A box-office flop released in 2002, it offers a particularly coherent dystopian view of a future in which senses, or feelings, are outlawed. Politically, the government is fascist. A cold logic follows: we, the human race, are now capable of eradicating ourselves through violence, feelings are the root causes of violence, thus we must outlaw feelings. In this objective goal are represented inhuman realities, the narrative follows suite.

The government uses the most pervasive methods to ensure the prevention of ‘sense-offense.’ In this sense Equilibrium uses Orwellian imagery, but is not restricted to the concern with ‘Big Brother.’ Politically, the film attempted to reintroduce to greater public to some of the unprecedented issues of WW2, and presumably, to profit from their serious, universal nature. The question of the human condition, war’s relation to that condition, and the government’s place in mitigating that relationship is certainly one worth continued study.