By Scott Roxborough, Patrick Brzeski
January 29, 2025

In the wake of Elon Musk’s Hitler-like salute at Donald Trump’s inauguration — a gesture that sparked outrage and reinvigorated the cultural conversation about fascism’s alarming reemergence — there’s no better moment to revisit cinema’s most compelling examinations of authoritarianism, resistance and the human cost of tyranny. This list brings together films from across the globe, spanning decades and genres, that remind us of the dangers of unchecked power.

While masterpieces like Schindler’s List and Son of Saul profoundly address the Holocaust — history’s most horrific expression of the consequences of fascist thought — and war movies from The Dirty Dozen to Defiance vividly depict military resistance, we’ve chosen to leave them off our list to focus instead on films that explore the ideology of fascism itself: the systems, beliefs and societal impacts that enable authoritarian regimes to rise and thrive.

From Chaplin’s classic satire The Great Dictator to the brutal provocations of Pasolini’s Salo, from the allegorical alien apartheid of District 9 and the mocking militarism of Starship Troopers to the absurdist comedy of Jojo Rabbit, these films are not just stories of resistance — they are bold examinations of power and its corrosive effects on society. Dive in to remember, reflect and resist.