July 9, 2013 10:11AM # Guide to Libertarian Movies By [David Boaz](https://www.cato.org/people/david-boaz) --- SHARE I’m delighted to report that [*Miss Liberty’s Guide to Film*](http://www.amazon.com/Miss-Libertys-Guide-Film-ebook/dp/B00DKH0J3S/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373374561&sr=1-1&keywords=miss+liberty%27s+guide) is available again—on Kindle. My friend Jon Osborne worked for years on this project, but the 2001 book has been out of print for years. It’s the best available guide to movies with libertarian themes, with more than 250 short reviews. What are the best libertarian films? Well, the book doesn’t rank them, but some that make his list of Top Libertarian Films are *Amistad*, *Animal Farm*, *Fahrenheit 451*, *Shenandoah*, and *We the Living*. Libertarians may be familiar with all of those, but he also recommends the lesser-known *Cash McCall*, *East-West*, *Improper Conduct*, and many more. No such list is exhaustive, of course, or uncontroversial. When I [listed](https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/liberty-movies) some of my own favorite libertarian-themed films, I included some that Osborne doesn’t: *So Big* (1953) and *My Beautiful* *Laundrette*. Not to [mention](https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/freedom-oscars) the republican *Gladiator* and the anti-Nazi, anti-communist *Sunshine*, both released in 2000. Few if any of these movies are like libertarian essays on film. Osborne includes movies that have such themes as anti-socialism (under which he includes anti-National Socialism), anti-war, bureaucratic abuse of power, creator as hero, freedom of speech, individualism, social tolerance, and voluntaryism. Each film is rated for both its libertarian content and its entertainment value, and also briefly reviewed. Osborne mostly stopped reviewing—and maybe even seeing—movies when his daughter was born, so there aren’t many movies here from the past decade. But from *All Quiet on the Western Front* (1930) to *Rabbit-Proof Fence* (2002), there are enough movies here to keep you busy for the rest of the year. [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).