This is a review for the movie Gattaca (1997). Today I sat down to watch this movie Gattaca. This movie has mix genres of drama, romance and sci-fi. This movie isn’t exactly a fast paced movie but is nevertheless engaging or at least I thought it was.
The acting is quite good but somewhat stoic but I think this was intentional to move in portraying a sterilised and mechanical future.
Ethan Hawke is our protagonist Vincent Freeman and Uma Thurman plays a love interest Irene Cassini. There are definitely some other note worthy actors in the film like Jude Law who plays Jerome Morrow.
The story is about a boy, Vincent, who was conceived “naturally” and his brother was conceived via genetically engineering. Genetic engineering is standard procedure in the not too distance future which this movie is presumably set in and those who were conceived the natural way are determined to be genetically inferior and have greater risk of terminal illness, heart failure and other diseases. Test results are able to predict some margin of error once cause of death at birth. Those presumed to be genetically inferior are considered “invalids” and are assigned mundane careers that don’t require them to be smart, taller or better looking or healthier. However, Vincent has a dream of travelling into outer of space and is unable to let go of that dream. In order to live out his dream, He must take over a life of a “valid” man, a crippled swimmer in the form of Jerome. Jerome is willing to cooperate with Vincent to make his dream happen and thus, Vincent undergoes transformation to more or less become Jerome and take over his life. Since security checks are common place where Vincent works, he has to have urine and blood samples ready or every occasion. The only way he could keep his job and not have anybody expect of him, is to be ready for every situation.
Vincent climbs the operate ladders and is eventually assigned a mission to outer space. At various point he finds himself at risk of being discovered and somehow manages to avert being found out. However, it is long for Irene, Vincent’s love interest, to find out the truth and others are now on to him. As Vincent is about to go into space, he decides to reveal his true identity. He hands his urine sample to the doctor who examines his urine and finds that Vincent is an invalid, however the doctor lets him proceed on his way, not the least of surprised that Vincent was posing all this time.
I found the story to be rather intriguing because it seems rather plausible. I wonder what the world would be like if we knew our possible cause of death at birth, what it would be like if everyone was tall, smart or good looking. I think it’s a scary thought and I think that this movie is ultimately trying to say, that the story is about a man who overcome his odds and ultimately proved that being genetically superior really didn’t amount to anything. If you already knew what career you are best suited for, would there be any need for self exploration… could you find joy being preselected… or is it in the human struggle that we realise our true potential... isn’t this very prejudge, that we find ourselves in the mist of today; the good genes, and a good upbringing, brings more success in life or do we have a choice to make the most of what we have.
If you haven’t seen this movie, I would definitely recommend checking it out.
