Socialism (Theory and Philosophy)

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    ‘The Spirit of ’45’ Review: Here Comes Nationalization

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    A documentary from Ken Loach sees the end of World War II as a brief moment of possibility for socialism in Britain.“The Spirit of ’45” is, atypically, a documentary from Ken Loach, whose tireless chronicles of Britain’s working class (“Kes,” “Sorry We Missed You”) have generally been dramas.It is also not new. The documentary had its premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2013 and opened in Britain shortly after that. Released for the first time in the United States, it is relevant in a perennial sense but somewhat dated. The people interviewed in this movie could not know that their despised Tories would still hold power today. (The 2016 Brexit vote — indeed, any mention of the European Union — is also conspicuous by its absence.)The film’s central idea is that Britain had reached a rare moment of possibility after World War II and the general election of 1945, when the Labour leader Clement Attlee became prime minister with an avowedly socialist agenda. Loach charts the nationalization of Britain’s health service, transportation sectors and coal mines. Britons who remember the changes share stories of how those shifts and new plans for quality housing almost universally improved their lives (although there is mention of some missed opportunities with the mines). “The Spirit of ’45” then flashes forward to show how the conservative prime minister Margaret Thatcher and her successors rolled those policies back.As in much of his recent fiction work (including the Palme d’Or-winning “I, Daniel Blake”), Loach largely ignores counterarguments. Even viewers sympathetic to his politics may roll their eyes at how infrequently the film acknowledges trade-offs and price tags, except when the costs relate to the inefficiencies of privatization. There is a powerful historical case to be made here, but it requires engaging with nuance, not merely expressing conviction.The Spirit of ’45Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 34 minutes. In theaters. More

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      ‘The Big Scary ‘S’ Word’ Review: Socialism for Beginners

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      This documentary serves up the merits of socialism with a stuffed compendium of formulations from experts, historical precedents and just-folks testimonials.The word “socialism” is often used as a boogeyman to scare voters, with little or no reference to actual substance. Enter Yael Bridge’s “Big Scary ‘S’ Word,” a stuffed compendium of formulations from experts, historical precedents and just-folks testimonials. Hope is not a policy, as the saying goes, so Bridge gamely tries to provide both, fleshing out ideals with examples.The (crowded) talking heads posit socialism as a democratic and equitable way of running our world. The touchstones include leaders such as Eugene V. Debs, the Milwaukee mayor Frank Zeidler, and yes, Bernie Sanders; as well as empowering endeavors like the Evergreen Cooperative Laundry in Cleveland, Ohio, and the state-owned Bank of North Dakota.The film’s humble sampling of socialism on the march might be a revelation to viewers accustomed to red-baiting or egghead stereotypes. In Oklahoma, a single-mom schoolteacher joins a strike, while a socialist legislator treads a lonely path in Virginia’s fusty State Assembly, where lobbyists close ranks with well-off politicians.But it’s just as hard to shake the struggling construction worker who opens the film: To him, it feels like there’s a war on. The man’s off-the-cuff eloquence suggests that Bridge’s dutiful approach could use the boost of companion viewing — perhaps Raoul Peck’s coruscating analysis of imperialism, “Exterminate All the Brutes.” (Cornel West does bring on some fire in declaring that capitalism’s industrial revolutions occurred alongside the labor of the enslaved and the vast displacement of Indigenous peoples.)With its alternate ideas for addressing urgent societal and economic needs, Bridge’s educational documentary helps envision other ways of getting things done, at a time when there’s ever more that needs doing.The Big Scary ‘S’ WordNot rated. Running time: 1 hour 22 minutes. In theaters and available to rent or buy on Apple TV, Google Play and other streaming platforms and pay TV operators. More

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      ‘Her Socialist Smile’ Review: Helen Keller, Radical

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      This new documentary is a fascinating and challenging exploration of Keller’s political thought.Helen Keller is one of the closest things the United States has to a secular saint. Born in 1880, she lost her hearing and her sight before she was 2 years old. With the help of her equally legendary teacher, Anne Sullivan, she learned to read, to write, to sign and to speak. Her writing was beautiful, opening to readers a window into her world.She lived a long life, dying in 1968 at the age of 87. And she spent much of that life espousing socialism. The new documentary “Her Socialist Smile,” written, directed and shot by John Gianvito, is a fascinating and challenging exploration of Keller’s political thought.Gianvito’s formal approach is a species of leftist avant-gardism. He begins the movie with a beautiful color view of a tree, its branches covered in snow. The image switches to black and white; the narrator, Carolyn Forché, fiddles with a music stand upon which she places the texts she’s going to read. Long passages of Keller’s writings appear onscreen, which the viewer reads in silence. When Forché narrates, the onscreen image is related to the natural world that so enchanted Keller. We learn of Keller’s high regard for “The Communist Manifesto” while watching a slug crawl on a mossy rock.The approach, which one supposes can be called “dialectical,” is not without wit; one piece of archival footage, detailing the American Legion’s destruction of leftist literature, is from an early iteration of “Fox News.” (The newsreel one.)Despite the movie’s sometimes haughty, preaching-to-the-choir approach, lay viewers should not be too deterred. Much of Keller’s thought is today echoed in progressive circles that are now more than peripheral to the mainstream, and it’s fascinating to consider.Her Socialist SmileNot rated. Running time: 1 hour 33 minutes. In theaters. More