15 Best Political Movies Of All Time

POSTED BY Humera Rafique, UPDATED ON May 29th, 2025
Best Political Movies Of All Time

If we talk about history and politics, Hollywood did a great job and produced epic movies of all time. From portraying suspense to igniting the fire of drama, Hollywood’s political films are unmatchable. The following are the 15 best political movies of all time:

 

15. The King’s Speech (2010)

The Kings Speech 2010

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A historical drama named The King’s Speech was directed by Tom Hooper in the year 2010. The main cast of the movie includes Colin Firth, Guy Pearce, Helena Bonham Carter, Geoffrey Rush, and Jennifer Ehle. It narrates the tale of a guy forced to address the world haltingly.

It is quite hard for someone who stammers to address huge gatherings, speaking up using a microphone, and deep down knowing that the whole British Empire is listening. After the death of the former King, the country is in dire need of a leader. So his wife arranges a speech therapist for him.

The movie revolves around the idea of how his weakness becomes his strength. The king, after a lot of hurdles and wandering off the track, finally masters his skills, and he addresses his nation in an inspiring way, uniting people in their battle against the enemy.

 

14. Dr. Strangelove: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)

Dr Strangelove How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb 1964

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The film has been produced by Stanley Kubrick, who has very skillfully and in a very daring fashion styled a comedy on a sensitive subject that is the nuclear war (top security) with a touch of light comedy. The main cast includes Sterling Hayden, Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, and Slim Pickens.

This movie is a great blend of suspense and comedy; at one point, you will find it hard to laugh, but later you will fall in love with it. It all begins with an Air Command general who orders to attack on Russia using planes carrying bombs. The movie revolves around the idea of how the Air Command general is starting a nuclear war, and there’s a war room in the Pentagon where the executive chief is trying to eliminate this threat. This movie is full of action stunts and thrills. 

 

13. Salvador (1986)

Best Political Movie Salvador (1986)

Salvador is a war-based American drama and is produced by Oliver Stone. The renowned faces in the film are James Woods, John Savage, and Elpidia Carrillo. The movie revolves around the story of a journalist who drives down to a city named El Salvador to witness a series of dramas and events related to the military dictatorship of the year 1980, which also includes the murder of Oscar Romero (who was the priest in the Catholic Church in El Salvador).

He forms an uneasy alliance with both guerrillas within the farmland who need him to get pictures out to the United States press, and the rightist military, who need him to get the photos of the enemy. He had to discover a way of securing his Salvadorian sweetheart and getting her out of the nation. The movie has an undercurrent of reality, and it isn’t upbeat approximately the chaos that we are helping to subsidize.

 

12. The Candidate (1972)

The Candidate 1972

The Candidate is all about politics and is directed by Michael Ritchie. It is a political comedy based on civil rights, different dimensions, and the schemes involved in political campaigns. Robert Redford’s role is as an unrealistic, amiable attorney whose extraordinary standards are spoiled by his pursuit of a political position.

The Candidate is not only sensational but also a conventional film. The primary idea is that the struggles are not with outer forces of ethics and damage, but instead, it is with the inner disputes of a fair man torn between his passion and his intrinsic judgment of justice and outrage.

 

11. Nixon (1995)

Nixon 1995

Nixon is a purely political drama based on and directed by Oliver Stone. The tale narrates the story of the personal and political life of a former U.S. President named Richard Nixon (casting Anthony Hopkins). The story depicts Nixon as a very complicated person in various regards and commendable ways, though with a very flawed personality. Nixon begins the taping operation, which initiates his recollections that trigger a sequence of flashbacks in the movie.

Nixon and his wife violated liquor and prescript medications. Nixon’s health problems are also displayed that also including the period of pneumonia and phlebitis during the Watergate disaster. Since it is a biography, each aspect of Nixon’s life is discussed, and Anthony Hopkins portrays his acting skills brilliantly. 

 

10. JFK (1991)

Best Political Film JFK 1991

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JFK is another masterpiece by Oliver Stone. The main cast includes Kevin Costner, Lee Harvey Oswald, and Jim Garrison. The events leading to the killing of John F. Kennedy-U. S President and a so-called alleged cover-up by a retired district attorney of New Orleans.

The story raises a strong front of seriousness that all arises at the end of the movie, in an angry, almost miserable discourse – the entire obsessive influence of Jim Garrison’s opinion that there was a plot to kill John F. Kennedy. Oliver Stone’s production is hypnotically exceptional. Omitting all the emotion and drama, the film is an absolute masterpiece of film line. A highly recommended movie of the century, as this movie is a blend of an unimaginable conspiracy and plausible theories.

 

9. Malcolm X (1992)

Malcolm X 1992

Malcolm X, shot in the year 1992, is an epic American biography. Winner of various awards for his exceptional work, Spike Lee is the director and co-writer of the film. The story stages important events in the life of Malcolm X, including his unlawful career, his imprisonment, his transformation to the religion of Islam, and his service as a part of the Nation of Islam. Also, his matrimony to Betty X, his hajj journey to Makkah, and the revision of his opinions regarding whites.

Lastly, his assassination was on the 21st of February in the year 1965. Malcolm X is one of the exceptional biographies, honoring the entire scope of an American life that originated in pain and rushed out on the roads and in jail before it’s the hero of the film reinvents himself. Denzel Washington is the main lead of the film. The movie is a colorful image of how Malcolm’s life was fixed and polished.

 

8. In the Loop (2009)

In the Loop 2009

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In the Loop, directed by Armando Iannucci, is a comedy satire that mingles Dr. Strangelove with Spinal Tap concerning a particular Iraq War. Tom Hollander is a secondary representative of the international community by the British administration who, amid a broadcasting meeting, randomly mentions to a reporter that the conflict is unforeseeable.

On saying this, Foster becomes an unwitting public figure, and he later finds himself trapped amid pro-war quarrelsomeness. Not only is this movie one of the most entertaining films you will encounter, but the movie is also among the most brilliant productions of British mockery.

 

7. All the President’s Men (1976)

All the Presidents Men 1976

All the President’s Men, directed by Alan J. Pakula in the year, is the strongest historical record. The film is an excellent portrayal of journalism rather than storytelling. The film lifts the veil from the inquiring unit that revealed the Watergate plot, leading columnists like Carl Bernstein, The Washington Post, and Robert Woodward to the front curtain.

There’s an undoubted interest in the movie, in the beginning, but after a few hours, it starts to wear thin. The movie is a victory lap for American news coverage. The film presents the most mindful study of serving journalists. The film doesn’t stay on the individual stories of its parts, but it is a beautiful blend of their professional careers, particularly their connections with supervisors. A highly recommended film if you are opting to be a journalist.   

 

6. In the Name of the Father (1993)

In the Name of the Father 1993

In the Name of the Father, released in the year 1993, was directed by Jim Sheridan and is a thriller drama. Passionate and meticulously commemorated, In the Name of the Father is a show regarding a genuine miscarriage of law and justice, supported by the humanist focus of Jim. It is a real story of an Irish boy wrongfully sentenced for the IRA attack in the year 1974.

The boy and his pa were sent to jail and overlooked. The paramount drama depicts their struggle to survive in jail and unveils the authenticity of their impeccability. The director left no wheel unturned in portraying the story as real and with competence.

 

5. Election (1999)

Best Political Movie Election 1999

The film is based on a screenplay named ‘Election’ and was directed by Alexander Payne in the year 1999. The storyline orbits around elections for the student body and mimics high school life and politics.

Something that differentiates the film from all other high school films is that it doesn’t restrict itself to the realm of outlook of adolescents, but also sees Tracy (the main lead) through the perceptions of a professor who has seen enough of her. The film gives a very amusing view of elections. The film Election is a very witty yet enjoyable film that strongly blends wicked humor and creative writing.

 

4. Being There (1979)

Being There 1979

Being There is directed by Hal Ashby and stars Melvyn Douglas, Shirley MacLaine, and Peter Sellers. The movie is based on how a simple-minded, guarded nurseryman grows into an incredibly committed advisor to an influential businessman, and also an insider for Washington statesmanship.

It’s a movie based on a thought, and all the routine wisdom concurs that feelings, not thoughts, are the finest to create movies from. What began as a tale turns out to be a parody, which is absolutely where the story gets to be monotonous and long, at the same time that it appears its weakest side. One of the most influential movies for you.

 

3. Argo (2012)

Argo 2012

The American classical drama thriller named Argo was directed by Ben Affleck in the year 2012. Argo, being a stiff, interesting, and darkly ironic film, recreates a classical story with striking thought to exceptionally written characters. The film is a reality-based movie. 

The movie portrays a chronology of the life-or-death clandestine plan to release 6 American hostages, which exposed the commotions of the Iran hostage crisis of 1979 – the truth that was classified for decades. Argo flawlessly blends this true tale of drama and war.

 

2. Thirteen Days (2000)

Best Political Flick Thirteen Days 2000

A masterpiece of Roger Donaldson, named Thirteen Days, was released in the year 2000. The story concerns the “Cuban Missile Crisis,” when the U.S. found that the Soviets had set rockets pointed at the U.S. in Cuba. There’s a bounty of pressure and energy in this film.

One of the most excellent scenes is Commander Eckerd (Christopher Lawford) and his team low-flying over Cuba taking photographs, and a U-2 pilot attempting to maintain a strategic distance from rockets chasing him. The blend is subsequently perfect: dramatization, a few ethereal energies, and small humor as Adlai Stevenson gets the better of the Russians in an OAS assembly. Thirteen Days is known to be exceptional around a meaningful moment in world history.

 

1. V for Vendetta (2005)

V for Vendetta 2005

Visually remarkable and thoughtfully provoking, V for Vendetta’s political declarations may provoke some individuals, but its narrative and dramatic set reviews are exceptional. The film was a production by James McTeigue in the year 2005.

The plot of the film is nuanced and surprisingly complicated. This movie tells the story of a dictatorship and the man who became an image of its destruction. Individuals from numerous, not to say lion’s share, nations in today’s world can effectively distinguish the characters. Incredible adjustment of DC comedian and continuously readily seen Natalie Portman.

 

Honorable mentions

  • Duck Soup (1933)
  • Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
  • All the King’s Men (1949)

Hope you enjoyed reading our list of the best political movies of all time. Feel free to share your views in the comments below.

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