John Horgan

Like many who teach courses on terrorism, we sometimes encourage our students to look at movies relevant to their studies. With widespread recent praise for Zero Dark Thirty (see Bruce Hoffman’s article in the Huffington Post) and the inevitable recommendation to watch The Battle of Algiers, I decided to assemble a quick personal list of terrorism-related movies. For me, Four Lions remains the greatest film ever made about terrorism.

A reminder that TV shows don’t count (so, sorry Homeland but you don’t even make the “Guilty Pleasures” category), The Road to Guantanamo is a docudrama, Diameter of the Bomb is a documentary. Argo definitely doesn’t count. The Dark Knight technically counts, but if terrorism is something that we know “when we see it”, TDK is not really about terrorism. Oh, and I know you all know this by now but the villains in Die Hard were not actually terrorists but thieves (“exceptional” or otherwise). I’m sure I’ve forgotten some, and welcome your additions below.

My Top Ten (1 = Top)

Four Lions (2010) Syriana (2005) Paradise Now (2005) The Baader Meinhof Complex (2008) United 93 (2006) Carlos (2010) Five Minutes of Heaven (2009) Shadow Dancer (2012) The Battle of Algiers (1966) The Wind that Shakes the Barley (2006)

Honorable Mentions

Zero Dark Thirty (2012) Salvador (1986) Omagh (2004) Mississippi Burning (1988) American History X (1998) The Dancer Upstairs (2002) Fifty Dead Men Walking (2008) The Lives of Others (2006) Day of the Jackal (1973) Body of Lies (2008)

Guilty Pleasures

The Amateur (1981) Sword of Gideon (1986) Team America: World Police (2004) Arlington Road (1999) The Peacemaker (1997) Clear and Present Danger (1994) The Siege (1998) Year of the Gun (1991) Michael Collins (1996) Blown Away (1994)

To Avoid

The Jackal (1997) Collateral Damage (2002) Air Force One (1997) [Save for the immortal line – “Get off my plane!”] The Sum of All Fears (2002) The Kingdom (2007) The Devil’s Own (1997)

Additions? Omissions? Suggestions?