Post-Industrial Capitalism Thrillers
Notable, worthwhile, and some brilliantly crafted thrillers, within multiple sub-genres (documentary, fiction, sci-fi, anime) as films or TV shows that strongly reference challenges humans have been increasingly facing in societies around the globe.
These creations appear to explore with sincere interest with the consequences, sometimes unintended sometimes not, of Post-Industrial (NeoLiberal) Capitalism’s rise from “The West” following a series of key historical events post WW II that culminated with the fall of the Soviet Union and generating belief in this as “the end of history.”
David Simon, creator and writer of HBO’s “The Wire” — arguably the most influential and insightful creation since its 2002 release — describes the impact of what he labels as Post-Industrial Capitalism as where, "every single moment on the planet, from here on out, human beings are worth less."
These are stories where the loss of human value in the face of neoliberalism’s institutions, its own form of bureaucracy, vehement meritocracy, profit and scarcity driven focus, etc. influence decision making from individuals or groups in a position to influence outcomes.
We can often are told in most escapist driven mainstream works - to relieve us from such realities and the anxiety it can create for some - that the “protagonist” will do, or should do “the right thing.” Yet in these examples, they sometimes do not.
I should say they sometimes do, and that is also important to show in some of these, so all is not lost, but these pieces of art seek to do justice to the truth while some put strong efforts to not only teach us lessons of awareness, but also inspire and empower us to feel more human and possess the capacity to change the world for the better.
These creations appear to explore with sincere interest with the consequences, sometimes unintended sometimes not, of Post-Industrial (NeoLiberal) Capitalism’s rise from “The West” following a series of key historical events post WW II that culminated with the fall of the Soviet Union and generating belief in this as “the end of history.”
David Simon, creator and writer of HBO’s “The Wire” — arguably the most influential and insightful creation since its 2002 release — describes the impact of what he labels as Post-Industrial Capitalism as where, "every single moment on the planet, from here on out, human beings are worth less."
These are stories where the loss of human value in the face of neoliberalism’s institutions, its own form of bureaucracy, vehement meritocracy, profit and scarcity driven focus, etc. influence decision making from individuals or groups in a position to influence outcomes.
We can often are told in most escapist driven mainstream works - to relieve us from such realities and the anxiety it can create for some - that the “protagonist” will do, or should do “the right thing.” Yet in these examples, they sometimes do not.
I should say they sometimes do, and that is also important to show in some of these, so all is not lost, but these pieces of art seek to do justice to the truth while some put strong efforts to not only teach us lessons of awareness, but also inspire and empower us to feel more human and possess the capacity to change the world for the better.
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- CreatorDavid SimonStarsDominic WestLance ReddickSonja SohnThe Baltimore drug scene, as seen through the eyes of drug dealers and law enforcement.This is pretty much THE gospel of this perspective and never pretends to be otherwise.
- DirectorTom TykwerStarsClive OwenNaomi WattsArmin Mueller-StahlAn Interpol agent attempts to expose a high-profile financial institution's role in an international arms dealing ring.
- DirectorMichael CuestaStarsJeremy RennerRobert PatrickJena SimsJournalist Gary Webb, California 1996, started investigating CIA's role in the 1980s in getting crack cocaine to the black part of LA to get money and weapons to the Contra insurgents in Nicaragua.
- DirectorMichael MannStarsRussell CroweAl PacinoChristopher PlummerA research chemist comes under personal and professional attack when he decides to appear in a 60 Minutes exposé on Big Tobacco.
- CreatorMatthew ParkhillSimon MaxwellStarsJoe DempsieKarima McAdamsAnastasia GriffithWhat happens when a man who believes he has retired from MI6 is called back to do one more job to regain his life, only to discover that this job may mean he has no life to go back to.Reference to Season 1 with Mark Strong as lead.
- DirectorPaul GreengrassStarsMatt DamonJason IsaacsGreg KinnearDiscovering covert and faulty intelligence causes a U.S. Army officer to go rogue as he hunts for Weapons of Mass Destruction in an unstable region.
- DirectorFatih AkinStarsBaki DavrakGürsoy GemecCengiz DanerA Turkish man travels to Istanbul to find the daughter of his father's former girlfriend.
- DirectorCosta-GavrasStarsJack LemmonSissy SpacekMelanie MayronWhen an idealistic American writer disappears during the Chilean coup d'état in September 1973, his wife and father try to find him.
- DirectorGillo PontecorvoStarsBrahim HadjadjJean MartinYacef SaadiIn the 1950s, fear and violence escalate as the people of Algiers fight for independence from the French government.
- DirectorTodd HaynesStarsMark RuffaloAnne HathawayTim RobbinsA corporate defense attorney takes on an environmental lawsuit against a chemical company that exposes a lengthy history of pollution.
- DirectorSteven SoderberghStarsJulia RobertsAlbert FinneyDavid BrisbinAn unemployed single mother becomes a legal assistant and almost single-handedly brings down a California power company accused of polluting a city's water supply.
- DirectorSteven SoderberghStarsMichael DouglasBenicio Del ToroCatherine Zeta-JonesA conservative judge is appointed by the President to spearhead America's escalating war against drugs, only to discover that his teenage daughter is a crack addict. Two DEA agents protect an informant. A jailed drug baron's wife attempts to carry on the family business.
- StarsBill PatersonLindsay DuncanFritz Müller-ScherzThe Hamburg police arrest an international businessman, charging him with smuggling heroin from Pakistan. While he's on trial, his trophy wife, a former Olympic swimmer, discovers steely ruthlessness within herself.
- DirectorSteven SoderberghStarsGary OldmanAntonio BanderasAJ MeijerA widow investigates an insurance fraud, chasing leads to a pair of Panama City law partners exploiting the world's financial system.
- DirectorPeter LandesmanStarsWill SmithAlec BaldwinAlbert BrooksIn Pittsburgh, accomplished pathologist Dr. Bennet Omalu uncovers the truth about brain damage in football players who suffer repeated concussions in the course of normal play.
- DirectorAlan J. PakulaStarsDustin HoffmanRobert RedfordJack Warden"The Washington Post" reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein uncover the details of the Watergate scandal that leads to President Richard Nixon's resignation.
- DirectorJ.C. ChandorStarsZachary QuintoStanley TucciKevin SpaceyFollows the key people at an investment bank over a 24-hour period during the early stages of the 2008 financial crisis.
- DirectorDavid MametStarsVal KilmerDerek LukeWilliam H. MacyThe investigation into a kidnapping of the daughter of a high-ranking US government official.
- CreatorVince GilliganStarsBryan CranstonAaron PaulAnna GunnA chemistry teacher diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer turns to manufacturing and selling methamphetamine with a former student in order to secure his family's future.
- CreatorVince GilliganPeter GouldStarsBob OdenkirkRhea SeehornJonathan BanksThe trials and tribulations of criminal lawyer Jimmy McGill in the years leading up to his fateful run-in with Walter White and Jesse Pinkman.
- DirectorJulian JarroldStarsAndrew GarfieldDavid MorrisseyJohn HenshawRookie journalist Eddie Dunford is determined to find the truth in an increasingly complex maze of lies and deceit surrounding the police investigation into a series of child abductions.
- DirectorJames MarshStarsWarren ClarkePaddy ConsidineJames FoxThe Home Office bring in senior Manchester detective Peter Hunter to conduct a secret review of the Ripper investigation to date.
- DirectorAnand TuckerStarsDavid MorrisseyLisa HowardChris WalkerWhen another child goes missing, washed-up solicitor John Piggott unwittingly provides a catalyst for Detective Chief Superindent Maurice Jobson to start to right some wrongs.
- StarsEdgar RamírezAlexander ScheerFadi Abi SamraThe story of Venezuelan revolutionary Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, who founded a worldwide terrorist organization and raided the 1975 OPEC meeting.
- DirectorOlivier AssayasStarsConnie NielsenGina GershonChloë SevignyA French corporation goes head-to-head with an American web media company for the rights to a 3-D manga pornography studio, resulting in a power struggle that culminates in violence and espionage.
- DirectorCosta-GavrasStarsYves MontandIrene PapasJean-Louis TrintignantThe public murder of a prominent politician and doctor amid a violent demonstration is covered up by military and government officials. A tenacious magistrate is determined not to let them get away with it.
- DirectorOliver StoneStarsJames WoodsJim BelushiMichael MurphyA burnt-out photojournalist becomes involved in a Central American revolution.
- DirectorOliver StoneStarsJoseph Gordon-LevittShailene WoodleyMelissa LeoThe NSA's illegal surveillance techniques are leaked to the public by one of the agency's employees, Edward Snowden, in the form of thousands of classified documents distributed to the press.
- DirectorMartin CampbellStarsMel GibsonRay WinstoneDanny HustonAs homicide detective Thomas Craven investigates the murder of his activist daughter, he uncovers a corporate cover-up and government conspiracy that attracts an agent tasked with cleaning up the evidence.
- StarsBob PeckJoe Don BakerCharles KayWhen his daughter Emma is murdered, cop Craven discovers that she was in a GAIA group of activists occupied with exposing Northmoor nuclear waste storage facility for illegal activities.
- DirectorFernando MeirellesStarsRalph FiennesRachel WeiszDanny HustonA widower's transcontinental quest to find answers about his wife's death leads him to explosive secrets.
- DirectorPierre MorelStarsSean PennIdris ElbaJasmine TrincaA sniper on a mercenary assassination team kills the minister of mines of the Congo. Terrier's successful kill shot forces him into hiding. Returning to the Congo years later, he becomes the target of a hit squad himself.
- DirectorDoug LimanStarsNaomi WattsSean PennSonya DavisonCIA operative Valerie Plame discovers her identity is allegedly leaked by the government as payback for an op-ed article her husband wrote criticizing the Bush administration.
- DirectorSteven SoderberghStarsJulia OrmondBenicio Del ToroOscar IsaacIn 1956, Ernesto 'Che' Guevara and a band of Castro-led Cuban exiles mobilize an army to topple the regime of dictator Fulgencio Batista.
- DirectorSteven SoderberghStarsDemián BichirRodrigo SantoroBenicio Del ToroIn 1967, Ernesto 'Che' Guevara leads a small partisan army to fight an ill-fated revolutionary guerrilla war in Bolivia, South America.
- DirectorRaoul PeckStarsEriq EbouaneyAlex DescasThéophile SowiéThe true story of controversial leader of independent Congo Patrice Lumumba.
- DirectorRaoul PeckStarsIdris ElbaCarole KaremeraPamela NomveteWhen the Hutu nationalists raised arms against their Tutsi countrymen in Rwanda in April 1994, the violent uprising marked the beginning of one of the darkest times in African history which resulted in the deaths of almost 800,000 people.
- DirectorTerry GeorgeStarsDon CheadleSophie OkonedoJoaquin PhoenixPaul Rusesabagina, a hotel manager, houses over a thousand Tutsi refugees during their struggle against the Hutu militia in Rwanda, Africa.
- DirectorStephen GaghanStarsGeorge ClooneyMatt DamonAmanda PeetA politically charged epic about the state of the oil industry in the hands of those personally involved in and affected by it.
- CreatorLisa JoyJonathan NolanStarsEvan Rachel WoodJeffrey WrightEd HarrisAt the intersection of the near future and the reimagined past, waits a world in which every human appetite can be indulged without consequence.
- DirectorTony GilroyStarsGeorge ClooneyTilda SwintonTom WilkinsonA law firm brings in its "fixer" to remedy the situation after a lawyer has a breakdown while representing a chemical company that he knows is guilty in a multibillion-dollar class action suit.
- DirectorPaul GreengrassStarsMatt DamonEdgar RamírezJoan AllenJason Bourne dodges a ruthless C.I.A. official and his Agents from a new assassination program while searching for the origins of his life as a trained killer.
- DirectorPaul GreengrassStarsJames NesbittTim Pigott-SmithNicholas FarrellA dramatization of the Irish civil rights protest march and subsequent massacre by British troops on January 30, 1972.
- DirectorTony GilroyStarsJeremy RennerRachel WeiszEdward NortonAn expansion of the universe from Robert Ludlum's novels, centered on a new hero whose stakes have been triggered by the events of the previous three films.
- DirectorKelly ReichardtStarsJesse EisenbergDakota FanningPeter SarsgaardThree radical environmentalists look to execute the protest of their lives: the explosion of a hydroelectric dam.
- DirectorDebra GranikStarsThomasin McKenzieBen FosterJeffery RifflardA father and his seventeen-year-old daughter are living an ideal existence in a vast urban park in Portland, Oregon when a small mistake derails their lives forever.
- DirectorGavin HoodStarsKeira KnightleyMatt SmithMatthew GoodeThe true story of a British whistleblower who leaked information to the press about an illegal NSA spy operation designed to push the UN Security Council into sanctioning the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
- DirectorScott Z. BurnsStarsAdam DriverAnnette BeningJon HammIdealistic Senate staffer Daniel J. Jones, tasked by his boss to lead an investigation into the CIA's post 9/11 Detention and Interrogation Program, uncovers shocking secrets.
- DirectorPaul SchraderStarsEthan HawkeAmanda SeyfriedCedric The EntertainerA minister of a small congregation in upstate New York grapples with mounting despair brought on by tragedy, worldly concerns and a tormented past.
- DirectorOliver StoneStarsKevin CostnerGary OldmanJack LemmonNew Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison discovers there's more to the Kennedy assassination than the official story.
- DirectorGavin HoodStarsHelen MirrenAaron PaulAlan RickmanCol. Katherine Powell, a military officer in command of an operation to capture terrorists in Kenya, sees her mission escalate when a girl enters the kill zone triggering an international dispute over the implications of modern warfare.
- DirectorPaul GreengrassStarsTom HanksBarkhad AbdiBarkhad AbdirahmanThe true story of Captain Richard Phillips and the 2009 hijacking by Somali pirates of the U.S.-flagged MV Maersk Alabama, the first American cargo ship to be hijacked in two hundred years.
- DirectorTobias LindholmStarsPilou AsbækSøren MallingDar SalimThe crew of a Danish cargo ship is hijacked by Somali pirates who proceed to engage in escalating negotiations with authorities in Copenhagen.
- DirectorTodd FieldStarsCate BlanchettNoémie MerlantNina HossSet in the international world of Western classical music, the film centers on Lydia Tár, widely considered one of the greatest living composer-conductors and the very first female director of a major German orchestra.
- CreatorTony GilroyStarsDiego LunaKyle SollerStellan SkarsgårdPrequel series to Star Wars' 'Rogue One'. In an era filled with danger, deception and intrigue, Cassian will embark on the path that is destined to turn him into a Rebel hero.
- DirectorHubert SauperStarsElizabeth 'Eliza' Maganga NseseRaphael Tukiko WagaraDimond RemtuliaA documentary on the effect of fishing the Nile perch in Tanzania's Lake Victoria. The predatory fish, which has wiped out the native species, is sold in European supermarkets, while starving Tanzanian families have to make do with the leftovers.
- DirectorSidney LumetStarsAl PacinoJohn RandolphJack KehoeAn honest New York cop named Frank Serpico blows the whistle on rampant corruption in the force only to have his comrades turn against him.