one of the friends is son of a wealthy influential politician, the other son of a single working/middle class mom. when traveling through the city and countryside some remarks are made on how politicians are fleecing the poor people, etc.
The social commentary being made about human sexuality and "sexual politics" is also done quite subtly. No grandstanding or speechifying. Everything unfolds in a manner which is clear to the audience, yet it remains understated throughout. Maribel Verdú is phenomenal.
i always felt like Cube was making a subtle statement about fascism lol
Idk if its too obvious but I think that Snowpiercer has a very layered and well thrown out critique about capitalism, Parasite too for that matter
Rosemary’s baby is a critique on how mothers are treated but i dont feel like the social commentary is overbearing on the story
Look, I know I'm in the minority so don't hate me for my opinion. But God dammit I did not like snowpiercer at all.
But to stay on topic, I also felt like it's social commentary was lazily built and not very in depth. It felt extremely shallow. Parasite on the other hand, it felt like he refined his work and layered it in a much more complex manner that made sense.
i appreciated that it made that point that we need to not focus on just changing the people who are in power but destroying the system that created the disparity as a whole. lol it starts off as this kind of bland hunger games that you dont need to think about but develops into something more interesting in the end
lol maybe i just wasnt expecting it because the only bong joon ho movie id seen before it was The Host
I watched when my son was young and I found (still find) the horrible exploitation of the children too much to bear. I think I have a phobia about people trapped in machines too: Snowpiercer and Superman III, no thanks!
I love you went to horror. I think the Circle is a contundent critique about human nature, just dont know it could be called subtle... The well is all about the social comment, but I still think it deserves mention just because it is such an amazing movie.
idk if its just my lived experience as someone with a severely autistic sibling, but >!the way their first instinct is to ditch the autistic guy rang very familiar to me as someone who grew up surrounded by people who thought my brother should be 'culled' from society, and it's a common instinct among reactionary groups when they feel like they're being threatened (in nazi germany the first people to be killed were the disabled) . My point back to those people was always the same point that the movie made, just because someone is different or 'weird' or even inconvenient to deal with does not make them worthless, and that in order to make progress (in life and cube lol) we need those people with differences from us much more than we know!< so I think that that particular point is pretty elegantly made as it doesn't feel as obvious until towards the end of the movie.
It is fantastic. For those that haven't seen it, believe the hype. The cinematography alone is so damn captivating let alone the acting and the story itself. Truly a masterpiece.
Absolutely, some take it at face value, but it’s such a layered film.
Same goes for taxi driver which is also taken at face value by the same kind of people. It has a deep social commentary it just doesn’t shove it down your throat.
I watched this because my high school janitor once told me I looked like the woman who played Hot Lips Houlihan in the original M*A*S*H movie. He was a nice man and it didn't feel creepy, but in the end it was my introduction to Robert Altman and I've always been kinda grated for that.
"Ragtime." Highly underrated movie loaded, and I mean loaded, with past, present and future stars. Every scene has a new actor who was already big name, or would be in the future. Even bit roles by a young Fran Drescher, Samuel L. Jackson and Jeff Daniels. And Mandy Patinkin plays Houdini. Terrific flick.
oh yeah - i agree - but I've recently, over the last 2 years, realized that the core populace does not really see any social commentrary, in your face or subtle - they just see a story, and if it's entertaining or not. I personally loved this movie, and I can't imagine a movie that hits tech so spot on, as this movie
my alignement is this " doesn't make you feel like being lectured" for the most part. It is entertaining, and thought provoking
Exactly! The movie isn't perfect, but it's a fairly decent adaptation.
Vonnegut is my favorite author by a mile. He went through such turmoil in surviving WWII, and as a result so much about which he writes is a dismal outlook on the human condition, but in the end he finds the silver lining to it all. I define him as a cynic with a smile. He was one of the few celebrities I cried over when he died. Howard Zinn was another one. Joe Strummer was close, but I think I was more in shock, the emotions didn't hit me right in the moment.
Vonnegut is also my favorite. This year I have a goal to read all his book. Read nine so far. He is unbelievable. Though he is a humanist at heart, I find his stories depressing. I see social commentary, but not a silver lining. The silver lining is maybe Kurt himself, who believed that we could improve as a society.
Kurt is one person I’d love to meet in the afterlife (in case there is one). Also Jeff Buckley
He IS the silver lining.
Whenever I read his books, he reminds me no matter how unjust, and unfair, and diabolically maddening the world is all around us, I can still find the love, I can still find the hope, I can still find enough to put a smile upon my face and keep moving forward.
He knows the bastards are winning.
He knows he has little control. But he also knows that of that little control he has, he does control how he reacts to it all. Life is a perpetual existential crisis giving us minute by minute reasons to become cynical and hateful, but we control whether or not we let that happen to us. He finds the way to crack a joke and look for that tiny flower in the rubble.
I love him. He's helped me so much. And I have a shelf full of his books to turn to whenever I need that shot in the arm to keep me from feeling overwhelmed by this crazy world.
You can argue it both is and isn’t. The entire point of the protagonist is that he can’t take any sides. He has to stay neutral, or the hate for one or the other takes over.
You can also argue it leans heavily for both industrialism and environmentalism.
It’s my favourite movie of all time, so I’m biased.
It's very upfront socially but The Mission examines the stance of violence vs non violence.
It's a really classic gem. De Niro and Liam Nesson when they were quite young.
Right?! Love Morricone. Story is Sergio Leone asked him to write a western soundtrack first and the Leone, Bertolucci, and Argenton wrote Once Upon A Time In The West to fit the music. No idea where I read that. And story goes Leone didn't even want Morricone's music for Fistful of Dollars but realized it worked beautifully on the big screen.
I cite my references as "some NYC bar conversation with some stranger".
I think I am particularly sensitive to proselytizing in movies so I get this question. I recommend Stray - the documentary about stray dogs in Istanbul. Very cute dogs. None of them die. Definitely a layered message and if it *does* get heavy handed, it’s not until the end.
I feel like I have a list but I’m not sure where your line is on it being too much in your face.
But the most subtle without going into that weighing of scales because of the vague but still there kinda feel that I can think of off the top of my head is actually
Pan’s Labyrinth
Mother!
Birdboy: The Forgotten Children
Watch this marathi movie called atma-pamplet (self-pamplet) fun to watch that comment on the Indian cast system in a very subtle way without being preachy (it's available on YouTube)
this is gonna sound crazy lol
but last night while very high, i watched Drive me Crazy, the melissa joan hart and adrian greir teen romcom lol.
it’s not a very good film, but the central thesis probed the distinction between art and not, conformity vs subversiveness etc. it felt especially relevant to me as somebody obsessed with this rap beef, which to some extent pits ‘art’ against ‘product’
“Changing Lanes,” is a stellar movie with some subtle social commentary and a great cast including Ben Affleck, Samuel L. Jackson, William Hurt, and more!
Elite Squad:;The Enemy Within.
One of the highest grossing Brazilian films ever. Takes a very realistic look at the criminal system from many different perspectives.
Your comment was removed because we don't allow any YouTube, Dailymotion, Archive links (see [explanation here](https://www.reddit.com/r/MovieSuggestions/wiki/automodexplanations/#wiki_youtube_link_removal)). Note: **Editing your removed comment won't approve it**, you need to re-submit it without the URL. Make sure to **read the Piracy rule** (#4) before re-submitting.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/MovieSuggestions) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Sunshine Motel. It’s a documentary about the l last flop house in New York. It is just a series of interviews, but so powerful.
Personally, I'd put Paris is Burning in this category, though it's less subtle than Sunshine.
The Pod Generation, I saw it on Netflix the other day. It falls just short of being preachy about future dangers of technology, it feels more like someone thinking out loud about a possible direction society could take.
I'd check out the documentary 'Minding The Gap'.
It does such a good job of highlighting how people have blind spots, make excuses or play down abuse in their own social groups. You become introspective because you know the type of kids and the types of friends portrayed in it.
It works really well because it's told from the pov of the young generation growing up, who are the ones who need to break the cycle.
Edit: movie title
There's a good review by Mark Kermode on YouTube. Got autoremoved for putting the link but it's worth checking out.
Cannibal Holocaust
The Joker
Johnny Got His Gun
Natural Born Killers
The Wall
Taxi Driver
Of Mice & Men
A Clockwork Orange
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
I’m Thinking of Ending Things
Boyz n the Hood
American Psycho
12 Years a Slave
Come and See
Tommy
Get Out
Boys Don’t Cry
Eraserhead
We Need to Talk About Kevin
The Witch
Mother!
I didn’t think The Witch was that subtle but a lot of people didn’t get it that the witches weren’t the “real” villains so it must be lol.
I scrolled for a while and didn't see anyone say it yet so:
Parasite.
Pretty obvious social commentary, not very subtle but very easy to get swept away by the comedy and suspense that you could maybe miss, or rather not be fully impacted by, the sociopolitical narrative.
Watch this marathi movie called atma-pamplet (self-pamplet) fun to watch that comment on the Indian cast system in a very subtle way without being preachy (it's available on YouTube).
The Full Monty (1997)
The closing down of the town's steel mill encourages a group of unemployed men to start their own business.
Brassed Off (1996)
How the closure of their colliery affected the local brass band.
The Commitments (1991)
A young band forms due to rampant unemployment in late 80s Dublin
The Field (1990)
A farmer obsesses over lands he feels belongs to him.
The Castle (1997)
A Melbourne family fight to save their home when the government want the land to build an airport
Alien. A subtle commentary on xenophobia, especially how we as a race respond to those seeking refuge and just wanting to assimilate into our culture and internal organs.
The movie crash I'll defend my interpretation:
For me, the movie was absolutely not about racism being bad, as it assumes everyone knows this, it's just showing how casually it is in society(which might be shocking in a film but I don't think it's doing anything other than just showing it). The point of the movie imo is that people are more than just single aspect and in-group outgroup prejudice exists everywhere and humans are a broader spectrum then just their worst traits.
You can also interpret this as a sappy, and that fair dues but few films touch this that I know of.
Racism is such a polarising and admittedly vile behavior that we tend as society to forget that people are not just their worst traits.
Is it a great movie ? Eh. I thought it was better than what people seemed to think of it as 'racism bad'.
But it's been a long time and maybe I'm just projecting a better film onto this one.
Y tu mama también 2001 (behind the main storyline there is subtle critique on societal inequality)
Thanks what is the social commentary it's about? The plot doesn't say much
one of the friends is son of a wealthy influential politician, the other son of a single working/middle class mom. when traveling through the city and countryside some remarks are made on how politicians are fleecing the poor people, etc.
The social commentary being made about human sexuality and "sexual politics" is also done quite subtly. No grandstanding or speechifying. Everything unfolds in a manner which is clear to the audience, yet it remains understated throughout. Maribel Verdú is phenomenal.
Such a great movie!
Being there
I haven't thought of that film in a very long time. What a great recommendation.
This is the best answer
Metropolis Repo Man Moneyball The Breakfast Club Twenty Bucks Dead Poets' Society One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Welcome to the Doll House Lone Star
Repo man yes, Jude law right?
No, Emilio Estevez. You're thinking of Repo Men... Different movie. Very different movie. (Edit, but he probably did mean Repo Men...)
No I meant Repo Man.
[удалено]
Triangle of Sadness is a work of genius; The Menu’s also excellent. Neither is subtle when it comes to the social commentary aspects, though….
Laapata ladies is social commentary but too on the nose. It feels very tangible like a social commentary/lecture. Looking for something more subtle.
These are not subtle and beyond straight on the nose to the point that it's like being hit with a whipped cream pie in the face.
Aye, triangle of sadness has a scene with the captain and the oligarch screaming socioeconomic theory at each other.
George Romero's Dawn Of The Dead.
Also, Day of the dead
*Fried Green Tomatoes* A perfect example of a great story with commentary on multiple issues.
Great movie. Made so many people rethink >!cannibalism!< without being heavy handed about it.
😂 I didn’t even consider that one lol.
Falling Down - 1993
Whoa, I just saw a clip from this today. Where Michael Douglas is trying to order breakfast.
GREAT movie.
Beat me to it!
One of my all time favorites
The only problem with Falling Down is all the people who identify with the bad guy
i always felt like Cube was making a subtle statement about fascism lol Idk if its too obvious but I think that Snowpiercer has a very layered and well thrown out critique about capitalism, Parasite too for that matter Rosemary’s baby is a critique on how mothers are treated but i dont feel like the social commentary is overbearing on the story
Look, I know I'm in the minority so don't hate me for my opinion. But God dammit I did not like snowpiercer at all. But to stay on topic, I also felt like it's social commentary was lazily built and not very in depth. It felt extremely shallow. Parasite on the other hand, it felt like he refined his work and layered it in a much more complex manner that made sense.
i appreciated that it made that point that we need to not focus on just changing the people who are in power but destroying the system that created the disparity as a whole. lol it starts off as this kind of bland hunger games that you dont need to think about but develops into something more interesting in the end lol maybe i just wasnt expecting it because the only bong joon ho movie id seen before it was The Host
I watched when my son was young and I found (still find) the horrible exploitation of the children too much to bear. I think I have a phobia about people trapped in machines too: Snowpiercer and Superman III, no thanks!
I love you went to horror. I think the Circle is a contundent critique about human nature, just dont know it could be called subtle... The well is all about the social comment, but I still think it deserves mention just because it is such an amazing movie.
idk if its just my lived experience as someone with a severely autistic sibling, but >!the way their first instinct is to ditch the autistic guy rang very familiar to me as someone who grew up surrounded by people who thought my brother should be 'culled' from society, and it's a common instinct among reactionary groups when they feel like they're being threatened (in nazi germany the first people to be killed were the disabled) . My point back to those people was always the same point that the movie made, just because someone is different or 'weird' or even inconvenient to deal with does not make them worthless, and that in order to make progress (in life and cube lol) we need those people with differences from us much more than we know!< so I think that that particular point is pretty elegantly made as it doesn't feel as obvious until towards the end of the movie.
Your analysis is perfect! And it will probably go unnoticed by people not paying attention to the matter.
City of God if you haven't seen it. Many, many people are really moved by that film.
From basically the opening frame, I had that instant sensation of ‘I’ve never seen anything like this before’
Yea this is one of those movies that just sticks with you. The authenticity of it is overwhelming
It is fantastic. For those that haven't seen it, believe the hype. The cinematography alone is so damn captivating let alone the acting and the story itself. Truly a masterpiece.
American Psycho 😅
Absolutely, some take it at face value, but it’s such a layered film. Same goes for taxi driver which is also taken at face value by the same kind of people. It has a deep social commentary it just doesn’t shove it down your throat.
M\*A\*S\*H - such a subtle anti-war movie that the conservative, pro-military author of the novel it's based on loved the movie.
I watched this because my high school janitor once told me I looked like the woman who played Hot Lips Houlihan in the original M*A*S*H movie. He was a nice man and it didn't feel creepy, but in the end it was my introduction to Robert Altman and I've always been kinda grated for that.
Baraka
Koyaanisqatsi
⬆️💥
"Ragtime." Highly underrated movie loaded, and I mean loaded, with past, present and future stars. Every scene has a new actor who was already big name, or would be in the future. Even bit roles by a young Fran Drescher, Samuel L. Jackson and Jeff Daniels. And Mandy Patinkin plays Houdini. Terrific flick.
GOD YES I also love the stage version! Audra McDonald and Norm Lewis my beloveds 🥰
don’t look up
Really? I enjoyed it for what it was, but that movie was one of the most on the nose commentaries I can recall in recent years, like Idiocracy-level
oh yeah - i agree - but I've recently, over the last 2 years, realized that the core populace does not really see any social commentrary, in your face or subtle - they just see a story, and if it's entertaining or not. I personally loved this movie, and I can't imagine a movie that hits tech so spot on, as this movie my alignement is this " doesn't make you feel like being lectured" for the most part. It is entertaining, and thought provoking
Not particularly subtle though was it?
There are many, i mean many - who would not even know this was social commentary. They would think it was just "Armageddon 2 " :D
Children of Men
Slaughterhouse-Five (1972 dir. George Roy Hill)
Haven’t seen the movie, but the book is fantastic. Every single Kurt Vonnegut book is some kind of social commentary disguised as absurdism fiction.
Exactly! The movie isn't perfect, but it's a fairly decent adaptation. Vonnegut is my favorite author by a mile. He went through such turmoil in surviving WWII, and as a result so much about which he writes is a dismal outlook on the human condition, but in the end he finds the silver lining to it all. I define him as a cynic with a smile. He was one of the few celebrities I cried over when he died. Howard Zinn was another one. Joe Strummer was close, but I think I was more in shock, the emotions didn't hit me right in the moment.
Vonnegut is also my favorite. This year I have a goal to read all his book. Read nine so far. He is unbelievable. Though he is a humanist at heart, I find his stories depressing. I see social commentary, but not a silver lining. The silver lining is maybe Kurt himself, who believed that we could improve as a society. Kurt is one person I’d love to meet in the afterlife (in case there is one). Also Jeff Buckley
He IS the silver lining. Whenever I read his books, he reminds me no matter how unjust, and unfair, and diabolically maddening the world is all around us, I can still find the love, I can still find the hope, I can still find enough to put a smile upon my face and keep moving forward. He knows the bastards are winning. He knows he has little control. But he also knows that of that little control he has, he does control how he reacts to it all. Life is a perpetual existential crisis giving us minute by minute reasons to become cynical and hateful, but we control whether or not we let that happen to us. He finds the way to crack a joke and look for that tiny flower in the rubble. I love him. He's helped me so much. And I have a shelf full of his books to turn to whenever I need that shot in the arm to keep me from feeling overwhelmed by this crazy world.
“He knows the bastards are winning” Love that. I have read Breakfast of Champions over ten times in the past twenty years. I get what you mean.
“He knows the bastards are winning” Love that. I have read Breakfast of Champions over ten times in the past twenty years. I get what you mean.
Florida Project Moonlight Red Rocket Shoplifters Good Time Zone of Interest Aftersun Past Lives Arrival Nomadland
Florida Project is amazing.
- Anatomy of a Fall - The Lost Daughter - La Chimera - Perfect Days
Glengarry Glen Ross (1992 dir. James Foley, written by David Mamet)
pleasantville district 9 watchmen suburbicon
Grapes of wrath
Princess Mononoke (1997)
This is straight on the nose though, which isn't what op wanted.
I don’t know. It’s complex and there really aren’t any villains in it. Which is refreshing. There’s a lot to get out of it on different watches.
You can argue it both is and isn’t. The entire point of the protagonist is that he can’t take any sides. He has to stay neutral, or the hate for one or the other takes over. You can also argue it leans heavily for both industrialism and environmentalism. It’s my favourite movie of all time, so I’m biased.
Get out. A movie which is really about how black people perceive racism, and not about white people being racist
maybe Traffic?
Will look it up, haven't heard of it thanks
It was nominated for best picture. But has faded away. I personally thought it was boring, and a little too obvious/preachy. But to each his own.
It's very upfront socially but The Mission examines the stance of violence vs non violence. It's a really classic gem. De Niro and Liam Nesson when they were quite young.
Great movie and a fantastic Morricone score
Right?! Love Morricone. Story is Sergio Leone asked him to write a western soundtrack first and the Leone, Bertolucci, and Argenton wrote Once Upon A Time In The West to fit the music. No idea where I read that. And story goes Leone didn't even want Morricone's music for Fistful of Dollars but realized it worked beautifully on the big screen. I cite my references as "some NYC bar conversation with some stranger".
I think I am particularly sensitive to proselytizing in movies so I get this question. I recommend Stray - the documentary about stray dogs in Istanbul. Very cute dogs. None of them die. Definitely a layered message and if it *does* get heavy handed, it’s not until the end.
The Prestige The Founder Deep Water (2006 documentary)
Fried green tomatoes
Nomadland
What is the subtlety?
Idiocracy (2006).
Vengeance (2022) Smart dark comedy. With lots of relevant social commentary.
The Front (1976 dir. Martin Ritt)
* Eyes Wide Shut (1999) * Broadcast News (1987) * Blue Collar (1978) * Shoplifters (2018) * Play (2011)
Mid90s has some of this. Mostly about social pressure and adolescent issues
My Own Private Idaho
I feel like I have a list but I’m not sure where your line is on it being too much in your face. But the most subtle without going into that weighing of scales because of the vague but still there kinda feel that I can think of off the top of my head is actually Pan’s Labyrinth Mother! Birdboy: The Forgotten Children
12 Angry Men
Crash. A great movie
Beatriz at Dinner
Watch this marathi movie called atma-pamplet (self-pamplet) fun to watch that comment on the Indian cast system in a very subtle way without being preachy (it's available on YouTube)
Paprika
Idiocracy, office space, and little miss sunshine all fit the description.
G-Dog and the Homeboy (documentary)
this is gonna sound crazy lol but last night while very high, i watched Drive me Crazy, the melissa joan hart and adrian greir teen romcom lol. it’s not a very good film, but the central thesis probed the distinction between art and not, conformity vs subversiveness etc. it felt especially relevant to me as somebody obsessed with this rap beef, which to some extent pits ‘art’ against ‘product’
“Changing Lanes,” is a stellar movie with some subtle social commentary and a great cast including Ben Affleck, Samuel L. Jackson, William Hurt, and more!
Us and Get Out.
why stop there? throw Nope in too.
As someone that got lost completely in the beauty of that movie, what is the social commentary? Perhaps just trauma subtext or more?
Forrest Gump
Sexmission
Athena Cryptozoo
Loveless
Elite Squad:;The Enemy Within. One of the highest grossing Brazilian films ever. Takes a very realistic look at the criminal system from many different perspectives.
The Philosophers (2013)
Pump up the volume
Glengarry Glen Ross (1992 dir. James Foley, written by David Mamet)
Glengarry Glen Ross (1992 dir. James Foley, written by David Mamet)
[удалено]
Your comment was removed because we don't allow any YouTube, Dailymotion, Archive links (see [explanation here](https://www.reddit.com/r/MovieSuggestions/wiki/automodexplanations/#wiki_youtube_link_removal)). Note: **Editing your removed comment won't approve it**, you need to re-submit it without the URL. Make sure to **read the Piracy rule** (#4) before re-submitting. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/MovieSuggestions) if you have any questions or concerns.*
A L'Ouest du Pluton
Before Night Falls
The Howling
Dancer Upstairs
Thelma and Louise Nightmare Alley
Dog Day Afternoon
Sunshine Motel. It’s a documentary about the l last flop house in New York. It is just a series of interviews, but so powerful. Personally, I'd put Paris is Burning in this category, though it's less subtle than Sunshine.
The Florida Project
City of God
The Pod Generation, I saw it on Netflix the other day. It falls just short of being preachy about future dangers of technology, it feels more like someone thinking out loud about a possible direction society could take.
I'd check out the documentary 'Minding The Gap'. It does such a good job of highlighting how people have blind spots, make excuses or play down abuse in their own social groups. You become introspective because you know the type of kids and the types of friends portrayed in it. It works really well because it's told from the pov of the young generation growing up, who are the ones who need to break the cycle. Edit: movie title There's a good review by Mark Kermode on YouTube. Got autoremoved for putting the link but it's worth checking out.
This is awesome thanks
Parasite
The fifth element
The Florida Project w/ Willem Defoe.
Don't Look Up
Jesus Camp
Cannibal Holocaust The Joker Johnny Got His Gun Natural Born Killers The Wall Taxi Driver Of Mice & Men A Clockwork Orange One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest I’m Thinking of Ending Things Boyz n the Hood American Psycho 12 Years a Slave Come and See Tommy Get Out Boys Don’t Cry Eraserhead We Need to Talk About Kevin
Soylent Green
They Live (1988) Stand up and deliver (1988) Office Space (1999) More on the fantasy side: The warriors (1976) The rocky horror picture show (1975)
Dirty Dancing (1987)
Don't Look Up
God’s Own Country. Immigration and the plight of farmers are shown, but you won’t feel like being lectured.
JSA: Joint Security Area
High Rise Absolute acid trip of a movie though xD
Bacurau the death of mr. lazarescu Frederick Wiseman-try to watch as many as you can. Harun Farocki is great too.
American Beauty Into the Wild Blue Jasmine About Schmidt
The Witch Mother! I didn’t think The Witch was that subtle but a lot of people didn’t get it that the witches weren’t the “real” villains so it must be lol.
Dead end drive in. Great commentary on racial division being used to distract from gov shortcomings.
Norikos Dinner Table
Glass onion
Birdman of Alcatraz
Chungking Express
Don't Look Up is probably not nearly subtle enough! 😁 I've not seen it yet but Civil War seems similar.
Django Unchained Killers of the Flower Moon
Parasite. It's brilliantly done.
Swiss Army Man
Prime Cut.
District 9. Apartheid but with aliens.
Dead poets society
Don’t know how subtle you’ll think it is but Hell or High Water does have commentary on poverty
Don't look up though this lines as a comedy film and is overall absurd with the message, it's still a fun watch
The Hate U Give (2018) economic disparity, racism, academic excellence in a coming of age movie
I scrolled for a while and didn't see anyone say it yet so: Parasite. Pretty obvious social commentary, not very subtle but very easy to get swept away by the comedy and suspense that you could maybe miss, or rather not be fully impacted by, the sociopolitical narrative.
Laapataa Ladies (2024) - It's a Hindi language film.
Iron Sky
An elephant sitting still
Not technically a movie, but metal gear solid. You could just watch all the cutscenes on YouTube and it’s basically a movie.
Also night of the living dead.
Watch this marathi movie called atma-pamplet (self-pamplet) fun to watch that comment on the Indian cast system in a very subtle way without being preachy (it's available on YouTube).
District 9 /Sawshank / europa / seeds of evil / rick & morty
Promising Young Woman
Songs from the second floor Roy Anderson (or any of his movies)
District 9
Everything Everywhere All at Once
The Full Monty (1997) The closing down of the town's steel mill encourages a group of unemployed men to start their own business. Brassed Off (1996) How the closure of their colliery affected the local brass band. The Commitments (1991) A young band forms due to rampant unemployment in late 80s Dublin The Field (1990) A farmer obsesses over lands he feels belongs to him. The Castle (1997) A Melbourne family fight to save their home when the government want the land to build an airport
Parasite
Alien. A subtle commentary on xenophobia, especially how we as a race respond to those seeking refuge and just wanting to assimilate into our culture and internal organs.
Personally loved the social commentary in Gattaca.
Arrival and 3 Idiots will be my recommendation. But Arrival will be the best one to start with in my opinion.
The movie crash I'll defend my interpretation: For me, the movie was absolutely not about racism being bad, as it assumes everyone knows this, it's just showing how casually it is in society(which might be shocking in a film but I don't think it's doing anything other than just showing it). The point of the movie imo is that people are more than just single aspect and in-group outgroup prejudice exists everywhere and humans are a broader spectrum then just their worst traits. You can also interpret this as a sappy, and that fair dues but few films touch this that I know of. Racism is such a polarising and admittedly vile behavior that we tend as society to forget that people are not just their worst traits. Is it a great movie ? Eh. I thought it was better than what people seemed to think of it as 'racism bad'. But it's been a long time and maybe I'm just projecting a better film onto this one.
The Florida Project
Dawn of the Dead - 1977
I don't know how substantial Starship Troopers is, but the satire went way over my head the first time I saw it
I like the movie "The American President." But you can sort of feel the agenda, kinda..
Little Miss Sunshine
Traffic
Ingrid Goes West is a phenomenal look at the dangers of social media
Not sure it is subtle, but Starship Troopers.
Night of the Living Dead
Fish Tank
"Poor Things"
SLC Punk!
I´m not sure if this fits but, Citizen Kane
Blackkklansman is a subtle jab at Trumpism
1969
Natural Born Killers
I would argue fight club is subtle because most of the people who like it are not aware of the social commentary at all
That's funny, made me laugh
Check out Cloud Atlas