So, I set some ground rules. To be considered political for my purposes, a film had to meet at least one of five standards:

— It could show an attempt to gain political power, as in “Citizen Kane” (1941) in which the main character runs for governor of New York.

— It could portray a debate over how to govern, as with the one-man stand against Senate corruption in “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” (1939).

— It could cover political events past or present, as in the historic interviews depicted in “Frost/Nixon” (2008).

— It could explore conflict between sovereign powers, like the Cold War negotiations in “Bridge of Spies” (2015).

— Or it could very plainly be making a statement about an issue, like the overt antiwar message of “All Quiet on the Western Front” (1930).

Of course, classifying films in this way can never be perfectly objective, but I did my best to handle all titles with consistency.

With those rules in place, I count six of this year’s best picture nominees as political. “BlacKkKlansman” deals with a Ku Klux Klan plot and the black power movement in the 1970s. “Vice” is a stylized recreation of the career of former Vice President Dick Cheney. “Black Panther” reimagines the classic comic book series about two cousins fighting for the throne of a fictional African superpower. “The Favourite” depicts two women competing for political clout under the thumb of Queen Anne.

While perhaps not quite as clear-cut as those four, “Green Book” shows a black pianist making a stand for civil rights by bravely touring the South in the 1960s. “Roma” takes a dark turn when a Mexico City student protest turns violent.

Among the nominees for the academy’s grand prize, only a pair of musical dramas — “A Star Is Born” and “Bohemian Rhapsody” — did not include enough of a political emphasis to classify them as such under these ground rules, though subtle political themes could certainly be teased out.