10 Scathing Political Satires to Stream This Independence Day
Palling around with Kim Jong-un. Portraying Canada as America’s number one enemy. Waiting in horror to see what happens when an impotent man-baby gets his finger on the nuclear button. If some of these scenarios sound familiar, it’s not necessarily because they’re ripped from the headlines (though in some cases, it’s pretty close); it’s because Hollywood has long a long history of skewering the American political system for tragicomic gain.
Regardless of which end of the political spectrum you find yourself on, there’s no denying that it’s a very strange time in American politics. It’s one of those times when truth is definitely stranger than fiction. But in this era in which a reality show host is the leader of the free world and Sylvester Stallone and Kim Kardashian are helping the White House make decisions on presidential pardons, it feels as if the most appropriate way to celebrate America this July 4th is by marathoning some of Hollywood’s most scathing (and sometimes prophetic) political satires. Here are 10 of the best you can stream right now.
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
The political satire to end all political satires, Stanley Kubrick’s black-and-white Cold War comedy is much more colorful from a narrative perspective—and hasn’t lost any of its bite in the more than half-century since its release. When an unhinged Air Force general (Sterling Hayden's Jack D. Ripper) can’t get it up, the only logical explanation he can come to is that the Russians are contaminating America's water supply with fluoride to mess with our "precious bodily fluids." The solution? Start a nuclear war. Kubrick's own best weapon is Peter Sellers, who scored a Best Actor Oscar nomination for playing a trio of characters, including the titular nuclear expert as well as the president of the United States. For all its absurdity, there’s a certain amount of plausibility that makes it equally terrifying when you stop to think about what could happen when an idiot has the nuclear codes.
Where to stream it: Hulu
Being There (1979)
Fifteen years after Dr. Strangelove, Peter Sellers earned yet another Best Actor nomination for playing an accidental political hero in Being There. Sellers plays Chance, a sweet-but-simple-minded man who has spent the entirety of his life tending to the garden of a wealthy DC man. When his benefactor dies, Chance is forced to leave the estate for the first time in his life with nothing more than the finely tailored clothes (courtesy of his late employer) on his back. Following a series of misunderstandings, and charmed by his old-school, gentlemanly ways, Chance comes to be known as Chauncey Gardiner, whose plain-spoken advice about the one thing he knows about (gardening) is mistaken for sage political advice that eventually leads him to becoming a frontrunner in the upcoming presidential election, even though his assertions like "all will be well in the garden" are nothing more than green-thumbed advice. While the film is an indictment of America's political players and society itself, it's the endearing performance by Sellers that gives it a sweetness other films on this list are lacking.
Where to stream it: FilmStruck
In the Loop (2009)
Seven years before he skewered the inner workings of the White House with Veep, Armando Iannucci did the same for the hallowed halls of the British government with the equally insult-packed series The Thick of It (which is available to stream on Hulu). In the Loop is a feature-length spinoff of that original series, in which a poorly worded sound bite from the Minister for International Development Simon Foster (Tom Hollander) seems to signal that the UK is intent on going to war with the Middle East. Enter foul-mouthed communications director Malcolm Tucker (Peter Capaldi), who sets off with Foster for Washington, DC in order to do damage control, but instead makes Foster—who can't seem to say anything right—the pawn in a tug of war between America's pro- and anti-war factions. At a time when politicians' every utterance—and every tweet—is endlessly scrutinized, In the Loop is a reminder that every word counts.
Where to stream it: Hulu
South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999)
South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone have practically made a career out of poking fun at Canada. In this feature-length version of their long-running Comedy Central show, they literally wage war with our kindly neighbors to the north. After paying a homeless man to take them to see Asses of Fire, an R-rated movie starring their favorite Canadian comedian duo Terrance and Phillip, the boys of South Park—Stan, Kenny, Kyle, and Cartman—take to repeating the movie's raunchy phrases and attempting to recreate some of its scenes, namely: setting a fart on fire. Outraged at the corruptive influence the movie—and, by extension, the country that created it—has had on their kids, the moms of South Park wage a cultural war against Canada, which results in Terrance and Phillip being arrested as war criminals. Canada retaliates by bombing the home of the American treasures known as the Baldwin brothers. Satan and Saddam Hussein also make an appearance, but the less you know about the ensuing antics the better. Suffice to say that the movie is actually quite prescient … well, as prescient as a movie in which an animated character ignites his own fart can be. Five years after Bigger, Longer & Uncut (which earned Parker and Stone a Best Song Oscar nod for the tune "Blame Canada"), they assembled a task force of puppets to take on American politics in a post-9/11 landscape to save the world from Kim Jong-il in Team America: World Police. It, too, is certainly worth your time (though you’ll have to pay to stream that one on Amazon or iTunes).
Where to stream it: Amazon (with Starz)
Bulworth (1998)
Disillusioned with life and politics, California senator Jay Bulworth (Warren Beatty) has decided he’s had enough and hires a hitman to take him out while he continues on as if nothing is amiss, and proceeds with his bid for reelection. But rather than stick to the same prepackaged rhetoric he’s been spinning for years, Bulworth changes strategies and decides to simply tell the truth about the state of America. While speaking at a church in South Central Los Angeles, he meets and falls for Nina (Halle Berry), and eventually decides that life might be worth living after all, but it's too late to call off the hit. Beatty co-wrote, co-produced, and directed the film, which—for all its somewhat tactless cultural appropriation (see: Warren Beatty rapping)—does pack a lot of substance and leaves one yearning for the day when a politician might be emboldened to tell the truth in real life.
Where to stream it: Amazon (with Starz)
The Interview (2014)
In late 2014, the biggest threat to America may have been a German Shepherd eating a piece of salami from Seth Rogen's nether regions. When tabloid talk show host Dave Skylark (James Franco) learns that Kim Jong-un (Randall Park) is a fan of his show, he and his producer (Rogen) make a plan to travel to North Korea to interview the dictator for Skylark Tonight. Seeing this as an opportunity to eliminate the nuclear threat that North Korea poses, the CIA steps in and recruits the two to use their interview as an opportunity to murder Kim. When the real-life Kim caught wind of the film, war threats were made and it's widely believed that Sony's plan to continue with releasing the film as-is was what led to the infamous hack of the studio's private emails and data, which were eventually posted online for all the world to see. Just last month, Rogen and co-writer Evan Goldberg admitted that seeing President Trump's recent meeting with Kim Jong-un brought about a sense of déjà vu, with Goldberg describing it as a case of "life imitating art a little too much."
Where to stream it: Amazon Prime
Election (1999)
For proof that all politics is local, one need look no further than Election, Alexander Payne's adaptation of Tom Perrotta's acerbic 1998 novel of the same name, which was inspired by the 1992 presidential election (when Bill Clinton triumphed over George H.W. Bush and Ross Perot). While at first it may seem like your typical high school comedy—complete with awkward teen romances and high-powered cliques—the reality of the narrative is much more complex. Pathological overachiever Tracy Flick (Reese Witherspoon) will stop at nothing to be voted student body president, but beloved teacher/student government advisor Mr. McAllister knows that Tracy isn't as innocent as she lets on and throws the election in the favor of the jock he persuaded to run against her. But Tracy won’t go down without a fight. Though a student council election may be a far cry from a presidential one, the movie makes the point that political power and corruption can go hand-in-hand at any level—and as Tracy proves later in the movie, laser-focused determination and a willingness to dispense with anyone who gets in your way may very well be the cornerstones of our democratic system.
Where to stream it: Amazon Prime
Uncle Sam (1996)
Who says schlocky horror movies can’t come with a poignant, albeit blood-soaked, political message? Director William Lustig—who caused a bit of an uproar in 1980 with the release of his ultra-violent and unrated Maniac (a movie that prompted a sickened Gene Siskel to walk out of the screening)—took aim at the Gulf War in this 1996 horror flick. Three years after his helicopter was shot down by friendly fire in Kuwait, the body of Master Sergeant Sam Harper is returned to his family in the United States just ahead of the local July 4th celebration. While he may be dead, Harper has some unfinished business to take care of, so he steals an Uncle Sam costume and wreaks havoc on the town, killing draft-dodgers, tax cheats, flag-burners, lying politicians, and anyone else he deems unpatriotic. (Consider yourselves warned.)
Where to stream it: Amazon (with Horror TV, Screambox, or Shudder)
Duck Soup (1933)
With their lightning-fast dialogue and nonstop jokes that were equal parts sophisticated and bawdy, the Marx Brothers were always ahead of their time—but perhaps never more so than with this 1933 political classic. The tiny country of Freedonia is on the brink of bankruptcy, and the only way to save it is for Mrs. Teasdale, a wealthy widow, to donate $20 million to the cause. Her only stipulation? That unpredictable dictator Rufus T. Firefly (Groucho Marx) be named the country's president. But Firefly's more interested in making time with Mrs. Teasdale than helping the country get back on its feet (when his secretary of labor relays that workers are demanding shorter hours, Firefly agrees—and cuts their lunch breaks to 20 minutes). Unfortunately, the leader of neighboring Sylvania also has his eye on Mrs. Teasdale, so they solve the love triangle like any two unfit people of power would do—by declaring war on each other. As much as it's an outright comedy, it's not hard to read between the lines of what can happen when self-interest and politics collide.
Where to stream it: IndieFlix
They Live (1988)
Though it may be best known for delivering "I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass … and I'm all out of bubblegum" into the popular lexicon, John Carpenter's alien invasion movie is also a clever takedown of the consumer-obsessed Reagan era. Unemployed drifter John Nada (Roddy Piper) happens upon a pair of sunglasses which, when worn, allow him to see that much of the world is being run by aliens who are using subliminal messages to encourage humans to "Obey," "Conform," "Consume," "Watch TV," "Sleep," and "Do Not Question Authority." Nada then sets about finding the underground group who designed the glasses so that he can help them dismantle the organization of yuppie scum who are orchestrating the widening of the country's class divide. It may not be Carpenter's best film (wrestler-turned-actor Piper's performance doesn't help), but it's one of his most bitingly allegorical.
Where to stream it: Amazon (with Starz)