I'm not about to try and track the movie down now, but I seem to have a vague recollection of citizenship being attainable through service rather than military service specifically.

Obviously, that doesn't detract from your argument about what the movie is, and is about, but I have felt, ever since, that gets overlooked when people examine it: either they think it dreadful, or they think it a wonderful satire, but nobody seems to ever consider the implication of that one throwaway contention that citizenship should be reserved to those who, in whatever way, serve and earn Society's benefits rather than simply by virtue of an accident of birth.

In Germany, for instance ... albeit horribly sexist nevertheless in that it only applies to men ... that service can be military or a longer stint of civil service (a friend of mine spent two years as a Krankenpfleger rather than eighteen months in the army).

It's a shame, I feel, because ... (assuming I'm correct in my recolection of citizenship being granted for service per se, not necessarily military service) ... it's an interesting topic of discussion.