Andor, the finest Star Wars present thus far, is about to return for its second and remaining season on April 22. Lots of people are enthusiastic about it, not the least of which being Andor showrunner Tony Gilroy, who has gone as far as to describe it as “an important factor [he’ll] ever get to do when it comes to how a lot creativeness went into it.”

That enthusiasm is owed not solely to the cultural ubiquity of Star Wars itself, with its centuries-spanning chronology and incalculably huge offshoots, however the present’s intricate exploration of the character of how rebellions are fashioned and what motivates the individuals who battle in them. What higher strategy to put together for Andor’s swan track than to look at a few of the best movies to depict the ethical and mortal stakes of revolutionary actions, how despotic regimes come into energy, and the lives of those that take part in them?

Listed below are 5 nice movies about revolution to look at when you anticipate Andor season 2.

Director: Jean-Pierre Melville
Solid: Lino Ventura, Paul Meurisse, Jean-Pierre Cassel
The place to look at: Out there to lease on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu

Within the remaining episode of Andor’s first season, Cassian listens to Karis Nemik’s manifesto whereas hiding out inside a derelict starcruiser on the outskirts of Ferrix Metropolis. “There might be occasions when the battle appears unimaginable,” Nemik’s voice narrates from past the grave. “I do know this already. Alone, not sure, dwarfed by the dimensions of the enemy.” He may simply have been describing the premise of Jean-Pierre Melville’s 1969 suspense-drama about French resistance fighters dwelling in Nazi-occupied Lyon.

Lino Ventura stars as Philippe Gerbier, a pacesetter of a resistance cell who narrowly escapes from a focus camp earlier than resuming his operation to frustrate and overcome the occupation. Buoyed by success as belayed setbacks, Gerbier and his fast-made compatriots sacrifice every thing of their battle to free themselves from the yoke of Nazi oppression.

Melville’s movie is a bleak, unglamorous depiction of the mortal and ethical prices of resistance, as Gerbier’s compatriots are both outed as Nazi conspirators and subsequently executed or lose their lives in service of liberating France from its occupiers. Whereas maybe not as, say, propulsive as Andor’s premise, Military of Shadows is an beautiful movie vindicated by its performances and marvelous execution. —Toussaint Egan

Director: Gillo Pontecorvo
Solid: Jean Martin, Saadi Yacef, Brahim Hadjadj
The place to look at: Max, Criterion Channel

Again in 2023, Benjamin Caron, who directed three episodes within the first season of Andor, stated in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter that the climax of season 1 was instantly impressed by Gillo Pontecorvo’s 1966 conflict movie. “I really pitched [Andor showrunner Tony Gilroy] a reference for the final episode. One in every of my favourite movies is The Battle of Algiers, and I used to be like, ‘There’s one thing about your writing that feels just like that.’ And he was like, ‘Yeah, that’s it! I’ve gotta return and watch that.’ And so we simply jammed about how nice that movie is and the way a lot of that taste and texture we may get from it. In order that grew to become an enormous reference level for the [season 1] finale the place the locals stand up in opposition to the Empire.”

Launched in 1966, simply 4 years following the conclusion of the Algerian Conflict, The Battle of Algiers facilities on two protagonists: Ali La Pointe, the Algerian freedom fighter who led an rebellion between 1954 and 1957, and Lt. Col. Mathieu, the French paratrooper commander tasked with quelling the rise up and apprehending La Pointe. Shot on location with newsreel-inspired cinematography, Pontecorvo’s movie is a blistering, kinetic expertise from starting to finish, with crowd-sized avenue scuffles and explosive skirmishes.

Of all of the memorable moments I can recall from my first time watching of The Battle of Algiers, it’s the quiet trade between Ali and Ben M’hidi, a fellow revolutionary, that’s caught in my thoughts. “It’s arduous sufficient to start out a revolution, even more durable to maintain it, and hardest of all to win it,” Ben M’Hidi tells Ali. “Nevertheless it’s solely afterwards, as soon as we’ve gained, that the actual difficulties start.” —TE

Director: Bernardo Bertolucci
Solid: Jean-Louis Trintignant, Stefania Sandrelli, Gastone Moschin
The place to look at: Kanopy, Hoopla; accessible to lease on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu

There’s two sides to each rise up. For each rebellion clamoring to be seen and heard, there’s a established order pulling strings to stamp it out. For each revolutionary, there’s a collaborator. In Andor, that collaborator is Syril Karn, a civil servant with a dedication to the Galactic Empire that borders on fanatical. In Bernardo Bertolucci’s 1970 basic The Conformist, that collaborator is Marcello Clerici, a mid-level flunky for the Italian Fascist secret police who’s tasked with killing his mentor and former professor, an anti-Fascist dissident dwelling in Paris.

The Conformist isn’t simply a captivating depiction of the tacit complicity and barbarism inherent to fascist regimes, however one of the crucial visually beautiful tales ever dedicated to the medium of movie. Bertolucci’s movie has been cited by the likes of the Coen brothers, Francis Ford Coppola, and Steven Spielberg as an affect on their respective work, and for good motive. The Conformist’s use of canted angle cinematography, symbolic lighting, and composition coalesces into an immaculate aesthetic complete, conveying its exploration of the depths of Clerici’s cowardice and cruelty on each a visible and psychological stage. Don’t simply watch this movie as a result of it’s a terrific pairing with Andor; watch it as a result of it’s a bona fide life-changing masterpiece. —TE

Director: Walter Salles
Solid: Gael García Bernal, Rodrigo de la Serna, Mía Maestro
The place to look at: Out there to lease on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu

The Battle of Algiers wasn’t the one distinguished historic inspiration Caron divulged whereas discussing the making of Andor season 1 with The Hollywood Reporter. In the identical interview, Caron shared that when Gilroy introduced him on board to work on the present, they mentioned Cassian Andor’s arc from a modest smuggler to a revolutionary chief. “[Tony] was like, ‘What was Che Guevara like earlier than he grew to become Che Guevara?’ So it was about how this particular person who was a bit misplaced and simply making an attempt to make a fast buck may begin believing in one thing larger than himself, and that may be the beginning of a rise up.”

What higher movie to look at within the lead-up to Andor’s remaining season than Walter Salles’ coming-of-age biopic about Guevara’s 1952 trek throughout the South American continent together with his lifelong buddy Alberto Granado? The Motorbike Diaries stars Gael García Bernal (Y tu mamá también) as Ernesto “Fuser” Guevara, a 23-year-old medical scholar who embarks on the journey to be able to see the world earlier than graduating medical faculty. Over the course of their journey, Guevara and Granado witness the cruel disparity between the haves and the have-nots, culminating in an fateful encounter working at a leper colony that shapes Guevara’s worldview for the remainder of his life. If that connective tissue weren’t already sufficient, García Bernal and Diego Luna, who performs Cassian Andor, have been lifelong pals and co-starred in Y tu mamá también. —TE

Director: Jules Dassin
Solid: Raymond St. Jacques, Ruby Dee, Julian Mayfield
The place to look at: Out there to lease on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu

The nice filmmaker Jules Dassin is finest identified for the heist film basic Rififi. Andor is a present that has its personal heists, so there’s an argument to look at that one as nicely (and really, you don’t want an excuse). Nevertheless it’s his scintillating drama Uptight that the majority carefully pertains to Andor’s themes and narratives, and it’s an all-timer within the historical past of American motion pictures about activism and the difficulties of organizing mass political actions amid occasions of despair.

Co-written by stars Ruby Dee and Julian Mayfield, Uptight takes place instantly after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., and follows a gaggle of Black activists getting ready for what looks like an inevitable, bigger armed racial battle. When one of many activists — distraught by King’s assassination, spiraling into alcoholism and despair, and outcast by the others — is tempted to make his life extra easy by telling the police in regards to the group’s actions, tensions flare and no simple solutions are discovered.

Uptight is an explosive, sweaty, and immaculately constructed political drama that feels as related because it’s ever been. It matches with a lot of Andor’s themes in regards to the challenges of revolution, but additionally simply as nicely with our personal present political second. —Pete Volk