I tend to very much dislike this kind of film-- only because it is so realistically disturbing. This isn't science fiction; it is foresight of grim possibilities. Yet it is reasonably well done.
The White King is a very dark tale of dystopian future in a Nazi-like society resulting from common people giving power to a militaristic totalitarian regime. Clues indicate the country was once free and open. No one expected what was it was capable of becoming. The story provides stern warning about what any government can become given blind trust and limitless authority.
We are not told in the film where this takes place. But enough hints are provided to make one realize this is not Russia, Red China or other lands that have been despotic for centuries and continue so to this day. This was once a shining, "free" society that turned to darkness via a vocal / hysterical minority forcing their views on others until they had cowered everyone else into submission. The strong hint that this could be the United States or Australia presents an intentional cautionary tale to the audience.
The movie's tale is summarized in the animated opening credits. The core of society is ethics, morality and the family unit. When these things are sidestepped, ignored, disrupted for personal-agenda beliefs, no matter how right that society thinks it may be, the freedom-of-beliefs which guarded that society fall one by one until the will of the minority becomes public opinion, hysteria, mass enforcement and finally dictatorship and totalitarianism.
This lesson has been seen time and again throughout history. But now, today, we see modern first-world countries taking steps in the same direction, on a world-wide basis. Those who think "this would never happen here" fail to understand that is exactly what many Germans thought while Hitler crept into power.
Reigns of terror begin with people's willingness to abandon their beliefs and standards in cowardly submission to those more vocal and repressive. This film portrays that from behind-the-scenes, and does so quite well. While it didn't strike me personally as being an exceptional film due to lack of high points and a considerably weak ending (thus the lower stars), the message it provides is clear: those who enforce their beliefs and opinions upon others pave the way for those who enslave.
The White King is a very dark tale of dystopian future in a Nazi-like society resulting from common people giving power to a militaristic totalitarian regime. Clues indicate the country was once free and open. No one expected what was it was capable of becoming. The story provides stern warning about what any government can become given blind trust and limitless authority.
We are not told in the film where this takes place. But enough hints are provided to make one realize this is not Russia, Red China or other lands that have been despotic for centuries and continue so to this day. This was once a shining, "free" society that turned to darkness via a vocal / hysterical minority forcing their views on others until they had cowered everyone else into submission. The strong hint that this could be the United States or Australia presents an intentional cautionary tale to the audience.
The movie's tale is summarized in the animated opening credits. The core of society is ethics, morality and the family unit. When these things are sidestepped, ignored, disrupted for personal-agenda beliefs, no matter how right that society thinks it may be, the freedom-of-beliefs which guarded that society fall one by one until the will of the minority becomes public opinion, hysteria, mass enforcement and finally dictatorship and totalitarianism.
This lesson has been seen time and again throughout history. But now, today, we see modern first-world countries taking steps in the same direction, on a world-wide basis. Those who think "this would never happen here" fail to understand that is exactly what many Germans thought while Hitler crept into power.
Reigns of terror begin with people's willingness to abandon their beliefs and standards in cowardly submission to those more vocal and repressive. This film portrays that from behind-the-scenes, and does so quite well. While it didn't strike me personally as being an exceptional film due to lack of high points and a considerably weak ending (thus the lower stars), the message it provides is clear: those who enforce their beliefs and opinions upon others pave the way for those who enslave.