By Stephen Whitty/The Star-Ledger

All politics is about persuasion — using logic, or more likely emotion, or most likely self-interest to bring a colleague or constituent around to your point of view.

won't back down
The film "Won't Back Down," seems to be an upbeat story about a single mom and a dedicated teacher who band together to reform a failing school. "It's about making people aware of the problems with our education system and trying to inspire people to get active," says star Maggie Gyllenhaal, pictured above, at right, with Viola Davis, left. "I mean, whatever your politics are, how can you not support that?" KERRY HAYES
An examination of the films hitting the screen recently and a look at the forces behind them shows that more and more, political interests are using movies to do their persuading for them.

“Movies are the language of our culture today,” says William Bolthouse, producer of “Trade of Innocents,” a dramatic thriller with a professional look, recognizable stars and a sturdy plot — an American couple goes to Asia to fight the sexual exploitation of children.

“There’s no better way to reach people, and our goal is to take them to a place where they leave the theater driven to do something.”

This is what films are doing in growing numbers. The question is, do audiences always know who’s doing the driving?

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