History and cinema are two topics that genuinely interest me. I wouldn’t say I’ve learned history from cinema — that would be a stretch. But cinema has made me aware of history. It shows me events and stories, and then I go read about what’s actually true.

This has been happening for so long that I can’t recall when it started. But for the sake of this post, here are the ones I remember:

Charlie Wilson’s War — how the US and Soviet Union ended up fighting in Afghanistan, through one congressman’s covert operation.

All the President’s Men — the Watergate scandal, so infamous that many subsequent scandals got a “-gate” suffix.

The Lives of Others — not a true story, but it made me aware of East Germany’s surveillance state and what life under the Stasi might have looked like.

It doesn’t even have to be a full film. Sometimes a single line does it. In Gulaal, Kay Kay Menon says — “Najibullah ko tanga tha na Kabul mein”. That one line sent me reading about who Najibullah was, how the Taliban killed him in 1996, and that opened up a whole chapter.

I also find it fascinating how cinema is used to document history. Particularly in American cinema, there’s an abundance of it — even the uncomfortable parts. There are many, but a few that come to mind right now:

The Report — the Senate investigation into CIA torture after 9/11. It shows the dark side, but also that in America, someone can fight to bring the truth out.

Kill the Messenger — journalist Gary Webb exposed the CIA’s role in facilitating drug trafficking by Nicaraguan rebels to fund their fight against communism. A whole chapter I didn’t know existed.

Spotlight — the Boston Globe’s investigation into the Catholic Church’s cover-up of child abuse. Investigative journalism at its best, much like All the President’s Men.

When I see how much American cinema documents its own history, I wonder — does Indian cinema do this enough? Maybe it already does and I just don’t know yet.