American Mavericks: Fight the Power

Triple-bill of anti-authoritarian dramas. 'The Assassination of Richard Nixon' (2005) is a psychological drama based on a true story.

Sam Bicke (Sean Penn) is a salesman for an office-supply company whose life is slowly beginning to unravel.

His job is going nowhere, his wife, Marie (Naomi Watts), has left him, and his boss (Jack Thompson) keeps pushing self-help books on him that make a mockery of his state of mind.

One of Bicke's few friends is Bonny Simmons (Don Cheadle), an auto mechanic, and together they come up with an idea for a tyre shop on wheels.

While neither has the money to finance the project, Bicke has learned of a program for small-business loans instituted by President Richard Nixon, which he's certain will come through for him.

But Bicke is denied his loan, which dovetails with his increasing suspicion of the president's Vietnam policies and a sudden interest in the 'by any means necessary' political activism of the Black Panther Party.

Desperate to seem important in some way, Bicke becomes increasingly obsessed with the duplicity of Richard Nixon, until he chooses to take it upon himself to stop the president once and for all.

In 'Manic' (2001), Lyle (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is committed to a juvenile mental institution after beating up a classmate.

Inside, Lyle encounters a group of adolescents all in a similar situation to him, unable to deal with life.

Psychiatrist Dave (Cheadle) is on hand to help Lyle.

Finally, 'The Corporation' (2003) is a political documentary by Canadian filmmakers Jennifer Abbott and Mark Achbar.

In the mid-19th century, American corporations began to be legally recognised as individuals, a move that has given them unprecedented rights.

In collaboration with novelist Joel Bakan, the filmmakers pose the question: if a corporation was a person, what sort of person would it be?

Applying psychiatric principles and social research, they come to the conclusion that this 'person' would be a power-hungry, egocentric and highly destructive psychopath.

The film won Best Documentary World Cinema Audience Award at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival.