There is no Gene for the Human Spirit

I finally was able to introduce my best friend to Andrew Niccol's film Gattaca last night, and I now have two friends who count it among their all-time favorites :)

I had sort of casually mentioned it oh....a bunch of times, but I haven't been able to actually share it with anyone in awhile. Fortunately, I still have my used-VHS copy from the West Point bookstore, which I've had the pleasure of introducing to others many times (and that alone already says quite a bit about the movie since I tend to only watch truly exceptional films more than once). That said however, the VHS copy stayed on my shelf last night and the DVD came out instead.

The film itself was well worth experiencing again, in and of itself. However, the deleted scenes on the DVD were a special treat since it was my first time seeing 'em. The producer calls them "Lost Scenes" rather than deleted, and I well understand the difference. They were never deleted. Something tells me he wouldn't have permitted it.

In fact, even though they didn't appear in the original, they were still there :)

What I mean is simply that, as with any good screenplay, the messages they convey were not lost to the film because of their absence. I found myself thinking a number of times, "wait...I already knew that scene and message were right there in the story the whole time." To an admirer of the themes in the film, each of the lost scenes fit in quite naturally. Art often both obliges and permits you to "fill in the gaps" yourself, as a member of the audience, and I had already pictured most of the deleted scenes long before I actually saw 'em :D

If you haven't seen it, Gattaca is a beautiful film. And part of the beauty is its timelessness. As you have no doubt already gathered, it is a rather different film than most. Truly exceptional. Though it takes place in the future, when brilliant minds are intent on personally exploring and possibly colonizing other planets, there is a 1950's era motif throughout the entire story. The effect is a sense not only of timelessness, in keeping with the timelessness of the film's message, but also of what I will simply call "unchronology." The age of the characters is not so very important in the film. And neither is the year, or the country, in which it takes place.

Through a masterful screenplay, nationality, and even race and ethnicity, are lost to the actors as well. These, and a number of other carefully selected features, serve to focus your attention on the message of the film, if you care to see it. And how can you not. It is about life. More to the point perhaps, it tells the story of alternative life, one that we have not (yet) known or experienced.*

Perhaps the unchronology of the film is reflected most acutely in the very existence of the story itself. This is a story that should never have taken place. The world was not made to turn like this. Amidst themes of beauty, elegance, and perfection, there is also interwoven an inescapable parallel; a disharmony that leaves the audience with a feeling of angst in the most profound sense of that word. I say the film is characterized in part by unchronology because of this underlying incongruity. There is a sense in which this story simply "doesn't fit". It doesn't fit in time. It was never meant to be. And yet, it is. Unlike some films, the incongruity does not take away from the realism of the film, or render the story more difficult to believe. It is an incongruity that coexists with reality. And that is at the same time the most beautiful part, as well as the most terrible. Some will watch the film and go away saying to themselves, "surely it will never happen". But as Joe Nichols sings in "The Impossible", sometimes the things you think would never happen, happen just like that...

* [As I write this, I'm reminded again of times back at West Point. One of my projects at the Academy was to follow in the footsteps of another Honor Rep (Wynne), and put together a weekly Ethics Movie Night for plebes (freshmen). On Friday nights I, or one of the other honor reps, would occasionally show a film and follow it up with a discussion afterwards. I think I collected a list of about twenty films to be shown throughout the year. Unsurprisingly, Gattaca was #1 on my list, followed by such other favorites as A Man for All Seasons, Shawshank Redemption, Mercury Rising, and Taps.]

** [The link above will take you to an audio clip of the first few lines of the song's refrain, published courtesy of CD-Universe. You can also find quotes from the film here.]