The United Nations in films
North by Northwest, Alfred Hitchcock, 1959
A New York advertising executive, Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant) is mistaken for one George Kaplan and kidnapped. He escapes and tries to prove his innocence. Each attempt identifies him further with Kaplan and he is accused of a murder at the United Nations.
Batman, Leslie H. Martinson, 1966
The Penguin, The Joker, The Riddler and Catwoman plot together to kidnap a researcher who has invented a process that can dehydrate a human body to dust. After this crime, the gang of arch super-criminals kidnaps members of the UN Security Council and uses the invention on them. Batman and his companion, Robin, spring into action.
The Rescuers, Walt Disney, 1977, animated film
Penny, an orphan kidnapped by the evil Madame Medusa, throws a message in a bottle out to sea. In the cellars of the United Nations building the Rescue Aid Society (a mouse organisation) convenes a meeting to organise a rescue mission.
Black Hawk Down, Ridley Scott, 2001
In October 1993, civil war in Somalia causes a famine among the civilian population. The United Nations forces are attacked by a faction led by General Mohamed Farrah Aidid. The United States sends a task force of Delta Force soldiers, Army Rangers, and Special Operations Aviation Regiment to arrest Aidid. Unable to find him in person, the unit seeks his lieutenants.
The Interpreter, Sydney Pollack, 2005
Sylvia Broome (Nicole Kidman) is an interpreter at United Nations headquarters in New York. On her way to her desk she overhears a conversation in Ku, an African dialect she is one of the few people to speak, and realises that a murder attempt is being planned on the President of the Republic of Matobo during his visit to the United States.
Hotel Rwanda, Terry George, 2004
The film follows the action of the Rwandan Paul Rusesabagina, a Hutu, the manager of the five-star hotel, Les Mille Collines, in Kigali, who sheltered and saved the lives of over a thousand Rwandan Tutsi threatened by the 1994 genocide.
At the Glass Building: The History of the United Nations through its Secretaries-General, Romuald Sciora, 2006, documentary
The United Nations Organisation is portrayed by its Secretaries-General from Kurt Waldheim to Kofi Annan. A few months before the campaign to elect a new Secretary-General, light is thrown on over half a century of world history.
In 2009, Romuald Sciora made another documentary on the United Nations called Planet UN: the United Nations facing the challenges of the 21st century.
Update : July 2010
- Guide to the United Nations
- Download the guide to the United Nations
- Current United Nations peacekeeping operations
- Main United Nations sites
- The United Nations in films