Anniversary tells a family story. It covers 5 years of “The Change,” a period when democracy dies and authoritarianism takes over. By focusing on one family, we see the human toll. There are some spoilers ahead.

If Anniversary had come out even a year ago, people would say, “Oh, that will never happen.” But it is happening, right now, right here. This film paints a picture of how authoritarian rule destroys one particular family.

The film begins with a 25th anniversary party for the parents. Ellen (Diane Lane) and Paul (Kyle Chandler) are happy and successful. They have four children. Anna (Madeline Brewer) is the oldest. She’s a lesbian who does stand up comedy. Their daughter Cynthia (Zoey Deutch) is married to Rob (Daryl McCormack).

The youngest daughter Birdie (Mckenna Grace) is still in high school and lives at home. Her boyfriend is Moses (Sky Yang). Ellen and Paul have a son, Josh (Dylan O’Brien), who shows up at the anniversary party with Liz (Phoebe Dynevor).

Liz was Ellen’s student in a university class 7 years ago. Ellen still remembers her because of her political ideas. She espoused Nazi ideas that would lead to a loss of rights, police roaming the streets, punishment for dissent, and other anti-democratic and anti-constitutional politics.

Liz wrote a book based on her university thesis called “The Change.” It becomes a best seller. Josh, who is a bit of a loser, becomes a loyal follower of Liz’s ideas in the book. He becomes power mad and changes drastically from the rest of the family, who are all well-educated and liberal.

Within 5 years of her book coming out, the world accepted The Change as the standard. If you don’t profess loyalty to the new regime, the new flag, the new rulers, you are in danger. Liz has control of police and all the systems of government. Josh thinks he does, too, but he doesn’t.

Various family members react in different ways. Ellen tries writing about her position. Paul loses his business. Anna joins an underground group of resisters. Cynthia is so depressed she just stays in bed. Birdie takes the most drastic action.

The film shows scenes from each year for five years. By that time democracy is gone. There’s only The Change or punishment for opposing it.

Obviously, this film is grim and relevant. It’s so real because we’ve seen it happen. It happened in Germany, it’s happened in other places where tyranny took over. It’s happening now in the U.S. The great cast brings it to life and makes it hit hard.

You can see the film on Hulu/Disney+. If you watch it, please share your reaction in the comments.