Two of my good friends, years ago, in college, discussed this movie called Gattaca as being interesting. I was curious what it was all about but never got around to watching it. Thanks to Netflix, I did see Gattaca last week. True to their words, it was interesting and much better than I had imagined it might be. The movie has several contrasting themes that attract the viewer’s attention and seem to compete in order to define the movie and sculpt it into what it is. Gattaca has elements of science-fiction, genetic engineering, crime, identity theft, psychology and love all woven in with a nice balance into a palatable package. Set in a world that combines Utopian ideals and Dystopian realities, the movie presents the aspirations of an underdog, an arduous struggle against a system that got its tenets wrong and underestimated the human spirit.
The lead character’s journey from being the “lesser” brother, a genetically deficient and malformed, ordinary man, to a driven youngster with a dream to travel to Saturn’s moon Titan like astronauts of his time, to a capricious coward, cheat and opportunist who is willing to sacrifice his own identity to adopt that of a man of supposedly perfect genetic disposition, to a possessed performer who aspires to take his rightful place at Gattaca alongside the astronauts is a wondrous dream, at best. Through chance, circumstance, good and bad fortune, past demons that haunt and threaten to dismantle his identity and his efficiency, through good samaritans who wish to see his hard work come through and through betrayal and misfortune, the story has many twists. His friend and benefactor, the genetically perfect cripple who is a habitual drunkard who wishes to see nothing but his friend’s happiness while masking his own misfortune and smiling through it all, is a welcome sight. His tragedy is palpable and depressing, while his friend the protagonist’s slim victory against the system and his successful shot at his dream is nothing short of inspiring.
Gattaca pores over what identity may mean, ultimately and how our quirks are nothing more than window dressing, in a sense. Can one’s nature be won over by one’s purpose? Can one undergo deep and profound personal change, both on the inside and the outside of our persona and make a dream really matter to oneself? How important is a name to Love? When a person impersonates another to find love and are finally found out, do the guilty become any less lovable?
A second layer to Gattaca is how the society it construes is itself organized – as being controlled by valids whose genetic composition has been approved and premeditated and about how an invalid may fit into this scheme. Does superior genetic content lead to less corruption, less crime, greater accord in human existence? Does natural procreation do what a decent upbringing cannot?
Finally, Gattaca deals with the idea of sacrifice, what one can achieve and what one can hope to achieve, with a veneer of genetic engineering laid on top of it. What is perfection? Is our understanding of perfection or performance a linear progression from race and genetics? If it is probably not so, how will genetic engineering and eugenics influence culture and society? What can a man whose genes are supposedly deemed superior hope to do better than a more spirited man, with no such ordainment bestowed upon him, with mere dreams and the steel will to get at them?
2 Comments
November 7, 2009 at 9:41 pm
I love this review. It’s so insightful, deep, and true to the plot and general storyline of this film. (:
November 11, 2009 at 3:00 pm
Annie, thanks for visiting and welcome to my blog. Thanks for your kind comment. Glad to know you liked it.