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Films with theme "Films about racism", sorted by revenue
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A Passage to India (1984)
, 2h43Directed by David Lean
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, Adventure, Historical
Themes Films about racism, Théâtre, Films based on plays
Actors Judy Davis, Victor Banerjee, Peggy Ashcroft, James Fox, Alec Guinness, Nigel Havers
The film is set in the 1920s during the period of growing influence of the Indian independence movement in the British Raj. Adela Quested (Judy Davis) and Mrs Moore (Peggy Ashcroft) sail from England to India, where Ronny Heaslop (Nigel Havers), the older woman's son and younger woman's fiancé, is the magistrate in the provincial town of Chandrapore. Through school superintendent Richard Fielding (James Fox), the two visitors meet eccentric elderly Brahmin scholar Professor Godbole (Alec Guinness), and they befriend Dr Aziz Ahmed (Victor Banerjee), an impoverished widower who initially meets Mrs Moore in a moonlit mosque overlooking the Ganges River. Their sensitivity and unprejudiced attitude toward native Indians endears them to him. When Mrs Moore and Adela express an interest in seeing the "real" India, as opposed to the Anglicised environment of cricket, polo, and afternoon tea the British expatriates created for themselves, Aziz offers to host an excursion to the remote Marabar Caves.
Glory (1990)
, 2h2Directed by Edward Zwick
Origin USA
Genres Drama, War, Historical, Western
Themes Films about slavery, Films about racism, Political films, United States Armed Forces in films
Actors Matthew Broderick, Denzel Washington, Cary Elwes, Morgan Freeman, Andre Braugher, Cliff De Young
During the American Civil War, Captain Robert Shaw is injured in the Battle of Antietam and sent home to Boston on medical leave. He visits his family there, where he meets the abolitionist Frederick Douglass, a former slave. Shaw is offered a promotion to the rank of Colonel to command the first all-black regiment in the Union Army, the 54th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. He accepts and asks his childhood friend, 2nd Lieutenant Cabot Forbes, to serve as his second in command, with the rank of major. Their first volunteer is another friend, Thomas Searles, a bookish free African American. Other recruits soon follow, including gravedigger John Rawlins, timid freeman Jupiter Sharts and Silas Trip, an escaped slave who does not trust Shaw. Trip instantly clashes with Searles and Rawlins must keep the peace.
Wildcats (1986)
, 1h46Directed by Michael Ritchie
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Comedy, Action
Themes Films about racism, Sports films, American football films
Actors Goldie Hawn, Jan Hooks, Swoosie Kurtz, Wesley Snipes, Woody Harrelson, Robyn Lively
Molly McGrath is the daughter of a famed football coach who is dying to head her own team. When her wish is finally granted, Molly leaves her job coaching girls' track at an affluent high school (Prescott High School) to take over a football team at an inner-city high school (Central High School)--the kind of place where guard dogs are needed to patrol the campus. At first the new coach’s idealism and optimism are suffocated with racial and gender prejudice, but eventually her overriding spirit begins to whip her unruly team into shape. At the same time, she must also struggle to win a battle for the custody of her two young daughters. The real test for Molly comes when her Central High team faces Prescott in the city championship.
The Cotton Club (1984)
, 2h7Directed by Francis Ford Coppola
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Musical theatre, Musical, Crime, Romance
Themes Mafia films, Films about music and musicians, Films about racism, Jazz films, Musical films, Gangster films
Actors Richard Gere, Gregory Hines, Diane Lane, Lonette McKee, Bob Hoskins, James Remar
A musician named Dixie Dwyer begins working with mobsters to advance his career but falls in love with the girlfriend of gangland kingpin Dutch Schultz.
Cry Freedom (1987)
, 2h37Directed by Richard Attenborough
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, Historical
Themes Films set in Africa, Films about writers, Films about journalists, Films about racism, Political films
Actors Denzel Washington, Kevin Kline, Penelope Wilton, Kevin McNally, Kate Hardie, John Thaw
Following a news story depicting the demolition of a slum in East London, South Africa, journalist Donald Woods (Kevin Kline) seeks more information about the incident and ventures off to meet black activist Steve Biko (Denzel Washington). Biko has been officially banned by the South African government and is not permitted to leave his defined banning area at King William's Town. Woods is formally against Biko's banning, but remains critical of his political views. Biko invites Woods to visit a black township to see the impoverished conditions and to witness the effect of the government-imposed restrictions, which make up the apartheid system. Woods begins to agree with Biko's desire for a South Africa where blacks have the same opportunities and freedoms as those enjoyed by the white population. As Woods comes to understand Biko's point of view, a friendship slowly develops between them.
Betrayed (1988)
, 2h7Directed by Costa-Gavras
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Thriller, Action, Crime, Romance
Themes Films about writers, Films about journalists, Films about racism, Political films
Actors Debra Winger, Tom Berenger, John Heard, John Mahoney, Betsy Blair, Ted Levine
Set in the American Midwest, the film begins with the murder of a Jewish radio host in Chicago. FBI undercover agent Catherine Weaver (Winger), alias Katie Phillips, sets out to infiltrate a farming community, suspected of harbouring those responsible.
Free State of Jones (2016)
Directed by Gary Ross
Origin USA
Genres Drama, War, Thriller, Biography, Action, Historical
Themes Films about slavery, Films about racism, Political films
Actors Matthew McConaughey, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Keri Russell, Mahershala Ali, Brendan Gleeson, Sean Bridgers
After surviving the 1863 Battle of Corinth during the Civil War, Newton Knight, a poor farmer from Mississippi, leads a group of anti-slavery Confederate deserters in Jones County and turns them against the Confederacy. Knight subsequently marries former slave, Rachel, effectively establishing the region's first mixed-race community, even though Native Americans and Europeans (such as the Mississippi Choctaws) have been doing it long before in their ancient homeland.
The Human Stain (2003)
, 1h46Directed by Robert Benton
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Thriller, Romance
Themes Films about racism
Actors Anthony Hopkins, Nicole Kidman, Gary Sinise, Ed Harris, Jacinda Barrett, Wentworth Miller
In the late 1990s, writer Nathan Zuckerman (Gary Sinise) has settled in a lakeside New England cabin following his second divorce and a battle with prostate cancer. His quiet life is interrupted by Coleman Silk (Anthony Hopkins), a former dean and professor of classics at local Athena College, who was forced to resign after being accused of making a racist remark in class. Coleman's wife died suddenly following the scandal, and he wants to avenge his loss of career and companion by writing a book about the events with Nathan's assistance.
American History X (1998)
, 1h59Directed by Tony Kaye
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Crime
Themes Films about families, Prison films, Films about racism, Films about sexuality, Rape in fiction, Skinheads, Gangster films
Actors Edward Norton, Fairuza Balk, Edward Furlong, Stacy Keach, Elliott Gould, Avery Brooks
Danny Vinyard (Edward Furlong), a high school student and budding neo-Nazi in Venice Beach, California, receives an assignment from Mr. Murray (Elliott Gould), his history teacher, to write a paper on "any book which relates to the struggle for human rights". Knowing Murray is Jewish, Danny writes his paper on Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf. Murray attempts to get Danny expelled for doing this, but Principal Dr. Bob Sweeney (Avery Brooks) — who is black — refuses, instead informing Danny that he will study history and current events under Sweeney, and that the class will be called "American History X". Danny's first assignment is to prepare a paper on his brother Derek (Edward Norton), a former neo-Nazi leader who has just been released from prison after serving three years for voluntary manslaughter. Danny is warned that failing to submit the paper the next morning will result in his expulsion. The rest of the film alternates between a series of vignettes from Danny and Derek's shared past (distinguished by being shown in black and white), and present day events (shown in color).
Detroit (2017)
, 2h23Directed by Kathryn Bigelow
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Thriller, Historical, Crime
Themes Films about racism
Actors John Boyega, Jack Reynor, Will Poulter, Anthony Mackie, John Krasinski, Jason Mitchell
En juillet 1967, d'importantes émeutes ont lieu à Détroit dans le Michigan, pour protester contre la ségrégation raciale aux États-Unis et la guerre du Viêt Nam. La police de Détroit reçoit des plaintes à propos de pillages, d'incendies et de tirs d'armes à feu pendant plusieurs jours. Les forces de l'ordre et la population Afro-Américaine sont sous pression et chaque situation est susceptible de dégénérer dangereusement. C'est dans ce contexte que les forces de l’ordre encerclent l’Algiers Motel d’où semblent provenir des détonations, et où va se dérouler l'affaire du Motel Algiers. Dans ce chaos, Melvin Dismukes, un agent de sécurité privé afro-américain, tente de survivre tout en protégeant — bien mal — ses semblables. Persuadés d'avoir été visés, mus par le racisme, le sadisme et un sentiment d'impunité les policiers vont terroriser, frapper violemment, injurier les clients de l'hôtel pendant une grande partie de la nuit et en tuer trois. Justice ne sera jamais rendue.
Beloved (1998)
, 2h52Directed by Jonathan Demme
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Thriller, Horror, Historical
Themes Films about slavery, Films about racism, Films about religion, Films about sexuality, Rape in fiction
Actors Oprah Winfrey, Danny Glover, Thandie Newton, Kimberly Elise, Beah Richards, Lisa Gay Hamilton
Sethe is a former slave living on the outskirts of Cincinnati shortly after the Civil War. An angry poltergeist terrorizes Sethe and her three children, causing her two sons to run away forever. Eight years later, Sethe (Oprah Winfrey) lives alone with her daughter, Denver (Kimberly Elise). Paul D. (Danny Glover), an old friend from Sweet Home, the plantation Sethe had escaped from years earlier, finds Sethe's home, where he drives off the angry spirit. Afterwards, Paul D. proposes that he should stay and Sethe responds favorably. Shortly after Paul D. moves in, a clean, mentally handicapped young woman (Thandie Newton) named Beloved stumbles into Sethe's yard and also stays with them.
Thunderheart (1992)
, 1h59Directed by Michael Apted
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Thriller, Action, Adventure, Crime, Western
Themes Films about racism
Actors Val Kilmer, Sam Shepard, Graham Greene, Fred Ward, Sheila Tousey, David Crosby
During the early 1970s, FBI agent Ray Levoi is assigned to aid in the investigation of a political murder; that of Leo Fast Elk (Allan R.J. Joseph), on a Native American reservation in South Dakota. Agent William Dawes, Ray's superior, has chosen him for the task due to his mixed Sioux heritage which might assist in the inquiry as they interview local townspeople. Ray is partnered with agent Frank "Cooch" Coutelle, who has diligently worked on the probe looking to apprehend a prime suspect: Aboriginal Rights Movement radical Jimmy Looks Twice. While helping Cooch track down the suspect, Ray gradually becomes sensitized to Indian issues, partially from his attraction to Maggie Eagle Bear, a political Native American activist and schoolteacher.
Pink Floyd: The Wall (1982)
, 1h35Directed by Alan Parker, Gerald Scarfe
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, Musical
Themes Medical-themed films, Films about music and musicians, Psychologie, Films about racism, Films about sexuality, Musical films, Films about psychiatry, Political films
Actors Bob Geldof, Christine Hargreaves, Eleanor David, Bob Hoskins, Michael Ensign, John Scott Martin
Pink, the protagonist, is a rock star, one of several reasons behind his apparent depressive and detached emotional state. He is first seen in an unkempt hotel room, motionless and expressionless, watching television. The opening music is the Vera Lynn recording of "The Little Boy that Santa Claus Forgot". It is revealed that Pink's father, a British soldier, was killed in action while defending the Anzio bridgehead during World War II, in Pink's infancy.
Sayonara (1957)
, 2h27Directed by Joshua Logan
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Melodrama, Romance
Themes Seafaring films, Politique, Films about racism, Transport films, Aviation films, Political films
Actors Marlon Brando, Patricia Owens, James Garner, Martha Scott, Miiko Taka, Miyoshi Umeki
Major Lloyd "Ace" Gruver (Marlon Brando), the son of a U.S. Army general, is stationed at Itami Air Force Base near Kobe, Japan. He falls in love with a Japanese entertainer, Hana-ogi (Miiko Taka), who is a performer for a Takarazuka-like theater company, whom he meets through his enlisted crew chief, Airman Joe Kelly (Red Buttons).
A Soldier's Story (1984)
, 1h41Directed by Norman Jewison
Origin USA
Genres Drama, War, Crime
Themes Films about racism, Political films
Actors Howard Rollins, Adolph Caesar, David Alan Grier, Larry Riley, Denzel Washington, David Harris
The time is 1944 during World War II. Vernon Waters (Adolph Caesar), the Army sergeant in charge of Company B, a platoon of black soldiers, is very drunk and staggering along a road along Fort Neal, a segregated Army base in Louisiana. Waters' last words amidst his raucous laughter were "They still hate you! They still hate you!" before he is shot to death with a .45 caliber pistol.