Children Of Men (2006)
The Government: It’s 2027, and with global infertility leaving humankind somewhat on their last legs, the UK is the last fully operating country on a planet that’s gradually going kaput. Naturally, all manner of asylum seekers have made their way over to Blighty in search of shelter, only for the Government to round them up and sling them into detention camps.
V For Vendetta (2005)
The Government: Enjoy the next seventeen years while you can, because 2027 sounds like it’s going to be a real stinker. Setting their Alan Moore adaptation in the year of choice for cinematic doom-mongers, the Wachowski brothers present a Britain governed by totalitarian crazies Norsefire.
As well as imposing the usual fascist nastiness (ethnic minorities, lefties and homosexuals placed in concentration camps, constant propaganda churned out through state-owned telly etc.) they’ve also set up an extensive and invasive CCTV network to keep a beady eye on any potential troublemakers. Unhappily for them, they soon come up against one troublemaker who quite enjoys the attention…
Better than Labour? No. For all their faults, Labour have at least managed to keep the Houses of Parliament in one piece.
Equilibrium (2002)
The Government: In the city of Libria, the repressive Tetragrammaton Council rules with an iron fist. Not that anyone minds too much, as human emotion was outlawed years ago. After World War 3 left the planet in a bit of a state, the council decided that stupid old “feelings” were to blame, thus declaring anything other than total contentment illegal.
Nineteen Eighty Four (1984)
The Government: Uh-oh, it’s the daddy of creepy governments, the Party, rulers of Oceania and inadvertent inspiration for godawful reality shows everywhere. In Orwell’s Oceania the concept of “truth” has been hijacked, history books tinkered with, all individual thought outlawed… you get the idea.
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
The Government: Welcome to a Daily Mail reader’s worst nightmare, as drug-fuelled teenage gangs prowl the streets, terrorising helpless Middle-Englanders and, er, listening to Beethoven. Broken Britain indeed, but who’s running the place? A government at the end of their tether it seems, perhaps explaining their radical new technique for dealing with teenage tearaways.
Star Wars (1977-2005)
The Government: George Lucas’ intergalactic baddies the Empire are the playground bullies of this list, largely retaining power by being bigger and harder than anyone else. Presided over by crinkly-faced sneak Darth Sidious who, in fine political style, pretends to be one thing before revealing himself to be quite another.
Soylent Green (1973)
The Government: In a future plagued by overpopulation, the US government has a problem on its hands: how to feed a bloated nation not best known for its ability to cut back on eating? Enter the Soylent Corporation, an industrial giant producing “high energy vegetable concentrates”, whose newest product, the surprisingly tasty “Soylent Green” could be the answer.
Logan's Run (1976)
The Government: More population issues crop up in Logan’s Run , but the government of the film’s unnamed domed city have come up with a fairly simple way of dealing with them. As soon as citizens hit thirty, they’re legally obliged to top themselves. Anyone trying to pull a fast one can expect a call from a Sandman, a laser-gun wielding enforcer charged with helping the process along a little.
Starship Troopers (1997)
The Government: Earth, the moderately distant future. Government types The Federation are in charge, and are faced with the unsettling truth that we earthlings are not the only inhabitants of the universe. An icky race of giant bugs have set-up shop on the planet of Klendathu, handily situated within meteor-tossing distance of Earth.
With interplanetary relations increasingly tense, the Federation decides its high time humans were top dog again, cunningly announcing that citizenship and its inherent rights will only be granted to those who sign up for military service.
Battle Royale (2000)
The Government: The film takes place in an alternative Japan, where everything has gone fairly pear-shaped. With millions out of work and poverty widespread the nation’s yoof have turned feral. So as to prevent a hormone-fuelled uprising, the government passes a radical bit of legislation that allows the wholesale kidnapping of a particularly disruptive class.
Erasing David (2010)
The Government: Gulp, it’s only the lot who are actually in power. David Bond’s new documentary takes a look at how our nation has become one of the most advanced surveillance states in the world, as information databases and CCTV cameras allow our every move to be monitored by the powers that be.
When Bond received a letter explaining how his daughter was among the 25 million children whose details were lost by the HRMC in 2007, he decided to find out just how much of our information is actually out there.
