The problem with grand political ideas formulated to ameliorate the sufferings of humans is that they invariably end up being perverted, spoiled and brought undone - by humans.
Political systems generally would be better off if humans weren't involved.
Take communism.
The idea was terrific, but it had to end up being run by Stalin.
With the fall of the wall, the era of Soviet communism, at least, has slipped into the past, but World View: The Lost World of Communism provides a very human view of the era, and features some fascinating interviews with everyone from ordinary citizens to athletes, dissidents and members of the communist elite.
Experiences from the appalling to the ridiculous pepper the interviews, from Erica Reimann, sentenced to 10 years in prison, raped, abused, and subjected to a mock execution at 14 years old, after drawing a bow, in lipstick, on a poster of Stalin as a joke.
East German athlete Heidi Kreiger was 16, a star at shot put, when her coach "started giving me packets of pills".
"I trusted him, and started taking those pills."
Now her name is Andreas, and she is a balding, middle-aged man with a deep voice.
The pills, of course, were massive doses of anabolic steroids.
Chaos was the singer in a punk band, with a fashionable friend who dressed in the very latest 1980s clobber.
His friend was also informing on him to the Stasi.
"All I wanted was to have a bit of fun, but the state saw things differently," Chaos tells us.
Now also middle-aged, the two reminisce on a stranger time, with Chaos discovering, after the wall came down he discovered he had nine people informing on him.
The Lost World of Communism (Thursday, January 7, 8.30pm on the Documentary Channel), looks at the era from the perspective of people in East Germany, Czechoslovakia and Romania, and is excellent.
What also looks like excellent viewing on the Documentary Channel is Reel Men of Hollywood, starting on January 10.
Three shows look at the lives of Woody Allen, Cary Grant and Martin Scorcese.
The unfortunate personal shenanigans of Woody Allen take nothing away from some great films.
Reel Men is apparently the first time Allen has participated in an American documentary about his career, and delves into his use of humour and drama to tackle some of my favourite themes; life, death, religion and sex.
Cary Grant, of course, was the epitome of a gentleman, in his films at least, and this documentary should be valuable for the less-than-gentlemanly to pick up a few tips.
