Live Poll: For Liberty

@RezaKJoi​ 

Our thoughts are with you, your family, and nation.

Are you taking suggestions for other films that fit this theme?

• Brazil (1985)

• Gattaca (1997)

• The Matrix (1999)

• Equilibrium (2002)

• District 9 (2009)

• 12 Years a Slave (2013)

@NYVKE​ From the bottom of my heart, thank you

@RezaKJoi​ Would you consider adding the titles Nyvke's suggested?

There are more chances for the poll to get more visibility of it is complete and includes more titles.

Also, I send you all my support from Mexico, I have a dear friend from Iran and I'm always looking at news of what happens there. I'm sure someday you'll achieve freedom.

@NYVKE​ 

I second these, too. 'Equilibrium' is one of my favs!

Great picks! :D

@RezaKJoi​ 

I'm terribly sad about the happenings in your country. I also hope things will get better. My thoughts are with all freedom and peace loving people throughout the world. Sometimes they get  hard to compare, because bad people also smile often. One thing: IMDb is free of political propaganda.

The idea might be criticized for being so direct standing to political issues. For my taste it would be ok enough, but I guess the staff and the website owners don't want to get into political quarrels. I did half-political polls before, but I had to keep it neutral, so I did. I hope you are doing well, over there.

My most daring poll was that one (Please note the neutral formulation):

It was about Disney suspending Jimmy Kimmel, because the orange raged out, again.

@Breumaster​ "because the orange raged out, again" It's so disturbing that the President of my country has the emotional intelligence of a two year old but it cracks me up that you call him "the orange." : )

@rubyfruit76​ 

I would be ashamed as many Americans are about that guy. I always watch Morejps and Greg and Lisa on YouTube. They are Americans I do admire, because they see what happens. It's a shame. My thoughts are with the bereaved of Renée Nicole Good and Alex Pretti. And with everyone who is on the Streets now. And with Bruce Springsteen - The Boss!

Oh, ... yeah ... I forgot - we had that in the 1930s and 1940s, just more intelligent and with not sooo much power in the *ss. ;)

@Breumaster​ 

Honorable YT-mentions: 

Randy Rainbow, 

Founders Sing ... and: 

Roy Zimmerman --> "Vote Him Away" / "Lock Him Away"

@Breumaster​ 

Also YouTuber:

Type Ashton

@Breumaster​ Oh, definitely: I do feel ashamed of my country and have since November 5, 2024, at about 11:30 pm EST. But I simultaneously feel proud of many Americans, most  whose names I'll never know. Reza's intro to this poll should be required reading for all Americans. 

@rubyfruit76​ 

Hm, I see. Maybe the intro is accepted? I'm sceptical, but for me it would be totally ok.

We should overco-o-ome, we should overco-o-ome. ... ;)

I believe in the good guys you have over there.

Springsteen formerly made a line in his songs, I didn't like.

but today I'd stand with him. - If I was an American. ;)

It still is a democracy in America. So there is hope of healing itself.

I don't know if I had the guts to stand against the regime in Iran.

They are really bad. Did you hear what they do to the protesters?

They are insane! :(

@Pencho15​ 

I will add Nyvke's suggested titles. At that time, I couldn't and then I forgot.From the bottom of my heart, thank you for your encouraging words. I'm glad to know that one of my fellow countrymen is your friend. Wishing the best for all people.

@Breumaster​ Thank you for your comment and your support. I also wish freedom and goodness for all people around the world. Yes, I agree that taking a political stance on this site is not appropriate. I can remove the explanatory part I added in my list so it no longer represents a political position. What do you think?"

@RezaKJoi​ 

I just read at the bell's shortview of the newest commentaries that your comment has been privated. The mere main problem is, that there is a bot on the board that privates comments, when they are not appropriate. I can't tell you, how many posts of mine have been privated. On that board, one has to check what he/she/* states. Sadly there is no insight by keyword list. So one can only try to figure out how to say what is to say without triggering the bot by trial and error.

@Breumaster​ 

I've watched some titles that may also fit:

Sophie Scholl

Persepolis

The Life of Others

Children of Men

Valkyrie

Alone in Berlin

Swing Kids

(Rebellious Jazz Movie against Germany's Third Reich - playing in Third Reich)

Btw.: I love to see Braveheart on the list. Great pick! :D

@RezaKJoi​ 

"I can remove the explanatory part I added in my list so it no longer represents a political position. What do you think?"

Depends on the admins. I'm not an admin. As long as it isn't criticized by and admin, I wouldn do so.

I just wanted to give you a hint, because a time after I came here to the board, I stumbled over that. They told me to not be so confrontative. As you see in the link of one of my polls, I trained my self to be not confrontative with suggestions and bring it into an appropriate form.

Poll: https://www.imdb.com/poll/iM2XJ-4245uhgCO-udzDBg/

(When you look at that, I created it in a form that not exactly points to Trump and America, but in the contemporary context it is understandable instantly. I address it to Trump by contemporary context.)

@RezaKJoi​ 

I think also that one is good:

Enemy of the State

It's about America's digital issues. Remember Julian Assange and Snowden.  ;)

@Breumaster​ I had a lot of trouble with that bot, especially in the beginning, and to write the text that is in the post now, I had to get help from AI to filter the text so that it wasn't private, as if bots understood each other better.

@Breumaster​ Thank you for your movie suggestions, they will be added. I'm glad you were happy with the movie Braveheart that I put on the list. I also like that movie very much.

@Breumaster​ Sometimes I think it wouldn’t be bad if this community were a bit more open about writing on such topics. On the other hand, I also think it might make the space messy and chaotic. I believe your approach is useful, and we can indirectly achieve what we want, like with your poll.

@Breumaster​ Although this film is on my upcoming (unscheduled) list, I haven’t seen it yet. If you say it’s good, I’ll add it. 

@RezaKJoi​ 

Do you talk about the movie Enemy of the State? It's about the digital nose out of America's secret agencies and how it could turn out practically. The movie is about one guy, a former agent that helps the lead character to cope with implications of someone who draws him into squarrels with the secret agency. It's about digital oppression through one direction transparency. And the movie itself stands against these methods. While the happenings are hidden to the masses within the movie, I'm not really sure, if it does fit. But for the lead character and his helper it would for sure.

The other seven movies I suggested are clearly against oppression of wide masses of people in the country the mstory takes part. I think these movies would fit. 

At the end - by being polite - it's always the consideration of the poll writer if he/she/* takes the suggestions on the list. If not, then it's polite to declare why. Like I did when you made these fantastic suggestions on my idea, last time. ;) Partly they fitted to the idea. Thanks for that. :D

@RezaKJoi​ 

At least for 

Sophie Scholl

Persepolis

Valkyrie

Alone in Berlin

and

Swing Kids

I think they are very clear candidates. The Life of Others is about a spy in the former German Democatic Republic, which was a completely hardcore spy state, the former East Germany. The spy intercepts people and while he does over time he encounters his own mind about and with time changes, because he gets clear about what he does in an intrinsic way. 

This one is not directly about masses that rebell, but in real life the interception was so widely spread and extensive like in no other place in the whole world in that time span. It was that sick, that the people finally had enough and started a revolution in real life. The lead of the movie shows a man who has enough of it at the end. So it's more like the beginning of rebellion - in mind.

@RezaKJoi​ 

Children of Men is less a film about revolution than about the survival of humanity under systemic pressure. Precisely for that reason, it captures the core of situations in which infrastructure collapses, communication is controlled, and people are emotionally and economically exhausted.

@RezaKJoi​  @Breumaster​  Unfortunately, I have not yet been able to read all of your posts (I look forward to it!) but I've made some fairly political polls and I've pushed some fairly political polls of others.  I think it's not only appropriate but almost imperative -- or at least a good thing. I'll have to do some digging and find the three polls that I pushed the day after "the orange guy" (did I get that right, Breu?) was elected in 2016. I always wondered if anyone noticed what I was trying to say, lol.      

@rubyfruit76​ 

If you want, we could also call him Agent Orange, because of his ties to Russian Oligrachs. The ARD broadcast in Germany made a documentary about. It's called "Trumps Deutsche Bank". It treats of his shady deals with Russian Oligarchs in accordance to Deutsche Bank (The bank's name translates to German Bank). I don't know if there is a subtitled version around on youtube. When it comes to agent orange I'm standing with Martin Luther King, Obama, Pretti and Good.

@Breumaster​ Yes, that’s the movie I meant. Sorry I didn’t make it clear. I will definitely watch it someday. I hope I’ve added your suggested movies to the list—at least as far as I remember, I did. Sometimes I accidentally miss or misread some comments.Yes, thank you for the reminder. I try to review everyone’s suggestions, and fortunately everyone has good knowledge of films and most of the recommendations fit the topic well.Thanks a lot, you really helped. (:

@Breumaster​ They have been added to the list, thank you.Sometimes a movie doesn’t show the fight directly, but as you pointed out, it’s inherently about struggle—like The Lives of Others. What I found interesting about the film is its focus on doing good rather than primarily showing injustice.

@Breumaster​ I still remember the image of that man with the baby leaving the building and everyone’s shock. You’re right—it’s more about systemic pressure than revolution. I need to think more about this film. Thank you.

@rubyfruit76​ Thank you for your encouraging comments, wishing you all the best

@RezaKJoi​ Hi Reza, it's so good to hear from you. : )

@rubyfruit76​ I’m truly grateful to you, I am really happy to be here again and interact with people like you, one of my favorite authors is Paul Auster and I was reading his letters to J.M. Coetzee during the internet outage and part of the book reminded me of this site. The only interesting thing was that I download a few months worth of movies at a time and I still had access to my movies (:

@RezaKJoi​ You've got great taste in writers! So far, I've only read two of Paul Auster's books and a few essays but I love his work and want to read a lot more. Also, he wrote two films that I really like and respect ('Smoke' and 'The Center of the World') and read a fair amount of his poetry. When I was in my mid twenties, my boyfriend at the time bought me the collected archives of my favorite magazine, The New Yorker. In it, I found Auster's "Why Write?" and wow, it really had a big impact on me. I was a struggling writer at the time and was also in the middle of a long writer's block and I was scared I'd never write again. Finding Auster's essay was such a gift. I've re-read that essay several times. 

I'm also a fan of J.M. Coetzee and reading Auster's letters to him sounds fascinating for several reasons, including that I get afraid that letters are, quite tragically, a dying art form. I'd love to hear any thoughts you have on his letters or anything else he's written. 

Oh, and one of my favorite things about Auster is that was also a poet. Quite a good one, too. I'm a poet and essayist but I can't write fiction to save my life. Or at least I can never finish anything: I have a whole collection of unfinished short stories that I occasionally stare at for a long time, lol, but can never complete. I marvel at his ability to write pretty much everything except cartoons, lol.  

By the way, thank you for your very kind post. I'm so happy that you've been able to get back online and back here onto the poll board. 

(ps: I hope to read Auster's 'The Art of Hunger' very soon and sometime in the next year or so, I plan on reading some essays Coetzee wrote about Kafka.)

@rubyfruit76​ I’m glad to see that you’re also a fan of Paul Auster’s work. If I’m not mistaken, I’ve read eight of his books so far.I think I should read that article as well. I’m interested in writing too, and I’ve even completed one book (unpublished), but I feel it needs to be better, so I’ve paused work on my other books for a while.Some writers and books are excellent, but only a few books have a truly deep impact on a person. I don’t remember exactly, but I think it was around 2014 when, on the recommendation of a bookseller, I bought and read The New York Trilogy. Considering my age, the time, the place, and other factors, that book had a very deep effect on me—so much so that I felt as if I were in the place of the characters.Regarding Letters, unfortunately I haven’t finished it yet, because I usually read six to eight books at the same time and rotate between them so my mind doesn’t get tired. However, I’ve read about half of it so far. The things that stood out most up to this point were friendship, sports, and sometimes broader social issues such as the 2008 crisis. The parts where Paul talks about going to film festivals or seeing the same person multiple times were also interesting. I really like the book because people express opposing views in a friendly and respectful way, and disagreement is treated as something normal and acceptable.I usually read texts and comments section by section and respond in order, and when I read that you are a poet and an essayist, it really caught my attention. In fact, I have the same problem: I have many unfinished books and poems. The issue is that after a period of not writing, when I return to writing, instead of finishing unfinished work, I start a new project—which may again remain incomplete.Thank you. I hope to read your essays or poems someday.P.S. According to the book’s description, the book I’m reading is a translation of Here and Now, translated through a formal agreement with the original authors, but the published title is Imaginary Friends.and I still haven’t read The Art of Hunger yet. I’ve added it to my Google Sheet and placed it in the waiting list so I can read it at the earliest opportunity.

@rubyfruit76​ Hi Ruby, My first post became private because of the more detailed explanations. Then I made this post without any specific details. After that, I commented my current explanation for myself to see if it would become private again, and I saw there was no problem. So I placed it in the post, but I couldn’t delete the comment, so I edited it and wrote 'deleted

@RezaKJoi​ Oh, yeah, that makes sense. So you do still want the poll to be considered for publication? I hope so but I just want to make sure. : )

Oh, and I can easily delete that post if you want me to. It's fine if it stays up, too, but if you want it to be deleted, it would take two seconds. 

@rubyfruit76​ Yes, I want this poll to be considered for publication.How come you can delete it and I can’t? 😁If you delete it, won’t the comments written under it be deleted as well?

@mariojacobs​ 

Excellent pick! I strongly second that movie. It fits exactly. How could I forget it?

@mariojacobs​ Thanks for the great suggestion, the movie has been added to the list.

@Jessica​ Thanks (:  I'll delete them, hoping for the best.

@Peter_pbn​ Thanks for letting me know, it’s done.🙏

@RezaKJoi​ 

It runs better than the Razzie and the Oscar polls. ;D

@Breumaster​ Thanks! You could host the Nobel Prize too — like your post about the time, but this time with the scientists’ names. What do you think? “Nobel 2026, according to you.”😁

@RezaKJoi​ 

Certainly not. The Nobel Peace Prize is reverved for Agent Orange. Maybe in future time, only orange people will get it. Who knows? I wouldn't want to host it.

@Breumaster​ Agent Orange was even present at the World Cup award ceremony; we can give ourselves a prize here too.😆

@RezaKJoi​ 

Look, Reza (I say it so, if that's ok), your poll yesterday has run better than mine today, because the subject was more attractive to many people. It seems like you have a good hand for picking subjects. Please go on like this. I like it. :D

Sometimes I got the feeling, the best ideas are spontaneous and are such that move me, or when there is special passion in them. Like when AlbertoMazzarro did his special car polls. or the "long time ideas" from Jessica.

@Breumaster​ 

or the "long time ideas" from Jessica.

I'm not sure which ones you mean, but thank you Breu, for those words. :)

@Jessica​ 

Well, you take time for your ideas, whether it's the common idea about the emotional scenes in TV Series, or your poll you asked the board about which event in history we would like to see. Mine was the release (opening) of the fifth Symphony of Beethoven, to meet Marc Chagall and travel with benz to see his first vehicle get patented and maybe work a little on it. You give these ideas time and space to grow. It's passion I'd say. Isn't it? And Alberto's passion for cars is so very obvious. ;)

@Breumaster​ It’s totally fine — and thank you. You’re one of the best people here when it comes to creating great polls, and you bring real spirit to this place with your comments and conversations.

"long time" = "carefully thought out and presented"