Poll: Best True Story Election or Campaign Movie?
Tuesday, November 6, 2018 is Election Day in the United States of America, normally set as "the Tuesday next after the first Monday in the month of November" in even years. Which of these biographical election or campaign movies* most earns your vote? *Movies can encompass any political aspect from grassroots movement, campaign, convention, election, or post-election event for any candidate from dog catcher to president or be a solitary issue-centric campaign or set in any country. Optional movie recaps with topical connections paraphrased from Wikipedia. Take the companion poll: Best Fictional Election or Campaign Movie? Discuss the topic here.
Vote:
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Game Change (2012)
Movie details the selection and performance of Governor of Alaska Sarah Palin as Republican running mate to Senator John McCain in the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign. The choice was intended to be a game changing strategic move to secure the election in the face of the rising prospects of his Democratic opponent, Barack Obama. -
Milk (2008)
Movie chronicles Harvey Milk's foray into San Francisco politics, and the various battles he waged against political campaigns to limit the rights of gay people in 1977 and 1978. He eventual rose to become the first openly gay person to be elected to public office in California, as a member of the Board of Supervisors in 1978. -
Recount (2008)
Movie chronicles the 2000 U.S. presidential election's Bush v. Gore case between Governor of Texas George W. Bush and U.S. Vice President Al Gore. It begins with the election on November 7 and ends with the Supreme Court ruling, which stopped the Florida election recount on December 12. -
The Front Runner (2018)
Movie details the rise of Colorado Senator Gary Hart, a Democratic U.S. presidential candidate in 1988, and his subsequent fall from grace when media reports surfaced of his extramarital affair. -
No (2012)
Movie chronicles the surprisingly lighthearted and upbeat advertising campaign to advocate the "NO" side of the national Chilean plebiscite of 1988 on whether dictator General Augusto Pinochet should stay in power for another eight years, or whether there should be an open democratic presidential election the following year. -
All the President's Men (1976)
Movie details the Committee for the Re-Election of the President's involvement in the break-in at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters, better known as Watergate, as told from the point-of-view of Washington Post reporters, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. -
Truth (2015)
Movie details Rathergate, a controversy that influenced the 2004 U.S. presidential election, when 60 Minutes II aired unauthenticated documents, critical of U.S. President George W. Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard in 1972–73, just two months prior to the election. -
Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House (2017)
Movie details the Committee for the Re-Election of the President's involvement in the break-in at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters, better known as Watergate as told from the point-of-view of the anonymous informant, nicknamed "Deep Throat". -
Bobby (2006)
Movie is a fictionalized account of the hours leading up to the real-life shooting of U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy in the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles following his June 5, 1968 win of the 1968 Democratic presidential primary in California. -
Z (1969)
Movie is a slightly fictionalized account of the events surrounding the assassination of democratic Greek politician Grigoris Lambrakis, in advance of his speaking at a nuclear disarmament rally. The death of the opposition faction leader led to the popular Greek protest slogan, Ζει, meaning "he lives" and the subsequent banning of the letter Z by the ruling Greek military junta of 1967–74. -
The Iron Lady (2011)
Movie details the life of Margaret Thatcher including her early days as a Member of Parliament for Finchley starting in 1959, to serving as Secretary of State for Education and Science in Edward Heath's Cabinet in 1970. As well as, her decision to stand for Leader of the Conservative Party in 1975 and eventual victory in the 1979 to become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. -
W. (2008)
Movie details the life of George W. Bush including his 1977 Congressional run for Texas's 19th district, his role in his father's successful 1988 presidential campaign, his own 1994 run for Governor of Texas and his 1999 successful bid to become U.S. President. -
Braveheart (1995)
Movie details the fight for Scottish independence, the competing claims by Scottish nobles and eventual assertion of a unified claim for Robert the Bruce in the Declaration of Arbroath. -
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (2013)
Movie chronicles Nelson Mandela's early life and twenty-seven years in prison before negotiating an end to apartheid. Subsequently, Mandela led the ANC to victory and became President in the 1994 multiracial general election and work with others to rebuild and unite the country's once segregated society. -
Nixon (1995)
Movie details the life of Richard M. Nixon, including his tumultuous time in the White House and details his political career, as told through a series of flashbacks within the film. -
George Wallace (1997)
Movies details George Wallace's rise from a Barbour County circuit court judge in the 1950s to the most powerful Governor in Alabama's history. Also, depicted is his symbolic "Stand in the Schoolhouse Door", where Wallace attempted to block black students from entering the University of Alabama. The final act chronicles Wallace's rise as a 1968 presidential hopeful, his surprise victory in several states and the attempted assassination on his life. -
The Deal (2003)
Movie is the first of Peter Morgan's Blair movie trilogy depicting the political career of Tony Blair. It focus is the Blair-Brown deal, a well-documented pact that Blair and Brown made, whereby Brown would not stand in the 1994 Labour leadership election, so that Blair could have a clear run at becoming leader of the party and Prime Minister. -
Wilson (1944)
Movies details Woodrow Wilson, then President of Princeton University being urged in 1909 to run for Governor, his 1910 New Jersey Governor's win. His subsequent rise in national prominence led to a run for President the following year and the party nomination at the Baltimore party convention and election to the Presidency in 1912. -
Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940)
Movie details the life of Abraham Lincoln from his departure from Kentucky through his time as a member of the Illinois House of Representatives (1934-1942), his time serving Illinois's 7th district in the U.S. House of Representatives (1947-1949) and his election in 1860 as President of the United States. -
Coalition (2015)
Movie details the formation of a coalition government between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrat parties following the 2010 United Kingdom general election, after neither secured enough votes to form a majority government. -
Trudeau (2002)
Movies is a biographical account of Canada's controversial and flamboyant Prime Minister, Pierre Elliot Trudeau. It details his political career up to the patriation of the Canadian Constitution. A prequel, Trudeau II: Maverick in the Making (2005) focuses on Pierre Trudeau's political career in Quebec before he came to Ottawa.