Needlessly Complex

Rating: 5/10 (5 February 2013)

I watched this film twice.
The first time, I began watching the film without the sub-titles. When I reached the halfway mark, I finally gave up. I am not a native English speaker, which is probably why I could only manage to understand a word or two now and then between what sounded like people mumbling and whispering in a language that distantly resembled English. Especially the part where they show Tom Hanks and Halle Barry in some post-apocalyptic time. I could not understand almost 95 percent of what they spoke. Literally.
But lucky for me the movie came with English sub-titles. So I started watching the film again, right from the start, but this time with the English sub-titles on. But that didn't help much at all. True I could now fully understand what they were saying, but I guess I still needed a Master in Philosophy to put all that talk in a context. What was the context? Probably in an attempt to merge past, present and future into one single continuum, the film makers made every character looked like as if they were lost in deep contemplation, thinking about their 'pasts' and 'futures' in the 'present'. It looked as if only their bodies were in the present, but their minds were wandering somewhere in some distant past or some distant future. Their feelings and emotions, whenever they managed to show any, did not match what they spoke, most of the time. They looked like people whose minds were not focused on the tasks at hand. Like someone who is having sex, but was thinking about eating ice cream, and as a result, giving mixed and confusing messages. Maybe this is called art?
I believe the film makers probably intended this film to be a master artwork of some sort. The topic it discusses is complex, no doubt, but the film makers have, somehow, manged to turn it into something super-super complex. If the film makers wanted this film to be some sort of artwork, can't good artworks be produced in simple ways? Must good artworks be always super-super complex? Why use words and language which 99 percent of the world's population do not understand? Why use extremely vague clues, or no clues at all? Why make your characters sound like as if they were mumbling and whispering?
Turning a complex topic into something far more complex is probably not the best use of one's intelligence. If anything, it actually shows that the topic under discussion is not well understood by those who are trying to make others understand it. True intelligence, I believe, is shown when a super-complex topic is made into something that can be understood even by lay people.
Basically, I am frustrated that such a good topic, a film which could have been so good, has been ruined by unnecessary complexity. Still, I am of the opinion that every movie fan should watch this film at least once, because there is something in it that appeals one's soul and heart.
But don't feel bad if you do not understand the film, and don't say you do when you don't, because it is not really your fault if you don't manage to decipher and decode the film. This movie is designed not to be understood. Rather, this movie is probably designed, unintentionally most likely, to be felt only. Feel it and appreciate the mystery in it, because the message it conveys is probably true, but it is still far too complex a topic for our minds to understand. Even Einstein did not fully understand it.
That's all I have to say.