The 10 Best Movies Influenced by Marxist Philosophy

The 10 Best Movies Influenced by Marxist Philosophy's icon

Created by Armoreska.

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Karl Marx was one of the most influential philosopher of all time and consequently his work has influenced a lot of films. The spectator faces Marxist problems such as: proletariat conditions, bourgeoisie dominance, the evolving technology and its connection to society, and revolution. Every problem is only a signal of the advent of the communist era, which consists of final justice on earth. This is the core of an entire movement which deeply influenced the world.

Obviously there were other philosophers, many influenced by Marx, who expanded those core elements in many other directions, some of them contemporaneous to him including Engels, Kautsky, Bernstein and others after his death (Rosa Luxemburg, Gyorgy Lukacs, Antonio Gramsci, Ernst Bloch).

Every one of them shared a faith in proletariat justice, where object and subject finally identify each other. Lower industrial classes are the “soil” for the revolution and will bring true values for all humanity but doing this demands the fall of the dominant industrialized class: the bourgeoisie. Fraternity is the key word to the basis of a community, and Communism is the ultimate community where humanity frees itself from physical and mental slavery.

Marx has never described a “communist” society but he gave some advice in his Critique of the Gotha Program. He said that capitalism is the world where slave-masses serve the few dehumanized bourgeoisies. Once this is known it’s easy to understand that for a film to be Marxist it should reflect reality as closely as possible. It should reflect the horribleness of bourgeois society and the honorable values brought about by the proletarian class.

That is a simplified point of view in respect to the Marxist way to see arts (in particular in respect to Lukacs’s literary theories), but it shows the core of this concept. In fact, during the Soviet era, the most common type of film coming from “red” countries,was the documentary. What ‘s better than reality itself to show how society and socialism work?

Exemplary examples are the “Kino-pravda” works created by Dziga Vertov. The main ideas expressed Marx evolved through time and in particular during the 67-68’ period which brought a sort of renaissance and reconsideration of the core Marxist ideas, which ends in a post-structuralist philosophical movement. In this final development of “revolutionary” ideas, Marx was an influence along with others, so it can be said that in cinema’s post-68’ period is not a continuation of the Russian montage school.

Considering the history of socialism and the history of cinema, there is a wide range of achievement among the movies influenced by Marx and these show many different aspects of Marx ideas, demonstrating the multifaceted dimensions of this movement. On the other hand it is possible to show what Marxism has meant to humanity through the eyes of a number of directors.

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  1. 1 new

    Bronenosets Potemkin

    1925 — a.k.a. Battleship Potemkin, in 27 top lists Check
  2. 2 new

    Teorema

    1968, in 8 top lists Check
  3. 3 new

    Chelovek s kino-apparatom

    1929 — a.k.a. Man with a Movie Camera, in 24 top lists Check
  4. 4 new

    Oktyabr

    1927 — a.k.a. October (Ten Days that Shook the World), in 12 top lists Check
  5. 5 new

    Film socialisme

    2010, in 4 top lists Check
  6. 6 new

    Tri pesni o Lenine

    1934 — a.k.a. Three Songs About Lenin, in 1 top list Check
  7. 7 new

    Zemlya

    1930 — a.k.a. Earth, in 16 top lists Check
  8. 8 new

    Porcile

    1969 — a.k.a. Pigpen, in 2 top lists Check
  9. 9 new

    Modern Times

    1936, in 30 top lists Check
  10. 10 new

    Novecento

    1976 — a.k.a. 1900, in 6 top lists Check
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Last updated on Mar 14, 2021; source