Cinema provides escapism like no other medium out there. Sometimes escaping means just that: believing in whatever takes place on the screen because it only takes place during that moment. A couple of hours of a fantasy that someone else thought of and came up with a narrative structure for an idea that, no matter how extreme it is, will make you part of a temporary world of heroes and villains.
One of the subgenres where that often happens is the conspiracy thriller. No matter how high or low the level of "corruption," there's something gripping and maddening about stories where the systems and entities that are supposed to care for you turn out to be compromised and destructive.
Of course, fiction calls for more imaginative plots than reality; that's why we prefer to escape into fiction from time to time, and why some people prefer to escape into elaborate conspiracies like QAnon. Q and other deep state conspiracies can be extremely entertaining fictions in which people participate in meticulously detailed alternate realities. These are patently ridiculous ARGs, but somehow give more meaning than the banal, normal corruption and lies of everyday politics. That's already a reality, so why would you escape towards something you can find on major news outlets already?
We came up with a list of films that open a window into the rotten spheres of power. Fictional or not, one thing's for sure — these are the leaders you don't want leading you. You never know if you will end up murdered, or being accused of a murder that could take place. While 'the deep state' may be a bit more fictional than real, these relevant movies provide escapism that is just real enough to make the fiction feel urgent and political. Be aware, open your eyes, and let cinema teach you who to rely on.
12 Capricorn One
In Peter Hyams' Capricorn One, mankind has taken yet another leap, this time to the Red Planet. At least, that's what almost everyone else thinks. Mimicing the conspiracies over the moon landing, the film is a quietly brilliant look at our mistrust of government authorities.
It tells the story of a reporter who uncovers the hoax through which the government made everyone believe we had gone to Mars. The problem is how deep the conspiracy goes as NASA executives and politicians will do everything to convince people they were actually there. Everything. Like, putting people's lives in danger.
This is a solid '70s thriller that not many people have seen, but they should. It's greatly written and greatly acted by some very familiar faces, including the great Elliott Gould (and the not so great O.J. Simpson).
11 The X-Files: Fight the Future
Sure, The X-Files show was infinitely better than the movie released during the peak of the TV hit. However, The X-Files: Fight the Future was still an opportunity to dig deeper into the series from the narrative perspective. In this one, Mulder and Scully uncover a conspiracy related to aliens and the government's knowledge of their technology. Sounds like a long episode, but the film was also a good decision to explore deeper in the principal mythology of the show. This one was a box-office hit that proved once again the popularity of the mystery show, and though it arguably isn't as good as The X-Files: I Want to Believe, it does delve into the mysterious canonical deep state of the show.
10 Three Days of the Condor
In Three Days of the Condor, a government researcher discovers his co-workers dead and has no idea why. The problem is his thirst to know the truth takes him very deep into a conspiracy that puts him in danger.
The film, directed by Sydney Pollack, is based on a very good script (based on a popular bestseller) and stars some very familiar faces from the 70s. It set a precedent for a legal accusation made by an association on behalf of the director, because of a horrible "panning and scanning" by a Danish TV broadcaster; the court ruled that TV stations which were "panning and scanning" were "mutilating" the film, arguably saving countless films from being butchered for TV broadcast.
9 Wag the Dog
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Barry Levinson's Wag the Dog is an exceptional black comedy about a conspiracy to drive the voters' attention away from a sex scandal. The last resort is a fabricated war in which the government saves the day, at least for some. Starring Anne Heche, Robert De Niro, and Dustin Hoffman, the film is a political classic.
However, it became much more important because of when it was released. One month before Monica Lewinsky opened up about her affair with Bill Clinton, we saw a spin doctor take control of the situation on the big screen. When everything blew up, we had seen the absurd take place. Of course, the situation got darker as the Clinton administration went ahead and started bombing foreign countries.
8 Soylent Green
In the sci-fi classic Soylent Green, the solution for hunger, overpopulation and climate change, is very radical and dramatic. For those of you unfamiliar with what the titular Soylent Green actually is, we recommend you to watch it and see for yourself what a government is capable of doing to easily solve issues.
The conspiracy aspect of the plot isn't very clear up until the third act when the hero makes the harrowing discovery that made the film famous. But it's worth sticking around to see a great cinema twist take place and making you feel like crap as you realize the evil nature of this quick and effective solution to a real-life issue.
7 Blow Out
In Brian de Palma's Blow Out, a clever reformulation of the brilliant Michelangelo Antonio film Blow Up, sound is a big thing. So much that it becomes a very important backdrop for a plot about an assassination related to a politician and the man who coincidentally records the sound of a gun while working on the post-production of a movie.
It's a stylish deconstruction of a thriller film, with a wonderful John Travolta, that carries the political paranoia of the '70s into the '80s. It also plays great as a companion to the more modern Berberian Sound Studio, and it holds up pretty well to this day. This could be de Palma's greatest film from a technical point of view.
6 Enemy of the State
Imagine being targeted by the NSA and being unable to trust your own shadow. This is only the surface of the story in Tony Scott's brilliant Enemy of the State. It's the story of a lawyer who unexpectedly gets his hands on a very important piece of evidence about a congressman's murder. Of course the government's most secretive and lethal agency starts to chase him for the good of the nation.
This is one of the most important roles of the great Gene Hackman in the last part of his career, and one of Scott's most underrated modern films.
5 The Parallax View
Alan J. Pakula's The Parallax View stars Warren Beatty as a journalist who starts investigating a secret organization with too much power. So much that they can actually plan and execute political assassination to their benefit.
This very underrated political thriller was restored by the Criterion Collection, and in that version it looks astonishing. The cinematography is almost another character, as the camera is always adamant on observing our main character discover a very dangerous conspiracy.
4 Minority Report
Not many people see Minority Report as a conspiracy film, yet Spielberg's underrated masterpiece is framed under the arc of a powerful government member using a precious resource to drive attention away from a crime he's supposed to commit. It's a whodunit mystery brilliantly shot by Spielberg collaborator Janusz Kamiński whose work in the thriller genre isn't common. This is a great example of how action thrillers are supposed to be made, and perfectly fuses sci-fi with 1984-style deep state political allegory.
3 The Manchurian Candidate
The John Frankenheimer thriller The Manchurian Candidate is still an impressive film after all these years. It tells the story of communists brainwashing POWs in order to overthrow the American government. The plot is like you would expect, but the style is incredibly suspenseful and disturbing, and it also focuses on the dynamics of a family directly affected by the conspiracy.
Contrary to what people remember, Angela Lansbury didn't win the Oscar with this one, even though she more than deserved it as the ruthless mother using her son as a political trigger. Oh yes, the remake directed by Jonathan Demme is a great one as well, specially crafted for modern audiences and modern distrust in the government and military industrial complex.
2 JFK
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Arguably Oliver Stone's finest film and the one people remember him the most for is an epic of deep state paranoia and a masterpiece of conspiratorial thinking. JFK is a dramatic thriller about an attorney who goes on trial to reveal the inconsistencies in Kennedy's murder and further investigation. You can see how this is situated in conspiracy territory — perhaps no other name in world history has resulted in more conspiracy theories than John F. Kennedy.
The reason why it didn't win more awards was because Hannibal Lecter wreaked havoc that year with The Silence of the Lambs. You probably heard of this one already, but if it's actually your first time, and you want to watch it, make sure you get your hands on the director's cut. It's superb.
1 All the President’s Men
Another Alan Pakula joint, this is the greatest film about a deep state conspiracy ever made, aprtly because it's actually true. All the President's Men is a fascinating and compelling film about a couple of journalists investigating the Watergate scandal and subsequent effect into the presidency of Nixon. Of course, it won many awards, including Best Screenplay for the work of William Goldman.
We're not used to saying "you have to watch films," but All the President's Men comes close to being an essential piece of cinema.