Equilibrium – 2002
Yesterday afternoon I received a text message from my son
recommending that I watch the film Equilibrium.
Knowing that Benjamin has quite good taste in movies, especially those
that can make one think, I knew I had to give this a look. I decided to test out my new internet
connection and stream it from Amazon. It
is free for streaming there to Prime members.
So, how would it be to live in a world where human emotions
have been deemed illegal? People are not
allowed to feel and it is the law of the land.
Any objects that are not necessary to existence are banned and if you
are caught having feelings, you are arrested and summarily sentenced to death
by incineration, and your possessions are also destroyed by fire. Director Kurt Wimmer explores this scenario in
this dystopian film set in the state of Librium in the not too distant future.
Following World War III, it is determined that future wars
and crimes can be eliminated by purging human emotions. A drug called Prozium is invented that
inhibits people from feeling. Everyone
is required to dose themselves at regular intervals by the Tetragrammaton
council headed by a person identified as Father. No one is allowed to meet Father in person,
but his presence is everywhere through the use of video screens that constantly
run images of him preaching doctrine. There
also exists a resistance movement of Sense Offenders, people who choose not to
take Prozium and collect banned materials including works of art, books,
recorded music, and generally any items that are colorful, or have the
possibility of evoking an emotional response in humans. At the highest levels of law enforcement are
the Grammaton Clerics who have been trained in the art of Gun Kata (a fictional
martial art involving the use of fire arms) as well as how to spot possible
sense offenders.
The film follows the exploits of John Preston (Christian
Bale), a high ranking Cleric who is widowed because his wife was found to be an
offender. He is left to raise two
children.
After a raid, Preston notices that his partner picks up a
book of poetry and puts it in his pocket instead of letting it be burned with
the rest of the banned items found in the raid.
Not long after, Preston discovers his partner reading the poems and
executes him on the spot. Of course, as
he under the influence of Prozium, he has no feeling about this and is soon
after assigned a new partner, Andrew Brandt.
Brandt is an ambitious Cleric in training who wants to pursue a rapid
rise in he ranks.
One morning while getting ready for work, Preston knocks his
first dose of Prozium off of his bathroom counter and the vial shatters on the
floor. He intends to go and replace this
vial and meet his partner for work at a building called Equilibrium. Brandt arrives early before Preston has a
chance to get his dose.
Preston begins feeling for the first time in his life and he
explores his feelings. On one raid, he
discovers a recording of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and has an aesthetic
reaction to the opening strains of the music, breaking down into tears. As Brandt observes Preston, he becomes
suspicious as Preston has a increasingly difficult time maintaining an
emotionless façade. Preston continues to
have emotional responses to numerous stimuli.
All the while, Brandt sees through Preston’s efforts to maintain his
emotionless front, and sees his opportunity to advance.
Finally, Preston finds the leader of the resistance movement
and decides that his life of mere existence is not desirable and goes on a
quest to meet and kill Father.
I found this film excellent on so many levels and enjoyed it
immensely.
First of all, I was impressed by the sets used. Filmed in locations around Germany, much of
the film has an extremely desolate feeling about it; all of the building’s
exterior and interior shots were roughly finished concrete, grey and intended
not to evoke feelings. In the more
finished apartments or hmes, there was again, a bland lack of accoutrements
with just the essentials of existence in an emotionless landscape. The only place one finds any striking color
is in the places where the raids take place where we find numerous objects of
art from both high culture and pop culture.
Along with the sets was the wardrobe used. While reminiscent of the costumes from
Matrix, it is taken to the extreme in this case. Everyone is wearing clothing that looks cool,
there are no colorful ties or any garments that make anyone stand out, except
for those worn by the Clerics and the riot gear of the police. In this world, it is desirable that everyone
be the same, blend in, and not call attention to themselves.
The fight scenes, while quite violent (the sole reason for
the R rating) are well choreographed and exciting to watch. The Gun Kata, is based on the statistical
probabilities that are instantly calculated by Clerics that imply that the
positions of people in the fight allow the shooter to aim their weapons and
avoid being hit at the same time. This
is explained in the film through the use of a training video featuring the
director himself. Clerics are also
trained in the use of katana swords, but there aren’t many scenes in the film
involving these weapons. Again, reminiscent
of the fights in Matrix, this film’s battle scenes stand alone in their
uniqueness.
The cast’s performances are well done, for the most
part. Bale’s portrayal of John Preston
is great. Through most of the film, he
is required to put forth an emotionless front as he faces situations that would
make any normal person cringe with disgust, or would make one feel the heights
of pleasure. While we, the audience can
see his struggle, for the most part, those that are observing him have no point
of reference and he seems able to pull off his performance for their benefit. On the other hand, one drawback in the
performances was that of co-star Taye Diggs as Brandt, but not because of actor’s
fault. He was apparently written and
directed to display quite a lot of emotion; he displays ambition and
satisfaction in many places, and in some instances anger and fear. Also appearing was William Fitchner as the
leader of the resistance, but his was only a small part.
The most appealing for me of this film was more a
philosophical consideration. Would life
without emotion be life, or would it just be existence? This question was brought up in the movie and
got me thinking about all of the classes I took in college and while working on
my master’s degree. Mostly in those
courses we explored the questions of what is art and what kinds of value can be
put on art, but we never explored what living would be like without art that
intended to evoke an emotional response.
Equilibrium explores not only the use of a drug to suppress the human
emotional response to experiences, but it also explored the elimination of
objects that might evoke emotions. One
strong image in the film that was representative was at the beginning of the
film when the original Mona Lisa was discovered in one cache of banned
materials. After discovering that it was
indeed the original painting, it was ordered destroyed by the attending
Cleric. Not only does the Mona Lisa have
aesthetic value, it also has a great deal of monetary value. I couldn’t imagine something like this
happening. Everything we humans do has
our emotion attached to it. We take
great pride in our creations and try to make them as pleasing to the eye as we
possibly can. I think, thankfully, that
it would be impossible to do away with emotion, and in attempting to do so, it
would cause more war than it would prevent.
At any rate, I enjoyed Equilibrium immensely and give it my
highest recommendations for a film that will entertain, provoke thought, and even
evoke emotion in the viewer.
Well, there it is…
QaplaH’!
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