The book is excellent. The film is also very well done. The film was directed by Dalton Trumbo (the writer) himself, and is therefore his vision of what it should look like. SOK is right however, its horrible and leaves you feeling very sad, and almost... ashamed to be a part of this "civilized" human race.

Also, Metallica did a very good job of bringing that feeling out with their song. The video is, in my opinion, the best video ever recorded. Oh, how the mighty have fallen...