Hollywood's Anti-Communist Movies: the 21st Century

American Thinker.com ^ | June 23, 2019 | Michael Nolet

[Kaslin]

Yesterday, AT was kind enough to publish the first installment of my submission about anti-Communist movies that were produced by Hollywood. For the second installment, we set the cutoff point at the year 2000, and will review anti-Communist movies with Hollywood connections produced since then.

Things have changed in the world of anti-Communist movies since 2000. On the one hand, the Iron Curtain has fallen, and much more has become public, things of which we were previously only dimly aware. This is why there has been a such a spate of anti-Communist movies from Russia and Eastern Europe.

So we now have much more material to work with. But on the other hand, as these events recede into the past, so do our memories of them. The American public, perhaps indoctrinated into Leftism by America’s educational establishment, is not as interested in anti-Communist themes as it used to be. This can be measured by the of drop-off of interest in anti-Communist movies produced by the big Hollywood studios. In these seventeen movies reviewed here that were produced since 2000, only three were produced even in part by big Hollywood studios; the other fourteen were filmed by small producers.

Before Night Falls (2000): Based on the autobiography of the Cuban poet and novelist Reinaldo Arenas. Born in 1942, Arenas became a dissident and critic of Fidel Castro during the 1960s. As if that weren’t bad enough, Arenas was also gay and in Castro’s Cuba. During the 1970s he was in and out of jail many times, before arriving in the USA in the 1980 Mariel Boatlift, dying in New York City in 1990 of AIDS. Played by Johnny Depp.

[gibsonguy]

“Arenas was also gay “

The only reason the film was made.

[Texas Eagle]

Arenas was gay and in Castro’s Cuba, eh? What is the author suggesting? That Castro was homophobic? If so, somebody ought to enlighten all those demonicRATS and celebs who flock to that island paradise to display their social justice warrior plumage.

[Texas Eagle]

Arenas was gay and in Cuba and in out of jail several times. For what? Conjugal visits? Did he even know any of the inmates?

[Rummyfan]

Hail Caesar! (2016): A Coen Brothers movie. Like most of their work, a black comedy. In 1951, Eddie Mannix is a Hollywood “fixer,” that is, someone who has to solve, or fix problems that arise during the production of movies. Along with the usual problems such as pregnant leading ladies, Mannix one day must deal with the kidnapping of the leading star of the swords-and-sandals production Hail Caesar! A Tale of the Christ. (!) This actor, Baird Whitlock (played by George Clooney), is being held for ransom for $100,000 by “The Future,” a group of Communist screenwriters spouting Marxist claptrap. This movie lampoons the Hollywood Ten, sees its Clooney character being backhanded for parroting Marxist gibberish, and pokes fun at Herbert Marcuse, the intellectual godfather of the 1960s New Left movement. Also stars Ralph Fiennes, Josh Brolin, Jonah Hill, Scarlett Johansson, and Frances McDormand (who seems to be the Coens’ “go-to girl,” since she received an Oscar for their movie Fargo.)

One of my favorites!

[Flaming Conservative]

Love Josh Brolin! Hope his politics don’t stink. And if they do, I hope he keeps it to himself.

[DoodleBob]

Team America has perhaps THE greatest theme song of the 2000s.

[Bringbackthedraft]

A couple of the serious ones can be found on Amazon Prime.

[Rummyfan]

Matt Damon, member of the Film Actors Guild... FAG.

[Tailback]

Thanks for posting that. I had never heard of that movie before.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

I love the Cohen Brothers. I recently watched “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” after finding it on Netflix. It was immensely enjoyable. I haven’t seen “Hail, Caesar” but will have to watch it soon.

[Dr. Sivana]

It is not a Hollywood movie, but “The Lives of Others (2006)” is supposed to be a very good movie about life in East Germany. It can be rented on Amazon.

[SoCal Pubbie]

Did the author overlook The Lost City (2005) starring Andy Garcia? An excellent film about Castro’s island paradise. I’ll never forget the scene where the wretched little party boss tells club owner Garcia his band can’t use one instrument (the saxophone maybe?) because it’s a tool of capitalist oppression. Such a perfect example of the petty government functionary filled with self importance.

[Kaslin]

Actually he mentioned the movie in the 6th paragraph. It would have gone way beyond the allowed excerpt

[SoCal Pubbie]

OK I looked at the list at the link and I didn’t see it.

[Kickass Conservative]

John Carpenter’s “They Live” was supposed to be an anti Reagan Movie. He hated Reagan.

The finished product didn’t work out that way.

[Kaslin]

It is there. You are just not going far enough down. Or perhaps you are looking at yesterday’s article?

[thecodont]

Great movie!

[SoCal Pubbie]

I just missed it. Was reading on my phone with no glasses. Not approved comrade!

[OldNewYork]

Those were the days, weren’t they? Back when Hollywood was anti-Stalin, even if it was because they were more pro- his rival Trotsky than pro-American free enterprise.