'An Anarchist at the Movies' gathers more than two decades of reviews by Aotearoa/New Zealand anarchist Barrie Sargeant, written between 2004 and 2026 for a wide range of periodicals and websites. Moving freely between cinema, books, and political culture, these pieces reflect on art through the eyes of a long-time activist rather than a professional critic.
While a small number of academic studies have examined film through an anarchist lens, this collection offers something different: an accessible, grounded perspective shaped by lived political experience. Sargeant approaches movies and literature not from the seminar room but from involvement in anarchist projects in Aotearoa and beyond.
The essays collected here also serve a practical purpose. Much anarchist writing appears in small publications and online spaces that often vanish with time. By bringing these reviews together, An Anarchist at the Movies preserves a fragment of that culture for future readers and researchers.
This book is not written to demand agreement. Instead, it invites readers to think, argue, and engage with the films and ideas it explores.
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