Equilibrium

What does this dystopian film tell us about connection between feelings or emotions and evil? Does the fact that the film is derivative of several films and works of literature dilute its message or its entertainment value? How does the society's social control technique, (chemical deadening of emotions and feelings, as a preventative for warfare and inhumanity), bring about the very things it attempts to prevent? What historical parallels are there in Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, Imperial Japan and Soviet Russia? More generally, what does this film tell us about the duality of human nature and cultural accomplishment? Do we attain cultural heights at inevitable moral costs? What exactly is the message with regard to controlling and disciplining our negative emotional tendencies? What connection does this message have with Plato’s thoughts on the dangers of art and literature? What does the Father and son story in the film tell us about past and present totalitarian societies’ efforts to censor, and their concomitant efforts to encourage their citizens to monitor and report each other?