Power of the big screen

A HOLIDAY guide to the best political films.

Lincoln

IN the opening scene of Steven Spielberg's cinematic masterpiece, Lincoln, the 16th US president is sitting beneath a wooden canopy surrounded by soldiers on a rainy battlefield talking about the meaning of the civil war.

Immediately you are struck by Daniel Day Lewis's astonishing portrayal of Abraham Lincoln. The way he looks, talks and moves is uncanny. It is a performance full of heart befitting the greatness of the man he inhabits.

Despite a torrid year in Canberra, the more devoted observers of public life may find themselves yearning for a taste of the political scene while politics is on its annual summer hiatus.

This potted guide to some of the finest political moments on the big screen may help to fill the void.

GRAPHIC: Troy Bramston's top 10 films

There are countless movies that touch on politics, government or social and economic issues, from James Bond and Batman to Les Miserables and The Lorax.

There are also many that have politics as their central theme, such as Lincoln, which is one of the finest examples of the political film genre that features prominently in the history of cinema.

Many movies in this genre represent politics as it should be: serving a higher purpose with an elevated sense of public duty and responsibility. John Ford's Young Mr Lincoln (1939), with Henry Fonda reaching for the essence of Lincoln, is an earlier example of what Spielberg has perfected.

In The American President (1995), Michael Douglas plays a US president who falls in love with a lobbyist, played by Annette Bening, and in the process, reboots his presidency in pursuit of noble goals. It is beautifully scripted and blends comedy, drama and romance. It became the basis for television series The West Wing.

There are films that draw on real-life examples, which also inspire. The best is Thirteen Days (2000), about John F. Kennedy's deft handling of the Cuban missile crisis. Like this year's Argo or Charlie Wilson's War (2007), it manages to set a fast pace to a historical narrative that leaves the audience energised and informed. Amazing Grace (2006), about the fight to end slavery in Britain, is another brilliant dramatisation of politics geared to a higher purpose.

Sometimes these films can overreach, but still be fun. National Treasure (2004), with Nicolas Cage, cleverly used the American Revolution as the basis for a rollicking treasure-hunt adventure. Harrison Ford turned the US president into an action hero in Air Force One (1997).

There are movies that use real-life freedom fighters, such as Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela in Invictus (2009), Mel Gibson as Scottish warrior William Wallace in Braveheart (1995) and Irish patriot Michael Collins in the 1996 film of the same name.

There are movies that reinforce politics as tragedy, showcasing its worst elements: scandal, corruption and craven ambition. George Clooney's The Ides of March (2011) and Roman Polanski's The Ghost Writer (2010), for example. Frank Sinatra and Denzel Washington both starred in The Manchurian Candidate (1962, 2004), with its bizarre plot involving brainwashing and conspiracy.

The interplay of politics and the media has also made it to the screen. The best is the Robert Redford-Dustin Hoffman drama All the President's Men (1976), about the reportage of the Watergate scandal. Clooney's Good Night, and Good Luck (2005) highlighted the clash between anchor Edward R. Murrow and senator Joe McCarthy during the hysteria of the Cold War.

Three movies that brilliantly capture the struggle of the idealist in politics are Frank Capra's Mr Smith Goes to Washington (1939), Gore Vidal's The Best Man (1964) and Redford, resembling Robert F. Kennedy, in The Candidate (1972).

The best biopic is Oliver Stone's Nixon (1995), with Anthony Hopkins perfectly capturing Richard Nixon battling the inner demons that destroyed him. Frank Langella played Nixon in Frost/Nixon (2008), an account of his later interviews with David Frost. Stone's unique time-shifting plotline was also evident in his biographical film of George W. Bush, W. (2008).

The ensemble cast in Bobby (2006), about the night of Robert F. Kennedy's murder, crafts a vivid portrayal of RFK without having an actor playing him in the film.

Meryl Streep is convincing as Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady (2011). Other recent biopics include J. Edgar (2011), about FBI director J. Edgar Hoover and Milk (2008) about gay rights campaigner Harvey Milk.

The best trilogy is Peter Morgan's The Deal (2003), The Queen (2006) and The Special Relationship (2010), which each examine the career of British Labour prime minister Tony Blair.

Several movies showcase politics as farce by highlighting its comedic elements. US presidents feature in: Dave (1993), My Fellow Americans (1996) and Welcome to Mooseport (2004). The best is the Hoffman-Robert De Niro black comedy Wag The Dog (1997), in which a war is concocted to distract from a president's scandals.

Like Swing Vote (2008) and Black Sheep (1996), Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis's 2012 film The Campaign also uses politics for comedy. Election (1999), starring Reese Witherspoon as an ambitious student running for class president, is another superb black political comedy. In the Loop (2009), based on the British television series The Thick of It, also melded comedy with politics.

Finally, there are political documentaries, most made for television. Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story (2008) tells the story of Republican operative Atwater, who helped make George H.W. Bush US president and gave the modern Republican Party its harder edge.

The War Room (1993) gives a behind-the-scenes insight into Bill Clinton's campaign for the US presidency. Errol Morris's The Fog of War (2003) captures a reflective Robert McNamara ruminating on his life as defence secretary during Vietnam.

What is clear from this short list is that almost all of the best political movies hail from the US. There, politics is played for big stakes: the leadership of the free world. Politics is larger than life. It attracts the best and worst people. It is capable of inspiring the best in individuals while often sustaining the lowest forms of human life. And it is never, ever dull.

This is true from the American Revolution in Gibson and Heath Ledger's The Patriot (2000) to the abuse of power in Absolute Power (1997) starring Gene Hackman alongside Clint Eastwood and Australia's Judy Davis to the Roman a clef novel turned film Primary Colors (1998), which shows a Bill Clinton-like US governor running for president but denied greatness due to his personal foibles.

Television has also been a vehicle for several masterful political films. Among the best is Truman (1995), about US president Harry Truman, and the series John Adams (2008), about the second US president, both based on David McCullough's magnificent books. The controversial but well-acted series The Kennedys (2011) is also great television, like The Reagans (2002), also starring Davis.

There are countless others. The little-known British movie Margaret Thatcher: The Long Walk to Finchley (2008) is an excellent dramatisation of Thatcher's political ascendancy.

Australia has produced few political films. The television series The Dismissal (1983), about the constitutional crisis of 1975, remains our best political drama. The recent television movies Hawke (2010, about Bob Hawke) and Curtin (2007, about John Curtin) were also very well acted, written and directed.

The best Australian documentary by far is Labor in Power (1993), essentially about the rivalry between Hawke and Paul Keating. Rats in the Ranks (1996), about the shenanigans on Leichhardt Council, also provided a fascinating window into municipal politics.

David Williamson's Don's Party (1976) was produced for the cinema. It uses the 1969 election where Gough Whitlam secured a massive 7.1 per cent swing but failed to win government as its backdrop, but is really about the relationships between the principal characters.

Indeed, most political movies serve as an allegory for wider social or economic issues and characterise politics behind the scenes. Often the drama is overplayed, the comedies rarely resemble real life and the scandals are habitually embellished.

That is why the most compelling films are based on reality: moments of drama such as the Cuban missile crisis, vivid portrayals of fascinating historical figures like Nixon or Thatcher or triumph and tragedy amid the horror of war.

Lincoln centres on the president mustering the votes to pass the 13th amendment to the constitution abolishing slavery. To get the congressional votes he needs, Lincoln appeals to a congressman's humanity one minute and in the next engages in the basest political deal-making. It is politics in the raw, bending the system for a good purpose.

As entertainment, these movies can illuminate our understanding of politics, sharpen our knowledge of history and vividly animate its most enigmatic figures.

As somebody once remarked, politics is show business for ugly people. And politics is the greatest show on earth. There is no field of human endeavour that can be more inspiring or disappointing, more life-changing or more important, and where we all have a stake and we all have a say.

That is why politics on the big screen has often been an irresistible genre for the greatest writers, actors and directors, as Spielberg's Lincoln demonstrates.

Lincoln is released in Australian cinemas on February, 7, 2013.

Tell us your favourite films about politics in the comments field below.