All the Shah's Men

A mechanic in Iran becomes convinced that a man he's crossed paths with is the blindfolded interrogator who once tortured him in prison — and enlists other former detainees to help him confirm it, with escalating and morally uncertain consequences.

Why it’s here: Punk in the literal sense that its own existence defies a state filmmaking ban — Panahi shot this clandestinely after his own imprisonment, and it's his most direct attack yet on Iran's security apparatus. Pedagogical in refusing easy catharsis: revenge here is morally murky, and the film makes you sit with that uncertainty rather than cheering a clean reckoning.

In 1920s Oklahoma, oil wealth makes the Osage Nation targets of a systematic campaign of murder, exploitation, and legalized theft, carried out in part by white men who married into Osage families. Adapted from David Grann's book of the same name.

Why it’s here: Punk in centering Mollie Burkhart's interiority instead of turning her murder into a backdrop for a white antihero's guilt. Pedagogical in showing how legalized guardianship and "headrights" turned bureaucracy itself into a weapon against the Osage.