10 Best Political Movies Of All Time

5. Malcolm X

The tragically short life of Malcolm X was so vast and detailed that to put it to screen should have been a near-impossible feat. However, Spike Lee doesn't know the meaning of near-impossible.

When Lee began work on putting this activist's life to the screen, he did so from a place that made him one of the few directors that could have made the film. When it was finished it was heralded as a masterpiece, another in Spike Lee's intense filmography.

Obviously, this biographical-drama tells the story of US civil rights activist Malcolm X and his fight against oppression and injustice in American society. The film is unafraid to show the more controversial moments of Malcolm's life and more than that actively makes a point of showing them to you. The sense of unfiltered realism is felt through every frame of the film, which is all down to Lee's direction and his and Arnold Perl's screenplay.

As for the portrayal of Malcolm X, it may be the highest peak of Denzel Washington's astonishing career. Washington is known to be one of the greatest actors of all time but his detailed and visceral performance as the eponymous X is simply flabbergasting. No other actor could be what Washington is in that film, which is why his portrayal is the best remembered over 28 years later.