Let's go without politics!

10 films about how politics intervenes in ordinary everyday life-from the 1930s to the present day

Everyone heard the phrase “Personal is political”, and the last few years, politics has touched even those who did not expect this at all. The film critic Katya Stepnaya tells about 10 topical and witty films about how politics unnoticed for heroes penetrates into ordinary life - and becomes an integral part of their reality.

What were we (The Way We Were), 1973, dir. Sidney Pollak

Beautiful Ulya-Conformist against a passionate activist

The canonical American melodrama, remembered by the penetrating performance by Barbro Streisand The Way We Were, about the idealization of lovers in youth and irreconcilable contradictions with them in maturity. Marxist and Jewish Katy (Barbra Streisand) meets the golden boy Hubbla (Robert Redford) in the college in the late 30s: their short mutual enthusiasm will be interrupted by the Second World War. The couple will suddenly meet after the war, when Katie continues to combine activism with several works, and Hubble will build a successful career of the writer. But the fear of the “red plague” in the American humanitarian elite and the huge social distance between the heroes will upset the perfect partnership. A great couple from the outside, these two will not be able to reconcile with the difference in their values: as Hubble will say, "there has never been a time when you and I were easy."

Get knives (Knives out), 2019, dir. Ryan Johnson

Satire took the rich family of the rich, who did not understand anything in ethics

Comedy detective and witty class satire, “Get knives” is the perfect film about the dysfunctional family of heirs with a parade of caricature heroes performed by a brilliant acting ensemble. When the famous author of the detectives (Christopher Lambert) dies, a watga of relatives and a detective, revealing a mysterious death, is gathering in his estate: was it a murder, suicide or random overdose of drugs? The main unknown in the equation is a respectable nurse from Latin America performed by the Ana de Armas cube (none of the family members, despite the years of communication, has learned the country of its origin), with which the murdered relationship had really close relations. The binner for inheritance is accompanied by discussions about politics, teenage jackets and stubborn comments on the anger of the day that people from the estates will never understand those and do not believe those whom they, by inertia, consider the "service".

10 reasons for my hatred (10 Things I Hate About You), 1999, dir. Jil Janger

"Taming of the obstacle" when the obstinate is a modern feminist

Well-aged Romk from the 90s, in which Shakespeare's passions are placed in reality of ordinary American high school students. Two sisters, frivolous Bianca and feminist Kat (Julia Styles), live with a dad who is not jokingly worried about the well -being of their daughters. He allows the youngest to go on dates, only when the eldest begins to get out to meet with the guys - but Kat is much more interesting to talk about Sylvia of boards, the objectification of women and tease classmates for their sexist remarks. The hero of the hit of Ledger decides to win the inaccessible feminist, but before she reads his shake Shakespeare's twisted sonnet, there will be a dozen awkward situations with the participation of schoolchildren, parents and teachers. The most important generational film, which secured the ideas of equality and girlish non-conformism in the American pop culture, when self-esteem and principles are more important than validation from the boys.

Beatriz at Dinner, 2017, dir. Miguel Artet

The author of the "White Lotus" is ironic on the meeting of the maid and gentlemen

The satirical tragicomedy about the doomed feast from a person professionally brewing infantile rich in Ol-shoes around the world. Salma Hayek plays Beatrice - a bodily therapist who heals wealthy people. After her car refuses to start, Beatrice is invited to the table her clients - a rich married couple who receives honored guests this evening. Among the authorities and not feeling any restrictions on the white neighbors on the table, Beatrice recognizes one of the people responsible for her personal grief. Race and class inequality is aggravated when guests begin to brag about the trophies of the last safari. One of the most powerful roles in Hayek’s career (the role was written specifically for her) and a caustic statement about the abyss between those who can afford everything and those who are deprived of the necessary: ​​they are always close, but they rarely manage to talk.

Exposure (Election), 1999, dir. Alexander Payne

The road to big policy begins with high school

A mandatory film for each election race and a sober view of competition in modern America (and wider in our world), not outdated in 25 years. The very young Reese Witherspoon plays the narcissistic and purposeful schoolgirl Trayy Flik, ​​who dreams of heading the school council. The complex feelings for her - from lust to contempt - a history teacher Jim Makallister (Matthew Broderick) plans to ruin her election campaign with a dummy candidate. Suddenly, two students are included in the pride race, and the position of Flik no longer seems so strong, but blackmail and playing other people's weaknesses will lead students and teachers to an unexpected result. Tracy Flik became a meme and a symbol of the penalty young Republicans, and the teacher Jim is the embodiment of democracy for all the good against all the bad but with very stained hands. When the next elections are missed by ballots or draw interest, you know which movie you must turn on.

Angels of Revolution, 2014, dir. Alexey Fedorchenko

Inglorious messengers of changes conquer future Soviet republics

Incredible nearby: along with electrification, Russian literacy, Cheka, and Marxism, the reformers who burned with communist ideas carried avant-garde art to the people. The Angels of the Revolution, like many films of Alexei Fedorchenko, are based on real history and are painted with assumptions. What would workers and peasants feel if they showed a “black square”? How would the Siberian pagans react to the canonization of Marx? Coffins in the form of a red cross and a dog flying among the slogans on the suspended wings - were there really? Binding the absurd reality and fantasy, Fedorchenko creates a broken and comical early Soviet world, where ideology plowed reality, as if there were no centuries of the Russian Empire. The eccentric reconstruction of the early Soviet life and revolutionary art, which they dreamed of making popular.

Amarcord (Amarcord), 1973, dir. Federico Fellini

Chronicles of fascism wrapped in a deceptively bright candy wrapping nostalgia

The great director Federico Fellini, who grew up and began his career in fascist times, postponed the shooting of semi -autobiography until adulthood. Amarkord became one of the key films of his late stage, when the Italian author has already won the main world awards. We see Italy with the 30s through the eyes of the boy Titta from the unable community of the family and neighbors: the child needs to go to school, confess to the church, greet the Duce and repeat everything behind the elders. Hooliganism, prohibitions, punishments, subtitles and round -the -clock soundless swearing - this is what his everyday life looks. However, in the life of Titta there are real friends, and small secrets, and a sexy hairdresser, with whom all men from small to great do not take their eyes. Mussolini is very close, but infinitely far away: phenomenal humor, delicacy, accuracy and brightness of images paint everyday life in a small southern city, where the cruelty of the rules is compensated by the optionality of their execution, and the citizens of the suburbs Rimini are ragged by the crowd to a large catastrophe.

Ninochka (Ninotchka), 1939, dir. Ernst Lyubich

The Soviet nomenclature rescues the treasures of the Russian Empire from Paris

One of the best comedies in the mood of the Cold War is long before its official announcement. Steel Greta Garbo plays a party worker from the USSR Nina Yakushev, who is sent from Moscow in accordance with the decision of the International Court to pick up wealth taken out of tsarist Russia (the advice after nationalization underwent many diamonds and works of art). But an unexpected romance with a European, calling her Nin about ChK (with an emphasis on “o”), disarms and relaxes Nina, and opens her a new sensual world, which is not told about the lessons of Marxism-Leninism. After 85 years, “Ninochka” looks vividly and very funny: what is one phrase “Soviet people will become less, but they will become better”, the emigrant antics of the gaming and bourgeois Paris who have run away from Russia. Lyubich understood the political contradictions of polar ideologies before the start of the Second World War, and Garbo forever captured the mumrues for the global audience in the government post.

Martin Eden (Martin Eden), 2019, dir. Pietro Marcello

The hero of Jack London is reborn in Italy in the first half of the 20th century

A fantastically beautiful story of the formation, take -off and disappointment of a young self -taught with great writer ambitions. The Italian director Pietro Marcello transfers action to Italy between the wars: it is impossible to establish time for accurately by either the soundtrack or documentary reconstruction, or costumes that are specially invented so that what is happening on the screen cannot be attributed to some era. A simple, impudent and talented Martin without a profession and education has been trying to attract the attention of the noble Elena and her family for years. Gradually, he becomes known in political circles - for fiery poems and temperamental performances in a turbulent era for the country. True, success comes with grief: in pursuit of recognition, the writer is disappointed in his talent, choice and associates while the country is rolling into the abyss.

Firefighters Ball (The Firemen's Ball), 1967, dir. Milos Forman

Scandalous Czechoslovak satire about a town party holiday

The first color film Milos Forman and the last film shot in his homeland. After him, the director was forced to relocated to the States and already removed the “gap”, “hair” and “flying over the cuckoo’s nest”. In a small town and with a large number of unprofessional actors, Forman takes off the buffoonery about a solemn dinner in honor of the retirement of the head of the fire brigade. The holiday covers the whole town: local girls participate in the beauty contest (though there are very few unmarried beauties in the town), colleagues collectively take off on gifts for the lottery (which mysteriously disappear), and the municipality hall is covered by feverish preparations. The corporate party tragicomically breaks off with a fire - and the whole city stands on the ears, now for a new reason. If you have ever been to a flattering collective holiday, threw a high-ranking colleague on a gift or saw a global cut with their own eyes, the “baldmen” will look almost like a documentary movie.