Film

Film

• Five films on the black struggle

  

  As Black Lives Matter continues to make gains, Counterfire writers discuss a personal selection of films concerning race and class in the US and UK

• Contagion revisited: how Hollywood got its pandemic prediction upside down

  

  Chaotic leadership vs calm public: how reality was different from Contagion's plotlines, says Chris Nineham

• If VE Day never came: It Happened Here - film review

  

  On the 75th anniversary of VE Day, Tom Griffiths finds Brownlow and Mollo's alternative vision of Nazi-led Britain in the 1940s still resonates powerfully

• Total War: realism and fantasy in British Cinema of the 1940s

  

  British Cinema during WW2 presents us with a more complex picture of an important historical period than we might expect, argues Martin Hall

• Curated for quarantine: five films for your Easter weekend

  

  Chosen with the activist’s eye in mind by Chris Nineham, Kate O’Neil and Mark Dee Smith  

• Raining accusations: Ken Loach under attack

  

  Britain's best known socialist filmmaker has been under attack for weeks as part of the continued assault on our ability to organise for Palestinian rights, argues Sybil Cock

• Film Review: Misbehaviour is misjudged

  

  Women's liberation struggles deserve to be made into films, but Misbehaviour is not one of them says Penny Hicks

• 1917: more fiction than fact - film review

  

  1917 fails to do justice to the reality of the times and for the characters in it, says John Westmoreland

• Little Women - film review

  

  Little Women is a successful film adaptation but haste and gloss obscure many of the central and distinctive elements of Alcott’s original story

• Sorry We Missed You: essential viewing in a Britain broken by capitalism

  

  Steve Jack reviews the latest film from the self-effacing firebrand and king of social realism, Ken Loach

• Official Secrets review: how Bush and Blair lied their way to war with Iraq

  

  Official Secrets shows the extent of the lies in the drive to war with Iraq and leaves the viewer asking how on earth Blair got away with it, writes Shabbir Lakha

• Rolling Thunder Revue: a Bob Dylan story by Martin Scorsese

  

  Scorsese's new documentary shows Dylan grasping at the truth of an America that was figuring out what it wanted to be

• A Marxist guide to crime drama

  

  At its best, crime drama does not simply try to terrify us with pure unblinking evil but gives us studies of dysfunctional human beings mangled by capitalism, argues Sofie Mason

• Rosa Luxemburg, von Trotta's 1986 film, receives digital restoration - review

  

  In this moving biopic, Rosa Luxemburg emerges as a vibrant, sensual, intellectually brilliant, morally and physically courageous woman, whose legacy proves timeless, writes Tom Lock Griffiths

• Peterloo: an 'anti-period drama'

  

  Peterloo presents our history vividly, finds David McAllister - the result is a film that is both timely and historically accurate

• Black Panther: from Huey Newton to Wakanda - film review

  

  Black Panther is a landmark film for representation and presentation, but the politics ignores structural issues of class and race, argues Shabbir Lakha

• Every revolution needs some smashing plates

  

  A 1985 Exhibition of Soviet Design came to London and showed Mark Perryman the real meaning of revolution

• Blade Runner 2049 - film review

  

  As the sequel to the 80's blockbuster hits the big screens, Sean Ledwith analyses the politics behind the influential sci-fi film.

• Mehmet Aksoy remembered: Peace in Kurdistan salutes the activist and film-maker

  

  It is with deep sadness and horror that we learn of the death of Mehmet Aksoy who has been killed in the fight against Islamic State on 26 September 2017

• The Acting Class review - A necessary declaration of intent from working-class actors

  

  Without the bank of mum and dad as support, opportunities in the arts are becoming non-existent. This new documentary is a cry of anger against this class injustice

• Studio: Remembering Chris Marker

  

  Chris Marker, the innovative, left-wing filmmaker, is given a moving and insightful tribute in Studio: Remembering Chris Marker, finds Tom Griffiths

• Nolan's Dunkirk - film review

  

  Christopher Nolan's epic depiction of the Dunkirk evacuation misses the point, argues Tom Lock Griffiths

• The radical cinema of George A. Romero

  

  The late horror director changed the way we see the monstrous Other, writes Jack Brindelli

• The Death of Louis XIV: feudalism’s last gleaming

  

  Tom Lock Griffiths locates a unique performance at the heart of Albert Serra’s study of aristocratic and corporeal decay

• Class in the drama class: actors and privilege

  

  Deirdre O’Neill and Mike Wayne explain why they are making a new documentary, The Acting Class

• Oliver Stone’s Snowden - film review

  

  Stone's biopic is a powerful reminder that the capitalist state can still be brought to its knees by the defiance of a single person

• Art, Literature and Culture from a Marxist Perspective

  

  Tony McKenna’s cultural essays show the rich possibilities of Marxist analysis for a range of art and literature, argues Sean Ledwith

• Daniel Blake: an everyday tragedy

  

  Austerity penalises the most vulnerable in our society. This government’s record is shameful and we most hold the Tories to account, writes Dr Mona Kamal

• Ken Loach talks Daniel Blake, Jeremy Corbyn and Leon Trotsky

  

  The award-winning film director talks about his latest film, his political influences, and the challenges now facing the left in a wide ranging interview with John Rees

• Paul Robeson: erased from history - podcast

  

  Portraying Paul Robeson on the 40th anniversary of his death, actor Tayo Aluko talks to us about this prodigiously talented singer, actor and socialist

• Hollywood takes on the bankers? Review of The Big Short

  

  Mckay's film exposes the greed at the core of the system, but fails to tell the story of those most affected by the crisis

• Bristol film festival celebrates 40 years of radical British cinema

  

  We spoke to Bristol Radical Film Festival organiser Steve Presence about the rare gems showcasing this year

• Abel Ferrara's ‘Pasolini’

  

  Jim Aindow reviews a film about the final days of Italian film director Pier Paolo Pasolini

• Marshland: Life, death, redemption

  

  A recently released Spanish thriller casts light on the country’s compromised transition to democracy. Marshland by Alberto Rodríguez is reviewed by Jim Aindow

• Celebrating the Miners Strike through film: 'Miners’ Hymns' and 'DS30'

  

  Mike Quille reviews two new films: Miners’ Hymns which is out on DVD, and a new film called DS30, which will be shown in Durham a few days before the Miners Gala

• Avengers: Age of Repetitive Strain

  

  As the Avengers once again look set to storm the box office, and as word of mouth continues to extol the virtues of the franchise, tireless contrarian Jack Brindelli gives a very different view

• Support Hollywood Hegemony financial appeal

  

  Norwich based radical film making team 'Hollywood Hegemony' has launched a fundraising appeal explains Jack Brindelli

• White Hole: antidote to Black Friday?

  

  Tyneside Cinema and Film London Artists' Moving Image Network present the UK premiere of White Hole, a new work by John Smith. Mike Quille reviews

• Existence is resistance: review of 'Two Days and One Night'‏

  

  Chris Nineham reviews 'Two Days and One Night', a new film by the Dardenne Brothers

• Amir Amirani’s ‘We are many’

  

  Marienna Pope-Weidemann reviews Amir Amirani’s ‘We are many’, a documentary about the biggest anti-war demonstration in history