• Home
  • News
  • Top Picks
    • Movies & Films: Top 25
    • Documentaries: Top 25
    • Films For Students: Top 10
    • Music Videos: Top 10
  • Categories
    • Film
    • Documentary
    • Shorts
    • Blog
    • Calendar
    • Links
    • About

Miss Liberty's Film & Documentary World

Libertarian Movies, Films & Documentaries

Friendly Persuasion (1956)

Tagged: Non-aggression

ACADEMY AWARD NOMINEE: BEST PICTURE
Pacifist Quaker ways are strained by the American Civil War. [ Friendly Persuasion credits: Dir: William Wyler/ Gary Cooper, Dorothy McGuire, Anthony Perkins, Marjorie Main/ 140 min/ Family, Drama/ Non-Aggression]

“An upbeat family film, and an interesting window into Quaker life.”

The first half of this film is essentially an image dramatized in great depth; the second half is a drama about war. At the center of the story is a Quaker farm family in Indiana.

Through a series of light, comic scenes, we become familiar with their innocent, pastoral life — their farm, their conservative religious lifestyle, their loving family relationships, and their rather mild “sins” (music, dance, and the occasional horse race). But in the second half of the film, this Norman Rockwell panorama is suddenly clouded over by the coming Civil War.

The Quaker religion forbids fighting, but as the Quaker community itself becomes threatened, each member must choose the degree to which he will follow that dictate. That’s the principal tension here. Each of the main characters makes a different compromise; but in the end all weather the storm, and the rhythm of placid Quaker life is returned.

The Quaker idea that people should resolve conflicts with one another by using “friendly persuasion” — that is, by appealing to reason, setting an example, and applying social pressure — instead of resorting to force is one that libertarians will find admirable. In fact, it would be libertarianism itself if this hesitation to use force were not also applied to self-defense. The impracticality of that prohibition is illustrated here. As the marauding Southern troops invade, the Quakers are easy prey.

Still, you can’t help but admire the Quakers. They share with libertarians a philosophical opposition to the initiation of force, and seem to understand, as few others do, that violence begets violence and peace begets peace.

Despite some serious subject matter, Friendly Persuasion is really a lighthearted film that for the most part portrays a happy (if rigid) Quaker existence. There are many mildly amusing comic scenes, including one in which Marjorie Main plays essentially the same farmwoman character, Ma Kettle, for which she had already become famous. This is an upbeat family film, and an interesting window into Quaker life.

How to See It

Netflix
Amazon (DVD)
Amazon (Instant Video)
YouTube Video Search
Online Video Search

Links

IMDB
Wikipedia
Book: The Friendly iPersuasion

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)

Related

Featured Post

The Onion: Should the Government Stop Dumping Money Into a Giant Hole?

It's one of the great economic questions of our time. Does dumping money into a giant hole create jobs and stimulate the economy, or is it simply a waste? Paul Krugman has suggested that even faking an alien invasion would be good for the economy, the idea being that any activity, with or without production … Continue Reading

maos great famine

Mao’s Great Famine (2011)

Mao Zedong's "Great Leap Forward," a far-reaching program of forced modernization intended to transform China into a socialist paradise, instead results in the greatest holocaust in human history — with a death toll of 45 million. Also listed as La grande famine de Mao. [ Mao's Great Famine credits: Dir: … Continue Reading

South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut

South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut (1999)

WINNER: TOP 25 LIBERTARIAN FILMS In the name of saving the children from obscene language, the parents of the South Park kids go to all extremes—including censorship, mind-controlling implants, executions, and finally war on Canada. [ South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut credits: Dir: Trey Parker/ (voices … Continue Reading

Themes

Abuse of power American revolution Anti-draft Anti-regulation Anti-slavery Anti-socialism Anti-taxation Anti-war Ayn Rand Corrupt government Creator as hero Democide Econ 101 Eminent domain Equality & law Escape from socialism Freedom of speech Free press as hero Government as bigot Government as torturer Government enforced morality Government healthcare Government schools Incompetent government Individualism John Stossel Law & liberty Legalize Drugs Libertarian heroes Libertarianism 101 Power corrupts Power worship Pro-capitalism Pro-immigration Propaganda Psychiatric coercion Resistance to tyranny Right to secede Search & seizure Second amendment Sexual liberty Social tolerance Unions & monopolies Voluntarism Working for government

Genres/Categories

Action-Adventure Animated Biography Blog Comedy Documentary Drama Family Featured Film Foreign History Horror Music-Dance Netflix News Romance SciFi-Fantasy Shorts Thriller Upcoming Western

About Miss Liberty

This site is a collection of films and documentaries of particular interest to libertarians (and those interested in libertarianism). It began as a book, Miss Liberty’s Guide to Film: Movies for the Libertarian Millennium, where many of the recommended films were first reviewed. The current collection has grown to now more than double the number in that original list, and it’s growing still.

  • RSS

© 2023 Miss Liberty's Film & Documentary World. All Rights Reserved