a question of humanity

Rating: Null/10 (25 April 2004)

What does it mean to be a human being? Likewise, what constitutes a lifetime? Or the meaning of life? Few if any movies or literature in general(yes, movies are a form of lit.), ask these questions in such a stunning or potent way. And unlike most movies dealing with these questions, it provides no simple answers. The viewer is left to find his or her own answers to those questions. We see these characters loose in a world that has effectively swallowed the human animal, and made it a function of the whole, rather than allowing any sort of individuality. Each is trying desparately to define him or herself against a back drop of time and its inexorable flow, against the pressures of a society rotting from the inside out. Humans here do everything they can to rise out of the mist, grease and dirt, and yet our characters dig into it, trying to figure out who and what they are, and if, in the long run, it really matters at all.
The movie is visually stunning, both at a human level, and a backdrop level. Hypnotic and scary, yet strangely familiar. Everyone turns in a top notch performance, although Harrison Ford has said he felt that he did not do much more than provide a center focus for the set pieces. I have to disagree. He was the archtypal human working towards individuation. He was the reflection of his world for us. He provided an fully realized entry point for the viewer into this cacophany so we could understand the questions being asked. He was everyman. And that is one of the hardest roles to get right.
This movie is a must see for everyone who has ever sat back and wondered what the meaning of it all might be. It offers no easy answers, but certainly asks the age old questions in a fantastic way.
quotes:
"Painful to live in fear, isn't it? Like having an itch you can never scratch. Wake up, time to die!"
"It's too bad she won't live. But then, who does?"