Sunday, June 06, 2021
- Commentary: Check out this post on reddit, which is the most complete listing of anti-fascist films I've yet found, from old to new. I came to this post when I did a bit of research for a movie that had been recently haunting me, Keeper of the Flame, and discovered it was considered anti-fascist. I wasn't sure what that meant, so I decided to do a little research to better understand the definition and evolution of anti-fascist movies. Along the way I discovered I already own a few, some of them fairly recent, some historical, some both.
The first thing I'm going to do is institute a new label category, "anti-fascist", and label the few movies I have that have been said to fit into that category. Excuse me while I absent myself. When I return, I'll append a short list of movies in this category I own and another of those I'd like to own, or, at least, watch.
Stand by, please.
Okay. Here is a list of the anti-fascist films I own at this time. They are all "classically" anti-fascist, by which I mean several people, well-known and not, agree that they are anti-fascist:
I've been considering putting 3 Days of the Condor on this list, but I can't find anyone who agrees with me on that assessment. The consensus seems to be, "Yeah, the CIA is involved, but it's a Redford thriller. Antifa? What does that even mean!?"
When I think hard, it occurs to me that there are good reasons for Oliver Stone's JFK to be on this list. In fact, what film production of Oliver Stone's doesn't belong on this list (assuming I own them)?
I think that might be a problem with the "anti-fascist" category. Ultimately, about half of all movies made in the U.S. can be classed as "anti-fascist", considering how fearful this country is of any hint of fascism; curious, isn't it, considering how close the politicians in this country often come to fascism, throughout its entire history, not just recently. In addition, the U.S. is not the only country that shudders at the hint of any fascism in its politics. Finally, everyone (including me) who has a bugaboo about fascism has a hard time defining it, owing, in part, to the many, varied, and not altogether unrelated definitions of fascism that exist throughout the world. Go ahead. Look up the definition(s). I dare you.
It's kind of like the category "drama". I discovered, to my unpleasant surprise, that I had classified probably more than half of everything I own as "drama". I went with it, when setting up my category lists, but, I don't know, maybe I need to rethink some categories. Maybe I need to delete some of them as so obvious they aren't needed. I mean, suppose I added the category "movie". Uh oh. As opposed to what?!?
More later. I'm running out of steam. I need to reheat myself.
Update: 7/30/21: It seems I've acquired another antifa film, A Special Day, although this film is considerably more subtle than the others mentioned above. I haven't watched it, yet, but from reading the Wikipedia summary (attached to the movie's title in the space where my write-up will, eventually, appear), I'm excited about it. Stay tuned.
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All material copyright at time of posting by Gail Rae Hudson
