Tired of real politics? Try the silver screen instead.
As 2024 draws to a close, you might be tired of watching politicians act as if they are the stars of an epic film.
So, as the holidays draw near and you settle down by the proverbial fire, why not watch an actual movie about politics?
Movies skewer and satirize a political system that dearly deserves both. They can warn us of the dangers of hungering for power and lay bare the human foibles and egos at the heart of it all. And once in a while, they can give us a reason to believe in politics’ higher purpose.
Last week, I asked you to tell me your favorite movies about politics — and I asked around our newsroom, too. Maggie Haberman’s favorite politics movie is “The Parallax View,” the 1974 Warren Beatty thriller about a newspaper reporter investigating an assassination. Dick Stevenson, our next Washington bureau chief, went with the 1976 classic “All the President’s Men.” Lisa Lerer added a deep cut: the 2008 romantic comedy “Definitely, Maybe,” about the romantic misadventures of a former political consultant played by Ryan Reynolds.
And then there is Carl Hulse, our chief Washington correspondent. I spoke to him by phone yesterday while he was in the halls of the Capitol with a front-row seat for the end-of-year government-funding blockbuster that nobody wanted. Carl loves the 1964 film “The Best Man” and HBO’s “Recount,” a recreation of the 2000 presidential election that he says was just like the real thing. (He would know — he was there!)
If real politics were a movie, I asked him, would it be a thriller? A tragedy?
“A comedy, without a doubt,” he said.
This post was originally published on here
