Best films about politics

The TV debates, Paxman, the rhetoric, the old Etonians, Cleggmania, the abuse of pensioners. After a while it all gets too much. So switch the election off, switch on the DVD player and watch Armando Iannucci's In the Loop. Then work your way through the GWG shortlist of the best films about politics.

1. All The President's Men (1976)

Alan J. Pukula recreates the defining moment of twentieth century journalism in thrilling fashion. Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford play Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodword, the Washington Post reporters that brought Nixon down over Watergate. One of the defining films about political corruption. www.amazon.co.uk

2. Dr. Strangelove (1964)

Stanley Kubrick's inspired black comedy about nuclear armageddon began life as a serious drama. But when Kubrick began to see the absurdity of the subject matter he hired Terry Southern as co-writer and the result was the great director's finest honour. Featuring Peter Sellars in three roles, this film proves that satire is the finest method of criticising power. www.amazon.co.uk

3. Wag the Dog (1997)

An American President stages a fake war with Albania to distract attention away from an affair with a young woman. Barry Levinson's film was released just before the Lewinski scandal broke. When an under fire Clinton ordered airstrikes on al-Qaeda in Sudan and Afghanistan in 1998, it seemed life was imitating this brilliantly funny film scripted by the great David Mamet. www.amazon.co.uk

4. 1984 (1984)

Michael Radford's adaptation of Orwell's novel gets the tone and mood of the book just right. John Hurt as Winston Smith and Richard Burton as Inner Party man O'Brien are excellent. And Radford's depiction of a London ravaged by war and undermined by a dictatorial government is seriously creepy. www.amazon.co.uk

5. Duck Soup (1933)

Groucho Marx is Rufus T. Firefly, the dictator of the tiny country of Freedonia. In the midst of a financial collapse, Freedonia declares war on neighbouring Sylvania and some classic Marx Brother chaos ensues. Full of one-liners and wonderfully silly comedy, this is right up there with A Night At The Opera as one of the best fims that Groucho and co made. www.amazon.co.uk

6. The Great Dictator  (1940)

In his first full talkie Chaplin takes on Hitler, playing Adenoid Hynkel, the dictator of Tomania, and a Jewish barber. This is a brave and brilliant satire. It attacks Hitler's persecution of the Jews and concludes with the sort of speech Brown, Clegg and Cameron could only dream of making. www.amazon.co.uk

29 April 2010