Wednesday, February 11, 2009

NRO: Top 25 conservative films

In its The Corner blog, The National Review Online is running down its Top 25 conservative films of the last 25 years. Unfortunately, the choices so far seem to be re-inforcing the impression of conservatives as oblivious about art and film. I can live with the kitsch value of selecting Red Dawn (#15). But when was the last time that the 1997 Alec Baldwin-Anthony Hopkins flick The Edge make any best of list, much less ahead of Brazil and United 93? Or Heartbreak Ridge, for that matter.

The list finally started settling in this afternoon with surprisingly early selections for typical conservative heavy hitters Braveheart and Lord of the Rings. The Dark Knight was surprisingly low at #12. I would have expected all of those films to be top 10. So the top 10, set to be revealed over the next two days, should be interesting.

I figured out six of the likely remaining ones in the car a while ago, but can only remember a few. They once did a cover story on Groundhog Day. The Lives of Others had the official endorsement of the late William F. Buckley. The Passion of the Christ, obviously. If We Were Soldiers made the cut earlier, then Saving Private Ryan is almost certain. You can probably expect Juno to be in there.

I'm holding out hope for One Day in September, Kevin MacDonald's Oscar-winning Munich documentary. Maybe 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days, although that film's political view is harder to discern. Grizzly Man can be a conservative film, if you wish to watch it as a tragicomic fable.

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