Let Freedom Ring!!!!

[PeruvianSkies]

So what's the best movie about Freedom? There are tons of movies about freedom, but I narrowed down these 10 to give a wide cross-section of the various types of freedoms, ranging from slaves to other types of freedoms that we take for granted. Vote now or forever hold your peace!

[Worf101]

None of the above...

"Glory"....

"The Patriot"

"The Battle of Algiers"

"Battlefield Earth"

"Independence Day"

Just some food for thought.

Da Worfster

[noddin0ff]

What? How could you forget "Logans Run" ! ;-)

[Rich-n-Texas]

I voted for ONE FLEW... because it seemed to portray my family very well.

[PeruvianSkies]

None of the above...

"Glory"....

"The Patriot"

"The Battle of Algiers"

"Battlefield Earth"

"Independence Day"

Just some food for thought.

Da Worfster

I wanted to stay away from WAR movies because then it turns into a war poll, instead I was focusing on personal freedoms more than countries/states/planets etc.

[bobsticks]

What about Hotel Rwanda?

[PeruvianSkies]

I was trying to stay away from the Prison and War genre with this particular poll because they are more genre-specific and I was focusing more on personal freedoms. One entry that I realized I forgot was V FOR VENDETTA, which I really enjoyed, but also recently discovered one of the flaws of the film, in my opinion. V FOR VENDETTA never really gives us a sense of loss of freedom. Sure, we see the 'finger men' instigating with the Evey because of curfew, but we rarely see any atrocities being committed in this futuristic world to really give a hardcore sense that things are really that bad. So bad that people would start a revolution to fight back. Yes, we see that art and music seem to have been taken away, but there still isn't a larger scale sense that people are suffering. The only suffering that we see is (after we are made aware) cause by V on Evey when she thinks that she has been caught by the government.

HOTEL RWANDA nearly made the list, but as usual 10 entries really narrows things down quick.

[bobsticks]

Fair enough. Under those circumstances I'll probably cast my vote for "Gladiator"--one of the few remarkably well done films that may later be regarded as being of "epic proportions" IMO.

I agree on "V For Vendetta", although I personally would be rioting in the streets at the censorship of art and music it might be a one man march.

Thanks to this thread I'm at least considering watching "Farenheit 911" tonight. Moore's films usually start off with a logical premise and delve so deeply into extreme case examples that it's always good to elevate the heartrate. If you hear screamin' it may be me.


NP: Yes~FragileDVD-A

[PeruvianSkies]

Fair enough. Under those circumstances I'll probably cast my vote for "Gladiator"--one of the few remarkably well done films that may later be regarded as being of "epic proportions" IMO.

I agree on "V For Vendetta", although I personally would be rioting in the streets at the censorship of art and music it might be a one man march.

Thanks to this thread I'm at least considering watching "Farenheit 911" tonight. Moore's films usually start off with a logical premise and delve so deeply into extreme case examples that it's always good to elevate the heartrate. If you hear screamin' it may be me.


NP: Yes~FragileDVD-A

I'd be right there rioting with you bobsticks...although isn't that similar to what is happening anyway? I mean the whole 'no child left behind' is slowly eradicating children's early involvement with 'the arts'. You know a plague has to start somewhere, why not with the children since they one day become adults. While music and art might not be 'banned' in the future I fear something even worse: lack of education about it!

Not sure if you realized that I had put FAHRENHEIT 451 on the list, not FAHRENHEIT 9/11, although the connection that Moore uses to Ray Bradbury's novel is brilliant. Anyway, I put FAHRENHEIT 451 on the list because the freedom of literature, education, etc is vital as well. If people don't read than they can be taken over by their governments...really? Very similar to V FOR VENDETTA I suppose.

Voilà! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of Fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin van-guarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition. The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose, so let me simply add that it's my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V.

[bobsticks]

Not sure if you realized that I had put FAHRENHEIT 451 on the list, not FAHRENHEIT 9/11, although the connection that Moore uses to Ray Bradbury's novel is brilliant. Anyway, I put FAHRENHEIT 451 on the list because the freedom of literature, education, etc is vital as well. If people don't read than they can be taken over by their governments...really? Very similar to V FOR VENDETTA I suppose. [/I]

oops.


You mean I watched that last night and got all worked up over nothin'?

[Rich-n-Texas]

Good grief StickyBobby!!!

[Gerald Cooperberg]

Shortbus.

[nightflier]

Voilà! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of Fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin van-guarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition. The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose, so let me simply add that it's my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V.

Did you actually sit there with pen & paper rewinding a few dozen times to get that all written down? LOL. Yes, if there's one thing that V excelled at, it was dialog, which unfortunately flew right over most people's heads. Hugo should have received an academy award for not screwing up his lines; I haven't heard such good discussions about good/evil, right/wrong, etc. since 1984. Wait a minute, shouldn't 1984 also have been on the list?

I voted for Braveheart for several reasons: [1] it was a relatively unknown story before the movie came out (we Americans don't know much history older than our own), [2] it had excellent battle scenes, perhaps the best in the last 20 years, [3] the acting (regardless of what people may think of Mel) was superb, [4] the final scenes where Wallace screams out the word "Freedom" while being disemboweled really brings home the meaning of freedom - even in dying, he is still victorious. After all the violence of the rest of the movie, that scene topped them all, ironically in contrast to the torture scenes of Cry Freedom, where the futility of the cry is so disempowering. Gladiator just had too many scenes that just seemed to beg for an emotion and in the end never really delivered - great story, great acting, just a bit long in the telling.

I also agree with the sentiments about art being siphoned from the curriculum of most public schools as they struggle to produce more average cubicle workers for the corporations while being handed smaller and smaller budgets to do it with. It's ironic how much more we spend on waging war in this country rather than educating our children to build a better, stronger, and more stable society - it's myopic in the extreme. I read somewhere that in another decade reading and writing will no longer be taught in schools because it will be obsolete. I sure hope it does not come to that.

My wife & I are making a concerted effort to teach our children at home about music and art, because we've lost faith in our schools' ability to do this; but most of our friends would rather let the television occupy their children's minds. Hopefully movies like 1984, V, and yes, even Michael Moore's Columbine/9-11/Sicko, will wake people up. It's time to unplug from the Matrix folks, and choose the red pill! Wait a minute, that movie should have been on the list as well...

[PeruvianSkies]

Did you actually sit there with pen & paper rewinding a few dozen times to get that all written down? LOL. Yes, if there's one thing that V excelled at, it was dialog, which unfortunately flew right over most people's heads. Hugo should have received an academy award for not screwing up his lines; I haven't heard such good discussions about good/evil, right/wrong, etc. since 1984. Wait a minute, shouldn't 1984 also have been on the list?

I voted for Braveheart for several reasons: [1] it was a relatively unknown story before the movie came out (we Americans don't know much history older than our own), [2] it had excellent battle scenes, perhaps the best in the last 20 years, [3] the acting (regardless of what people may think of Mel) was superb, [4] the final scenes where Wallace screams out the word "Freedom" while being disemboweled really brings home the meaning of freedom - even in dying, he is still victorious. After all the violence of the rest of the movie, that scene topped them all, ironically in contrast to the torture scenes of Cry Freedom, where the futility of the cry is so disempowering. Gladiator just had too many scenes that just seemed to beg for an emotion and in the end never really delivered - great story, great acting, just a bit long in the telling.

I also agree with the sentiments about art being siphoned from the curriculum of most public schools as they struggle to produce more average cubicle workers for the corporations while being handed smaller and smaller budgets to do it with. It's ironic how much more we spend on waging war in this country rather than educating our children to build a better, stronger, and more stable society - it's myopic in the extreme. I read somewhere that in another decade reading and writing will no longer be taught in schools because it will be obsolete. I sure hope it does not come to that.

My wife & I are making a concerted effort to teach our children at home about music and art, because we've lost faith in our schools' ability to do this; but most of our friends would rather let the television occupy their children's minds. Hopefully movies like 1984, V, and yes, even Michael Moore's Columbine/9-11/Sicko, will wake people up. It's time to unplug from the Matrix folks, and choose the red pill! Wait a minute, that movie should have been on the list as well...

NIGHTFLIER...

It's responses like this that make me realize why I like you. You're always openly honest, even if it seems unfavorable. Let's talk about BRAVEHEART here for a second...

When the film was released it was on everyones 'favorite' list and then a few years went by and then people became making a mockery out of it. I think if most people are truly truly honest, they still get choked up a bit watching the ending of the film. There is nothing wrong with that. It's a great film about freedom, even if artistic 'freedom' was taken with the story. It's powerful and what I firmly believe is that not only was the acting good, but the casting in that film was superb! Absolutely some of the best casting in filmmaking...especially some of the smaller roles, but using Patrick McGoohan as King Edward was phenomenal. Sophie Marceau, Brian Cox, Catherine McCormack, and the rest were just dynamite!

[thekid]

What about the obvious - Like Shawshank Redemption or Midnight Express ( one of the few movies where people stood and applauded in the theater and yelled at the scream "Run"! at the end of the movie....)

On a less obvious note how about "Mutiny on the Bounty" or a similar but more comedic note "Mr. Roberts".