movie review by Susan Sackett
In "the not-too-distant future," genoism is the leading form of discrimination. Inferiority is not a condition of skin color, but genetic worth, scientifically determined. There is a new race of untouchables who are not members of this brave new world's "über" class. For the genetically superior, success is easier to attain. "Defectives" are termed "de-gene-erates" (long"e" in "gene") in this eerily Hitlerian world.
Vincent (Ethan Hawke) longs to be an astronaut but doesn't have the right stuff -- literally. Vincent was an "accident", created on the Riviera -- a Buick Riviera -- rather than the typical test tube embryo whose designer genes leave little to the whims of mere sexual passion. His birth brought with it an imperfect heart, ticking down the years, giving him a predictable death at age 30 -- a 99% probability of dying of heart failure.
Jerome however, is a prime specimen -- he was born with an I.Q. off the charts and a physique to match. But a bungled suicide attempt has left him a paraplegic. So Vincent arranges to "pass" as Jerome and cheat his way into the space program. All is on track at the training headquarters (called "Gattaca," after the four components of DNA -- guanine, adenine, thymine and cytosine) until the director of the program is murdered and Vincent/Jerome becomes the prime suspect.
This is one of those rare science fiction/futuristic movies that is scary not for the monsters and things that go bump in the night, but for its relevancy to today's technology and implications for tomorrow. The sterility of this future culture, with its perfection of human genes, is nicely conveyed through the look of the film. The sets are hauntingly surreal, somewhat evocative of "Brazil," and there is a definite noirish undertone, from the darkly lit scenes to the nearly all-black wardrobe.
There are a number of interwoven themes in this film -- the triumph of the human spirit in its desire to soar -- metaphorically as well as in reality; racial prejudice, science vs. nature, and so on. This is not a film for average audiences, but it is ideally suited for Mensans. It will make you ponder our future, which is, after all, what good science fiction is all about. And while the science shown here is speculative at present, many will agree that we seem to be rushing headlong into this sort of pervasive, controlling future in which not even our most private body parts -- blood, urine, eyelashes, skin flakes -- belong to us alone. It is even possible that the future is now.
Four out of Five Owls.