Important and Terrifying

Rating: 10/10 (28 June 2019)

I remember when the NSA/ Edward Snowden scandal broke there were a few differing opinions on the topic; either you were outraged (though not entirely surprised) that the government had been keeping tabs on you (as I was), or, you shrugged it off as if it was no big deal. "I've got nothing to hide," was one of the most common things I heard stated. "If the government wants to spy on me they'll probably be pretty bored." To me, that kind of nonchalance about this very serious issue is just as terrifying as finding out that the government is spying on us.
Sure, you might not have anything to hide now, but what happens when suddenly your friendly neighbor, whom occasionally talked brashly about the government, just disappears and no one goes looking for him? What happens when your wife or daughter starts getting approached by public officials and blackmailed for sex? What happens when innocent protesters end up detained in windowless prison cells for months? These are not situations I've made up to scare you; these are things that have happened and will happen again. If we don't keep those in power in check, it will happen in our own country.
To the people that approach the idea of surveillance states with lackadaisical ambivalence, I think they need to see movies like "The Lives of Others" or "4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days"; they need to read books like 1984 and Fahrenheit 451. This issue is not one we should approach with a shrug; it's an issue we need to fight, tooth and nail, with every scrap of energy we can muster.
Anyways, that is why I personally love this movie and think it's a masterpiece (my second viewing has cemented its place in my top 100 films of all time), but from a cinematic standpoint, this movie is absolutely incredible as well.
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