Gattaca

Rating:
Summary: Tense: Future imperfect (genetic style)
Review: Gattaca is a fascinating science fiction/mystery movie, set in the 'not too distant future', in which astronauts dress in stylish, roaring-twenties inspired clothing and where the world seems to be finely ordered and sequenced, just like a genetic code.

In fact, it is the genetic code which determines all. Test-tube babies are the norm for anyone who wants to have a chance; screening out imperfections has become routine, and those who have the misfortune of being born outside the system of genetic checks and balances will find themselves invalid (in-valid in the sense of not valid for work, as well as invalid in the sense of incapacitated for advancement). Society has been structured around a pre-defined sense of potential as projected by genetic codes. But there are a few who challenge the system.

Meet Vincent, a.k.a. Jerome Morrow (played by Ethan Hawke), who dreams of the stars and lusts for a position at Gattaca (the new-age NASA), but with the genetic code of a loser. Enter Jerome Morrow, a.k.a. Eugene (played by Jude Law), who has the potential, but also a broken spinal cord -- he lends Vincent, through an ingenious and intricate system, his genetic sequence. In this guise, Vincent thus rises to the position of navigator, selected for the great Titan/Saturn mission.

Then, the director gets murdered. A flake of skin falls from Vincent which the investigators find, and the chase is on. The launch is a week away. Will Vincent outrun the pursuers in time?

Of course, Vincent's pursuers are led by his brother, the genetically-planned offspring of the family, who thought that Vincent was dead. There is an ultimate contest, which Vincent wins, proving the victory of determination over pre-determination.

Vincent, in the person of Jerome, falls in love with Irene (played by Uma Thurman), who works at Gattaca in a sort of genetic quality-control position. She falls in love the potential, the idea of Jerome, but eventually comes to love the imperfect Vincent. She herself, for all the genetic planning, also has an imperfection, which makes her all the more attractive to Vincent.

Gore Vidal has a small but crucial role as a flight director in charge of keeping things on track (with style!) as the murder investigation threatens the operations at Gattaca.

This movie is a visually interesting, unique, and much under-rated and under appreciated show. It won awards for art direction and other stylistic touches, including the Oscar.

I won't spoil the ending, but suffice it to say that Vincent and Jerome both leave the earth.

'For someone never meant for this world, I must confess, I'm suddenly having a hard time leaving it. Of course, they say that every atom of our body was once part of a star. Maybe I'm not leaving. Maybe I'm going home.'

Interestingly, the idea of genetics is woven into the movie in very many ways, some subtle, some explicit. The very title, Gattaca, consists of the strands of bases that comprise the double helix of DNA G (guanine), A (adenine), C (cytosine), and T (thymine) -- the sequence of these bases constitutes genetic information, much as the arrangement of the 26 letters of this alphabet constitutes information.

This is a clever film, a bit slow, but stylish, suspenseful, wonderfully visual, and well worth a weekend evening investment.

Rating:
Summary: Intelligent, inspiring story - the best film I ever seen
Review: A compelling story about a man who defies his destination with ambition. He's forced to hide his identity through the exciting plot, while pursuing his dream. This made me hardly sit back, pray for him not to get caught. Science and human emotions are intelligently presented in contrast thru this riveting film. The ending is very remarkable and emotional when the key charactors decide on their own fates. Very impressive, inspiring, exciting film - the best film I ever seen.

Rating:
Summary: Superbit has no extra's
Review: The superbit edition has none of the extra's the regular dvd has and it costs 8 bucks more. go figure

Rating:
Summary: Measuring Human Worth in the Future
Review: Made by the same director of The Truman Show, Gattaca, a film set in "the not too distant future," shows how humankind's blind faith in technology and genetic science will compel us to create a two-tier system of the human race: the genetically enhanced, "Valids," and the nonenchanced, "Invalids." Gattaca is a world where humans are no longer measured by their moral character but rather by their DNA, their genetic code. Dating, jobs, health insurance, reproductive rights are all monitored by the government, which wants to keep the "Valids" pure and uncontaminated. Our protagonist, an "Invalid," must use his human spirit--courage, love, tenacity, cunning--to transcend the strictures the government has imposed on him. More specifically, he wants to live out his dream of space travel, but he has to assume the identity of a "Valid," and the movie goes to great lengths showing us the pains our hero suffers in order to live out his charade. Thus the movie pits human character against blind faith in science in a film that, without ever preaching to us, shows the dangers of dehumanization in a world where technlogogy is supposed to lead us to Paradise.

Rating:
Summary: Well-Executed, Thought-Provoking
Review: The Story: In the near future, the way people have children is to visit a geneticist, get as many of the woman's eggs fertilized in vitro as possible, have the geneticist screen all of the eggs, and then the parents choose which egg they want to end up being their child. If done this way, the child is a "Valid". If not done this way (i.e., in the back-seat of a Buick Riviera, as was the case for the protagonist, Vincent, played by Ethan Hawke), the child is an "In-Valid" and could have any number of genetically-based flaws (like me, you, and anyone else in the room). For Valids, everything is made easy, the best jobs are within reach, and respect is automatic. For In-Valids, a career doing manual labor or in a service job requiring no education is the best that can be hoped for, no matter how brilliant the person is, as no money is "wasted" on flawed people. It's all determined at conception. Vincent, however, has always dreamt of going to the stars, which means working at Gattaca, a privately owned space exploration company. But the only way this can happen, is to fool the system, as Gattaca checks and constantly rechecks the identity of its employees through blood-tests and urine tests (remember, DNA is everything here). The one way possible is to find a Valid who is willing to help you assume his identity. Jerome (Jude Law) is a Valid who had everything going for him, was going nowhere, and ended up a paraplegic after a failed suicide attempt. Tony Shalhoub is the guy who, for a price, connects Vincent with Jerome. Vincent moves in with Jerome, shares his income with Jerome, and gets Jerome's identity in exchange. That means a very elaborate set of tricks to fool the DNA-checking system. Vincent-turned-Jerome gets to pursue his dream of going into space, and Jerome-turned-Eugene gets a companion and an income. Then, there's a murder at Gattaca and the police (Alan Arkin) begin REALLY triple-checking DNA and going over the place with a fine-toothed comb. And, Vincent-Jerome falls in love with Irena (Uma Thurman) and has to fool her too.

First Commentary: Technically, this is a very well-executed film. The acting is superb at all levels (including small roles by Ernest Borgnine and Gore Vidal). Ethan Hawke is totally believable as a bright, driven dreamer who was stuck with genetic flaws (what we call normal) he has to overcome. I've only seen Jude Law in two films: A.I. and Gattaca. The roles are totally different and he is perfect in both. I'm going to look for more films with Hawke and Law. The society portrayed is totally believable and coherent.

Second Commentary: This is not a film I can say I "enjoyed" but I'm definitely glad that I not only saw it but that I own it. It is as thought-provoking as any film I've seen. The basic question asked is: Is it moral to cheat a system that was set up for just and altruistic reasons but that has unjust consequences? The answer would be easy if Vincent was a flop at his job, but he's brilliant. The answer would also be easy if Vincent was perfect, despite his genes, but he has a heart problem that, according to his genes, could be fatal. The society portrayed is sterile, antiseptic, and bland, but peaceful, orderly, and well-functioning. There are no easy answers here, but some very good questions.

Rating:
Summary: Film that brings you to the stars & beyond
Review: Having been told by several friends of the great handling of the theme purported by this film, I finally got to watch it in its entirety on the tele just this evening. I must say that the praises lavished were truly deserved & I would no doubt be getting the DVD as well.

I think on first viewing, the film actually hit me more on an emotional level than intellectual, especially at the very end when the protagonist Vincent finally achieves what he had set out to do, despite pre-determinations to the contrary. It does inspire and also makes you think about the possible alternate future that we may have in the 'segmentation' of humans or the self-created rationale for further discrimination (as if we haven't already got enough of that in our time).

The descent of Jude Law's character was supposedly meant to show that no matter how talented a person is (genetically determined or otherwise) it doesn't matter so long as the heart & mind are not there; that it's coupled with a sense of destiny or vision that drives the person toward his desired goal.

A great film that deserves repeated viewing, especially for the superb acting by all involved.

Rating:
Summary: Spirituality or Physicality?
Review: Is one doomed to failure or a mediocre life because of his or her invalid physical being? Should one be denied with the right to be successful because of his or her being physically inferior? The film obviously gives us a definite answer.

The film starts with some big sounds made by hairs and nails falling onto the ground, which is seemingly unexplainable because of the supposed lightness of hairs and nails. Then, the main character, Vincent Freeman begins his narration of his sorrow childhood in which his right to go to school is denied because he is genetically deficient. His younger brother, who is genetically engineered before birth, is however the perfect human being. In spite of his inborn disadvantage, he holds a dream of being an astronaut. Nevertheless, his dream is only an illusion that cannot be realized in a society where one¡¯s professional success is predetermined solely by one¡¯s genes. He finally leaves his home where his parents and brother all discourage him for his ¡°naive¡± fantasy, and he goes to work in Gattaca Aerospace Center where he is close to his dream and yet so far away as his work is a janitor. Compelled by his unrealized dream, he finds a then-swimming winner, now-cripple, Jerome Morrow. Vincent uses Jerome Morrow¡¯s blood, hair, and urine in order to disguise himself as Morrow and to pass the DNA test at the entrance of the aerospace center. With all his efforts and determination, he, an intelligent young man, finally gets the chance to go the space.

In the film, Vincent¡¯s last name, Freeman, is allegorically significant because he, in spite of his DNA deficiency, succeeds out of the limitation of physical; on the contrary, Jerome¡¯s last name, Morrow, which means tomorrow, has an ironic implication as he, despite his superior genes, has not much future due to the fact that he canis immobilized due to an accident.

This film invites the audience to meditate the relationship between physical and spiritual and whether one's fate should be determined by its physical inferiority

Rating:
Summary: the future is now ????
Review: this 1997 movie is a good movie, and deals with a society
that has a caste system, and the possibilities that it may
be in our near future, ethan hawke gives a strong performance
and a cameo by earnest borgnine was a surprise.

Rating:
Summary: Presents an Issue that Baffles Many
Review: Gattaca is an excellent science fiction movie that serves as a 1990's equivalent of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. Many questions concerning philosophy, theology and science could be addressed from those who see this movie.

From a philosophical perspective, one might argue that though the setting is in the future, the vision of the created society is quite ancient. In this movie only the most powerful leaders making the most influential decisions are the so-called "gifted", which is idealistically a mirror of Plato's Republic. So from a structured standpoint, Gattaca is the culmination of ideas or ideals established from the most highly esteemed of the ancient Greeks; however, it is also blended in with the modern day science of genetic engineering, where a perfect society must be run by perfect people, most of whom are products or byproducts of the scientific wonders of those who have determined what constitutes the attainment of human perfection.

Running counter to theme of Gattaca are those outcasts who are supposedly too genetically deficient for the main functioning of society but who nonetheless believe that they can transcend the imposed limitations and expectations (e.g. physical endurance, life expectancy, etc.) predetermined even before birth.

Two opposing themes are prevalent throughout. At one end of the spectrum, society has accepted that science is advanced enough to pinpoint the outcomes of one's destiny from birth to death as well as tell in advance what that person's particular strengths and weaknesses will be. On the other end, however, is one's attempts to show that the whole is more than the sum of its parts and that the efforts of constituting a perfect society are misconstrued for they are merely the result of adding those methodical bits and pieces.

Quite disturbing is the fact that there exist terminologies that bring about new discussion concerning this movie as well as the vision of a progressing, futuristic society. Among these are paradigm shifts, infrastructures and zones of proximity, each of which can be looked upon from so many different angles.

All in all, perhaps what is the main issue is determining just what human potential is and who the experts of this advancement are supposed to be. Added to this are concerns about the future and whether our leaders who will, by then, espouse bringing forth progress will by and large be compassionate philanthropists at best or sociopathic, cultic leaders at worst.

Rating:
Summary: Gattaca
Review: A beautiful and poignant film, even more relevant now than when released. This should be required viewing for US citizens lest they think that civil liberties are expendable.
When our inept politicians claim to know who arethe superior persons, and with the scientific advances in genetic research, this may not be science fiction after all.