Gattaca
| reviewed by Charles Markee |
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This 1997 Sci-Fi movie promotes the concept that an indomitable human spirit will successful compete against eugenics. It's set in some future time when the population has become 'superior' by virtue of genetic selection and those unfortunate 'free birth' kids or in-valids as they are called in the film can only hope for a career as a janitor. The construct reminds me of Sir Thomas More's Utopia, published circa 1500: no middle class, a disdain for property and an excluded lower class of workers (slaves).
This basic problem was established early in the screenplay since the protagonist, Vincent, is an in-valid. He must be one of the genetically pure in order to achieve his dream, to navigate a space ship to Titan, the largest of Saturn's moons. His only choice is deceit. It is a maverick hero's journey, albeit a tinged heroism, and his obstacle is discovery.
The film was well done, the acting excellent, the storyline engaging and the science reasonable. Unfortunately, it was only available on VHS, and the image quality was problematic.
To implement the future, people acted like automatons and the sets were chosen with clean lines, lofty atriums and lots of silver and chrome. Some of the interior and exterior shots were done at Frank Lloyd Wright's Civic Center building in Marin. Other trivia includes the name Gattaca, composed from the first letters of the DNA components, a helical (like DNA) staircase, the name Eugene (like Eugenics), the name Cassini (a 17th century astronomer), PA announcements in Esperanto and FBI agents called 'Hoovers'.
I was surprised when the film opened with Vincent shaving with a straight razor, certainly anachronistic. But the reason for it evolves. I also thought that the near drowning was hard to believe and that cardiac disease can be intercepted, an option not considered in the film. Otherwise, it was a great story.
Much of the quality of this film can be attributed to the acting. Ethan Hawke plays Vincent, Jude Law plays the real Jerome, Uma Thurman plays Irene Cassini and Alan Arkin plays a detective. There are some old timers: Gore Vidal plays the Gattaca director and Ernest Borgnine plays Caesar, the head janitor.
Reviewed January 26, 2005
MPAA: Rated PG-13 for brief violent images, language, and some sexuality.