Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil

Poland, 1962. Anna is a novice about to take her vows when the mother superior sends her to meet her only living relative, her aunt Wanda, a hard-drinking former state prosecutor. Wanda tells her she is Jewish and that her real name is Ida, and the two women drive into the countryside to find out what happened to her parents. It is shot in black and white, in 82 minutes.

Why it’s here: The film puts Polish complicity in the Holocaust on screen through a quiet road movie. What's punk is Wanda, who once sentenced people for the state and now has to live with it. What's pedagogical is how it handles guilt, memory and what a country hides. Pairs with Number the Stars and Everything is Illuminated.

Spain, 1944. Ofelia moves with her pregnant mother to a military outpost run by her stepfather, Captain Vidal, a Francoist officer hunting the last rebels in the hills. She finds a labyrinth and a faun who gives her three tasks to prove she's a lost princess. Del Toro cuts between her fairy tale and the real cruelty around her, and the real one is worse.

Why it’s here: The film sets a child's imagination against fascism and shows imagination winning something that matters. What's punk is Ofelia's disobedience, which is the whole plot. What's pedagogical is how clearly it shows the cruelty of an obedient man. It's violent and not for young kids despite the fairy-tale look. Pairs with The Tin Drum and the fascism bundle.