Stay informed with FP’s news and analysis as the United States votes.

We all have ways of dodging reality. Mine, as I’m sure it is with many of you, is to get lost in a movie. But pure escapism right now might be a foolish bet. It could be wise to arm ourselves with stories about elections, campaigns, and the democratic process. Think of it like dipping your toe in icy water before belly flopping into the pool.

There are a great many films—both narratives and documentaries—that have reflected the voting process on screen. Indeed, there’s one in theaters right now, a juicy papal romp called Conclave, about electing a new pope. It’s so unsubtle in its broader meaning, however, that in one scene a character mutters, “I feel as though I’m at some American political convention.”

This list of nine titles, all of which are streaming on various platforms, are fascinating when compared to our current election environment. There’s plenty that’s changed. A film I did not include because it is only politics-adjacent, Elia Kazan’s A Face in the Crowd (1957), assumes an unfiltered hot mic situation would crush a public career. Trump’s “locker room moment” with Billy Bush proved that notion to be archaic. But there’s a lot about corruption and the process of winning elections that feels like it’s been around forever—and probably has been since the ancient Athenians dropped their psephos at Pnyx. There just weren’t any cameras back then.

1940

The Great McGinty

directed by Preston Sturges

Preston Sturges, already one of Hollywood’s most in-demand screenwriters, made the leap to director with this lesser-known political satire before rolling out a series of screwball essentials like The Lady Eve, Sullivan’s Travels, The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek, and several others. The Great McGinty, a flashback reminiscence from a bartender in a “banana republic,” follows the rise and fall of a brawny all-American who goes from surly indigent to mob enforcer to alderman to governor—all the while letting his handlers dictate his policies and opinions. But when it’s determined a true candidate must have a wife, his marriage of convenience blossoms into love, and wouldn’t you know his new partner actually has a conscience. The Great McGinty, while a comedy foremost, is a marvelous window into the mechanics of graft and the difficult work of rigging elections. Indeed, our lead character first proves his entrepreneurial spirit with the inordinate amount of fraudulent votes he casts. It’s possible that some who shouted “stop the steal!” in earnest may have watched parts of this movie on late night television at some point.

1949

All the King’s Men 

Sharing many similarities with The Great McGinty, best picture Oscar winner All the King’s Men, based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, is one of the great investigations of the dangers of American populism. Broderick Crawford’s Willie Stark, a self-described “hick,” is an immediate danger to the status quo. He’s an honest man. And one whose anger towards corruption is inflamed after a tragedy. After a failed run for office, he sees firsthand what he needs to do to win. While the message is clear—absolute power corrupts absolutely—the truth is that once Stark gets into office, he actually does build all those hospitals and roads for the working class that he promised. But at what cost?! (The old saying “you can’t make an omelet without breaking eggs” is deployed here, though this is not the phrase’s origin.) The nuanced All the King’s Men is a thinly veiled portrait of Louisiana Gov. Huey Long, but not knowing too much about his biography is a good thing if you want the movie’s ending to come as a surprise.

1960

Primary

produced by Robert Drew

A collaborative effort led by Robert Drew, Primary is an important milestone both for cinema and politics. Using new lightweight 16mm cameras and portable synchronous sound recorders, Drew led a group that included filmmakers Richard Leacock, D.A. Pennebaker, and Albert Maysles to create one of the first masterpieces of direct cinema, dubbed cinéma vérité by the French who, in classic tradition, were first to recognize the aesthetic implications of the form over the American television networks that Drew was hoping to sell his project. This hour-long film follows Hubert Humphrey (a seemingly avuncular guy) and John F. Kennedy (a rock star) as they shake hands and give speeches in the run-up to the Wisconsin Democratic primary. While the candidates remain aware that they are on camera, the film wisely leaves in plenty of mundane footage. Anyone present and accustomed to typical news programming must have thought the cinematographers were wasting film shooting moments absent of drama. But this fly-on-the-wall approach was revolutionary and, considering a modern candidate’s total awareness of a documentarian’s panopticon, fleeting.

1972

The Candidate

directed by Michael Ritchie

In grade school, I was taught that what made America so special was that anyone could get elected to higher office. This counter-culture riff from the post-1960s haze dares to question if that’s such a good thing. Robert Redford (dreamy) is the well-intentioned son of a former governor tapped by political strategists to be the sacrificial lamb against a popular California senator. The idea is that he should intentionally lose but be visible enough to kickstart a later career. But then the unthinkable happens: his frank talk and charisma puts him up in the polls. Now he needs to win or it’s over for him and his handlers. This concludes with one of the scariest but also funniest final scenes in the entire 1970s “New Hollywood” movement.

1999

Election

directed by Alexander Payne

The puzzling, cupcake-baking candidate, Tracy Flick (Reese Witherspoon), is an overachieving Little Miss Perfect who, if you look at her in a certain light, is the personification of pure evil. With lowered stakes—a high school—Alexander Payne uses satire to not just lampoon politicians, but political junkies who get themselves so worked up they allow elections to ruin their lives. Is Matthew Broderick’s driven-to-drastic-action social studies teacher a milder version of a Jan. 6 rioter? Cast your own vote on that.

2001

Secret Ballot

directed by Babak Payami

A deadpan look at inchoate democracy, Secret Ballot, in Farsi and other Iranian dialects, won Babak Payami, who is Iranian Canadian, the best director prize at the Venice Film Festival. (As he was completing a subsequent film, Iranian officials arrested Payami, confiscated his materials, and exiled him—which is interesting, because the politics behind Secret Ballot are near-inscrutable. It is a secret ballot, after all.) The movie follows a nameless woman poll worker who is dispatched to a desolate island and met with a bored army escort. They are tasked with finding citizens, encouraging them to vote, and securing the votes in a cumbersome crate. (Well, the idealistic poll worker encourages; the soldier doesn’t even know there’s an election going on.) Their trek is rife with obstacles—from a run-down vehicle to disqualified voters—and they come across many types of people, including the distrusting, the disinterested, and the flat-out opposed to democracy. The most surprising thing about the movie is that it still ends somewhat upbeat, showing that the arc of history bends toward justice, albeit slowly.

2012

No

directed Pablo Larraín

Our basic political rights still need to be sold to us. Thomas Paine knew it, and so did the advertising whizzes who convinced the Chilean population to vote “no” in the referendum on whether or not to keep General Augusto Pinochet in power in 1988. For this unusual vote, both sides were given 15 minutes of television time each night for about a month to make their case. “Yes” was a stuffy message of fear, while “no” became an artistic and celebratory cause for joy and optimism. The outstanding film No (whose title makes it near-impossible to search for, but it’s worth the effort) is a marvelous blend of dark humor and bright spirits. (Note: If you stream this, don’t worry that your TV’s settings are wrong—Pablo Larraín intentionally shot it to look like period-appropriate video stock.)

2016

Weiner

directed by Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg

Between Primary and now there have been a galaxy of political campaign documentaries, but without question the funniest is Weiner, a shockingly candid exploration of a self-destructive nincompoop who can’t stop tripping over his own feet. In case you don’t recall, Anthony Weiner was an up-and-coming U.S. representative who left Congress in disgrace following a sex scandal. (He accidentally tweeted what he thought was a DM.) But you can’t keep a good Weiner down, so a few years later, backed by his wife Huma Abedin (the senior Hillary Clinton staffer), he decides to run for mayor of New York City. He also doesn’t stop sending women DMs, causing another scandalous cycle. At one moment the directors even ask, “Why are you letting us film?” The man with clear and devastating addiction problems can’t give a good answer. It’s one of the most fascinating (and did I mention funny?) movies you’ll ever see.

2023

Bobi Wine: The People’s President

directed by Christopher Sharp and Moses Bwayo

Let’s close this out with another documentary, this time from a country where democracy is loosely defined and political assassinations aren’t uncommon. No, this isn’t a visit from the Ghost of America Future, but a look at modern Uganda, where Yoweri Museveni has been president since 1986. When he changed the constitution to remove the presidential age limit, pop musician Bobi Wine was further motivated to seek office. His opposition set in motion a series of arrests, harassment, violence, and a populist presidential run that nearly split the country in two. This thrilling and infuriating documentary covers it all, including how Wine’s decisions impact his family (and his health). Ugandans are still waiting to see how the story ends.