From the power struggles within government halls to the social upheavals on the streets, these dramas captured the spirit of the times with a subtlety and depth rarely found in the decade's more famous offerings.
17. "In the King of Prussia" (1982)
The true story of the Plowshares Eight, a group of activists who broke into a nuclear missile site in Pennsylvania, challenging the moral legitimacy of nuclear weapons.
16. "The Men's Club" (1986)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 25%
In this drama, seven men from varied backgrounds come together for a night of storytelling, revealing their innermost fears, desires, and demons.
15. "Crisis at Central High" (1981)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 40%
This drama details the true story of the Little Rock Nine and their integration into an all-white Arkansas high school in 1957, amidst intense racial tension.
14. "The Ploughman's Lunch" (1983)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 41%
A young, ambitious British journalist manipulates facts and people, including his own mother, to achieve success, set against the backdrop of the Falklands War.
13. "Under the Volcano" (1984)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 74%
Set in Mexico on the Day of the Dead, this film follows the last day in the life of a self-destructive British consul grappling with love, loss, and despair.
12. "Silkwood" (1983)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 76%
Based on a true story, this film follows Karen Silkwood, a worker at a plutonium processing plant, who risks her life to expose unsafe working conditions, leading to her mysterious death.
11. "The Falcon and the Snowman" (1985)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 83%
Based on a true story, this film follows two young American men, one a disillusioned ex-CIA employee and the other a drug addict, who become involved in Soviet espionage.
10. "The Year of Living Dangerously" (1982)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 88%
Set in Indonesia during the overthrow of President Sukarno, a young Australian journalist navigates a dangerous political landscape and a complex love affair.
9. "The Dead Zone" (1983)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 89%
After awakening from a coma, a schoolteacher discovers he has psychic abilities, including foreseeing the future, which leads him to confront a dangerous political candidate.
8. "Testament" (1983)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 89%
In the aftermath of a nuclear attack, a small-town American family struggles to survive amidst the gradual disintegration of society and the loss of loved ones.
7. "Salvador" (1986)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 90%
An American journalist and his local friend navigate the brutal and chaotic civil war in El Salvador, capturing the human cost of the conflict.
6. "Under Fire" (1983)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 91%
In the midst of the Nicaraguan revolution, an American photojournalist is torn between his journalistic ethics and his involvement in the conflict after falling for a local woman.
5. "No Way Out" (1987)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 92%
A young Navy officer is assigned to investigate the murder of his lover's other partner, only to uncover a deep conspiracy within the Pentagon.
4. "The Killing Fields" (1984)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 93%
A harrowing and true account of the Cambodian genocide, following a New York Times journalist and his Cambodian colleague as they navigate and survive the brutal Khmer Rouge regime.
3. "Missing" (1982)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 94%
Based on real events, this political thriller explores the disappearance of an American journalist in the aftermath of the Chilean coup of 1973, as his wife and father uncover a web of international intrigue.
2. "Matewan" (1987)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 94%
In a 1920s West Virginia coal town, a labor union organizer and a group of miners face off against a tyrannical coal company in a struggle for workers' rights.
1. "True Believer" (1989)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 96%
A disillusioned civil rights attorney takes on a seemingly hopeless murder case, uncovering police corruption and a quest for redemption.