Loading Page
A Dangerous Idea(2016)
Status: Released
Date: 2016-12-09
80%
2 Votes
Time: 1h 46m
Eugenics, genetics and the American dream
Overview:
A dangerous idea has threatened the American Dream from the beginning - the belief that some groups and individuals are inherently superior to others and more deserving of fundamental rights. Such biological determinism provided an excuse for some of America's most shameful history. And now it's back. This documentary reveals how biologically determined politics has disenfranchised women and people of color, provided a rationale for state sanctioned crimes committed against America's most vulnerable citizens, and now gains new traction under the Trump administration.
Languages: English.
Countries:
United States of America
ProductionCompanies: 
Movie: A Dangerous Idea
Top 10 Billed Cast
Van Jones
Himself
HomePage
Overview
A dangerous idea has threatened the American Dream from the beginning - the belief that some groups and individuals are inherently superior to others and more deserving of fundamental rights. Such biological determinism provided an excuse for some of America's most shameful history. And now it's back. This documentary reveals how biologically determined politics has disenfranchised women and people of color, provided a rationale for state sanctioned crimes committed against America's most vulnerable citizens, and now gains new traction under the Trump administration.
Release Date
2016-12-09
Average
8
Rating:
4.0 startsTagline
Eugenics, genetics and the American dream
Genres
Languages:
EnglishKeywords
Recommendations Movies
67%
Monkey Business(en)
1952-09-03
Research chemist Barnaby Fulton works on a fountain of youth pill for a chemical company. One of the labs chimps gets loose in the laboratory and mixes chemicals, but then pours the mix into the water cooler. When trying one of his own samples, washed down with water from the cooler, Fulton begins to act just like a twenty-year-old and believes his potion is working. Soon his wife and boss are also behaving like children.
76%
My Friends Act II(it)
1982-12-22
The four old friends meet on the grave of the fifth of them, Perozzi, who died at the end of the first episode. Time has passed but they are still up for adventures and cruel jokes, and while they recall the one they created together with the late friend, new ones are on their way, starting right there at the cemetery.
80%
Autumn Sonata(sv)
1978-10-08
After a seven-year absence, Charlotte Andergast travels to Sweden to reunite with her daughter Eva. The pair have a troubled relationship: Charlotte sacrificed the responsibilities of motherhood for a career as a classical pianist. Over an emotional night, the pair reopen the wounds of the past. Charlotte gets another shock when she finds out that her mentally impaired daughter, Helena, is out of the asylum and living with Eva.
74%
Sullivan's Travels(en)
1941-11-30
Successful movie director John L. Sullivan, convinced he won't be able to film his ambitious masterpiece until he has suffered, dons a hobo disguise and sets off on a journey, aiming to "know trouble" first-hand. When all he finds is a train ride back to Hollywood and a beautiful blonde companion, he redoubles his efforts, managing to land himself in more trouble than he bargained for when he loses his memory and ends up a prisoner on a chain gang.
77%
Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler(de)
1922-04-27
Dr. Mabuse and his organization of criminals are in the process of completing their latest scheme, a theft of information that will allow Mabuse to make huge profits on the stock exchange. Afterwards, Mabuse disguises himself and attends the Folies Bergères show, where Cara Carozza, the main attraction of the show, passes him information on Mabuse's next intended victim, the young millionaire Edgar Hull. Mabuse then uses psychic manipulation to lure Hull into a card game where he loses heavily. When Police Commissioner von Wenk begins an investigation of this mysterious crime spree, he has little to go on, and he needs to find someone who can help him.
67%
The Five Venoms(zh)
1978-08-12
A dying master sends his last student to check up on five former pupils, who each know a special style of kung-fu.
74%
The Man Without a Past(fi)
2002-03-01
Arriving in Helsinki, a nameless man is beaten within an inch of his life by thugs, miraculously recovering only to find that he has completely lost his memory. Back on the streets, he attempts to begin again from zero, befriending a moody dog and becoming besotted with a Salvation Army volunteer.
56%
Zombie Fight Club(zh)
2014-10-23
It's the end of the century at a corner of the city in a building riddled with crime - Everyone in the building has turned into zombies. After Jenny's boyfriend is killed in a zombie attack, she faces the challenge of surviving in the face of adversity. In order to stay alive, she struggles with Andy to flee danger.
69%
King Kong vs. Godzilla(ja)
1962-08-11
The advertising director of Pacific Pharmaceuticals, frustrated with the low ratings of their sponsored TV program, seeks a more sensationalist approach. He orders his staff to Faro Island to capture King Kong for exploitation. As Godzilla re-emerges, a media frenzy generates with Pacific looking to capitalize off of the ultimate battle.
74%
Florence Fight Club(ru)
2015-06-21
Intertwined stories from the gladiator/athletes participating to the Calcio Storico Fiorentino yearly championship.
66%
Inferno(it)
1980-02-07
A young man returns from Rome to his sister's satanic New York apartment house.
67%
Inside Asda: Bigger, Better, Cheaper?(en)
2020-01-06
The supermarket giant that rose high by taking prices low.
70%
That Most Important Thing: Love(fr)
1975-02-12
Servais Mont, a freelance photographer who works taking compromising photos, gets fascinated by Nadine Chevalier, a tormented low-budget movie actress married to an eccentric film photo collector.
74%
Sans Soleil(fr)
1983-03-02
A woman narrates the thoughts of a world traveler, meditations on time and memory expressed in words and images from places as far-flung as Japan, Guinea-Bissau, Iceland, and San Francisco.
65%
Godzilla, King of the Monsters!(en)
1956-04-27
During an assignment, foreign correspondent Steve Martin spends a layover in Tokyo and is caught amid the rampage of an unstoppable prehistoric monster the Japanese call 'Godzilla'. The only hope for both Japan and the world lies on a secret weapon, which may prove more destructive than the monster itself.
69%
The Isle(ko)
2000-04-22
Mute Hee-Jin is working as a clerk in a fishing resort in the Korean wilderness; selling baits, food and occasionally her body to the fishing tourists. One day she falls in love with Hyun-Shik, who is on the run from the police, and rescues him with a fish hook when he tries to commit suicide.
75%
Au Revoir les Enfants(fr)
1987-10-07
Au revoir les enfants tells a heartbreaking story of friendship and devastating loss concerning two boys living in Nazi-occupied France. At a provincial Catholic boarding school, the precocious youths enjoy true camaraderie—until a secret is revealed. Based on events from writer-director Malle’s own childhood, the film is a subtle, precisely observed tale of courage, cowardice, and tragic awakening.
62%
When a Stranger Calls(en)
1979-08-24
A student babysitter has her evening disturbed when the phone rings. So begins a series of increasingly terrifying and threatening calls that lead to a shocking revelation.
Similar Movies
64%
Genesis 2.0(en)
2018-11-28
A well-preserved mammoth carcass is found in the remote New Siberian Islands in the Arctic Ocean, opening up the possibility of a world-changing “Jurassic Park” moment in genetics.
0%
Women Should Vote: A short history of how women won the franchise in Ontario(en)
The documentary follows the activism of prominent suffragists such as Emily Stowe, as they struggled for an equal say in their own future. These women formed associations, petitioned the Ontario Legislature, wrote essays, and held satirical events to achieve their goals of equal rights for women. It is a celebration of the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage in Ontario.
0%
Genetic Me(en)
2014-11-06
Is our life predetermined from birth? Does our genes determine our personality and behavior? Is there a criminal gene? This documentary follows the well-known Danish journalist, author, and neurobiologist Lone Frank, who explores her own self with the help of her genetic map and her family history.
66%
I Am Somebody(en)
1970-01-01
Madeline Anderson’s documentary brings viewers to the front lines of the civil rights movement during the 1969 Charleston hospital workers’ strike, when 400 poorly paid Black women went on strike to demand union recognition and a wage increase, only to find themselves in confrontation with the National Guard and the state government. Anderson personally participated in the strike, along with such notable figures as Coretta Scott King, Ralph Abernathy and Andrew Young, all affiliated with Martin Luther King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Anderson’s film shows the courage and resiliency of the strikers and the support they received from the local black community. It is an essential filmed record of this important moment in the history of civil and women’s rights. The film is also notable as arguably the first televised documentary on civil rights directed by a woman of color, solidifying its place in American film history.
75%
The Red Pill(en)
2016-10-14
When a feminist filmmaker sets out to document the mysterious and polarizing world of the Men’s Rights Movement, she begins to question her own beliefs. Chronicling Cassie Jaye’s journey exploring an alternate perspective on gender equality, power and privilege.
77%
9to5: The Story of a Movement(en)
2020-06-19
In the early 1970s, a group of secretaries in Boston decided that they had suffered in silence long enough. They started fighting back, creating a movement to force changes in their workplaces. This movement became national, and is a largely forgotten story of U.S. twentieth century history. It encapsulates a unique intersection of the women’s movement with the labor movement. The awareness these secretaries brought to bear on women’s work reverberates even today. Clericals were the low-wage workers of their era. America now confronts the growing reality of deep income inequality. The stories and strategies of these bold, creative women resonates in contemporary America.
0%
Secrets of a long life(fr)
2013-04-04
Spared by cancer, diabetes and possibly Alzheimer’s, men and women of small stature are intriguing scientists that are trying to postpone age-related illnesses. What mechanisms protect these small Ecuadorian from certain illnesses? From Quito to Los Angeles, via Tel-Aviv, the film follows the revolutionary research, step-by-step, that is attempting to understand and prevent diseases such as cancer. And outlines ways to live in good health… for as long as possible.
42%
Equal Means Equal(en)
2016-08-27
An unflinching look at how women are treated in the USA today examining issues such as workplace harassment, domestic violence, rape and sexual assault. It shows how discriminatory attitudes still prevail and influence society and argues for the need to improve laws that claim to protect women.
0%
Tangled Roots(en)
2022-08-18
An intimate look into Demers family's experience raising children while dealing with the societal stigmas around disabilities and the consequences of Alberta's forgotten experiment in eugenics.
61%
The Case of Bruno Lüdke(de)
2021-02-17
The incredible story of Bruno Lüdke (1908-44), the alleged worst mass murderer in German criminal history; or actually, a story of forged files and fake news that takes place during the darkest years of the Third Reich, when the principles of criminal justice, subjected to the yoke of a totalitarian system that is beginning to collapse, mean absolutely nothing.
55%
The Sound of Identity(en)
2020-08-22
In the spotlight of global media coverage, the first transgender woman ever to perform as Don Giovanni in a professional opera, makes her historic debut in one of the reddest states in the U.S.
60%
Echoes 'Cross the Tracks(en)
2012-03-01
A powerful documentary starring Morgan Freeman about the genesis of The Blues in the South and the music spreading around the world. Morgan Freeman shares his story of his experience of growing up in Clarksdale, Mississippi and his love for the Blues.
72%
The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey(en)
2003-01-21
Many geneticists and archaeologists have long surmised that human life began in Africa. Dr. Spencer Wells, one of a group of scientists studying the origin of human life, offers evidence and theories to support such a thesis in this PBS special. He claims that Africa was populated by only a few thousand people that some deserted their homeland in a conquest that has resulted in global domination.
73%
The Scientist, The Imposter and Stalin: How to Feed the People(fr)
2018-07-31
The documentary tells two very different human fates in the 1920s Soviet Union. Nikolai Vavilov was a botanical genius, Trofim Lyssenko was an agronomist who made great promises and fake inventions. Each of them tried to solve the country's nutritional problem, but only one succeeded.
90%
What Darwin Never Knew(en)
2009-12-29
Earth teems with a staggering variety of animals, including 9,000 kinds of birds, 28,000 types of fish, and more than 350,000 species of beetles. What explains this explosion of living creatures—1.4 million different species discovered so far, with perhaps another 50 million to go? The source of life's endless forms was a profound mystery until Charles Darwin brought forth his revolutionary idea of natural selection. But Darwin's radical insights raised as many questions as they answered. What actually drives evolution and turns one species into another? To what degree do different animals rely on the same genetic toolkit? And how did we evolve?
100%
The Real Eve(en)
2002-04-21
The made-for-cable documentary film The Real Eve is predicated on the theory that the human race can be traced to a common ancestor. The mitochondrial DNA of one prehistoric woman, who lived in Africa, has according to this theory been passed down from generation to generation over a span of 150,000 years, supplying the "chemical energy" to all humankind.
0%
AccepTance(en)
2025-07-18
An experimental documentary looking at the transgender experience around the world over two hemispheres, three continents and with four interviewees. The film employs limited B roll shots or edits during the interviews, instead opting to have the interviews mostly uncut, with the goal of creating both a level of sincerity and a conversational narrative between any one of the interviewees and the audience.
73%
Bridegroom(en)
2013-04-23
A documentary that tells the emotional journey of Shane and Tom, two young men in a loving and committed relationship — a relationship that was cut tragically short by a misstep off the side of a roof.