Movies for Discussion

Media is powerful, as window into the world and as a shaper of identity. Watching and reflecting on films can be a good way to practice analytical skills.

The following list has some films that members of the Damascus Road Network have found useful in exploring the analysis. Some are documentaries specifically about race and racism. Some are feature films that speak to aspects of an antiracist analysis. Some are just popular films that never mention race, yet can reveal a lot about how racism works.

Damascus Road does not promote these as "good" films — many contain disturbing content, violence, etc. We do believe, however, that these movies (and many others) can provoke good discussion about issues of race and racism. Always preview films before showing to a larger audience, and be aware that some of these films are rated "R."

 

Discussion Questions

1. Are the privileges and power given to White People named and challenged?
2. What do you think the writer/producer thought about the purpose of racism: to give power and privilege to White People or only to harm People of Color?
3. Does the film present racism as only a Black/White issue or does it acknowledge the presence of oppression in other communities?
4. If you were telling this story, would you tell it any differently?
5. How are White People and People of Color portrayed: as saviors, partners, victims, allies, oppressors, resisters, other?
6. What solution(s) is/are proposed or implied - individual reconciliation, systemic transformation, community organizing, etc?

 

Movies

If you can't find a film at a video rental store, check your public library or a local university library. If your local branch doesn't have it, they may be able to get it for you through inter-library loan.

• 8 Mile
• A Class Divided (FrontLine episode)
• A Patch of Blue
• A History of Slavery in America
• A Woman Called Moses
• A Time to Kill
• A History of the Civil Rights Movement
• Amazing Grace
• American History X
• Amistad
• Black Like Me
• Bowling for Columbine
• The Brother from Another Planet
• Buffalo Wars
• Bulworth
• The Chamber
• Chicken Run
• The Color Purple
• Crash
• Dances with Wolves
• Driving Miss Daisy
• Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Right Years 1954-1965 (PBS)
• Fools Rush In
• Freedom Man
• Ghandi
• The Ghosts of Mississippi
• Go Tell It on the Mountain
• Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
• I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
• In the Light of Reverence
• The Klan: A Legacy of Hate in America
• Lakota Woman
• Last Chance for Eden
• The Long Walk Home
• Malcolm X
• Matters of Race (PBS series)
• Mi Familia
• Mississippi Burning
• My Big Fat Greek Wedding
• Nightjohn
• Once Upon a Time When We Were Colored
• Pinky
• Rabbit-Proof Fence
• Race to Freedom
• Raisin in the Sun
• Remember the Titans
• Roots
• Rosewood
• Sarafina
• Save the Last Dance
• Schindler's List
• Sister Act and Sister Act II
• Shawshank Redemption
• Smoke Signals
• Sounder
• Spike Lee movies
• Stand and Deliver
• True Colors (an episode of Prime Time)
• Uncle Tom's Cabin
• Veterans of Hope series
• White Man's Burden
• The Women of Brewster Place

 

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