I'm looking for recent films which deal with the topic of globalization in interesting ways.

January 31, 2005 6:47 PM

Globalization on Film: I’m looking for suggestions for recent films which deal with the topic of globalization in interesting ways. [MI+]

I’m planning on programming a series of films on the topic of globalization which will screen in conjunction with a university course on the same topic (I am not, however, teaching the course).

Ideally, I’d like between 5-7 films which have been released in the past 5-10 years but did not receive wide theatrical distribution in the US. I’m thinking of films like Ja Zhang-ke’s excellent The World and the hilarious documentary The Yes Men.

Bonus points if the films are unavailable on video or DVD – all screenings will be in 35mm.

posted by tulseluper to media & arts (19 comments total)

• Moolaadé
• Network (roughly)
• The Godfather: Part II (roughly)
posted by AlexReynolds at 7:10 PM on January 31, 2005

Oh, one more: Control Room
posted by AlexReynolds at 7:11 PM on January 31, 2005

I have three suggestions. Lemonade Joe is the best. It's a Czech film from the sixties, and the best choice.

The Coca-Cola Kid and Y tu Mama Tambien. The former because it's an English language, Eastern European film by a former dissident that's really about globalization; the latter because it is a popular film that addresses globalization, but is known for other reasons.
posted by gesamtkunstwerk at 7:26 PM on January 31, 2005

Check out The Take, Trade Off and, of course, The Coporation
posted by punkbitch at 7:40 PM on January 31, 2005

The New Rulers of the World, Life and Debt, maybe even The Corporation.
posted by fionab at 7:40 PM on January 31, 2005

Naqoyqatsi?
posted by trondant at 7:41 PM on January 31, 2005

You'll never find a copy of it (or if you do, let me know where), but the best film about globalization ever released is a 1977 Filipino film called Perfumed Nightmare. Of course, you asked for the last 5–10 years, but just in case.
posted by goatdog at 7:47 PM on January 31, 2005

You're probably not going to find this on 35 mm., but the NZ doco. Someone Else's Country (1996) is interesting. (Unabashedly Marxist, though.)

More info here.
posted by Sonny Jim at 8:49 PM on January 31, 2005

Does The Gods Must Be Crazy count?
posted by Napierzaza at 9:31 PM on January 31, 2005

What about Apocalypse Now, Maria Full of Grace, Motorcycle Diaries, l'Auberge Espagnole ~ I remember that Before Sunset has some straightforward dialogue about globalization ~ there's a decent Colombian film called La Primera Noche that I think fits in well also.

You could look at films like American Beauty, because they present American globalcentrism so well.

Above all of these I would suggest you see Half Eaten Pinapple for the real goods on the influence of globalization in cinema.
posted by punkbitch at 9:51 PM on January 31, 2005

Blade Runner

Rollerball (the original, not the clueless remake) is all about globalization. Well, that, and James Caan being a badass.

I second The Coca-Cola Kid, which is a really fun movie. It makes a nice double feature with Billy Wilder's One, Two, Three, which also uses Coca-Cola as a metaphor for Americanization.
posted by kirkaracha at 10:27 PM on January 31, 2005

Goatdog : I was just about to recommend Kidlat Tahimik's Turumba:-)
It's not a recent film, however I highly recommend it for the way in which it deals with the topic of globalization.
posted by invisible ink at 12:28 AM on February 1, 2005

The Cup
posted by sagwalla at 1:05 AM on February 1, 2005

Manufacturing Consent
posted by Clay201 at 6:51 AM on February 1, 2005

Yi Yi.
posted by languagehat at 1:44 PM on February 1, 2005

Thanks for all the great suggestions. Finding Perfumed Nightmare and Someone Else's Country are now going to be personal quests of mine - I love a good challenge.
posted by tulseluper at 7:20 PM on February 1, 2005

I second

life and debt (if you only show one movie, this is the one)
the corporation
Manufacturing Consent

and raise

Showdown in Seattle: five days that shook the WTO.

I think the global justice group also showed Baraka (akin to Koyaanisqatsi)

There was also a really nice journalism-style documentary that the BBC did on The World Bank and Ghana, "Profits of Doom," i think it was called.
posted by eustatic at 7:39 PM on February 1, 2005

tulseluper - I recommend checking out this seller (note: I am not acquainted with him in anyway, I just happened to order my copy of "Turumba" from him, and so I think he's pretty reliable.)
posted by invisible ink at 1:23 AM on February 2, 2005

Gung Ho is a pretty funny movie by Ron Howard about Japanese car companies opening plants in America. Kind of reverse-globalization.<a
posted by capcuervo at 7:32 PM on February 17, 2005