The Best Movies About Loss of Personal Liberties

Updated March 6, 2020 830 votes 102 voters 4.8k views28 items

List RulesFilms that deal with issues of personal liberties and human rights.

List of the best movies involving personal liberties being taken away. This list features award-winning movies that tackle the issues of personal liberty and the right as a human being to live freely. Whether it is a film about slavery, like Oscar-winner 12 Years a Slave from 2013 or a film depicting a tyrannical government regime, like The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, this list as them all and you have the personal right to watch them!

When it comes to freedom of speech being under attack, great films like Good Night, and Good Luck with George Clooney or The Front with Woody Allen speak to a time of American McCarthyism and Hollywood blacklisting. Similarly, the exploitation of religious freedom is depicted with such taste in the Academy Award winning movie Life is Beautiful. This list, which would make the ACLU probably want to sue somebody, contains movies that are brand spanking new (Elysium) and black-and-white old (12 Angry Men). Civil liberties are the antagonists' worst nightmares in these critically acclaimed feature films.

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V for Vendetta
Natalie Portman, John Hurt
Released: 2006
Directed by: James McTeigue
V for Vendetta is a 2006 American political thriller film directed by James McTeigue and... more
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Life Is Beautiful
Roberto Benigni, Horst Buchholz
Released: 1997
Directed by: Roberto Benigni
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Django Unchained
Leonardo DiCaprio, Kerry Washington
Released: 2012
Directed by: Quentin Tarantino
Django Unchained is a 2012 American revisionist Western film directed by Quentin Tarantino.... more
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Minority Report
Cameron Diaz, Tom Cruise
Released: 2002
Directed by: Steven Spielberg
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Brazil
Robert De Niro, Bob Hoskins
Released: 1985
Directed by: Terry Gilliam
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Schindler's List
Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes
Released: 1993
Directed by: Steven Spielberg
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12 Angry Men
Henry Fonda, Jack Klugman
Released: 1957
Directed by: Sidney Lumet
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Fahrenheit 451
Julie Christie, Cyril Cusack
Released: 1966
Directed by: François Truffaut
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The Pianist
Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann
Released: 2002
Directed by: Roman Polanski
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The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
Jennifer Lawrence, Elizabeth Banks
Released: 2013
Directed by: Francis Lawrence
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Enemy of the State
Will Smith, Jack Black
Released: 1998
Directed by: Tony Scott
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12 Years a Slave
Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender
Released: 2013
Directed by: Steve McQueen
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The Crucible
Winona Ryder, Daniel Day-Lewis
Released: 1996
Directed by: Nicholas Hytner
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Network
Robert Duvall, Faye Dunaway
Released: 1976
Directed by: Sidney Lumet
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The Banker
Samuel L. Jackson, Nicholas Hoult
Released: 2020
Directed by: George Nolfi
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Rollerball
James Caan, Maud Adams
Released: 1975
Directed by: Norman Jewison
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The People vs. Larry Flynt
Courtney Love, Edward Norton
Released: 1996
Directed by: Miloš Forman
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Battle Royale
Beat Kitano, Chiaki Kuriyama
Released: 2000
Directed by: Kinji Fukasaku
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The Majestic
Jim Carrey, Matt Damon
Released: 2001
Directed by: Frank Darabont
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Good Night, and Good Luck
George Clooney, Robert Downey Jr.
Released: 2005
Directed by: George Clooney
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Lenny
Dustin Hoffman, Valerie Perrine
Released: 1974
Directed by: Bob Fosse
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Citizen Ruth
Burt Reynolds, Kelly Preston
Released: 1996
Directed by: Alexander Payne
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The Front
Woody Allen, Danny Aiello
Released: 1976
Directed by: Martin Ritt
The Front is a 1976 comedy-drama film about the Hollywood blacklist during the age of live... more

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Elysium
Matt Damon, Jodie Foster
Released: 2013
Directed by: Neill Blomkamp
Elysium is a 2013 American dystopian science fiction action thriller film written, directed,... more
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The Fountainhead
Gary Cooper, Raymond Massey
Released: 1949
Directed by: King Vidor
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