• Home
  • News
  • Top Picks
    • Movies & Films: Top 25
    • Documentaries: Top 25
    • Films For Students: Top 10
    • Music Videos: Top 10
  • Categories
    • Film
    • Documentary
    • Shorts
    • Blog
    • Calendar
    • Links
    • About

Miss Liberty's Film & Documentary World

Libertarian Movies, Films & Documentaries

Daybreak (1993)

Tagged: Democide, Government enforced morality, Government healthcare

When a moralistic U.S. government begins forcibly quarantining those infected with an AIDS-like disease, a heroic few defend them. [ Daybreak credits: Dir: Stephen Tolkin/ Moira Kelly, Cuba Gooding Jr., Martha Plimpton/ 84 min/ Drama, SciFi-Fantasy/ Democide, Government Enforced Morality, Government Health Care] No trailer available.

In this projected near-future, the religious Right (at its imagined worst) has come to power. Uniformed henchmen of the state, something like Hitler’s “Brown Shirts,” roam the streets enforcing popular morality. Their principal job is to detect and round up people afflicted by a mysterious lingering blood-borne disease. It’s never called AIDS, perhaps to make the point of the story broader; but if it isn’t AIDS, it’s something much like it.

Those afflicted are sent to “Operation Helping Hand,” an organization of government detention centers where they are left to die. But a small rebel group is harrying the efforts of the state, and here and there it succeeds in diverting the afflicted to safe houses where they can get real treatment and care. A young woman is swept into all this when she helps a possibly afflicted friend escape detention and she soon becomes an integral part of their efforts.

“’Under a tyranny, most friends are a liability. One quarter of them turn ‘reasonable’ and become your enemies. One quarter are afraid to stop and speak. And one quarter are killed and you die with them. The blessed final quarter keep you alive.’ Daybreak is an inspiring tribute to that ‘blessed final quarter’.”

If the premise of Daybreak sounds entirely fictional, it should be noted that Burma, Indonesia, and Cuba have quarantined AIDS patients, and there was once talk of it among the authoritarian Right in the U.S. (Humiliated by public exposure of its AIDS quarantine, Cuba has since softened its policy.) Of course, even libertarians would concede the necessity of a humane quarantine in the case of a truly supercontagious deadly disease, such as Ebola. The logic for that parallels the externalities arguments for pollution, noise, etc. But in the case of the AIDS-like disease presented here, it isn’t easily transmitted.

This film is put together better than most, probably reflecting its original roots in the theater (as a play entitled Beirut). Also in the plus column for this HBO movie are solid performances by Moira Kelly and Cuba Gooding, Jr.—though Gooding could have played it a bit less macho. Alice Drummond also shines in a small part.

Quoting Sinclair Lewis, the voice-over at the beginning of this film says: “Under a tyranny, most friends are a liability. One quarter of them turn ‘reasonable’ and become your enemies. One quarter are afraid to stop and speak. And one quarter are killed and you die with them. The blessed final quarter keep you alive.” Daybreak is an inspiring tribute to that “blessed final quarter.”

How to See It

Netflix
Amazon (DVD)
Online Video Search

Links

IMDB
Wikipedia

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)

Related

Featured Post

weird

Things Are Weird. Is It Time To Watch Wild Palms?

For years, the most outrageous conspiracy theory that had any popularity was the claim that a corrupt cabal of pedophiles and pervs were somehow calling the shots behind the scenes, protected by governments. This was considered tin-hat stuff. Then the world learned that there actually was a pedophile island … Continue Reading

obsolete industries

All Obsolete Industries Deserve A Bailout

This hilarious video put out by The Coalition for Obsolete Industries takes a (tongue in cheek) stand against progress in order to save jobs. You can learn more about the coalition on their Facebook page. … Continue Reading

the stranger

The Stranger (1946)

A post-WWII war crimes official hunts down a little-known escaped Nazi: the man who secretly planned and managed the Holocaust. [ The Stranger credits: Dir: Orson Welles/ Orson Welles, Edward G. Robinson, Loretta Young/ 95 min/ Drama, Thriller/ Democide] “I will not spoil this tightly-crafted cat and … Continue Reading

Themes

Abuse of power American revolution Anti-draft Anti-regulation Anti-slavery Anti-socialism Anti-taxation Anti-war Ayn Rand Corrupt government Creator as hero Democide Econ 101 Eminent domain Equality & law Escape from socialism Freedom of speech Free press as hero Government as bigot Government as torturer Government enforced morality Government healthcare Government schools Incompetent government Individualism John Stossel Law & liberty Legalize Drugs Libertarian heroes Libertarianism 101 Power corrupts Power worship Pro-capitalism Pro-immigration Propaganda Psychiatric coercion Resistance to tyranny Right to secede Search & seizure Second amendment Sexual liberty Social tolerance Unions & monopolies Voluntarism Working for government

Genres/Categories

Action-Adventure Animated Biography Blog Comedy Documentary Drama Family Featured Film Foreign History Horror Music-Dance Netflix News Romance SciFi-Fantasy Shorts Thriller Upcoming Western

About Miss Liberty

This site is a collection of films and documentaries of particular interest to libertarians (and those interested in libertarianism). It began as a book, Miss Liberty’s Guide to Film: Movies for the Libertarian Millennium, where many of the recommended films were first reviewed. The current collection has grown to now more than double the number in that original list, and it’s growing still.

  • RSS

© 2023 Miss Liberty's Film & Documentary World. All Rights Reserved