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I’M surprised the lords ruling my algorithm did not alert me about Jan Komasa’s film Anniversary, or that it didn’t receive the media attention it deserved. I read up on it and found that the distributor Lionsgate may have buried the political thriller in November fearing a backlash from Trump supporters. It had a limited release and was low profile. “It’s hard to market a political film today,” one of the producers told The Wrap. “People are afraid of them.”
Anniversary is about an American family that is hounded following the rise of an authoritarian government. The twist — a book by their daughter-in-law ignited the fire that ultimately saw the rise of this regime and the destruction of everything it pretended to stand for. We watch the family come undone over a five-year period.
Diane Lane plays Ellen, a professor at a prestigious university whose former student Liz publishes The Change, a book claiming to unite a divided people by putting people in the centre. Liz wrote about a single-party rule but Ellen understood what she was advocating — authoritarian rule.
The Change gets picked up by a right-wing party that uses it as a manifesto to rise to power and Liz begins work at a think tank that champions The Change as a way of life. Things worsen when Liz marries Ellen’s son, Josh, who rises in the ranks of that think tank, going against everything his progressive family stands for. His sister, a comedian, is hounded by Change supporters and goes into hiding; all kinds of pressure tactics are used on her parents and siblings to try to find her. They resist all the draconian measures this regime puts out and suffer — job losses, social ostracisation, fear of violence.
The premise of movies like ‘Anniversary’ is not far-fetched.
The Changers want to restore order, go back to a time where “they” were right. This sounds all too familiar a story for us in the subcontinent. It is what has been said here time and again when “democratic” governments are kicked out. A harkening to Hindutva rule is what got Narendra Modi’s star to rise. In Sri Lanka, Mahinda Rajapaksa claimed his actions were in the name of protecting Sinhala identity. Shaikh Hasina used the 1971 events to consolidate her power.
‘You are either with us or against us’ has become a way to govern, threaten, harass, disappear, jail, hurt and hurt badly. And just like authoritarians have allies in the form of the media across the region, we see think tanks manufacturing consent for the Change regime in the film. The American flag is redesigned in Anniversary with the stars placed in the centre to reflect a more unified nation, when nothing could be further from the truth. We’re all too familiar here with the way symbols have been used to further a narrative, ‘strengthen’ an identity, redefine what it means to be Indian, Bangladeshi, etc.
State surveillance in Anniversary has a familiar ring. Census takers enter Ellen’s home threatening to use one daughter’s photos at a protest unless the couple endorses the regime. Ellen capitulates to save one child. It is not dissimilar to midnight knocks across South Asia, our families disappeared, our journalists killed, dissidents exiled.
Art imitates life after Ellen’s rejection of Liz’s thesis as “dangerous” led to Liz destroying that family. Many authoritarian figures’ stories begin with feeling rejected, unaccepted, ridiculed or feeling like a failure. Many then become driven by revenge, as is the case with dynastic politics in our part of the world where personal grievance drives a justification to control.
What happens to those who attempt to oppose or challenge the Changers? They meet the same fate as the thousands who disappear in Balochistan, or Banglade-sh, or the Kashmiris in India. The wealthy can always leave, as can dual nationals. Many die trying to escape treacherous borders. Those who have nowhere to go and try to resist find themselves isolated. Everyone is a potential whistleblower. With no one to resist the Changers, the regime’s authoritarian tactics increase. Curfews, drones watching your every move, militarised police ever on the ready to take you away.
There is a warning here about our initial dismissal of the first signs of polarisation. It’s just a difference of opinion we’ll think even if that difference ravages our family WhatsApp groups or gatherings. Ellen is right to be sceptical of Liz and is tragically proved right.
History reminds us that the premise of movies like Anniversary is not a far-fetched idea. We already know what we can’t talk about in the subcontinent so we won’t make movies that reflect our reality. I salute writers making art that challenges social taboos which is deeply political but I’m talking about the topics that are off limits.
It’s hard to make a political film here too.
The writer is a former journalism instructor.
X: @LedeingLady
Published in Dawn, January 11th, 2026
