10 War Films That Were Basically Just Propaganda
2. Red Dawn
Oh, the dreaded communists. According to Hollywood, they were the scourge of the globe during the 1980s. Even Rocky had to fight them!
Red Dawn begins with the collapse of NATO, expansion of the Warsaw Pact, and a communist-led coup in Mexico. It’s like something out of a John Wayne fever dream.
After all that, Cuban and Soviet paratroopers glide into Calumet, Colorado. Because of course, the Russians would spearhead their invasion by taking over a small town in the Colorado Rockies.
In response, a group of teenagers, calling themselves the Wolverines, escape into the mountains. They arm themselves and stage guerrilla-style attacks on the Soviet occupiers.
Who do these kids think they are? Ewoks?
This movie is rife with melodramatic nonsense meant to drum up a combination of existential fear, and sycophantic pride in the minds of American viewers. There’s even a scene where two brothers visit their father along the fence line of a Soviet death camp...
A Soviet death camp in the middle of the Rockies! What the hell?
This movie is pure, unadulterated insanity. And, pretty damn entertaining, actually.