Nine Movies & Shows about Congress
The coronavirus pandemic means that thousands of Congressional interns are missing out on huge parts of the Capitol Hill experience. 2020 interns are not walking the halls to gather physical signatures. No one is getting lost in Rayburn. Most will get through their entire internship without ever stepping foot inside the Capitol building (same here!). But, fellow interns, at least we have Prime and Netflix.
For those of us experiencing Washington through Zoom and email, here’s a list of movies to help you get a taste of DC. But, as my colleague, Nicole Tisdale warns, don’t take it too seriously. She says, “people think Congress works like House of Cards but it’s actually Veep!”
What follows is a list of movies and shows to add to your list, from dramas and comedies, to thrillers, and action. The list was compiled by surveying POPVOX colleagues and contributors to the Virtual Intern Project. (And, true confession: I didn’t watch them all.) Am I missing some good ones? Let me know!
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
(Streaming on Prime, YouTube, and Turner Classic Movies)
Considered one of the “greatest films of all time,” and “the top Washington-related movie,” the movie tells the story of Jefferson Smith’s appointment to the Senate by political power brokers who planned to use his lack of experience and innocence for their own purposes. When Smith discovers corruption by fellow senators, they accuse him of profiting from a bill he championed, and move to expel him from the Senate. Smith decides to filibuster the appropriations bill — speaking nonstop for twenty-five hours on the Senate Floor, “sweating and talking for 24 hours, reading from the Constitution, pleading for decency and the American way.” (Vox)
[N]obody’s a Republican or a Democrat in this movie. That makes the final filibuster a great visual metaphor without party affiliation: a guy standing on his own two literal feet for his own unpopular opinion — to advocate for an outcome that poses no personal benefit to him, but points to an ideal that’s much bigger than himself — against a crowd of people who wish he’d just shut up. (Vox)
Worth a read: 11 Filibusterous Facts About Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
Advise and Consent (1962)
(Streaming on Prime and Vudu)
The film is based on the novel by Allen Drury about the confirmation process for Robert Leffingwell, a Secretary of State nominee during the height of the Cold War played by Henry Fonda and roughly based on Alger Hiss. The confirmation hearings are led by a young senator from Utah, Brigham Anderson, who discovers evidence that Leffingwell was involved with a communist cell twenty years before––a charge that would derail the nomination. In order to secure Anderson’s silence, the president and several senators use a photo showing that Anderson had a relationship with a man during the Korean War (a groundbreaking storyline for 1962 Hollywood) to attempt to blackmail him into silence.
Interesting notes from the Longwood University Politics and Film Database:
- The role of a Southern senator was offered to Martin Luther King Jr., but he respectfully declined.
- The same senate set used in Advise and Consent was used in the renowned film, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.
- Advise and Consent was the first mainstream film to feature scenes inside a gay bar.
Washington Story (1952)
(Available on the Reelgood app)
A young journalist, Gilbert Nunally, sets out to uncover the truth about earnest congressman, Joseph Gresham —“No Comment Joe,” hoping to uncover a scandal. She and her editor believe that his impeccable image is an act. The film touches on themed including responsibility of the press, lawmakers balancing local and national needs, and the fate of an immigrant facing deportation. But ultimately, it is a romance movie with a political storyline.
Legally Blonde II (2003)
(Streaming on Hulu and Prime Video)
With a surprising amount of actual legislative procedure, Legally Blonde 2, follows the bright and cheerful Elle Wood’s fight for her precious pup Bruiser’s rights, as she tries to ban animal testing. As a Congressional staffer, Elle encourages her boss to introduce “Bruiser’s Bill,” and manages to force a vote by securing the required 218 signatures on a discharge petition. I personally love the way Elle tackles every issue with the perfect pink outfit. It is a fun and informative movie that I highly.
Thank you for smoking (2005)
(streaming on Hulu and Prime)
Based on a novel by Christopher Buckley, the movie follows the “M.O.D Squad (“Merchants Of Death”) — a tobacco lobbyist, Nick Naylor, and his two alcohol and gun lobbyist friends. Nick’s nemesis is a senator determined to launch an anti-smoking campaign. The comedy satirizes lobbying and “smoky back rooms” as Nick confronts the dilemma of doing his job and being a good role model for his son.
Charlie Wilson’s war (2007)
(Streaming on Prime Video and Peacock)
The dark comedy follows Charlie Wilson “Good Time Charlie,” a free-wheeling womanizing congressman from Texas’s second congressional district played by Tom Hanks, who prompts the CIA’s largest-ever covert operation — the funding of the Afghan War against the Soviet Union. Based on actual events, even Rep. Wilson [D, CA], who dies in 2010, said the film got it right.
Julia Roberts plays Joanne Herring, a Texas socialite and staunch anti-communist who pushes for the US to be more involved in the Afghan conflict and uses charms to enlist Wilson in the effort.
Joanne Herring: So unless I’m wrong — and that would be unusual for me — you sit at the intersection of the State Department, the Pentagon and the CIA, you meet in a sound-proof room underneath the Capitol, and you preside over a secret and unlimited budget for the three agencies you would need to conduct a covert war. Isn’t that right?
…
Joanne Herring: Why is Congress saying one thing and doing nothing?Charlie Wilson: Well, tradition mostly.
It is an amazing story, from the halls of Congress to the hills of Afghanistan, and the impacts of Charlie Wilson and Joanne Herring continue to impact the world and US foreign policy to this day.
House of Cards (2013–2017)
(Streaming on Netflix and Prime Video)
My colleagues keep assuring me that Congress is NOT like House of Cards — and it’s a good thing! Still, the show might be worth a pandemic binge for the DC scenes and Capitol Hill intrigue. The series follows the ambitious congressman, Frank Underwood and his (perhaps even more ambitious?) wife, Claire as they do whatever it takes to ascend to power in Washington. I’ve only just started the series and am hooked after a few episodes. The series has been called the “best Shakespeare adaptation of all time,” and compared to Shakespeare’s Macbeth with its “treacherous triad” of “destiny, betrayal, and murder.”
Confirmation (2016)
(Streaming on HBO and Prime)
With a Supreme Court nomination in the news and former VP Biden a candidate for president, the 2016 HBO drama, “Confirmation,” is particularly relevant to today. The TV movie tells the story of the 1991 confirmation process for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, when a former employee, law professor Anita Hill, accused Thomas of sexual harassment. Though confirmation hearings had already closed when Hill’s allegations became public, then-Judiciary Committee Chairman, Senator Joe Biden [D, DE], reopened the hearings to hear from witnesses — including public televised testimony by Hill and Thomas. Last year, Biden reportedly apologized to Hill for the way the hearing process was conducted, expressing “his regret for what she endured.”
Actress Kerry Washington, who portrays Hill in the movie, said that her “own complicated understanding of intersectionality, in terms of gender and race, is part of why [she] wanted to make the movie… It’s a movie about complicated people in a really complex situation doing the best they could with the tools they had at the time.”
This film is one that I definitely want to add to my list of movies and shows to watch, because I find it interesting to watch movies/shows that emphasize issues that women have to deal with and that are not spoken about enough.
The Report (2019)
(streaming on Prime Video)
This movie tells the story of Senate Intel staffer, Daniel J. Jones, who was instructed by Sen. Feinstein [D, CA] to investigate the CIA’s Detention and Interrogation program. “Jones and his team reviewed around 6.3 million pages of internal CIA documents and wrote a roughly 6,700-page report on their findings — often referred to as the “torture report” — which remains classified to this day.” (–TIME) The movie is based on actual events though Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, denounced it (in a tweet) as “fiction.”
Honorable Mentions
Jack Ryan Season 2 (2018)
(Streaming on Prime Video and Vudu)
My colleagues tell me Jack Ryan, Season 2 is comically inaccurate in its portrayal of Congress (and DC geography), as a Senate committee chairman and his former CIA fellow go on a two-person “CODEL” (a “Congressional Delegation” trip that by definition means more than one Member) to Venezuela. The Venezuelan Culture Minister called it “crass war propaganda disguised as entertainment,” and audience reviews are pretty bad. But, nevertheless, the action-packed story is technically about a Congressional staffer and it’s worth keeping on the pandemic viewing list.
Tiger King
(Streaming on Netflix)
You’ve no doubt heard about zoo keeper, Joe Exotic, and his feud with Carole Baskin, who accused him of abusing wild animals. And I am sure that you are at least familiar with the endless gifs, memes, and song remixes.
So what’s the Capitol Hill connection? Apparently the animal rights groups featured in Tiger King have such a considerable grassroots advocacy operation that many a Hill staffer has taken their calls, responded to their letters, or even met with them on Capitol Hill for years.
As Roll Call reported earlier this year, Tiger King brought back memories for several staffers:
OK, fine, it’s on the list.
Got more suggestions of Capitol Hill-themed movies and shows? Drop them in the comments!
Jennifer Graciano is an undergraduate political science major at the University of North Texas and an intern at POPVOX.
