Alex Burns responds to Sam Roggeveen's post on political violence in film:
My list — apart from the films mentioned, and a bit broader than political violence — would include:
- The original mini-series version of Edge of Darkness for its study of the nuclear state, Special Operations, and ecological activism.
- The War Game, WarGames, Threads and The Day After as illustrative examples of nuclear war panics.
- United Red Army about 'old' terrorism.
- Arlington Road and Fight Club about the Clinton Administration climate, post-Oklahoma City bombing.
- Paradise Now on suicide bombing.
[fold]
- The Killing Room for MKUltra conspiracy theorists.
- JFK for the JFK conspiracy theorists.
- Das Boot and The Hunt For Red October about combat decision-making, deception and surprise in Clausewitz's "fog of war".
- Red Cliff for its evocation of the Chinese Seven Military Classics and stratagem warfare.
- Twelve Angry Men about cognitive biases, evidence, groupthink, and small group decision-making.
- Primer for new technology development.
- Waco: The Rules of Engagement for crisis decision-making and civil-military coordination (a documentary on the Branch Davidians and BATF/FBI siege).
- The Baque Ball: Skin Against Stone documentary on the Basque separatist movement.
- A and A2 documentaries about Aum Shinrikyo.
What I would miss:
- The Net — a confused documentary about Ted Kaczynski and the Internet.