13 Movies That Depressingly Predicted The Future

Terry Gilliam's satirical vision of a dystopic future hinges largely upon a horrifyingly hyper-bureaucratic government, which causes the accidental death of a terror suspect all due to a fly getting jammed in a printer, and attempts to erase all traces of its mistake rather than simply admit it.

The movie's prevailing theme is how nothing in this world can be completed without the proper paperwork, and resistance will either result in one's death or eventual insanity.

While it's an embellished scenario, it's basically a retroactive allegory of contemporary Britain, where paperwork and red tape makes almost any transaction with the government an extremely arduous, unpleasant, robotic experience devoid of emotion or humanity (especially if you're trying to claim any sort of state benefit).

While the government probably won't start lobotomising political dissidents any time soon as seen in the movie, it's still a reminder of how actual progress can be stunted by a desire to formalise every transaction between citizen and state.