When Sony Pictures sent me the Blu-ray version of the movie, I saw it for the first time with an open-mind. And I couldn’t have been more pleased about the film.
He’s a pepper, she’s a pepper, wouldn’t you like to be a pepper too? Too bad, you’re not.
Vincent’s life is a complicated one. From birth, the doctor’s told his parents that he would have many defects in his life. ADD, violence, and most of all, a weak heart that would end his life in his early 30’s. Devastated by this information, Vincent’s parents brought Vincent a brother who was genetically altered to be nearly perfect in every way, named Anton. Born with a right to live and constantly flaunting failure in his brother’s face, Anton tries every way to out perform his younger, ‘De-gene-rate’ brother whenever he can. Vincent’s only outlet is dreaming of space exploration. He is constantly reminded by his parents, and his brother, that this life he’s hoping for isn’t possible due to his birth imperfections. Tired of the routine and tired of being shunned by his parent’s love, Vincent proves he’s better than Anton by out swimming him in the ocean. Having done so, Vincent proves his point and leaves the household with no regrets. As a wandering nobody, he soon finds himself cleaning the halls of Gattaca, a space exploration organization, something he’s been dying to be a part of, but due to his imperfections hasn’t been able to join. Desperate and with nothing to lose, he reaches out for help and meets a man who’s identity he’s going to steal and who’s life he’s going to live. Jerome Morrow is a perfect gentleman — in a genetic way — , a championship swimmer and regretfully a man with a broken back. He is the person that lends out his identity to Vincent. Jerome is the person who is good enough and smart enough to get Vincent into Gattaca, so that he can finally be with the stars. Will he do anything to get there? Yes. Will he murder someone to save his identity? Possibly. You’ll have to watch to find out.
What amazes me most about this movie, something I didn’t catch when I was younger, was the stress put on the social classes. In the future, it’s quite possible that classes won’t be rated on money or power, rather on perfection and imperfection. It’s a scarier scenario than what we’re living in right now. Gattaca takes a deep, long look at this scenario and the effects it can have on people. It’s a great element to a good storyline. What makes this story even better is that in a perfect world, a world where there isn’t any flaws and if there are they are separated and put into a different groups, it gives hope that nothing is guaranteed in life. If you’re suppose to do something and you excel at it, it creates a flaw in the overall tightly gripped function of a perfect life. It’s basically a deeper version of the old phrase, “You can do anything, if you put your mind to it.” And that theme rings true throughout the entire film. It also supports the idea that you can’t predict the outcome of anything in life. It’s completely random and if you try to control it, you’ll just lose more control.
Scary and inspiring stuff.
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