20th Century Flicks, Bristol

Inside this conventionally structured biopic resides an extraordinary story of an extraordinary man. William Wilberforce was the parliamentary spokesman for a group of radicalised young Evangelists (and Quakers), who despised the money politics and corruption of late 18th Century UK politics and who fought for many reformist policies, the most notable of which was the one this film annotates, the abolition of slavery, a process that took years of political skulduggery and the slow passage of find out more...

BLUE COLLAR (1978)

Certification18 Our Rating

Three working-class friends rob the local trade union safe but all they get away with is a set of books. The brightest works out their meaning........ A superb thriller full of references to the atomisation of the working class by institutional means. find out more...

BULLET FOR THE GENERAL (1966)

Certification18 Our Rating

The first and best of the Italian "Mexi-Westerns", on a par with Leone's and with a haunting soundtrack. An American mercenary teams up with a bandit on the fringes of the revolutionaries in order to assinate their leader. A violent political film from the same pen as The Battle Of Algiers. find out more...

CARLA'S SONG (1996)

Certification15 Our Rating

George is a Glaswegian bus-driver, free spirited and pissed off with his job, Carla is an emotionally scarred, impoverished refugee and 2/3rds of this film is an uplifting tale of their romance. The last 1/3rd, in Nicaragua, is where they find their destinies. This is also a savage indictment of US policy. find out more...

CHE PART 1 (2008)

Certification15 Our Rating

A monumental history of the Cuban Revolution; from the initial meeting in Mexico between Che and Fidel Castro, through the landing by boat of a few desperadoes, the years of the guerrilla campaign, the gradual build-up from a rag-tag band to a fully fledged revolutionary army, the political alliances and decisions to be made, and the eventual victorious battles over the demotivated Batista led government army. find out more...

CRY FREEDOM (1988)

CertificationPG Our Rating

A powerful epic from master director Sir Dickie, with stunning lead performances and a cast of seething thousands. This is the story of Steve Biko, murdered by the police, and his white liberal friend's precarious escape. If you still drink Del Monte fruit juice after this you must have cold blood! find out more...

GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK (2005)

CertificationPG Our Rating

Goodnight And Good Luck takes place during the early days of broadcast journalism in 1950s America, chronicling the real-life conflict between television newsman Edward R Murrow and Senator Joseph McCarthy, head of the House Un-American Activities Committee. Murrow, his news team and, indeed, CBS itself made a defiant and impassioned stand against McCarthy's increasingly delusional, corrupt and fear-fueled rants and this, George Clooney's second turn in the director's chair, is a beautifully suc find out more...

HIDDEN AGENDA (1990)

Certification15 Our Rating

A superb drama-documentary which won Ken Loach a top award at the Cannes Film Festival. The events revolve around the alleged shoot-to-kill policy in Northern Ireland and centre on an English policeman who runs up against a web of lies, intrigue and violence. A tense, enthralling thriller. find out more...

HUNGER (2007)

Certification15 Our Rating

Bobby Sands was the IRA member who led the 1981 Long Kesh hunger strike as part of a campaign to achieve the status of political prisoners and not that of criminals. The first section of film deals with daily prison life, the 'dirty' protest and the violence, the second is a long discussion on the meaning of life with a sympathetic priest and the third depicts the last weeks and death of a man voluntarily dying of starvation. find out more...

IL DIVO (2008)

Certification15 Our Rating

Far more a portrait than a biopic this stunning film dissects the later years of Giulio Andreotti, a key player in Italian politics from the 70s through till today (he still sits in the Italian Senate (2009)), implicating him as the central instigator behind 'The Strategy of Tension', a policy that involved the murders of hundreds of innocent people, and blaming 'the left/Red Brigades' so as to allow the growth of an authoritarian state. Sorrentino fingers Andreotti for many political assassinat find out more...