Have you ever wondered about the line between sanity and insanity? This sci-fi drama directed by Terry Gilliam offers us his take on the subject.

Rating: 7/10 (2 May 2010)

Have you ever wondered about the line between sanity and insanity? This sci-fi drama directed by Terry Gilliam offers us his take on the subject. In the film 12 Monkeys we are able to view that line in its ever blurred dimensions. One minute you believe that the futuristic tale is true and the next you wonder if the main character James Cole, played by Bruce Willis is really just insane after all. Heck you may even question his psychiatrist's sanity before the film ends. One thing is certain; this fast paced film will keep you on the edge of your seat wondering who is sane or insane as the line between sanity and insanity is very thin and most often defined by those observing from the outside, the opinion of what is normal or abnormal is often in the eye of the beholder, or at the very least the majority accepted viewpoint.
Cole, a prison inmate, and the rest of the surviving population live in an underground world because in 1996 a pandemic virus kills most of the earth's population. The scientists in his underground home hope to obtain a sample of the virus in order to find a cure so they can leave their underground world and have begun experimenting with time travel as a means of obtaining the virus in its pure form. Cole is one of their "volunteers" and is sent back in time with the promise that he will receive a full pardon if he is able to meet his goal.
In his first journey back in time Cole arrives in 1993 and encounters Jeffrey Goines, played by Brad Pitt, in the mental institution where Cole has been placed due to his behavior upon arrival. Cole tells Goines in one of their conversations that he has traveled back in time because in 1996 a pandemic virus will kill billions of people and those who survive will be forced to live underground, Goines doesn't believe him, but is intrigued with the idea Cole has just planted.
Cole travels back and forth through time so often that he appears to struggle with reality. He recalls things that he remembers and then questions those memories, for most of the movie he is convinced that he has traveled back in time to bring back a sample of the virus to help those in the future. On his last trip back to the past he decides that he is crazy and is resolved to accept that reality, the only problem is now Dr. Railly, played by Madeleine Stowe, who all along has believed he is insane, now believes that he is indeed from the future. Before Dr. Railly reaches that conclusion however she too begins to question her own sanity and clearly begins to act in ways that one might associate with someone who has gone mad.
The lighting and angles used in this film act as a further barrier or suggestion of the real or unreal world of James Cole dependent upon the observers chosen point of view. When Cole is in his "present" world things are colorless and bleak, he often sees things in a distorted sense such as the orb that shows the multiple various monitors of ongoing still picture slide shows, movie clips and the faces of the scientists which are always shown through the orb monitors as though they were filmed using fun-house mirrors.
When Cole is visiting the past the world has color and beautiful music, even when it is bleak such as the time that he is in the mental institution there are still colorful characters such as Goines and TV shows advertising exotic and beautiful places which is not seen in his "present day" world. The music that Cole hears when he visits the past most often portrays songs of a beautiful world, and Cole is viewed as relishing the fresh air and sunshine. By contrast in his "present day" world there is no fresh air, no sunshine and it is not a beautiful place. One must make his or her own determination as to whether or not these depictions suggest the differences between the world as it is known today and the suggested post-apocalyptic world of the future or simply the grandiose imaginings of the truly insane.
The movie ends without disclosing whether or not he has truly traveled through time or is indeed insane. It does not tell us if Dr. Railly has suffered a mental break and has come to believe the delusions of her patient so significantly that she too cannot understand reality. Since either is possible, you will have to decide which possibility you choose to believe.