A homage to life - but not to human dreams and ingenuity

Rating: 6/10 (2 October 2006)

The Fountain is undeniably an immensely beautifully filmed movie, but it is also a difficult film to understand. The other day, also at the Copenhagen International Film Festival, I saw Renaissance, which was about how we should not strive for immortality because that would dull and dilute mortal life. Funnily - and a bit anti-climactically -, The Fountain was about exactly the same.
It was about a dying woman coming to terms with death by looking at it from the somewhat philosophical angle that every end of life is also the beginning of life. When you die, everything that was you continue in some other form. Your carcass will give nutrition to a tree. Your atoms, molecules and the very complementary bases of your DNA will become part of other life. It's one big cycle. And because of this, there is no need to desire continuous, individual immortality.
I am not very satisfied with this rather simplistic message, wrapped in a bizarrely impenetrable wanna-be art movie. It may intend to be life-affirming, but it is also a conservative and resigned form of nature romanticism. We should just accept nature's ways and not desire anything more or better. Dalai Lama might well agree, but I do not. Humanity is meant to continue to interact ever more complexly with our environment, and adapt both it and ourselves to our preferences. Of course we should strive for a scientific understanding of our genetic make-up and do all we can to extend our lives. Buddhist self-abnegation is just another religion that will die out in competition with a scientific lifestyle which actually changes both our environment and ourselves.
Based on the story and the deceptively obscure way of presenting it, I am forced to say that this disappointing movie deserves a 4 out of 10 rating. But because of the visually spectacular aspect, I will raise that to as much as a 6 out of 10. More than that I cannot grant it. This is not a timeless classic and will be no proper sci-fi fan's favorite movie.