the Equilibrium universe was horrible, but not because it was authoritarian. it was horrible because it eliminated human emption, thus eliminating the whole basis of human existence. It turned us into machines.
As Andy Warhol once said, "I think it would be really great to be a machine."
Seriously though, the citizenry in Equilibrium were content with their lot. It was a society in which everyone had a drug-induced schizoid personality disorder. This created a state of mind with flattened affect (no emotion) and no human intimacy. Such a society would consist of individuals who would tend to be docile and indifferent towards each other, and who could therefore be easily organised and led without the authorities having to use excessive violence or coercion. I really don't see how else you could impose a dictatorship without needing to use massive repression.
And far from "eliminating the whole basis of human existence", it merely simplifies human existence in terms of human interactions. There are millions of people with schizoid personality disorder in our society right now, yet they clearly don't feel that they have had the whole basis of their human existence 'eliminated'.