The 5 Best Political Films for a Dose of Sanity

I'm a movie junkie, though I'm not all that into political films. I tend to use films as a vehicle for escapism. That's quintessentially American: As the Baltimore Sun [1] reports, in five of the past seven recessions, box office sales have jumped. We tend to run to Hollywood when things get bad. Today is no exception as theaters are teeming with moviegoers.

[2]I'm sure that's why Focus Films asked me, Dan Rather, Jane Hamsher, Rick Perlstein and Katha Pollitt to recommend our favorite flicks about political campaigns and elections: The movie industry knows that between the recession and a grating campaign season, people are looking for a little entertainment. I turned my recommendations into my newspaper column this week, which you can read here [3].

The thing is, I don't think the movie-watching impulse during crises is so shocking, especially when you consider the media propaganda pounding us with mind-numbingly stupid narratives. We run to the movies not just to get away from reality, but to get a better dose of it than our "news" provides.

I was only allowed to pick 5 movies for this assignment. Some runners up that didn't make the cut include Street Fight [4], Bulworth and The War Room. I encourage you to use the comments section to tell us your favorite films about political campaigns.

You can read the full column at the San Francsico Chronicle [3], Denver Post [5], Ft. Collins Coloradoan [6], Lancaster Eagle Gazette [7], In These Times [8], TruthDig [9], Credo Action [10] or Creators Syndicate [11].

The column relies on grassroots support, so if you'd like to see my column regularly in your local paper, use this directory [12] to find the contact info for your local editorial page editors. Get get in touch with them and point them to my Creators Syndicate site [13]. Thanks, as always, for your ongoing readership and help contacting local editors. This column couldn't be what it is without your help.