Members of the Politics and International Relations faculty recommended some ‘Must See’ viewing to help us through the dark wintery months. It makes for a very compelling list!
Dr Nadine Ansorg: Black Panther
‘I recommend the film Black Panther as a holiday film. It is a Marvel superhero movie about the nation of Wakanda and its people, who have access to a powerful metal that allows them to develop advanced technologies and superpowers to fight any invaders and help the poor and vulnerable. The film is not only good entertainment, but fundamentally challenges our understanding (and stereotypes) of African people and countries. It is Afrofuturism at its best.’
Dr Tim Aistrope: The Wheel of Time
‘This is Amazon’s attempt at a Game of Thrones style series. It’s based books by Robert Jordan that I read as a teenager, and I think it’s much stronger material the JJR Martin. Only time will tell, but for all the fantasy buffs out there, this could be a winner. Episode 5 and I’m loving it! There are some changes from the books, but they are getting the characters and world building right (I was really worried that this would be a weak point). Excited to see what happens next!’
Professor Matthew Goodwin: House of Cards
‘I’d recommend the original series of House of Cards (the UK version not the US version) for understanding the reality of UK politics.’
Dr Rubrick Biegon: Fargo (1996).
‘Arguably the Coen brothers’ best film, this classic dark comedy spawned an excellent television series. Chilling and uproariously funny, this is the perfect winter movie for those of us who, when forced to watch traditional Christmas entertainment, dream of shoving the saccharine stuff down the woodchipper!’
Dr Tim Aistrope: The Wheel of Time
‘This is Amazon’s attempt at a Game of Thrones style series. It’s based books by Robert Jordan that I read as a teenager, and I think it’s much stronger material the JJR Martin. Only time will tell, but for all the fantasy buffs out there, this could be a winner. Episode 5 and I’m loving it! There are some changes from the books, but they are getting the characters and world building right (I was really worried that this would be a weak point). Excited to see what happens next!’
Dr Ben Turner : Do The Right Thing
‘If you’re sick of the winter cold, consider watching Spike Lee’s 1989 account of simmering racial tensions that build across a single day during a heatwave in a Brooklyn neighbourhood. Lee both directs and acts in this humane and funny, yet deadly serious, exploration of racism and injustice that is still relevant today.’
Professor Richard Whitman: Dune
‘If you plan to see the new Dune movie over Christmas I’d really recommend watching the 1984 David Lynch directed movie version. Crazy styling, unforgettable characters. And more understandable than the 2021 movie. And even better also read the 1965 Frank Herbert book on which the movie is based. If you get smitten there are 5 sequels… ‘
‘Also, if you’ve never played Go or Weiqi give it a go. And don’t feel guilty you are skipping work as a recent piece in The Economist used it as a nice way to explain China’s current strategic cooperation with India.’
Dr Raluca Popp: Milk and more..
‘These two are about leaving society
This should come with a box of tissues Grave of the Firelflies
But if we have only one choice, then this is the one:
Dr Iain MacKenzie: Mare of Easttown
‘My recommendation is to make yourself comfortable and pop on the box set of Mare of Easttown: gripping story and utterly believable performances, both of which lift the shambolic detective genre to new heights. If you need it, there’s plenty social commentary on contemporary American society along the way.’
Lewis Bloodworth: Casablanca and The Constant Gardener
PhD candidate whose research focuses on Love and Politics gave us two recommendations.
- ‘Casablanca is not typically considered an overtly political film but it certainly demonstrates how love can lead us to become political. The film is of course set during WW2 in Vichy controlled Casablanca, with the film centring around American ex-patriate and casino owner Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) who adopts an attitude of neutrality and indifference to the myriad of refugees, rogues, Nazi collaborators and resistance fighters who pass through Casablanca. His life of contented indifference is however disrupted by the appearance of his former love Isla Lund (Ingrid Bergman) who, with her husband Czeck resistance fighter Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid) appears at the Casino demanding that Rick assist them with obtaining travel papers – which Rick eventually does assist with much to his own personal risk. Casablanca shows Rick’s evolution as a political agent, demonstrating how love injects necessity into our lives, disrupts our usual conservative rhythms and forces us to reassess our priorities – it brings with it the weight of vital decisions that seldom appear in everyday life. Without Rick’s encounter with Isla he would have likely remained complacent and accepting of his peripheral position in the broader struggles of Europe – but love shatters this complacency and reminds Rick that there are some things worth fighting for – the love of a particular person becoming invested in a broader realisation that if love is to persist the world must also be changed. Love, therefore, forms the preconditions for politics more broadly.’
‘The Constant Gardener is a 2005 British-German drama thriller film directed by Fernando Meirelles. The screenplay by Jeffrey Caine is based on John le Carré’s 2001 novel of the same name. The story follows Justin Quayle (Ralph Fiennes), a British diplomat in Kenya, as he tries to solve the murder of his wife Tessa (Rachel Weisz), an Amnesty activist, alternating with many flashbacks telling the story of their love. The deployment of flashbacks of course represents a useful and interesting theatrical way of retelling a story making it more like a detective novella making us ask the question “What happened?”, but it also demonstrates the way we often work through the loss of love – we act like detectives piecing together the history and development of moments that have informed our “loving encounters”. Why is this process of recollection important? because quite often we only realise the potency of love in the unpacking of its conditions and what informed its trajectory retroactively – we learn through recollection. Justin Quayle unlike Rick Blaine in Casablanca must undergo not an immediate grappling with the event of love but rather must undergo the painful work of mourning which nonetheless is invested with love – his love as recollection serves as a means for him to become an active political agent and avenge his wife’s murder. He in effect becomes a political agent through her, he recognises his own failures only after her death, and as such realises a fidelity to the political cause (which in this case was Tessa desire to bring down the nefarious dealings of Pharmaceutical companies in Africa) – he seeks to live up to the possibilities of their love even in the desolation of her absence. Love can thus serve as the preconditions for politics by divesting our existing subjectivity or view of the world from its shallowness, aloofness, from our tendency to complacency – love as necessity breeds a more intense politics and ethics of action.’
Dr Charles Devellennes: Danton (1983)
‘A masterpiece by Polish director Andrzej Wajda, this film brings the audience into the revolutionary spirit of the Terror. Danton is played by Gérard Depardieu in what is his performance of a lifetime. Bold, energetic, full of life, Danton is the revolutionary par excellence. He comes into conflict with Robespierre, played by Wojciech Pszoniak in a clash of the titans – both on screen and reflecting the historical divide within the Jacobin Club. The agony of the revolution clash with its uncompromising quest for liberty, illustrating the best and the worst of politics at its most pressing. “The revolution is like Saturn – it devours its own children.”