Highest-Rated Movies about 'Social Activism', Sort by Popularity

Lake of Fire (2006), Warrior of Light (2001), Twelve Monkeys (1995), Bloody Sunday (2002), Jonah Who Will Be 25 in the Year 2000 (1975), Amazing Grace (2006), Offside (2006), Heroes for Sale (1933) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Social Activism movies.

#1. Lake of Fire (2006)

Storyline: An unflinching documentary shot in black and white, this film focuses on the heated topic of abortion. Directed by British-born filmmaker Tony Kaye, the production depicts the heated ongoing abortion debate in America, and features graphic footage of actual medical procedures. Presenting people on both pro-choice and pro-life sides of the issue, the documentary includes interviews with philosopher and political activist Noam Chomsky, anti-abortion activist Randall Terry and numerous others.

Plot Keywords: activist, philosopher, writer, disturbing, emotional, united states, clinic ...

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#2. Warrior of Light (2001)

Storyline: This documentary profiles Yvonne Bezerra de Mello, a socialite turned social activist who runs safe houses for homeless Brazilian street children. Yvonne becomes invested in her work after police kill eight homeless youths in 1993. Working daily in some of Rio de Janeiro's toughest slums, Yvonne uses innovative techniques to reach out to children coping with poverty, AIDS and absent parents, while fighting hostile Brazilian attitudes toward the poor.

Plot Keywords: activist, young girl, husband, socialite, child, uplifting, gritty ...

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#3. Twelve Monkeys (1995)

Storyline: An intense film about time travel, this Sci-Fi entry was directed by Terry Gilliam, a member of the comedy troupe Monty Python. The film stars Bruce Willis as James Cole, a prisoner of the state in the year 2035 who can earn parole if he agrees to travel back in time and thwart a devastating plague. The virus has wiped out most of the Earth's population and the remainder live underground because the air is poisonous. Returning to the year 1990, six years before the start of the plague, Cole is soon imprisoned in a psychiatric facility because his warnings sound like mad ravings. There he meets a scientist named Dr. Kathryn Railly (Madeleine Stowe) and Jeffrey Goines (Brad Pitt), the mad son of an eminent virologist (Christopher Plummer). Cole is returned by the authorities to the year 2035, and finally ends up at his intended destination in 1996. He kidnaps Dr. Railly in order to enlist her help in his quest. Cole discovers graffiti by an apparent animal rights group called the Army ...

Plot Keywords: convict, crazy person, doctor, time traveler, investigator, tense, dark ...

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#4. Bloody Sunday (2002)

Storyline: Documentary-style drama showing the events that led up to the tragic incident on January 30, 1972 in the Northern Ireland town of Derry when a protest march led by civil rights activist Ivan Cooper was fired upon by British troops, killing 13 protesters and wounding 14 more.

Plot Keywords: activist, major, colonel, innocent man, soldier, protester, tense ...

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#5. Jonah Who Will Be 25 in the Year 2000 (1975)

Storyline: The European equivalent of "The Return of the Secaucus 7," this Swiss film looks at the lives of several men and women in their 30s as they confront the slim gains of the "revolutionary" sixties. Max, a dissatisfied copy editor; Myriam, a redhead into tantric sex; and Marie, a supermarket checker who gives unauthorized discounts to the elderly, search for renewed meaning on a communal farm. The title character, a six-year-old child, is the carrier of their hopes for the future.—Mark Pritchard <mark94110@yahoo.com>

Plot Keywords: editor, cashier, sex expert, railroad worker, child, radical, intricate ...

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#6. Amazing Grace (2006)

Storyline: In 1797, William Wilberforce, the great crusader for the British abolition of slavery, is taking a vacation for his health even while he is sicker at heart for his frustrated cause. However, meeting the charming Barbara Spooner, Wilberforce finds a soulmate to share the story of his struggle. With few allies such as his mentor, John Newton, a slave ship captain turned repentant priest who penned the great hymn, "Amazing Grace," Prime William Pitt, and Olaudah Equiano, the erudite former slave turned author, Wilberforce fruitlessly fights both public indifference and moneyed opposition determined to keep their exploitation safe. Nevertheless, Wilberforce finds the inspiration in newfound love to rejuvenate the fight with new ideas that would lead to a great victory for social justice.

Plot Keywords: prime minister, friend, servant, slave, love interest, activist, inspiring ...

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#7. Offside (2006)

Storyline: Tehran, and possibly the whole of Iran, is galvanised by a match to be played at the Azadi stadium between Bahrain and Iran, the victor of which will qualify for the World Cup. Although women are banned from watching, a number of them, undeterred, attempt to buy tickets and enter disguised as men. Funny and fierce in equal measure Offside was filmed during the actual Iran versus Bahrain match in Tehran in 2005.

Plot Keywords: teenager, friend, police officer, soldier, offbeat, touching, inspiring ...

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#8. Heroes for Sale (1933)

Storyline: The saga of Tom Holmes - a man of principles - from the Great War to the Great Depression. Will he ever get a break? His war heroics earn fame and a medal for someone else, and his wounds result in a morphine addiction that costs him a job, his reputation in his home town, and months in a clinic. He goes to Chicago, where he's enterprising and dedicated to his work and his fellow workers, but an invention he champions results in the opposite of his intentions, leading to loss of life and an unjust imprisonment. After release, during the Depression, he must face local "red squads" and vigilante groups jousting out jobless men. Will anyone see his true heroic character?—<jhailey@hotmail.com>

Plot Keywords: veteran, soldier, businessman, communist, wife, doctor, bleak ...

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#9. Blossoms in the Dust (1941)

Storyline: Edna marries Texan Sam Gladney, operator of a wheat mill. Edna discovers by chance how the law treats children who are without parents and decides to do something about it. She opens a home for foundlings and orphans and begins to place children in good homes, despite the opposition of "conservative" citizens, who would condemn illegitimate children for being born out of wedlock. Eventually Edna leads a fight in the Texas legislature to remove the stigma of illegitimacy from birth records in that state, while continuing to be an advocate for homeless children.—Ron Kerrigan <mvg@whidbey.com>

Plot Keywords: mother, orphan, doctor, butler, sister, senator, touching ...

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#10. I'm Not Rappaport (1996)

Storyline: Old Nat Moyer is a talker, a philosopher, and a troublemaker with a fanciful imagination. His companion is Midge Carter, who is half-blind, but still the super of an apartment house. When he is threatened with retirement, Nat battles on his behalf. Nat also takes on his daughter, a drug dealer, and a mugger in this appealing version of a really 'odd couple'.—Derek Picken <dpicken@email.msn.com>

Plot Keywords: old man, best friend, daughter, yuppie, drug dealer, artist, charming ...

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#11. The Shocking Miss Pilgrim (1947)

Storyline: In the late 1800s, Miss Pilgrim, a young stenographer, or typewriter, becomes the first female employee at a Boston shipping office. Although the men object to her at first, she soon charms them all, especially the handsome young head of the company. Their romance gets sidetracked when she becomes involved in the Women's Suffrage movement.—Daniel Bubbeo <dbubbeo@cmp.com>

Plot Keywords: suffragette, boyfriend, coworker, boss, aunt, artist, lighthearted ...

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#12. In Dubious Battle (2016)

Storyline: In the California apple country, 900 migratory workers rise up "in dubious battle" against the landowners. The group takes on a life of its own - stronger than its individual members and more frightening. Led by the doomed Jim Nolan (Nat Wolff), the strike is founded on his tragic idealism - on the "courage never to submit or yield." Published in 1936, the novel "In Dubious Battle" is considered the first major work of Pulitzer Prize-winning author John Steinbeck.

Plot Keywords: migrant worker, landowner, police officer, union boss, rousing, inspiring, melodramatic ...

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#13. Ann Vickers (1933)

Storyline: During WWI, Ann Vickers, a humanitarian who is just starting the adult phase of her life, wants to make a difference in the world - using her friend Dr. Malvina Wormser as a role model - but she also wants a fulfilling personal life. She isn't sure if she can accomplish both at the same time. So after a failed relationship with soldier Captain Lafe Resnick which includes a deeper personal tragedy for her, Ann decides instead to focus solely on her career. With a background in nursing and social work, she decides the area of her work will be in prison reform. Her lofty goals do not sit well with many of the male traditionalists in the field, they who may stop her from accomplishing what she wants, at her own personal reputation at risk. Although she has a multitude of wannabe suitors, it isn't until she meets Supreme Court judge Barney Dolphin that she contemplates having that fulfilling personal life at the same time as having a career. But the road to a possible happy ending for Ann and Barney will be a difficult one as he is already married (although he has long wanted a divorce, even before meeting Ann) and as he goes through a career threatening issue which may tarnish his good name.—Huggo

Plot Keywords: social worker, army officer, doctor, judge, suitor, engaging, moving ...

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#15. Murder in Mississippi (1990)

Storyline: In 1964, New York City activist Mickey Schwerner (Tom Hulce) takes a field position in rural Mississippi on behalf of the civil rights group known as the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). There Schwerner; his wife, Rita (Jennifer Grey) ; and fellow activists Andrew Goodman (Josh Charles) and James Chaney (Blair Underwood) endure harassment by local thugs and police, as well as violent hate-mongers the Ku Klux Klan, in their quest to help African-Americans secure their basic human rights.

Plot Keywords: civil rights activist, jew, african-american, wife, colleague, racist, disturbing ...

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