The best films about American politics ever made, from All The President’s Men to Lincoln

American politics is often stranger than fiction. And following Thursday’s terrifying presidential debate, yesterday’s controversial supreme court ruling, Trump’s imminent sentencing and with the United States presidential election just four months away, the eyes of the world, as always, are on the US’s extraordinary political machine.

Hollywood has often brilliantly captured the country’s government, its many checks and balances, and America’s political scandals. Whether depicting Watergate, the abolition of slavery, or the road to war, these films have been in turn insightful, inspiring and of course, entertaining.

From satires to hard-hitting dramas and escapist fantasies, these are the best films about American politics and its impact on the world, listed in no particular order.

All The President’s Men (1976)

The Watergate Scandal has been tackled directly or indirectly many times on film, from the excellent The Post (1971) and Frost/Nixon (2008), to Anthony Hopkins’ 1995 biopic Nixon and 2018 documentary Watergate. But few films capture the resounding impact of the Watergate quite like All The President’s Men, Alan J. Pakula’s award-winning political thriller.

Telling the true story of the political scandal which led to the 1974 resignation of President Richard Nixon, the film follows Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward – the investigative journalists who first uncovered the story for the Washington Post in the early Seventies.

The two young reporters, played by Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford, are driven by their pursuit of the truth, exposing secrets that would have repercussions for generations, exposing criminality in the highest office and changing the public’s innate relationship with politics forever. From the newsrooms of the Washington Post, with the sound of furious typewriters and smell of smoke in the air, to the very heart of the White House, it’s a cracking film that simply must be seen by anyone craving a deeper understanding of US politics.

Dr. Strangelove (1964)

Take all the paranoia and tension of the Cold War and put them through a Kubrickian lens and you get Dr. Strangelove, one of the most magnificent comedies ever made.

With tensions rising between the US and the Soviet Union in the early Sixties, Stanley Kubrick’s early masterpiece highlights the obscene and bizarre elements of the conflict, presenting an eccentric take on international diplomacy and global outlook on nuclear escalation.

Rightly regarded by many as one of the greatest movies ever made, it’s worth watching just for one of the most inspired lines of dialogue in the history of film. When a US general and a Russian ambassador come to blows, Peter Sellers’ President Merkin Muffley breaks them up by saying: “Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room!”

Lincoln (2012)

Steven Spielberg’s 2012 film takes the viewer on a cinematic journey through Abraham Lincoln's second term in office, as the president takes the steps towards abolishing slavery in the US. There’s a masterful performance by Daniel Day-Lewis at the heart of the film, articulating the good and the decency that motivated him to fight against the wishes of his many detractors and deliver change.

With the film beginning during the later years of the Civil War, it portrays Lincoln as a deeply principled man who is willing to risk everything to push through an amendment to the constitution which will do right by those “not only of the millions now in bondage, but of unborn millions to come". It’s a powerful watch, and one that continues to resonate.

In the Loop (2009)

There’s no sharper satirical mind working in film and TV today than Armando Ianucci (the man behind The Thick of It and Veep), and the writer-director turned his attention to the Iraq war in 2009’s In the Loop.

The film follows the UK’s incompetent, power-hungry Minister for Development, played by Tom Hollander, who inadvertently plays a pivotal role in the UK and the US’s military intervention in the Middle East.

It’s one of the funniest political comedies ever made, and viewers are left belly-laughing even as they’re taken on a journey to war following the manipulation of intelligence. There’s also some of the most creative swearing you’ll ever hear from Peter Capaldi’s spin doctor Malcolm Tucker and James Gandolfini’s General George Miller – but none of the noise detracts from the conflict at the heart of the film.

The Ides of March (2011)

George Clooney’s The Ides of March is something of a throwback to films of the Seventies and Eighties, tackling the kind of scandal that has dogged campaign trails since the inception of US politics. It’s one of the films that made Ryan Gosling one of the leading men of his generation, paving the way for his role this year as Ken. He plays an ambitious political strategist heading up the drive for Clooney’s Governor Mike Morris in the Democratic presidential primary.

It ticks along at a pace, the power-grabs and inner workings of the election machine are compelling, and there are fantastic performances from a charismatic and flawed Clooney, and a driven, impulsive Gosling. There are few better and more entertaining depictions of the campaign trail out there – perfect viewing in the lead up to an election.

The Rambo series (1982-2019)

On the surface, the Rambo films are less about politics and more about dumb action and a permanently topless Sylvester Stallone, but they tell you a lot about the America of the age. After a sobering experience in Vietnam and with many US citizens feeling lost after returning home from the war, Hollywood reacted, turning up the testosterone. The all-action American heroes we see in films like Rambo were an immediate reaction to the conflict, with the US positioning itself as a powerful global force to be reckoned with through the portrayal of its film heroes.

The Rambo series shows the phenomena in microcosm. The title character played by Sylvester Stallone is initially portrayed as an embittered veteran, who takes justice into his own hands in the first film. The movie is anti war, but as the franchise progressed the filmmakers took us further away from reality, with the character going on to extract American POWs in Southeast Asia and claim a heroic victory of sorts for his country in the sequel. Things carried on in this way right up until the critically panned Rambo: Last Blood from 2019, which was so preposterous and distasteful that the character’s creator, author David Morrell, hit out at the film and said he was “embarrassed” to have his name associated with it. Still, the films work as an interesting commentary on post-war American politics.

Vice (2018)

Adam McKay is one of the most unique voices currently working in film. The director’s background in comedy helps him to break things down to their essence, conveying them to the viewer more accessible than a more traditional political filmmaker. His previous film The Big Short did a better job than most of explaining the conditions that led to the financial crash of 2008 – largely by enlisting the likes of Margot Robbie, who explained the impact of subprime mortgages all while drinking champagne in a bubble bath.

A similar approach was taken with Vice, a dark satire that took a closer look at the relationship between Vice President Dick Cheney and President George Bush, and Cheney’s grip on policy making throughout the Noughties. Caricatured it may be (Christian Bale gained 40 pounds to prepare for the central role, and piled on the prosthetics) it’s a fascinating portrait of the man who led the war on terror and wielded the power behind the throne during Bush’s two terms.