Came across this excellent film tonight on the Turner Classic Movie channel. I won't rehash the film story here, it has been explained quite well by previous reviewers.
Want only to state that I first saw it when it was released back in 1970-71. I was a very young soldier then. The Vietnam war was still raging and the cold war with the Soviets and Warsaw Pact nations was very real. The Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 was still fresh in our minds.
Even though it is not entirely an anti-communist film, rather an honest look of what can and did go horribly wrong in soviet bloc countries, it was a chilling reminder to us of how frightening life could be in a totalitarian state.
Released here in the U.S. during a time of continued civil unrest and anti-war sentiment carried over from the late '60's, it was sort of a reality check to the growing affection for the left wing, socialist philosophy etc. among the younger generation.
