The Best Movies About Or Featuring Communism
“What are the best movies about Communism?” We looked at 20 of the top films about Communism, aggregating and ranking them so we could answer that very question!
The top 20 films, all appearing on 2 or more “Best Communism” movie lists, are ranked below by how many times they appear. The remaining 125+ movies, as well as the sources we used, are in alphabetical order on the bottom of the page.
Top 20 Communism Movies
20 .) 1900 (1976)
Lists It Appears On:
- IMDB
- Wikipedia
Set in Bertolucci’s ancestral region of Emilia, the film chronicles the lives of two men during the political turmoils that took place in Italy in the first half on the 20th century.
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19 .) Che: Part One (2008)
Lists It Appears On:
- IMDB
- IMDB 2
The Argentine, begins as Che and a band of Cuban exiles (led by Fidel Castro) reach the Cuban shore from Mexico in 1956. Within two years, they mobilized popular support and an army and toppled the U.S.-friendly regime of dictator Fulgencio Batista.
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18 .) Che: Part Two (2008)
Lists It Appears On:
- IMDB
- IMDB 2
After the Cuban Revolution, Che is at the height of his fame and power. Then he disappears, re-emerging incognito in Bolivia, where he organizes a small group of Cuban comrades and Bolivian recruits to start the great Latin American Revolution. Through this story, we come to understand how Che remains a symbol of idealism and heroism that lives in the hearts of people around the world.
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17 .) Frida
Lists It Appears On:
- Ranker
- Wikipedia
“Frida” chronicles the life Frida Kahlo shared unflinchingly and openly with Diego Rivera, as the young couple took the art world by storm. From her complex and enduring relationship with her mentor and husband to her illicit and controversial affair with Leon Trotsky, to her provocative and romantic entanglements with women, Frida Kahlo lived a bold and uncompromising life as a political, artistic, and sexual revolutionary
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16 .) Interrogation (1989)
Lists It Appears On:
- Ranker
- The Culture Trip
In Stalinist Poland, cabaret singer Tonia decides to spend the evening drinking with a group of friends. The next morning, she awakes to find that, for reasons unknown to her, she has been jailed as a political prisoner. As prison officials interrogate, torture and humiliate her, she fights for survival and to maintain her innocence by refusing to sign a false confession. As her years of imprisonment pass, her relationship with her captors grows more complicated.
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15 .) Lal Salam (1990)
Lists It Appears On:
- The Culture Trip
- Wikipedia
The story revolves around two phases of the lives of three Comrades – before and after the imprisonment of Sakhav Nettoor Stephen, Sakhav T.K. Antony and Sakhav Sethulakshmi, members of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).
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14 .) Land and Freedom (1995)
Lists It Appears On:
- The Culture Trip
- Wikipedia
The movie narrates the story of David Carr, an unemployed worker and member of the Communist Party of Great Britain. In 1936 he decides to fight for the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War, an anti-fascist coalition of liberals, communists and anarchists. Similar to George Orwell’s experiences documented in Homage to Catalonia, he joins the POUM worker militia and witnesses first hand the betrayal of the Spanish revolution by the Stalinists, loyal only to the dictat of Moscow.
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13 .) Returned: Child Soldiers of Nepal’s Maoist Army (2008)
Lists It Appears On:
- The Culture Trip
- Wikipedia
Shangri-La to hell in ten years: How did Nepal, a peaceful landlocked country, become home to the most dramatic Maoist insurgency in modern history? “RETURNED: Child Soldiers of Nepal’s Maoist Army” follows several Nepali boys and girls as they attempt to reintegrate into civil society after fighting with the Maoists in the “People’s War.” The film confronts Maoist leaders and examines why these children are compelled to join armed groups. The film explores the prevention of future recruitment through the voices of former child soldiers and experts in the field.
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12 .) Rocky IV (1985)
Lists It Appears On:
- Only Good Movies
- Scene Stealers
After iron man Drago, a highly intimidating 6-foot-5, 261-pound Soviet athlete, kills Apollo Creed in an exhibition match, Rocky comes to the heart of Russia for 15 pile-driving boxing rounds of revenge.
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11 .) The Assassination of Trotsky
Lists It Appears On:
- Ranker
- Wikipedia
After having been forced to leave the Soviet Union 1929 Trotsky has ended up in Mexico 1940. He is still busy with the politics. Stalin has sent out an assassin, Frank Jacson. Jacson befriends a young communist and gets an invitation to Trotsky’s house.
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10 .) The Trotsky
Lists It Appears On:
- Ranker
- Wikipedia
Leon Bronstein is not your average Montreal West high school student. For one thing, none of his peers can claim to be the reincarnation of early 20th century Soviet iconoclast and Red Army hero, Leon Trotsky. When his father sends Leon to public school as punishment for starting a hunger strike at Papa’s clothing factory, Leon quickly lends new meaning to the term ‘student union’, determined as he is to live out his pre-ordained destiny to the fullest and change the world.
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9 .) The Way Back (2010)
Lists It Appears On:
- IMDB
- Movie Guide
Peter Weir’s follow-up to Master & Commander (2003) is the stark & brilliant The Way Back, which takes on the theme of man’s struggle for freedom. At the dawn of WWII, several men escape from a Russian gulag. The film details their perilous & uncertain journey to freedom, as they cross deserts, mountains, & several nations.
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8 .) Naked Among Wolves
Lists It Appears On:
- Ranker
- Wikipedia
- Wikipedia
Naked Among Wolves (German: Nackt unter Wölfen) is a German drama film directed by Philipp Kadelbach in 2015. It is based on the novel of the same name by Bruno Apitz, which was published in 1958 by the East German Publishing house. It was created for television, it is the third film version of the literary text. The film takes place in the years 1944 and 1945 towards the end of World War II in the Buchenwald concentration camp.
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7 .) October: Ten Days That Shook the World
Lists It Appears On:
- Only Good Movies
- RBTH
- Wikipedia
October is Sergei M. Eisenstein’s docu-drama about the 1917 October Revolution in Russia. Made ten years after the events and edited in Eisenstein’s ‘Soviet Montage’ style, it re-enacts in celebratory terms several key scenes from the revolution.
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6 .) Red Dawn (1984)
Lists It Appears On:
- Movie Guide
- Only Good Movies
- Scene Stealers
It is the dawn of World War III. In mid-western America, a group of teenagers band together to defend their town, and their country, from invading Soviet forces.
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5 .) The Lives of Others (2006)
Lists It Appears On:
- IMDB
- Movie Guide
- Ranker
A tragic love story set in East Berlin with the backdrop of an undercover Stasi controlled culture. Stasi captain Wieler is ordered to follow author Dreyman and plunges deeper and deeper into his life until he reaches the threshold of doubting the system.
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4 .) Good Bye, Lenin! (2003)
Lists It Appears On:
- IMDB
- Only Good Movies
- The Culture Trip
- Wikipedia
An affectionate and refreshing East/West-Germany comedy about a boy who’s mother was in a coma while the Berlin wall fell and when she wakes up he must try to keep her from learning what happen (since she was an avid communist supporter) to avoid shocking her which could lead to another heart attack.
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3 .) Reds (1981)
Lists It Appears On:
- IMDB 2
- Only Good Movies
- Ranker
- Wikipedia
A radical American journalist becomes involved with the Communist revolution in Russia and hopes to bring its spirit and idealism to the United States.
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2 .) The Blue Kite (1993)
Lists It Appears On:
- Only Good Movies
- Ranker
- The Culture Trip
- Wikipedia
The lives of a Beijing family throughout the 1950s and 1960s, as they experience the impact of the Hundred Flowers Campaign, the Great Leap Forward, and the Cultural Revolution.
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1 .) The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
Lists It Appears On:
- Movie Guide
- Only Good Movies
- Ranker
- Scene Stealers
Near the end of the Korean War, a platoon of U.S. soldiers is captured by communists and brainwashed. Following the war, the platoon is returned home, and Sergeant Raymond Shaw is lauded as a hero by the rest of his platoon. However, the platoon commander, Captain Bennett Marco, finds himself plagued by strange nightmares and, together with fellow soldier Allen Melvin, races to uncover a terrible plot.
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The 125+ Additional Best Movies About Or Featuring Communism
# | Movie | Lists |
(Films Appear On 1 List Each) | ||
21 | 12:08 East of Bucharest | Ranker |
22 | 300 Miles to Heaven | Wikipedia |
23 | A Beautiful Mind (2001) |
Scene Stealers
|
24 | A City-Stomping Insect in The Deadly Mantis (1957) |
Mental Floss
|
25 | A Flesh-Eating Mass in The Blob (1958) |
Mental Floss
|
26 | A Grotesque Shape-Shifter in John Carpenter’s The Thing (1982) |
Mental Floss
|
27 | A Pin for the Butterfly | Wikipedia |
28 | A TALE OF TWO CITIES |
Movie Guide
|
29 | Admiral | Ranker |
30 | All My Lenins | Wikipedia |
31 | Also recommended: |
Only Good Movies
|
32 | Anastasia | Ranker |
33 | Angels of the Revolution, 2014 | RBTH |
34 | Animal Farm (1954) | IMDB 2 |
35 | Apa Khabar Orang Kampung | Wikipedia |
36 | Arabikkatha | Wikipedia |
37 | Baarìa (2009) | IMDB |
38 | Barbara | Ranker |
39 | Battleship Potemkin (Sergei Eisenstein, 1925) |
Taste Of Cinema
|
40 | Big Jim McLain | Ranker |
41 | BITTER HARVEST |
Movie Guide
|
42 | Black Book (2006) | IMDB |
43 | Blame it on Fidel (2006) | IMDB 2 |
44 | Blood Alley | Ranker |
45 | Bolshevism on Trial | Ranker |
46 | Born in 68 (2008) | IMDB |
47 | Branded (2012) | IMDB |
48 | Brazil | Ranker |
49 | Burnt by the Sun (1994) | IMDB |
50 | By the Bluest of Seas | Wikipedia |
51 | Cambodia: Between War and Peace | Ranker |
52 | Capitalism: A Love Story (2009) | IMDB |
53 | CAPTAIN AMERICA |
Movie Guide
|
54 | Chakravyuh (2012) | IMDB |
55 | Chapaev, 1934 | RBTH |
56 | Children of Glory | Ranker |
57 | Chinese Action Movies – A Brief History |
Only Good Movies
|
58 | Citizen X |
Only Good Movies
|
59 | Conspiracy Movie – 12 Best Conspiracy Movies |
Only Good Movies
|
60 | Defiance (I) (2008) | IMDB |
61 | Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) |
Scene Stealers
|
62 | Earth (Alexander Dovzhenko, 1930) |
Taste Of Cinema
|
63 | Eisenstein in Guanajuato | Wikipedia |
64 | ELENI |
Movie Guide
|
65 | Ernst Thälmann (film) | Wikipedia |
66 | Film Socialisme (Jean-Luc Godard, 2010) |
Taste Of Cinema
|
67 | Game for Vultures | Wikipedia |
68 | Giant, Extraterrestrial Pods in Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) |
Mental Floss
|
69 | give Netflix a try |
Only Good Movies
|
70 | Good Movies Banned in China |
Only Good Movies
|
71 | Good Night and Good Luck (2005) |
Scene Stealers
|
72 | Goodbye to Language | Wikipedia |
73 | HANOI HILTON |
Movie Guide
|
74 | Heaven & Earth | Ranker |
75 | Hibiscus Town | Ranker |
76 | Hong Kong Confidential (1958 film) | Wikipedia |
77 | I Am Cuba (1964) | IMDB 2 |
78 | Imperialist Aliens in Earth vs |
Mental Floss
|
79 | Indochine | Ranker |
80 | Inside Job (2010) | IMDB |
81 | INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS |
Movie Guide
|
82 | Katyń | Ranker |
83 | Kondaveeti Donga | Wikipedia |
84 | La Commune (Paris, 1871) (2000) | IMDB 2 |
85 | Lenin in October, 1937 | RBTH |
86 | Lenin in Paris | Wikipedia |
87 | Les Misérables (2012) | IMDB 2 |
88 | Lights in the Dusk | Wikipedia |
89 | Looking for Fidel (2006) | IMDB 2 |
90 | Luxury Hotel | Ranker |
91 | Man of Iron | Ranker |
92 | Man of Marble | Ranker |
93 | Man With a Movie Camera (Dziga Vertov, 1929) |
Taste Of Cinema
|
94 | MAO’S LAST DANCER |
Movie Guide
|
95 | Marx Reloaded | Wikipedia |
96 | MEET JOHN DOE |
Movie Guide
|
97 | METROPOLIS |
Movie Guide
|
98 | Minivan-Sized Ants in Them! (1954) |
Mental Floss
|
99 | Mission to Moscow | Ranker |
100 | Modern Times (Charlie Chaplin, 1936) |
Taste Of Cinema
|
101 | Murderous Plants in The Day of the Triffids (1962) |
Mental Floss
|
102 | My Brother Is an Only Child (2007) | IMDB |
103 | Names in Marble | Ranker |
104 | Neruda (film) | Wikipedia |
105 | NINE DAYS THAT CHANGED THE WORLD |
Movie Guide
|
106 | Novecento (Bernardo Bertolucci, 1976) |
Taste Of Cinema
|
107 | O-Bi, O-Ba: The End of Civilization | Ranker |
108 | October (Sergei Eisenstein, 1928) |
Taste Of Cinema
|
109 | One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich | Ranker |
110 | One, Two, Three |
Only Good Movies
|
111 | Orange Valley | Wikipedia |
112 | Oru Mexican Aparatha | Wikipedia |
113 | Pakarnnattam | Wikipedia |
114 | Persepolis (2007) | IMDB |
115 | Piagol | Wikipedia |
116 | Porcile (Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1969) |
Taste Of Cinema
|
117 | Priyappetta Nattukare | Wikipedia |
118 | Professor Mamlock (1938 film) | Wikipedia |
119 | Professor Mamlock (1961 film) | Wikipedia |
120 | Rakthasakshikal Sindabad | Wikipedia |
121 | REPENTANCE |
Movie Guide
|
122 | S-21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine | Ranker |
123 | Sakhavinte Priyasakhi | Wikipedia |
124 | Salt | Ranker |
125 | Seeing Red (1983 film) | Wikipedia |
126 | Sexmission | Ranker |
127 | South of the Border (2009) | IMDB 2 |
128 | Spies Like Us (1985) |
Scene Stealers
|
129 | STRIKE |
Movie Guide
|
130 | Sunflower | Ranker |
131 | Sunstroke, 2014 | RBTH |
132 | Swept Away (2002 film) | Wikipedia |
133 | Teorema (Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1968) |
Taste Of Cinema
|
134 | The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceaușescu | Wikipedia |
135 | The Baader Meinhof Complex (2008) | IMDB |
136 | The Battleship Potemkin |
Only Good Movies
|
137 | The Best of Youth (2003) | IMDB |
138 | The Dark Knight Rises (2012) | IMDB 2 |
139 | The Death of Stalinism in Bohemia | Ranker |
140 | The Ditch | Ranker |
141 | The Exam | Ranker |
142 | The Flight, 1970 | RBTH |
143 | The Front | Ranker |
144 | The Gospel According to St. Matthew (film) | Wikipedia |
145 | The Hand | Ranker |
146 | The Hunt for Red October (1990) |
Scene Stealers
|
147 | The Key for Determining Dwarfs | Ranker |
148 | The Killing Fields (1984) |
The Culture Trip
|
149 | The Kite Runner (2007) | IMDB |
150 | The Last Bolshevik (1993) | IMDB |
151 | The Last Communist | Wikipedia |
152 | THE LOST CITY |
Movie Guide
|
153 | The Man with the Carnation | Wikipedia |
154 | The Missing Picture | Ranker |
155 | The Oak | Ranker |
156 | The Quiet American | Ranker |
157 | The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (2003) | IMDB 2 |
158 | The Revolutionary | Wikipedia |
159 | The Right Stuff (1983) |
Scene Stealers
|
160 | The Vow (1946 film) | Wikipedia |
161 | The Wind that Shakes the Barley (2006) | IMDB 2 |
162 | Three Songs about Lenin (Dziga Vertov, 1934) |
Taste Of Cinema
|
163 | Together | Ranker |
164 | TOY STORY 3 |
Movie Guide
|
165 | Underground (1995) | IMDB |
166 | Veendum Kannur | Wikipedia |
167 | Walesa: Man of Hope | Ranker |
168 | We Cellar Children | Wikipedia |
169 | White Slaves | Ranker |
11 Best Communism Film Sources/Lists
Source | Article |
IMDB | Communism/AntiCommunism – IMDb |
IMDB 2 | Communism & Socialism in Film – IMDb |
Mental Floss | 7 Movie Monsters That Allegedly Represent Communism | Mental Floss |
Movie Guide | Best Anti-Communist, Anti-Socialist Movies of All Time – Movieguide |
Only Good Movies | Top Communist Movies – List of Commie Films – Soviet Cinema |
Ranker | The Best Movies About Communism – Ranker |
RBTH | 6 unmissable films about the 1917 Russian Revolution – Russia Beyond |
Scene Stealers | J.D.’s Top 10 Red Scare Movies – Scene-Stealers |
Taste Of Cinema | The 10 Best Movies Influenced by Marxist Philosophy – Taste of Cinema |
The Culture Trip | The Top 12 Communist Movies Every Film Buff Should See – Culture Trip |
Wikipedia | Category:Films about communism – Wikipedia |