Under Fire (1983)

If one film on this list should be required viewing for anyone who carries a press card, it is Roger Spottiswoode's 1983 drama. Nick Nolte plays Russell Price, an American photojournalist covering the last days of the Nicaraguan Revolution in 1979, with Gene Hackman and Joanna Cassidy as fellow reporters. Its central dilemma is unforgettable: rebels whose leader has died ask Price to fake a photo of him alive, and the film follows exactly what that one dishonest frame costs. Jerry Goldsmith's Oscar-nominated score lifts it, but the reason to watch is how seriously it treats neutrality, and how quickly it can collapse.