The Burden of Perfection (Gattaca (DVD))

Member Name: edie

Product:	Gattaca (DVD)
Date:	01/03/01 (1446 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fautless, intelligent sci-fi

Disadvantages: Ah, none!

Gattaca is one of those rare movies where almost every element seems perfect. It has an intriguing premise of genetic engineering that’s very pertinent for our times (especially as the 3 years since the movie’s release have seen Gattaca’s scenario go from science fiction to mostly science fact.) And Andrew Nichols’s intelligent treatment of the issue and the use of Ethan Hawke’s voice-over often makes Gattaca seem like a literary work. And it clearly owes more of a debt to dystopian novels like Brave New World and Fahrenheit 451 than to most sci-fi movies. But like all the best sci-fi, it works by posing a series of questions. If genetic engineering became the norm what would be the result for naturally born people? Should there be employment discrimination against people on the basis of their DNA? And most significantly for this movie, if one of unadvantaged "In-valids" wanted to get into a space centre (the Gattaca of the title) by pretending to be someone else, how far could he fool the authorities?

Though Gattaca’s not a staid and boring "issues" film either, its a very cinematic piece of work. With an obviously a low budget, it creates one of the most convincing forthcoming worlds that I’ve seen in the movies, a place that’s both strange and similar to ours (no meals in pill form in this movie). And the gorgeous photography was filmed using green and orange filters that makes Gattaca look simultaneously warmly nostalgic and coldly clinical. That style’s also reflected in the art direction, which is the movie’s real star and should have a won an Oscar. Everything has been given this cool retro-futuristic look, that knowingly reflects 50s sci-fi ideas of what the future was going to be like. It includes props such as electric cars, Frank Lloyd Wright buildings and streamlined moderne furniture that were the cutting edge when invented but are now dated period pieces.
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br>Meanwhile the actors have been perfectly cast and bring a human face to the big themes of the movie. Ethan Hawke’s Vincent is a passive yet engaging hero, who’s dream to go into space you can easily sympathise with (even if he embodies the Hollywood law of nature that even a genetically-flawed "inferior" character must be played by an attractive actor.) There is a producer’s wish-list of Alan Arkin, Gore Vidal and Ernest Borgenine in small supporting roles. And who’s more credible than Jude Law and Uma Thurman as scientifically engineered superior beings? Jude is so good as the lonely, embittered Eugene (he should have won an Oscar too) to almost make you wish the movie was about his character. While Uma, who I’ve never particularly liked in anything before, is touching as the insecure valid Irene, suffering under the "burden of perfection."

Gattaca is also one of those films that are much rewarded by a second look, (which might explain why it didn’t do very well at the cinema on its initial release.) You notice much more about it on subsequent viewing: the unmistakable fascist undertones of this world- where prejudice is based not on racial or religious grounds, but on a "legitimate" scientific basis; the piano player with 6 fingers (a definite unfair advantage); the not so subtle signifying names (Eugene = Eugenics, Vincent Freeman = Free Man) and, as mentioned by earlier reviewers, the circular staircase shaped like a DNA helix as if to symbolise Vincent’s ascent to the stars

The only thing that bothered me when I first saw Gattaca was the relatively downbeat ending. Without giving too much away, not since Beth in Little Women have I been so upset by the death of a fictional character and I’m not the sort of person who gets easily bothered by books and films. Though now, I think it was quite fitting after all. An uplifting one-person-beating-the-system ending wo
uld have been very unlikely in this world as well as inconsistent with the tone of the rest of the film. Instead it concludes with a bittersweet ending of incredible sadness mixed with a real personal triumph. And in Gattaca that’s more than enough.

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