Film List
The Democratization of Information: Power, Peril, and Promise
The films listed here are significant because they portray different aspects of the democratization of information. Use these films and others like them to better understand the issues related to Phi Theta Kappa’s 2010/2011 Honors Study Topic. Consider these films another reference when investigating, planning and implementing your chapter’s Honors in Action projects.
Check with your college administration to see how they interpret copyright laws as they relate to showing films on campus.
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954) – Captain Nemo rescues shipwreck survivors and travels with them 20,000 leagues under the earth’s waters.
A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001) – A robot named David is programmed to love unconditionally and is abandoned by his human family. He embarks on a quest to become a real boy in this futuristic film.
Aguirre: The Wrath of God (1972) – Conquistadors search for El Dorado.
Akeelah and the Bee (2006) – Akeelah Anderson works with a tutor and with the support of her school’s principal to enter spelling bees on the way to the National Bee and as a way out of South Los Angeles.
All the King’s Men (1949 & 2006) – This cautionary tale centers on a model Southern politician who is corrupted by the system. 1949: Not Rated. 2006: Rated PG-13 for an intense sequence of violence, sexual content, and partial nudity.
All The President’s Men (1976) – Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein investigate the Watergate story and contribute to events that led to the resignation in 1974 of President Richard M. Nixon.
Anastasia (1956) – The now-disproved story of Anna Anderson follows her claim to be Anastasia, the youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas and Tsarina Alexandra of Russia.
And the Band Played On (1993) – This story chronicles the emergence and search for a cure of the AIDS pandemic in the United States.
Angels and Demons (2009) – Robert Langdon investigates the Illuminati and a threat against the Vatican that involves the quest for the world’s most potent energy force.
Anne Frank: The Whole Story (2001) –Frank’s diary was found, saved and published after her imprisonment in a concentration camp and subsequent death.
Apocalypto (2006) – A man risks his life and family to save his culture in a Pre-Columbian Maya civilization in decline on the eve of Spanish conquest. Rated R for sequences of graphic violence and disturbing images.
Apollo 13 (1995) – The Apollo 13 mission was bound for the moon when an accident in space nearly doomed the mission’s crew.
Art: 21 Art in the 21st Century (TV) (2007) - A television series devoted to examining contemporary visual art and artists in the United States provides an experience of the visual arts. The video format allows the viewer to have a rich experience beyond that of a traditional gallery visit.
Art School Confidential (2006) - Jerome, a talented young artist, realizes his dream of attending art school only to find out how the art world really works.
Avatar (2009) – A disabled Marine travels to Pandora to become an avatar and finds himself engaged in an interstellar conflict.
Babel (2006) – The lives of an affluent American couple who become victims of a random act of violence while on vacation become intertwined with those of a Moroccan, a Japanese, and a Mexican family.
Back to the Future (1985) – Doc Brown converts a DeLorean automobile into a time machine that transports Marty McFly into the 1950s with the possibility of disrupting the time-space continuum.
Barbarians at the Gate (1993) – Charismatic, greedy CEO F. Ross Johnson tries to buy a conglomerate and runs up against a banker who is trying to do the same thing. Based on the R. J. Reynolds-Nabisco leveraged buyout of the 1980s.
Boogie Nights (1997) – A patriarch reigns over a non-traditional family of co-workers in the pornography industry at its height in the 1970s.
Broadcast News (1987) – Broadcast journalists and producers work to develop their professional careers in television news.
Camp (2003) - Camp Ovation is a place where talented young people can explore their talents and be themselves without apologies.
Chicago (2002) – Murder and the quest for celebrity at all costs is the subject of this musical set in 1920s Chicago.
Chocolat (2000) – A mother and her young daughter arrive in a French village and open a chocolate shop that transforms the initially suspicious and uncomfortable villagers.
Citizen Kane (1941) – This is the biography of Charles Foster Kane, thought to be a thinly veiled portrayal of the life of William Randolph Hearst, who rose from poverty to become a lion of industry.
Citizen X (1995) – Based on a true story, this is a tale of the hunt for a serial killer in the Soviet Union.
Clueless (1995) – This contemporary retelling of Jane Austin’s Emma focuses on Cher, a Beverly Hills, California, high school student, her family, friends and classmates.
Dave (1993) – A dead ringer for U.S. President Bill Mitchell, Dave is asked to stand in for Mitchell after the chief executive has a stroke.
Doubt (2008) – Sister Aloysius suspects that the nurturing Father Flynn has become too involved in the life of an African American student, and she tries to get to the bottom of the situation.
Dr. Strangelove (1964) – This black comedy examines the nuclear age and what it means to be able to be able to anhilate nations with a doomsday device.
Dr. Who Collection (Movie and TV) (1965) – Dr. Who uses his time machine to travel to travel through time and space and ends up at the planet Skaro.
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005) – The rise and fall of the Enron Corporation and the ways its failures had an impact on corporate culture is documented in this film.
Erin Brockovich (2000) – An unemployed single mother becomes a legal assistant and almost single-handedly brings down a California power company accused of polluting a town’s water supply.
E.T. the Extra-terrestial (1982) – Ten-year-old Elliot bonds with E.T., a visitor from another planet.
Farenheit 451 (1966) –Books are banned and firemen start fires in this film, based on a book by Ray Bradbury.
Fat Man and Little Boy (1989) – This film examines the Manhattan Project and the development atomic bombs.
Finding Forrester (2000) – Novelist William Forrester mentors a young basketball player with a gift for writing.
The Fly (1986) – A scientist accidentally merges his cells with those of a house fly during a teleporation experiment.
Freedom Writers (2007) – Erin Gruwell uses journaling to teach her high school students literature and the ways they could apply the lessons they learned.
Ghost and the Machine (1993) – A computer technician scans the contents of a customer’s address book. After being killed in an automobile accident after which his soul is trapped in a computer mainframe, he uses the information to terrorize the people listed in the book.
Good Night and Good Luck (2005) –Journalist Edward R. Murrow battles with Senator Joseph McCarthy.
The Great Debators (2007) – A 1930s debate team at a historically black university successfully debates the nation’s top teams, including Harvard.
Henry V (1944 and 1989) –Henry V unites England and France.
Herb and Dorothy (2008) - In a small Brooklyn apartment, a postal clerk and a librarian of modest means build one of the most important contemporary art collections in history.
Hackers (1995) – A group of hackers join forces to engage in some cyber mischief and, in the process, discover a corporate plot.
The Hoax (2007) – Author Clifford Irving writes an alleged authorized biography of Howard Hughes then is discredited when the book is revealed a hoax.
The Hurt Locker (2009) – An elite Explosive Ordinance Disposal team of U.S. Army soldiers works in Iraq to dismantle explosive devices.
I am Cuba (1964) – This series of vignettes portrays pre-Castro Cuba.
Idiocracy (2006) – The Pentagon sends five average Americans into the year 2505 to test its Human Hibernation Project. By that time, society is dumbed down to the point these average Americans are the most intelligent humans in civilization.
The Illusionist (2006) – This tale of love and competing illusionists is set in 1900s Vienna.
The Invention of Lying (2009) – A man gains fame and fortune by lying in a world in which there is no fiction and where, because there has been no lying, people take things literally.
Iron Jawed Angels (2004) – Alice Paul, Lucy Burns and other suffragists attempt to secure a Constitutional amendment securing the right to vote for women in the United States.
Iron Man (2008) – A super-rich inventor and entrepreneur survives a kidnapping by using makeshift armor and then uses his invention to fight crime.
John Adams (2008) – This HBO miniseries traces the life of Founding Father John Adams as a revolutionary leader.
Joy Luck Club (1993) - Four Chinese women friends gather weekly to share stories about their daughters and their struggles for better lives.
The Killing Fields (1984) – A New York Times reporter investigates Cambodia’s civil war.
The Last Emperor (1987) – The last ruler of China’s Ching Dynasty transforms himself with the help of a tutor.
The Lives of Others (2007) – A playwright and his actress girlfriend become the subjects of secret Stasi surveillance during the 1980s in East Germany.
Little Big Man (1970) – The American expansionism into the West had negative consequences for Native Americans.
Lost in Translation (2003) – A washed-up movie actor travels to Tokyo to film a television commercial and meets the neglected wife of a photographer who is searching for things to do while waiting for her husband to complete his work in Japan. They find a peaceful friendship with one another.
Mad Men (TV) (2007-2010) – New York’s Sterling Cooper ad agency dominates the profession in the 1960s.
Michael Clayton (2007) – A burned out lawyer employed to clean up corporate messes and becomes embroiled in a multimillion dollar case.
Minority Report (2002) – A 21st-century precrime policeman is helped by technology that predicts crimes before they occur.
The Miracle Worker (1962) – Blind and deaf Helen Keller meets her innovative teacher, Annie Sullivan.
The Mission (1986) – A Jesuit priest establishes a mission in the jungles of Brazil in the mid-18th century.
Ms. Evers Boys (1997) – The subject is the Tuskeegee Project that withheld penicillan from African American subjects suffering from syphillis.
The Net (1995) – Angela Bennett, a freelance softwear engineer, becomes embroiled in a cyber-conspiracy.
The Net: The Unabomber, LSD, and the Internet (2003) – This German film examines the history of the Internet through the life of Ted Kaczynski.
The Number 1 Ladies Detective Agency (TV) (2008) – Precious Ramotswe sells 180 cows to open her own detective agency in Botswana.
The Paper Chase (1973) – The high pressure world of Harvard Law School is depicted.
Pirates of Silicon Valley (1999) – This tells the story of the interconnected history of Apple computers and Microsoft.
The Prisoner (TV) (1967) – A former government operative is imprisoned in “The Village” and, in the midst of this “idyllic” environment, struggles to maintain his identity.
Public Enemy (2002) – A bad cop attempts to go straight in the face of an internal affairs investigation.
The Queen (2006) – Queen Elizabeth II’s responds to the public outpouring of emotion following the death of Diana, Princess of Wales.
The Red Violin (1998) – A long-lost Renaissance red violin appears in an auction and reveals its three-centuries-long history.
Slumdog Millionaire (2008) – A Mumbai “slumdog” wins $1,000,000 on a game show and police question how he could have attained the knowledge to win.
Stand and Deliver (1987) - Math teacher Jaime Escalante is scheduled to teach rebellious remedial-math students in East Los Angeles. He faces opposition from fellow teachers when he plans to teach AP Calculus to his mostly Hispanic students and from district administrators when his students ace the AP exam.
Star Trek (2009) – The early days of the starship USS Enterprise are explored in this latest edition of the films based on Gene Rodenberry’s vision of intergalactic adventures.
State of Play (2009) – An investigative journalist examines the death of the mistress of Congressman Stephen Collins and discovers a web of lies at the highest levels of government.
Technologies of the Gods (2004) – This documentary advances the argument that Ancient civlizations used engineering techniques that rival, even surpass, the ones used in the modern world.
Thank You For Smoking (2006) - Big Tobacco lobbyist Nick Naylor is good at his job making Americans forget about the dangers of smoking. He works, among other tactics, to ensure leading characters in films smoke, the Marlboro Man does not take his story about his battle with cancer public, and politicians against Big Tobacco are discredited.
The Time Machine (1960) – An 1890s inventor determined to prove to the world that time travel is possible and his adventures as he travels progressively into the future.
The Truman Show (1998) - Truman Burbank stars in a 24/7 reality show, “The Truman Show,” without his knowledge.
The Year of Living Dangerously (1983) – This story of love and intrigue is set against the backdrop of an impending civil war in Indonesia.
You’ve Got Mail (1998) – Rival booksellers develop an online relationship via email.
Wag the Dog (1997) – A White House spinmaster creates a phony war to deflect attention from a sex scandal involving the incumbent president.
Wall Street (1987) – A Wall Street arbigrageur mentors a young stockbroker and declares to fellow business people, “Greed…is good.”
Wall-E (2008) – The Earth has been destroyed and humans have evacuated and left the clean up of the planet to robots in this animated love story.
War Games (1983) – During the Cold War a young computer hacker accesses the Air Force supercomputer and accidentally sets in motion a preemptive nuclear strike.
War of the Worlds (2005) – An alien invasion pits Earth’s humans against a hostile enemy.
Who Gets to Call it Art? (2006) - Henry Geldzahler, the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s first modern art curator and a pivotal figure in modern art, is the focus of this documentary that looks at the 1960s New York art scene.
The Wizard of Oz (1939) – In this political allegory about the late-19th and early-20th century battle between agrarian and urban ways of life in the United States, Dorothy wakes up after a tornado and finds herself in Oz. She makes friends and works to make her way back to Kansas.
