Subject: Review: Gattaca (1997)

From: [email-masked] (Luke Buckmaster)
Date: 4 Mar 1998 17:33:32 GMT

REVIEW: Gattaca (1997)
by Luke Buckmaster

To model a human's DNA would be the ultimate of playing God - and director 
Andrew Nicol pretends its all ahead of us "in the not too distant future."  But 
in the cold world of Gattaca, a society that creates a race of "super" people, 
the word "perfection" has been taken one step too far.  

Any person who enters the world from a "faith birth" (without use of DNA 
structuring) becomes known as an "In Valid", an outcast who often will end up 
with the lowest possible occupation and living conditions.  As the movie so 
bluntly states, it's technically not discrimination - but who would hire an In 
Valid over a person structured to perfection?  This is one of the many themes 
that is raised in the most engrossing Science Fiction film this year, that not 
only presents us with raw creativity and imagination but also intelligence and 
emotion on equal terms.

The film follows the narrative life of Vincent Freeman (Ethan Hawke), a child 
born the old fashioned way; with values and morals that would be respected in 
the 90's but scorned at in the society of Gattaca. At the time of his birth 
Vincent's life expectancy was estimated at a lousy 30 years; so after 
discovering this and realizing that he would have to live the life of a third 
rate citizen, his parents agree for genetics to decide the fate of his future 
brother Hugo.  Once Hugo is "born", Vincent begins to realize just weak he is, 
and despite his never ending determination to function successfully in society 
he is continuously outclassed and outmatched by people who proclaim that there 
is no way to defy genetics.  Luckily for Vincent, there is no gene for the 
human spirit.

As Vincent grows up, and his desire for social acceptance is spurred on by his 
dream to be an astronaut, he realizes that the only way to hide his identity is 
to borrow someone else's.  Enter Jeromre, a very contrasting character to 
Vincent, who was structured as an extraordinarily high-class citizen - perfect 
in every way.  But, after a failed suicide attempt, Jerome is left a paraplegic 
and is now useless in Gattaca's unforgiving society.  Deciding to cash in on 
his injury, Jerome forfeits his identity to Vincent for a large paycheck that 
will ensure a comfortable life for him. 

Of course with every person there is unique DNA and blood types, so Vincent 
quickly learns to follow a set of important activities to ensure that his 
identity remains a secret.  Brushing as much hair as possible off his body, 
using Jerome's blood and vicariously cleaning everything around him soon become 
necessary for survival and placement amongst the society which surrounds him.

Vincent soon becomes attracted to fellow worker Sally Ed (Uma Thurman), a 
beautiful young women with a terminal heart disease. A lively romantic subplot 
emerges between these two characters, and as Vincent becomes more and more 
desperate to conceal his identity their relationship will almost certainly end 
in disaster.

But Gattaca has much more in stall for viewers than just a Sci Fi drama with a 
romantic flavor - twists and developments in its story provide constant 
entertainment of a fulfilling and rewarding kind.

The claustrophobic and all too modern sets of Gattaca give an eerie 
representation of Niccol's futuristic world, perhaps making you feel that this 
sort of place may be around the corner - but it's impossible - impossible tell 
you, for anything like Gattaca to ever exist.  The very thought of DNA 
structuring society is laughable, however the illustrious mind of Niccol surely 
has created something truly special in a genre which surely produces more 
mindless duds then masterpieces.  So Gattaca's basic idea may appear to be a 
little silly - who cares?  It is not so much a film's plot that makes it great; 
rather the way it is executed, and although this film doesn't score many 
brownie points in believability it more than makes it up with maturity and 
style.

Many may argue that this "believability" factor is it's ultimate downfall, but 
anyone who does not have the imagination to fill in the blanks should steer 
clear of Gattaca all together.

For example in Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park, we almost believed that 
rampaging dinosaurs could exist - simply because the exact theory behind it was 
presented from the start and shown in a society we can recognize and relate 
with.  But Gattaca quite obviously steers clear from all the hows and whys, and 
presents us not with theories, beliefs and assumptions, but with cold hard 
imagination and a touch of wonder.

The all-important question - is this necessarily bad?  For the scientific 
minded perhaps yes - but those who value physiological effects more than absent 
minded mathematics will appreciate Gattaca's character's on going relationships 
and the way they react in a society obsessed with perfection.

When creating a film, it is one thing to hand out emotion on a platter (ala 
Jerry Maguire, where the movie's surroundings allow for a loving relationship 
between certain characters), but where the basic setting is a cold and 
unforgiving society it is entirely different.  It truly takes skill to produce 
characters that people care about, situations which people think about and 
issues that people can relate with when apparent boundaries are set. Andrew 
Nicol does this beautifully, and not for one minute does the science side of 
things replace Gattaca's superb story and its brilliance in fabulously crafted 
scenes.

As an avid fan of numerous reviewers, it has been bluntly obvious to me that 
many different opinions have been expressed about this film - a film that does 
something different, strays off the track of clichi characters and events and 
presents us with something truly brilliant indeed.  If you are able to open 
your mind and absorb only a fraction of what Gattaca has to offer, a very 
memorial experience is to be had.  Its still early days but I have no doubt in 
proclaiming Gattaca as one of the best films of 1997.

5 stars out of 5

Daring to be different, Gattaca stands strong as a modern masterpiece.

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