Required viewing and reading.

[Shoqiyqa]

Yanked from elsewhere: movies to see and books to read. This isn't about awesome movies, great special effects, tributes to artists who died tragically young, sex scenes or landscapes, nor about who told the story first. This is what people should have to read or watch before they can be trusted with public office ... or something very much like that.

Suggestions so far:

A Bridge Too Far
All Quiet On The Western Front
Amen
Apocalypse Now
Betrayed
Blackadder Goes Forth
Das Boot
Enemy At The Gates
Hamburger Hill
Heart of Darkness
Johnny Got His Gun
Missing
Paths Of Glory
Schindler's List
Soldaat van Oranje (Soldier of Orange)
The Confession
The Constant Gardener
Z

Your suggestions, please!

 

[SomethingUnrelated]

V for Vendetta... ish.

For reading: To Kill a MockingBird. Not a riveting read, but it presents alot of ideas.

 

[randomsix]

If you add listening, I would say "Handlebars" by Flobots. I take it to be a warning about how power corrupts good intentions and how said intentions pave the road to hell and so on.

If you really don't want to add the "listening" category, I think they made a music video, which counts as viewing (but barely).

 

[cuddly_tomato]

Home of the Brave.
Everything by David Attenborough.

 

[Beatrix]

I agree with V for Vendetta.
And Discworld, all of it.

 

[trelloskilos]

Jostein Gaarner - Sophie's World
Heavy reading, but you'll come away with a different perspective of the world.

Probert Pirsig - Zen & the art of Motorcycle maintenance
Same again.

Christopher Brookmyre - Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks
Next time someone talks about believing in the supernatural, lend them this book!

Bill Bryson - A short history of nearly everything
Guaranteed to put even the most egotistical megalomaniac in his place...and that's just the prologue!

Douglas Adams - Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy (the entire trilogy of 5)
Unmatched Sci-Fi, with copious pot-shots at the absurdities of everyday life, science, religion and sci-fi itself...eminently quotable too!

 

[Cargando]

The Day of the Triffids.

That's the book, not the crappy film of it by the way.

 

[Pimppeter2]

Lone Survivor

Get another look at the Soldiers front

 

[BonsaiK]

Scrap V For Vendetta, try Children Of Men which is kinda the same thing, but for adults.

 

[j0z]

I have to say 1984, everyone needs to read it, especially all members of the government.
Anthem is also a good choice, if a bit radical. Good book though.
The Foundation Trilogyis a good read, and has some interesting ideas about diplomacy and government.

 

[Jedoro]

Fight Club
Politicians and government officials need to know not to fuck with the little guy.

 

[Trivun]

Book: Z For Zachariah. The story is basically about the world after a nuclear war, a small valley in America is shielded from nuclear fallout because it's so remote and a 16-year-old girl is the only survivor from her town. She basically ekes out a living in the remains of her home but all this gets turned upside down when a stranger, a man travelling around the nuclear wasteland, comes to the valley. It was published in 1975 and is quite short, I studied it in English a few years ago back at school. Well worth a read if anyone likes post-nuclear wasteland stories (which judging by the number of Fallout fans here, goes without saying), though you'll find it's not actually anything like the Fallout series.

 

[j0frenzy]

Really? Blackadder Goes Forth? Sure it was good, but I don't think it should be required to see it before you die. When I think of musts, I think of really poignant pieces, and Blackadder is not some deep thinking piece of comedy. It is funny, don't get me wrong and I do recommend it, but should be require to see before you die is a bit too much.

Scrap V For Vendetta, try Children Of Men which is kinda the same thing, but for adults.

I am guessing you are talking about the movie and not the book, but I don't really see how either are like V for Vendetta.
Surprised no one said it yet, but Watchmen.

 

[notsosavagemessiah]

Reading:

All Quiet On The Western Front (
Johnny Got His Gun (If there was ever an arguement for pascifism, this is it)
The Caine Mutiny
FUCKING SLAUGHTERHOUSE 5 (This book is at once a funny, yet heartbreaking look at a little known incident called "the firebombing of dresden" which killed upwards of 40,000 people)
Atlas Shrugged
Heart of Darkness
America: The Book
The Watchmen
Fight Club

Viewing:

Flags of our Fathers (The effects of war on returning soldiers)
Letters From Iwo Jima (The Japanese side of the largest marine invasion in u.s. history, simply amazing)
Gran Torino (wow 3 from clint eastwood???)
The Daily Show with John Stewart
Fight Club

 

[Pseudonym2]

Slaughter House 5/Cat's Cradle/Breakfast of Champions, Metropolis, Hopscotch, Hearts and Minds and Manufacturing Consent, and Acme Novelty Library.

 

[BonsaiK]

Scrap V For Vendetta, try Children Of Men which is kinda the same thing, but for adults.

I am guessing you are talking about the movie and not the book, but I don't really see how either are like V for Vendetta.

The underlying themes are identical. Children Of Men just does a far better job of exploring them. Children Of Men makes V For Vendetta look like exactly what it is - a film based on a comic book.

 

[Shoqiyqa]

Really? Blackadder Goes Forth?

Yes, because of the way it ends. If you haven't seen the other Blackadder series, that can come as a surprise whether or not you know history.

 

[Ultress]

V for Vendetta
What I call the Ayn Rand 3( Anthem, Fountainhead, and Atlas Shrugged)

 

[A Weary Exile]

V for Vendetta
What I call the Ayn Rand 3( Anthem, Fountainhead, and Atlas Shrugged)

If you can suffer through the wordiness of the Rand books then you are rewarded with some brilliant philosophy. Be prepared for some Objectivism haters coming your way.

OP: What the guy I quoted said and The Stranger by Albert Camus.

Every Kubrick movie except 2001: Space Odyssey, I think most people can skip that one, also Monty Python and Fawlty Towers (Best comedy EVARZ).

 

[Shoqiyqa]

Discworld, all of it.

The Day of the Triffids.

Every Kubrick movie except 2001: Space Odyssey, I think most people can skip that one, also Monty Python and Fawlty Towers (Best comedy EVARZ).

I can see why A Clockwork Orange would be there, but I don't get the rest of these suggestions. What education about or warning of mistakes, deceptions or delusions and their consequences are in them? If you'd said Web, I couldn't argue because I saw the little article in BBC Wildlife about the little tropical island where ... well, read the book.