The Ministry of Film – Details, episodes & analysis

Hello! It's our very first episode! Today Carolina and Robin talk about FW Murnau's thoroughly nasty vampire horror from 1922.

Politics include: the sheer horror of Count Orlok killing his way through Eastern Europe, the plague and early conspiracy theories. 

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Carolina and Robin talk about brilliantly clever parody of nineties suburbia, The Truman Show.

Politics include: the fantastical dystopia of Hollywood (sorry Hollywood), the individualist American dream and Foucault's nightmarish panopticon of all-encompassing surveillance. 

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Carolina and Robin sit down to discuss Pixar's Ratatouille (2007), in which a country rat turns out to be a Michelin-star-worthy chef. 

Politics include: the politics of a kitchen, the politics of Parisian real estate, the politics of rats?

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Carolina and Robin talk about the heart-warming, surreal post-war romcom A Matter of Life and Death.

Politics include: the bureaucracy of the afterlife, capital E Empire, women riding bikes during the war, and David Niven's Conservative face and Labour attitude.

You can find out more information about the films of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger via the documentary 'Made in England: the films of Powell and Pressburger' here, and if you're in the UK you can watch it for free on BBC iPlayer here. This is not an ad!

If you like what you hear, please rate and subscribe to the show wherever you're listening, it will help others find the pod.

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Happy holidays! Carolina and Robin discuss the historical drama The Lion in Winter, a film that takes place during Christmas, but with more backstabbing than giftgiving. 

Politics include: the nature of power, legacy and the politics of elites, why Katherine Hepburn is the ultimate gilf queen, and Peter O'Toole having the time of his life as king. 

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In 2025's first episode, Carolina and Robin discuss the film that best depicts the pre-modern world, Barry Lyndon.

Politics include: how a conman acquires wealth and status, the utter boredom of aristocratic women, and how to understand Trump ahead of his upcoming presidency.

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Carolina and Robin go from discussing the pre-modern world (see our previous episode on Barry Lyndon) to deciphering the futuristic messaging of 1927's Metropolis.

Politics include: why authoritarianism may not actually be that great, the catholicism of the Weimar republic, and why a 1920s film has a lot to say about... AI?

This is the final of our episodes shot earlier in 2024, so please bear with us, the sound was less than ideal.

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Carolina and Robin discuss The Substance, a very modern classic about a Hollywood actress who will do anything to be young and beautiful again.

Politics include: the late-stage capitalism of beauty standards, how not having an inner life will ruin your outer life, and why most men in this film are morons.

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Carolina and Robin discuss Cleo from 5 to 7, an outrageously French film about a young woman who may or may not be terminally ill in 1950s Paris. While she waits for her diagnosis, she discovers who she is and her place in the world, politics and all.

Politics include: the beret-wearing, tarot-reading difficulties of being a beautiful woman in Paris, how the war lingers in even the most gentle of French New Wave films, and how everything connects to the modern French far right.

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Carolina and Robin are back in your ears for a bonus episode to mark the best real-life sleepover that is the Papal Conclave.

Politics include: faith and politics being quite icky together, how the West Wing really did dictate political art through the 2010s, and how electing a Pope is actually not that dissimilar to electing your Constituency Labour Party Secretary. Genuinely.

Conclave nerds, rejoice:

• A Conclave expert runs you through the election process (The Spectator)
• The best print review of Conclave out there (Michael Wood for the LRB)
• The OG Patrick Harris covers the politics of Pope Francis' funeral (The Observer)

If you like what you hear, please rate and subscribe to the show wherever you're listening, it will help others find the pod.

You can now follow us on:

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