The Internet Movie Database has "politics" as one of the keywords describing the films below.
| Rank | Title | Year | Director(s) | Overall Rank |
| 1 | Casablanca | 1942 | Michael Curtiz | 5 |
| 2 | Lawrence of Arabia | 1962 | David Lean | 25 |
| 3 | Metropolis | 1927 | Fritz Lang | 43 |
| 4 | It's a Wonderful Life | 1946 | Frank Capra | 46 |
| 5 | Gladiator | 2000 | Ridley Scott | 137 |
| 6 | L.A. Confidential | 1997 | Curtis Hanson | 139 |
| 7 | Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon | 2000 | Ang Lee | 140 |
| 8 | Nashville | 1975 | Robert Altman | 161 |
| 9 | Akira | 1988 | Katsuhiro Ôtomo | 175 |
| 10 | Amadeus | 1984 | Milos Forman | 190 |
| 11 | Ikiru | 1952 | Akira Kurosawa | 223 |
| 12 | The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance | 1962 | John Ford | 230 |
| 13 | The Lives of Others | 2006 | Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck | 244 |
| 14 | Andrei Rublev | 1966 | Andrei Tarkovsky | 264 |
| 15 | Braveheart | 1995 | Mel Gibson | 278 |
| 16 | The Conformist | 1970 | Bernardo Bertolucci | 287 |
| 17 | Black Panther | 2018 | Ryan Coogler | 289 |
| 18 | Before Sunset | 2004 | Richard Linklater | 314 |
| 19 | Ghost in the Shell | 1995 | Mizuho Nishikubo and Mamoru Oshii | 324 |
| 20 | Persepolis | 2007 | Vincent Paronnaud and Marjane Satrapi | 334 |
| 21 | The Leopard | 1963 | Luchino Visconti | 340 |
| 22 | Mr. Smith Goes to Washington | 1939 | Frank Capra | 362 |
| 23 | The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie | 1972 | Luis Buñuel | 368 |
| 24 | Withnail & I | 1987 | Bruce Robinson | 407 |
| 25 | American History X | 1998 | Tony Kaye | 458 |
| 26 | Y tu mamá también | 2001 | Alfonso Cuarón | 462 |
| 27 | Arrival | 2016 | Denis Villeneuve | 466 |
| 28 | Umberto D. | 1952 | Vittorio De Sica | 491 |
| 29 | Hidden | 2005 | Michael Haneke | 501 |
| 30 | Love Actually | 2003 | Richard Curtis | 503 |
| 31 | Zodiac | 2007 | David Fincher | 507 |
| 32 | Beau travail | 1999 | Claire Denis | 512 |
| 33 | V for Vendetta | 2005 | James McTeigue | 524 |
| 34 | Downfall | 2004 | Oliver Hirschbiegel | 526 |
| 35 | Independence Day | 1996 | Roland Emmerich | 527 |
| 36 | Election | 1999 | Alexander Payne | 543 |
| 37 | Zero Dark Thirty | 2012 | Kathryn Bigelow | 549 |
| 38 | Malcolm X | 1992 | Spike Lee | 555 |
| 39 | Ninotchka | 1939 | Ernst Lubitsch | 573 |
| 40 | Starship Troopers | 1997 | Paul Verhoeven | 596 |
| 41 | Being There | 1979 | Hal Ashby | 601 |
| 42 | Napoléon | 1927 | Abel Gance | 621 |
| 43 | Gandhi | 1982 | Richard Attenborough | 626 |
| 44 | Sleeper | 1973 | Woody Allen | 628 |
| 45 | Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix | 2007 | David Yates | 635 |
| 46 | Ashes and Diamonds | 1958 | Andrzej Wajda | 680 |
| 47 | Skyfall | 2012 | Sam Mendes | 703 |
| 48 | Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 | 2010 | David Yates | 718 |
| 49 | 300 | 2006 | Zack Snyder | 726 |
| 50 | Bullitt | 1968 | Peter Yates | 741 |
| 51 | JFK | 1991 | Oliver Stone | 745 |
| 52 | Captain America: The Winter Soldier | 2014 | Anthony and Joe Russo | 760 |
| 53 | The Sorrow and the Pity | 1969 | Marcel Ophüls | 766 |
| 54 | Bowling for Columbine | 2002 | Michael Moore | 795 |
| 55 | Selma | 2014 | Ava DuVernay | 796 |
| 56 | Naked | 1993 | Mike Leigh | 802 |
| 57 | Milk | 2008 | Gus Van Sant | 811 |
| 58 | Serpico | 1973 | Sidney Lumet | 825 |
| 59 | Black Hawk Down | 2001 | Ridley Scott | 837 |
| 60 | If.... | 1968 | Lindsay Anderson | 850 |
| 61 | Captain America: Civil War | 2016 | Anthony and Joe Russo | 867 |
| 62 | The Insider | 1999 | Michael Mann | 871 |
| 63 | Blow Out | 1981 | Brian De Palma | 872 |
| 64 | Werckmeister Harmonies | 2000 | Béla Tarr | 874 |
| 65 | The Crying Game | 1992 | Neil Jordan | 924 |
| 66 | Orlando | 1992 | Sally Potter | 926 |
| 67 | Z | 1969 | Costa-Gavras | 929 |
| 68 | Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi | 2017 | Rian Johnson | 938 |
| 69 | Pickup on South Street | 1953 | Samuel Fuller | 939 |
| 70 | Closely Watched Trains | 1966 | Jirí Menzel | 947 |
| 71 | The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara | 2003 | Errol Morris | 959 |
| 72 | The Irishman | 2019 | Martin Scorsese | 976 |
| 73 | Ivan the Terrible | 1944 | Sergei Eisenstein | 987 |
| 74 | My Beautiful Laundrette | 1985 | Stephen Frears | 997 |
| 75 | The Remains of the Day | 1993 | James Ivory | 999 |
| 76 | A Face in the Crowd | 1957 | Elia Kazan | 1006 |
| 77 | The Best of Youth | 2003 | Marco Tullio Giordana | 1024 |
| 78 | The Times of Harvey Milk | 1984 | Rob Epstein | 1028 |
| 79 | The Passenger | 1975 | Michelangelo Antonioni | 1060 |
| 80 | Dune | 2021 | Denis Villeneuve | 1062 |
| 81 | I Am Cuba | 1964 | Mikhail Kalatozov | 1072 |
| 82 | 42 Up | 1998 | Michael Apted | 1083 |
| 83 | Lincoln | 2012 | Steven Spielberg | 1122 |
| 84 | Knives Out | 2019 | Rian Johnson | 1135 |
| 85 | The Way We Were | 1973 | Sydney Pollack | 1180 |
| 86 | Traffic | 2000 | Steven Soderbergh | 1188 |
| 87 | 49 Up | 2005 | Michael Apted | 1209 |
| 88 | A Man for All Seasons | 1966 | Fred Zinnemann | 1237 |
| 89 | Three Kings | 1999 | David O. Russell | 1238 |
| 90 | Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters | 1985 | Paul Schrader | 1248 |
| 91 | Rogue One: A Star Wars Story | 2016 | Gareth Edwards | 1284 |
| 92 | Team America: World Police | 2004 | Trey Parker | 1288 |
| 93 | Ali | 2001 | Michael Mann | 1316 |
| 94 | Hunger | 2008 | Steve McQueen | 1355 |
| 95 | Underground | 1995 | Emir Kusturica | 1365 |
| 96 | Seven Plus Seven | 1970 | Michael Apted | 1394 |
| 97 | In the Name of the Father | 1993 | Jim Sheridan | 1433 |
| 98 | The Scarlet Empress | 1934 | Josef von Sternberg | 1434 |
| 99 | A City of Sadness | 1989 | Hsiao-hsien Hou | 1443 |
| 100 | Oppenheimer | 2023 | Christopher Nolan | 1446 |
| 101 | Memories of Underdevelopment | 1968 | Tomás Gutiérrez Alea | 1463 |
| 102 | Logan's Run | 1976 | Michael Anderson | 1468 |
| 103 | In the Loop | 2009 | Armando Iannucci | 1475 |
| 104 | Gangs of New York | 2002 | Martin Scorsese | 1532 |
| 105 | The Tin Drum | 1979 | Volker Schlöndorff | 1535 |
| 106 | Slacker | 1990 | Richard Linklater | 1577 |
| 107 | To Live | 1994 | Yimou Zhang | 1584 |
| 108 | The Parallax View | 1974 | Alan J. Pakula | 1587 |
| 109 | The Constant Gardner | 2005 | Fernando Meirelles | 1605 |
| 110 | Star Trek into Darkness | 2013 | J.J. Abrams | 1613 |
| 111 | Three Days of the Condor | 1975 | Sydney Pollack | 1617 |
| 112 | The Hunt for Red October | 1990 | John McTiernan | 1633 |
| 113 | Searching for Sugar Man | 2012 | Malik Bendjelloul | 1646 |
| 114 | Hearts and Minds | 1974 | Peter Davis | 1659 |
| 115 | Mississippi Burning | 1988 | Alan Parker | 1676 |
| 116 | The Aviator | 2004 | Martin Scorsese | 1704 |
| 117 | Fury | 1936 | Fritz Lang | 1708 |
| 118 | BlacKkKlansman | 2018 | Spike Lee | 1719 |
| 119 | Born in Flames | 1983 | Lizzie Borden | 1759 |
| 120 | Idiocracy | 2006 | Mike Judge | 1761 |
| 121 | 13th | 2016 | Ava DuVernay | 1803 |
| 122 | Investigation of a Citizen above Suspicion | 1970 | Elio Petri | 1829 |
| 123 | Reds | 1981 | Warren Beatty | 1837 |
| 124 | A Single Man | 2009 | Tom Ford | 1839 |
| 125 | A Tale of Two Sisters | 2003 | Kim Jee-woon | 1842 |
| 126 | Pride | 2014 | Matthew Warchus | 1864 |
| 127 | Good Bye Lenin! | 2003 | Wolfgang Becker | 1877 |
| 128 | The Unbearable Lightness of Being | 1988 | Philip Kaufman | 1878 |
| 129 | Munich | 2005 | Steven Spielberg | 1883 |
| 130 | The Batman | 2022 | Matt Reeves | 1885 |
| 131 | Cleopatra | 1963 | Joseph L. Mankiewicz | 1904 |
| 132 | Muriel's Wedding | 1994 | P.J. Hogan | 1910 |
| 133 | Annie | 1982 | John Huston | 1935 |
| 134 | The Favourite | 2018 | Yorgos Lanthimos | 1946 |
| 135 | Masculine Feminine | 1966 | Jean-Luc Godard | 1948 |
| 136 | The Last Samurai | 2003 | Edward Zwick | 1949 |
| 137 | Le Corbeau | 1943 | Henri-Georges Clouzot | 1959 |
| 138 | The Battle of Chile: Part 1 | 1975 | Patricio Guzmán | 1972 |
| 139 | The Hurricane | 1999 | Norman Jewison | 1977 |
| 140 | Gettysburg | 1993 | Ron Maxwell | 2000 |
| 141 | All the King's Men | 1949 | Robert Rossen | 2001 |
| 142 | Good Night, and Good Luck. | 2005 | George Clooney | 2012 |
| 143 | Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace | 1999 | George Lucas | 2013 |
| 144 | Scanners | 1981 | David Cronenberg | 2024 |
| 145 | Elizabeth | 1998 | Shekhar Kapur | 2034 |
| 146 | 1900 | 1976 | Bernardo Bertolucci | 2059 |
| 147 | The Dead | 1987 | John Huston | 2066 |
| 148 | The Barbarian Invasions | 2003 | Denys Arcand | 2074 |
| 149 | The Andromeda Strain | 1971 | Robert Wise | 2075 |
| 150 | The Hour of the Furnaces | 1968 | Octavio Getino and Fernando E. Solanas | 2087 |
| 151 | Silkwood | 1983 | Mike Nichols | 2112 |
| 152 | Jojo Rabbit | 2019 | Taika Waititi | 2147 |
| 153 | Fahrenheit 9/11 | 2004 | Michael Moore | 2183 |
| 154 | The Battle of Chile: Part 2 | 1976 | Patricio Guzmán | 2221 |
| 155 | Duck, You Sucker | 1971 | Sergio Leone | 2234 |
| 156 | 1984 | 1984 | Michael Radford | 2260 |
| 157 | Cold War | 2018 | Pawel Pawlikowski | 2280 |
| 158 | I'm Not There. | 2007 | Todd Haynes | 2282 |
| 159 | Teorema | 1968 | Pier Paolo Pasolini | 2292 |
| 160 | Advise & Consent | 1962 | Otto Preminger | 2323 |
| 161 | An Inconvenient Truth | 2006 | Davis Guggenheim | 2337 |
| 162 | Dune | 1984 | David Lynch | 2345 |
| 163 | Lacombe Lucien | 1974 | Louis Malle | 2348 |
| 164 | The Red and the White | 1967 | Miklós Jancsó | 2352 |
| 165 | Across the Universe | 2007 | Julie Taymor | 2358 |
| 166 | Salvatore Giuliano | 1962 | Francesco Rosi | 2361 |
| 167 | Maurice | 1987 | James Ivory | 2377 |
| 168 | Enemy at the Gates | 2001 | Jean-Jacques Annaud | 2392 |
| 169 | Frida | 2002 | Julie Taymor | 2399 |
| 170 | Frost/Nixon | 2008 | Ron Howard | 2402 |
| 171 | Terra em Transe | 1967 | Glauber Rocha | 2420 |
| 172 | The Man in the White Suit | 1951 | Alexander Mackendrick | 2427 |
| 173 | Inherent Vice | 2014 | Paul Thomas Anderson | 2431 |
| 174 | In the Line of Fire | 1993 | Wolfgang Petersen | 2442 |
| 175 | Hamlet | 1996 | Kenneth Branagh | 2444 |
| 176 | Edvard Munch | 1974 | Peter Watkins | 2468 |
| 177 | No Man's Land | 2001 | Danis Tanovic | 2473 |
| 178 | Missing | 1982 | Costa-Gavras | 2477 |
| 179 | An American Tail | 1986 | Don Bluth | 2478 |
| 180 | The Queen | 2006 | Stephen Frears | 2485 |
| 181 | Clear and Present Danger | 1994 | Phillip Noyce | 2488 |
| 182 | Man of Marble | 1977 | Andrzej Wajda | 2501 |
| 183 | Enemy of the State | 1998 | Tony Scott | 2516 |
| 184 | Chocolat | 2000 | Lasse Hallström | 2525 |
| 185 | À Nous la Liberté | 1931 | René Clair | 2526 |
| 186 | Patriot Games | 1992 | Phillip Noyce | 2544 |
| 187 | Days of Glory | 2006 | Rachid Bouchareb | 2552 |
| 188 | eXistenZ | 1999 | David Cronenberg | 2564 |
| 189 | Le Petit soldat | 1963 | Jean-Luc Godard | 2577 |
| 190 | The Year of Living Dangerously | 1982 | Peter Weir | 2591 |
| 191 | The Official Story | 1985 | Luis Puenzo | 2598 |
| 192 | Longtime Companion | 1989 | Norman René | 2644 |
| 193 | Licorice Pizza | 2021 | Paul Thomas Anderson | 2648 |
| 194 | A Boy and His Dog | 1975 | L.Q. Jones | 2674 |
| 195 | The American President | 1995 | Rob Reiner | 2729 |
| 196 | Happy Feet | 2006 | George Miller | 2747 |
| 197 | Evita | 1996 | Alan Parker | 2763 |
| 198 | Seven Days in May | 1964 | John Frankenheimer | 2776 |
| 199 | Sicko | 2007 | Michael Moore | 2779 |
| 200 | Nixon | 1995 | Oliver Stone | 2803 |
| 201 | First Reformed | 2017 | Paul Schrader | 2826 |
| 202 | The Quiet American | 2002 | Phillip Noyce | 2857 |
| 203 | The Souvenir | 2019 | Joanna Hogg | 2908 |
| 204 | Land and Freedom | 1995 | Ken Loach | 2924 |
| 205 | Death Wish | 1974 | Michael Winner | 2926 |
| 206 | Punishment Park | 1971 | Peter Watkins | 2968 |
| 207 | Bus 174 | 2002 | José Padilha | 2970 |
| 208 | Sleepers | 1996 | Barry Levinson | 2982 |
| 209 | Kolya | 1996 | Jan Sverák | 2999 |
| 210 | Widows | 2018 | Steve McQueen | 3011 |
| 211 | Irma Vep | 1996 | Olivier Assayas | 3024 |
| 212 | 45 Years | 2015 | Andrew Haigh | 3029 |
| 213 | The Last King of Scotland | 2006 | Kevin Macdonald | 3040 |
| 214 | The Death of Stalin | 2017 | Armando Iannucci | 3042 |
| 215 | 42 | 2013 | Brian Helgeland | 3056 |