Berlin is a city built on contrasts — and lessons. This year, we celebrated 35 years of reunification, a milestone that reminds us how deeply division once shaped not only our streets but our families, our friendships, our hearts. Different worldviews — radical and free — tore people apart, especially in the GDR, where even friends betrayed each other. And yet, decades later, we still see history trying to repeat itself. Power-hungry politicians — mostly the same old white men — continue to divide societies, whether in Russia, Israel, Germany, or the U.S. Director Jan Komasa’s Anniversary (The Change in Europe) takes that theme and throws it under a magnifying glass: the ever-growing split between people who, deep down, want the same thing — connection.
fiction or reality
Because when we really listen to our hearts, we all long for warmth, friendship, trust, and a sense of belonging. But then our brains — and worse, our egos — kick in. When ego takes over, empathy disappears. We stop listening. We think we already know it all.
But do we? Is our knowledge drawn from experience, from real conversation — or from the endless noise of headlines, posts, and comment sections? We scroll, we consume, we react.
Unfiltered, unreflective, we form opinions, convinced we know what’s right and wrong. We love being manipulated — it’s easy, it’s entertaining. And if someone dares to swim against the current? We unleash a shitstorm.
Having your own opinion, one that challenges the mainstream, has become a revolutionary act.
Within just a few years, people around the world have turned into media-driven zombies. It’s become a sport to tear others down — it gives us a strange sense of relief.
We want to protect our communities though most of us couldn’t even name five of the followers on our so-called social media. So we play nice, suppress our true thoughts, and stay on brand.
THE ANNIVERSARY STORY
That’s how it starts — the slow, silent opening of the door to authoritarianism. Dictatorships don’t arrive with a bang; they creep in quietly, disguised as safety or order. Germany has learned that the hard way — more than once. Which is why Anniversary (The Change) hits a nerve. It forces us to look back — and forward — with uneasy honesty.
🎬 THE FAMILY CELEBRATES AN ANNIVERSARY
Ellen (Diane Lane) and Paul (Kyle Chandler) are celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary with their family. They’re still in love — like day one — and their four kids couldn’t be more different.
There’s Anna (Madeline Brewer), the rebellious stand-up comedian who dares to challenge people’s minds and hearts. Birdie (Mckenna Grace), the quiet, science-loving youngest. Cynthia (Zoey Deutch), the strong-willed environmental activist.
And Josh (Dylan O’Brien), a struggling writer who still can’t quite meet his mother’s expectations. Once her darling, he’s long since been overshadowed by her devotion to her career. Then comes Liz (Phoebe Dynevor), Josh’s girlfriend — and the spark that ignites chaos, not only in the family but in the entire world.
🎥 ANNIVERSARY VERDICT
Director Jan Komasa is both deeply kind and disarmingly empathetic — and that emotional intelligence shows in every frame. Anniversary is a rollercoaster of feelings: warm, tender moments of love and family slowly unravel into emotional and moral free fall.
The cast is a powerhouse. Diane Lane shines as the intellectual professor convinced of her moral superiority over her former student’s radicalism. Madeline Brewer gives us Anna — fierce, vulnerable, and idealistic. Mckenna Grace radiates curiosity and quiet wisdom. And Phoebe Dynevor? A revelation — the wolf in sheep’s clothing who dismantles the family from within.
Anniversary fuses haunting echoes of Nazi-era propaganda with Orwellian dystopia, weaving a story that feels uncomfortably current. What looks like a family drama soon becomes a mirror of our own societies — where demagogues rise, the powerful flatter evil, and moral lines blur.
It’s impossible not to draw parallels — from modern autocrats to tech billionaires grinning at political inaugurations like eager interns. It’s sickening. Even Anna’s story — a comedian who risks everything for speaking truth — feels ripped from today’s headlines, reminiscent of the real-world silencing of voices like Jimmy Kimmel or Stephen Colbert.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Anniversary isn’t just a film — it’s a wake-up call. A plea to think, to feel, to resist. To stop being passive consumers and start being human again. It’s not about politics — it’s about empathy, and courage. Anniversary reminds us of the simple yet radical power of staying true to ourselves — even when it’s unpopular.
It also underscores the importance of creating and protecting a world where people, animals, and nature coexist in peace and respect. No, it’s not a blockbuster — it’s something far more genuine. It takes courage to confront us so clearly with what can — and inevitably will — happen when we tolerate radical trends, let things unfold unfiltered and unchallenged, and fail to stand up for what we believe in. Thank you, Jan Komasa, for this brave and beautiful film — a mirror the world truly needs right now.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Full marks from us — for courage, conscience, and compassion.
Text: Marco Kokkot
Images: Tobis/Lionsgate 2025. All Rights Reserved.
