When I saw that trailer, I thought the film would probably ring a few bells for me.
Lately I've been doing a lot of reading on the history of the Cultural Revolution in China, and what really strikes me is how much it all reminds me of my years as a JW, the incredible social pressure to conform, to parrot the party line as blindly and loudly as possible (in my cong, if you didn't answer at least once during a meeting, someone was going to talk to you about it), the rigorous self-control that was required not to think for myself (because the minute you do, it's all over). I've seen those parallels in other writings on totalitarian systems, specifically Orwell's "1984." I'm betting that the McCarthy era was a lot like that, particularly in how fear was used as a tool of control. And we know all about that, not so much the fear of dying at Armaggedon but the fear of "the world," how everyone in the world is just rotten to the core and out to get you. Of course, as a good Witness, you have no contacts in "the world" and thus no way to refute that assertion.
Wow, this has struck a nerve in me that just wants to go off, even after 20 years of freedom. I'm Melinda, btw. New here, having just found this group today.