Birth of a Film Archive
Jeff Kisseloff:Founded in 1865, The Nation is America's oldest continually published weekly journal of opinion and culture. I'll be your guide to the treasures hidden in its millions of archived pages.
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The Grapes of Wrath
Franz Hoellering:Hollywood was concerned that the saga of the Joads might send a "pro-Communist" message, but in the end, even Whittaker Chambers liked this film, which says something.
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Slide Show: The Nation's Oscars
Images from the Oscar-winning films of the past and reviews from Nation critics who loved/hated them.
2009
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Slide Show: Blockbuster Movies
In the spirit of the summer movie season, a look back at The Nation's coverage of classic popcorn epics.
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Slide Show: The Nation's Movies for Hard Times
Classic reviews of vintage films from our archive reflect the hardships and aspirations of Americans in the first Great Depression.
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Slide Show: The Nation's Oscars
Images from the Oscar-winning films of the past and reviews from Nation critics who loved/hated them.
1998
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Saving Private Ryan
It was said that the opening scenes of the D-Day invasion were so realistic that veterans hospitals across the country became filled with vets suffering from flashbacks after seeing the film.
1994
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Hoop Dreams
...are made to be broken, as Arthur Agee and William Gates learned the hard way over the five years their lives on and off the court were filmed.
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Forrest Gump
In which an addled man stumbles through recent American history, kind of like George W. Bush.
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Schindler's List
From a book by Thomas Keneally, who was convinced by the shopkeeper to look at some old documents he kept in the back of his store. The man was one of the 12,000 people saved by Oskar Schindler.
1992
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Unforgiven
Clint Eastwood won his first Academy Award for this Dirty-Harry-meets-the-western classic.
1990
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GoodFellas
Unlike The Godfather, in Martin Scorsese's depiction of New York mafioso, no one pretends to be a man of honor. That's one of the reasons it's so great.
1989
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Roger and Me
The real question is who comes off worse: the callous GM executive, the bunny-cidal woman or Bob Eubanks, the anti-Semitic, joke-telling gameshow host.
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Do the Right Thing
New York City's second most-famous Mookie delivers pizza and fights the power in Spike Lee's breakthrough film. Some critics predicted its provocative portrayal of race tensions would cause riots. Instead, the film started a dialogue.
1988
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The Thin Blue Line
Using innovative, slow-motion re-enactments, Errol Morris cast new light on the murder of a Dallas policeman. As a result, the man wrongly convicted of the crime went free.
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Wings of Desire
Angels look for love in some very odd places and discover among other things, a lonely trapeze artist and the real-life Peter Falk (sans raincoat).
1987
1986
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Shoah
Claude Lanzman's nine-hour documentary on the Holocaust with interviews from both the survivors and the perpetrators.
1984
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The Killing Fields
Dr. Haing S. Ngor won an Academy Award for his portrayal of the journalist Dith Pran in this account of the Cambodian genocide in the 1970s.
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