Downbeat dystopia from Terry Gilliam; one of the most credible science-fiction films of the last twenty years

Rating: Null/10 (6 August 2008)

Blending themes of memory, madness, time-travel and prophesy into a complex and labyrinthine collage of sights, sounds and scenery, Twelve Monkeys (1995) sets about creating a cold and disturbed world of paranoid isolation and violence; not only in the post-apocalyptic sequences that are rife with the requisite iconography of disused buildings, burnt-out cars and discarded toys, but in the present-day sequences, which here brim with a jarring evocation of grimy decay and an antiseptic sheen devoid of love and emotion. Is the film suggesting that our own indifference, cynicism and desensitised nature will ultimately prove more deadly than any man-made virus, or are we simply doomed to repeat the failings of the past over and over again until the end of time? It's a novel idea and one that seems further cemented by the redemptive romantic subplot between the two central characters, the warm tones of Louis Armstrong on the soundtrack and the significance of the child's gaze; which opens and closes the film with a suggestive look of innocence, awe and youthful curiosity.
The shot of the little boy at such pivotal stages in the film shows Gilliam's attempt to suggest the malleability of time; the endless potential that exists at such a young age that can be either squandered or used in later life, and indeed, a subtle comment on the way that time itself is able to corrupt innocence as a result of circumstance. The young boy, so full of hope and wonderment, is largely unrecognisable in the adult variation of the same character; frightened and scarred by a nightmarish future by way of a third-world abstraction. Through the claustrophobic atmosphere created by the combination of cluttered production design and distorted, wide-angle lenses that Gilliam pushes right into the faces of his actors to create a disturbing exaggeration (underpinning the central character's fear and confusion of seeing the world for the first time), the film becomes an overwhelming and certainly unforgettable experience; with the depiction of an almost post-nuclear holocaust, where only the remnants of existence are left in the catacombs of industry, creates a potential future nightmare that is plausible in its reality.
We also have the central references to the wordless poetry of Chris Marker's short-form masterpiece La Jetée (1962) and the warped beauty of Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958); with the two themes of both films being intertwined with the more obvious dystopic, science-fiction elements of the script and the themes aforementioned. Without question, this is Gilliam's bleakest film, with the presentation of the subject matter and the look that the director and his team have attempted seeming to lack the often trademark sense of humour and colour that made even a film as crushing as Brazil (1985) seem positively warm and nostalgic. All of this is reflected in the design and the mise-en-scene, with the colour scheme featuring a dull rust against a production design of absolute ruin; as we move from one dilapidated setting to the next with this collection of oddball characters ranting and raving to the camera, combined with that wounded, downbeat narrative, which makes the experience all the more disheartening.
That said, the intelligence of the script and the texture of the performances under Gilliam's direction help to make the oppressive and depressing atmosphere easier to take; with the final moments of the film even suggesting the odd glimmer of hope, albeit, one that is punctuated again by the child's reflective gaze casting further doubt on the potential future ahead. Even though it might be considered a continual downer, Twelve Monkeys is still one of Gilliam's most impressive and original films; a grand fusion of post-apocalyptic science fiction and time travel fantasy with much depth and a shocking sense of humanity. It's not only one of Gilliam's greatest achievements as a filmmaker - offering us a continuation on the themes of Time Bandits (1981), Brazil and The Fisher King (1991) - but is also one of the greatest science-fiction films of the 1990's; if not the most credible.