3 Angry Men: Politics in Film History Examining Chaplin, Gavras, & Lumet

by Ashlee Lanier

Since the beginning of the film industry, directors have realized the potential power accessible to them through the medium of film.  For the purposes of this post, I will just be focusing on the works of three of the most politically subversive directors in film history: Charlie Chaplin, Costa-Gavras, and Sidney Lumet.

As his career bloomed, Chaplin’s films became increasingly political - ultimately leading to a denial for his re-entry into the United States in 1952 (he would not return until 1972 to accept his honorary Oscar).   Chaplin’s 1917 film The Immigrant is perhaps the earliest and most innocent example of his political opinion appearing in his work.  Chaplin’s framing of the Statue of Liberty and a group of relieved on-looking immigrants aboard a ship (his Tramp character included) depict the hope newcomers held when finally making it to America’s shores.  However, this happy moment is brought to an abrupt end as an immigration officer corrals the group and, in an act of slapstick protest, Chaplin’s character kicks the officer.

(Still from The Immigrant: relieved immigrants looking towards the Statue of LIberty)

This light-hearted attempt at mocking authority prevailed through much of Chaplin’s early work, but by the 1930s he took a much more serious tone when addressing the many problems he found within America. His 1936 film Modern Times attacked America’s capitalistic economy and increasingly industrialized workforce. By 1940 he was attacking the dictatorial governments of Germany and Italy (and America’s isolationist politics) with The Great Dictator.  Eventually his communist party ideals became too much for a deeply conservative America (and an increasingly paranoid J. Edgar Hoover), and he was denied re-entry into America after the release of his 1952 film Limelight. Chaplin remained successful in Europe and in 1957 released one of most politically influenced films to date, A King In New York.  Throughout the film, Chaplin’s character criticizes American capitalism, commercialism, and Hollywood culture while also getting some comical revenge when his character drenches the House of Un-American Activities with a fire hose.

Like Chaplin, Costa-Gavras’ films critiqued the political corruption found within entire governments.  His 1969 film Z focused on a fictionalized version of the actual assassination of a leftist Greek politician in 1963, while at the same time, critiquing Greece’s then current military dictatorship.  Gavras’ 1970 film The Confession and 1972 State of Siege both condemn totalitarian governments as well as depict the repression of those in opposition to the powers at be in Czechoslovakia and Uruguay respectively.  

(Still from Z)

In similar fashion, Sidney Lumet challenged corrupt systems in the U.S. with a slew of films including 12 Angry Men, Dog Day Afternoon, Serpico, and Network to name a few.  While Gavras and Chaplin challenged whole governments, Lumet usually explored themes of injustice and corruption on the local and city level often set in New York City.  Serpico examined the corruption within both the New York City Police Department and the city government while his anti-establishment film Dog Day Afternoon focuses on queer politics and the counter-culture movement of the 1970s.  

(Still from Serpico)

As these three directors have proven, film can be an excellent way to expose corruption and injustice. When used to its full potential it can even enact social change.  Chaplin, Gavras, and Lumet all took their unique subject matter and displayed it in a way that made the audience want to care about the political and social issues of the day. In doing so, they gave film a more meaningful context in which to be further appreciated.  

~Super brief author bio~

Ashlee is a Historic Preservation grad student who did her undergrad at NC State in osteoarchaeology & history, but besides studying old bones, she likes to watch art-house film & listen to ’60s British mod music. Her favorite films are City Lights, Dog Day Afternoon, Godfather Part II, & The Royal Tenenbaums; she also watches too much TV & enjoys complaining about everything.

Film History: A Brief Intro to La Nouvelle Vague

by Ashlee Lanier

One of the first great leaps forward for the ingenuity of film began in 1959 with the French New Wave (La Nouvelle Vague). Classic Hollywood directors such as Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and Orson Welles directly influenced French New Wave directors. Perhaps most influential was the work of Italian Neo-Realism directors such as Rossellini and Fellini. French auteurs who were mainly associated with the movement include: François Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Agnès Varda, Alain Resnais, Jean-Pierre Melville, and Louis Malle to name a few.

(From left to right: Claude Lelouch, Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, Louis Malle, Roman Polanski)

French New Wave directly borrowed from the rebellious direction and humanistic themes present in post-WWII Italian films. The main point of the New Wave was to rebel against classic French film’s strict narrative format and to focus on the bourgeoisie (usually in the form of stiff period dramas). Films belonging to the movement were almost exclusively set in working class urban areas (usually Paris); they were often filmed with a minimal budget and nonprofessional actors (much like previous Italian films of the ’40s), and often broke the fourth wall (with characters directly engaging with the audience). New Wave films embraced new themes often left untouched in other films such as sexuality, the struggles of the working class, and Marxist politics. The discontinuity of narrative was perhaps the most important aspect of French New Wave cinema. This discontinuity is excessively evident in Jean-Luc Godard’s debut 1960 feature Breathless (À bout de soufflé) where he extensively employed jump-cuts with an anarchic editing style. Jump-cuts cause a sharp break in narrative by instantly changing from one scene to another without any explanation and in Godard’s case present the audience with a nonlinear ruptured storyline. An example of jump-cuts in Breathless: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ov4mQJIHhc

(Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Seberg, & Jean-Luc Godard on the set of Breathless)

François Truffaut’s 1959 semi-autobiographical Les quatres cents coups (The 400 Blows) is usually regarded as the first film of the movement. With its unique camerawork, focus on the working class, and bleak story it effectively helped to transform cinema into a new art form for French directors. The movement lasted well into the 1960s with its influence on fashion being most notable in the British working class mod subculture. British 1960s modernism borrowed heavily from the movement but soon became a global phenomenon with its own unique identity. The French New Wave’s influence on film has persisted since its inception, thanks to directors such as Wong Kar-wai, Sidney Lumet, Wes Anderson, Noah Baumbach, Stanley Kubrick, Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, and Terrence Malick among countless others who all borrow from French New Wave’s basic themes and chaotic structure.

The French movement went on to ignite the American, Hong Kong, and German New Wave movements of the 1970s and ’80s. Direct influence is also heavily evident in the emergence of the independent film movement of the 1990s. Modern cinema still shows traces of the French movement every now and then. Noah Baumbach’s 2012 film Frances Ha has a soundtrack littered with pieces from classic Nouvelle Vague films as well as a simplistic filming style directly related to the 1960s French movement.

(still from Baumbach’s Frances Ha)

The importance of the French New Wave movement in regards to film history would be difficult to overlook. It brought art-house films to mainstream international audiences, helped launch the careers of countless well-known directors and actors, aided in the legitimization of film as a form of art by ridding itself of strict dictatorial narratives, and ultimately gave film a wider audience because of its unique focus upon the everyman.

~Super brief author bio~

Ashlee is a Historic Preservation grad student who did her undergrad at NC State in osteoarchaeology & history, but besides studying old bones, she likes to watch art-house film & listen to ’60s British mod music. Her favorite films are City Lights, Dog Day Afternoon, Godfather Part II, & The Royal Tenenbaums; she also watches too much TV & enjoys complaining about everything.