw Leipzig communism

Saturday, 30 January 2016 23:02

The Big Short

Written by Rita Di Santo

in Films

Rita Di Santo reviews The Big Short, directed by Adam McKay. Blisteringly funny, smartly assembled, snappily narrated, The Big Short pours salt in the old wound of Wall Street’s 2008 disaster and gleefully rubs it in. Despite documentaries (Inside Job) and dramas (Margin Call), this remains a subject full of…

Friday, 22 January 2016 22:22

The Empire Strikes Again

Written by John Wight

in Films

Star Wars is a simple story, simply told. Good versus evil, light versus darkness and freedom versus tyranny — it’s the narrative of the US struggle to preserve democracy and civilisation in a world beset by “evil” and “evildoers.” That’s hardly a surprise, given that films and political propaganda have long…

star wars US propaganda

"I Am Spartacus"

The Third Man

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