Bicycle Thieves
Set in Rome after World War II, Vittorio De Sica’s Bicycle Thieves portrays the brutal connection between crime and poverty. Corbyn argues that we have “draconian benefit sanctions” at the moment with “truly shameful” approaches to getting those back into work. Watching this masterpiece of cinema, you can see a clear connection between unemployment and lawbreaking. Thieves are not merely scum of the streets – they often have drug dependencies, alcohol addiction and the lack of a supportive family. De Sica’s Bicycle Thieves portrays how one man, desperate to do right for his family, is slowly broken down – to the point that his beautiful son has to see his father turn to theft as a final option.
The Wolf of Wall Street
Despite the faux-glorification of DiCaprio’s exceptionally rich banker, The Wolf of Wall Street is a dark tale of the corrupt banking world. Jeremy Corbyn has repeated on numerous occasions how the recession is the fault of the banks – not Labour: “As Corbyn has rightly noted, people did not queue outside Northern Rock branches for three days in September 2007 because Labour was spending too much on teachers and nurses.” writes The Guardian. The grotesque excess depicted in Scorsese’s Oscar-nominated drama is a word to the wise: this will continue if nothing is changed. The final moments say it all – despite a soft prison sentence, Belfort is still rich and now teaching others…
The Insider
Michael Mann’s follow-up to Heat was fewer guns and heists, and more talks and whistle-blowers. Based on the true story of Jeffrey Wigand revealing all on the tobacco industry to 60 Minutes, this is truly the David taking down the Goliath. Corbyn has argued how “the role of the print media needs to be seriously challenged” in 2008. Giants of the media, including News International (The Sun, The Times, Fox News), are inevitably the type of corporations he’d be keen to take down a peg. The Insider reveals how powerful and influential these enormous companies are and how tough it’ll be to challenge them.
Simon Columb
