I need some hivemind help. I teach American Government at the junior college level and want to provide my students with a list of movies that can be watched and reviewed as an extra credit project. I want movies which relate to the way the federal government works rather than ones that look at a particular president or elected official (Nixon or JFK) or a political campaign (Wag the Dog, The Candidate). I'm also trying to avoid spy movies and sci-fi thrillers where the government's role is instigator. The movies need to be available through Blockbuster or Netflix and need to be a fairly easy watch - the assignment is only worth 20 points. So far, I've come up with High Noon, Dave, Thirteen Days, and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Any other suggestions?

lcat, The American President was pretty good at explaining the whole lobbying/bill passing thing.

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The prize of my animation cell collection: [link]

the way the federal government works

How specific do you want to get? Like, Mississippi Burning is a (melodramatic) take on federal authorities stepping in to enforce civil rights law when the state and local authorities refuse to do so. So that's the federal government working, but, kind of in a specific and specialized way.

Aw! I'm watching "Because I Said So" (no, I don't know why), and who should I see but CFerg! Awesome!

There are also specific episodes of West Wing that would work, if you wanted to branch out. Offhand, I remember the ones that deal with the selection of Supreme Court justices, but obviously, they dealt with eight million different topics during the run of the show.

Jon, that's cool! We just watched that today, in fact.

I'm having a hard time thinking of movies that correctly show how the federal government works. Except, of course, for Dr. Strangelove.

The Wire Season 4. (Well, if you want to get them worked up and pissed off.)

I'd recommend Dick, but you probably want something more serious and historically accurate.