- TCM schedule – “Making Change: Political Films”: Turner Classic Movies’ sociopolitical series continues on Sept. 27 with the presentation of six titles: The Passion of Joan of Arc, The Last Hurrah, Night of the Living Dead, Three Days of the Condor, The Tin Drum, I Am Not Your Negro.
- This “Making Change: Political Films” article includes a brief overview of three TCM presentations: The Passion of Joan of Arc, Night of the Living Dead, and The Tin Drum.
“Making Change: Political Films”: TCM series continues with titles ranging from the stark silent drama The Passion of Joan of Arc to the gory horror thriller Night of the Living Dead
Part IV of Turner Classic Movies’ series “Making Change: Political Films” continues on Friday evening, Sept. 27, with the presentation of six titles from three different countries: The Passion of Joan of Arc from France; The Tin Drum from West Germany; and The Last Hurrah, Night of the Living Dead, Three Days of the Condor, and I Am Not Your Negro from the United States. (See TCM’s “Making Change: Political Films” schedule further below. Most titles will remain available for a while on the Watch TCM app.)
The Passion of Joan of Arc? Night of the Living Dead? The Tin Drum?
Isn’t the first a religious drama, the second a cheapo horror thriller, and the third a fantasy-infused World War II black comedy-drama?
Well, think again. Or rather, just think.
Stating what should be obvious, the TCM website explains in regard to “Making Change: Political Films”:
“Politics affects every part of our daily lives. Its reach is general and wide, dictating everything from the cleanliness of our water, land and air to more personal and interpersonal affairs. Though movies can be enjoyed simply as entertainment, film as a medium is an inherently political tool, a product of a creator’s unified ideology and assumption about the world we live in.”
If you’re condemned to die at the stake for having committed heresy, that’s political.
If you’re a braindead human-flesh-eating zombie out to destroy everything and everyone in your path, that’s political. (Even if you are unaware of what you’re doing, your actions will result in a sociopolitical reaction.)
If you refuse to grow up because the “gift of life” your parents imposed on you turned out to be a Trojan Horse, that’s political.
One could go on.
If you vote, that’s political. If you don’t vote, that’s political (and smugly idiotic).
If your part of the world is ravaged by a deadly hurricane made worse by the ever more dire climate emergency, that’s political.
If you choose to take social action, that’s political. If you choose to do nothing, that’s political.
If you’re a bigot, that’s political. If you fight bigotry, that’s political. If you’re not a bigot but chooses to ignore bigotry, that’s political.
If you keep yourself informed, that’s political. If you choose to plant your head firmly up your ass, that’s political.
This could go on ad infinitum. So let’s proceed with the task at hand.
Below is a brief glimpse at three of TCM’s “Making Change: Political Films” titles (listed in chronological order) airing on Sept. 27: The Passion of Joan of Arc, Night of the Living Dead, and The Tin Drum.
The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)
Using stark imagery while ensuring that the action moves as deliberately as cinematically possible, Danish filmmaker Carl Theodor Dreyer spent much of his five-decade big-screen career mixing religion with politics and/or family relations – e.g., Day of Wrath,* Ordet.
Made in France, The Passion of Joan of Arc is the apotheosis of Dreyer’s obsession with the confluence of these three realms: Joan of Arc is deeply Catholic (and, hearing voices, probably insane); the clerical judges who sentence her to death are acting like agents of the enemies of France, i.e., Burgundy and England; as for young Joan’s family, that’s France itself (and Jesus).
As the titular character, Maria Falconetti – whose enormous, expressive eyes were made for Dreyer-created closeups – delivers what some consider to be one of the greatest performances ever recorded on film.
Melissa Etheridge is this presentation’s special guest, alongside Ben Mankiewicz.
* Day of Wrath also features a woman (played by Anna Svierkier) being burned at the stake.
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
In George A. Romero’s low-budget horror thriller Night of the Living Dead, modern-day Americans are literally devoured by hordes of human-flesh-eating zombies, possibly the reanimated offspring of radiation from an exploding space probe on its way back from Venus.
Now, you may see the zombie hordes as the following:
- a) A metaphor for the way humans have been slaughtering one another and ravaging Planet Earth.
- b) A metaphor for the denizens of a capitalist society gone on to the next level of consumerism (as per film historian Robin Wood and others).
- c) A metaphor for the sum of all human fears in a chaotic world where students are protesting, governments are falling, and wars are raging.
- d) A bunch of hungry zombies.
But no matter which option(s) you select, you’ll have to agree that Night of the Living Dead shows the American government – at all levels, civilian and military – wholly unprepared for a deadly emergency from within.
For a real-life equivalent, think of the Donald Trump regime’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic (“inject bleach up your … and you’ll be ok”) and the Trump-incited attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
The Tin Drum (1979)
What to do when your parents impose life on you – a life you never asked for?
In Volker Schlöndorff’s The Tin Drum / Die Blechtrommel, the boy Oskar Matzerath (David Bennent), born and raised in the independent city of Danzig (today’s Gdansk, Poland) in the 1920s and 1930s, decides he will never grow up. And he doesn’t.
Who can blame him? All around Oskar you have either vicious, dishonest, and/or imbecilized adults, in addition to the Nazi Party on the rise – thanks to a large chunk of the good German people – and World War II eventually exploding.
A great-looking production (cinematography by Igor Luther) featuring several first-rate performances (e.g., David Bennent, Berta Drews as his grandmother), The Tin Drum deserved every award it received, including the Best Foreign Film Language Academy Award, the Cannes Film Festival’s Palme d’Or (shared with Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now), the César Award for Best Foreign Film, and the German Film Award for Best Fiction Film.
Volker Schlöndorff, Jean-Claude Carrière, and Franz Seitz were credited for this adaptation of Günter Grass’ 1959 novel. Grass also received credit for some of the film’s dialogue. Though for all purposes a West German production, The Tin Drum also had French and Yugoslavian backing.
A partial aside, also from the TCM website:
“The films in our showcase do not represent the best of their kind nor a definitive ‘right or wrong’ political message. […] Our special programming is merely a representation of how movies can spark discussion, inspire change, influence thought and alter the course of history. The goal is not to divide. On the contrary, we seek to foster an environment for open dialogue that demonstrates how we the people can engage in softening political divisions thus recognizing the humanity in one another.”
Does Oskar eventually get to “recognize the humanity” found in the hearts and minds of Nazi officials and their tens of millions of supporters?
Check out The Tin Drum and find out.
Immediately below is TCM’s “Making Change: Political Films” schedule.
‘Making Change: Political Films’: TCM schedule (EDT) – Sept. 20
8:00 PM Three Days of the Condor (1975)
Director: Sydney Pollack.
Cast: Robert Redford, Faye Dunaway, Cliff Robertson, Max von Sydow, John Houseman, Addison Powell.
117m10:15 PM I Am Not Your Negro (2016)
Director: Raoul Peck.
Narrator: Samuel L. Jackson.
93 min. Political Documentary.12:00 AM The Passion of Joan of Arc (1927)
Director: Carl Theodor Dreyer.
Cast: Maria Falconetti, Eugène Silvain, André Berley, Antonin Artaud, Maurice Schutz, Michel Simon.
98 min. Political | Religious Drama. Silent.1:30 AM The Last Hurrah (1958)
Director: John Ford.
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Jeffrey Hunter, Dianne Foster, Pat O’Brien, Basil Rathbone, Donald Crisp, James Gleason, Ricardo Cortez.
121m3:45 AM Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Director: George A. Romero.
Cast: Judith O’Dea, Duane Jones, Karl Hardman, Marilyn Eastman, Keith Wayne, Judith Ridley.
96m5:30 AM The Tin Drum (1979)
Director: Volker Schlöndorff.
Cast: Mario Adorf, Angela Winkler, David Bennent, Katharina Thalbach, Daniel Olbrychski, Tina Engel, Berta Drews, Roland Teubner, Tadeusz Kunikowski, Andréa Ferréol, Heinz Bennent, Charles Aznavour.
142 min. Political World War II Drama.
notes
“Making Change: Political Films” schedule via the TCM website.
Night of the Living Dead zombies image: Continental Distributing.
“Unusual Political Films: Saint & Zombies” last modified in September 2024.