Last night I watched a fascinating movie that I'd never heard of, Equilibrium, starring Christian Bale.
World War III has taken place and the world has fallen under the control of Father and the Tetragrammaton. The government has outlawed feelings--anger, hatred, bigotry, etc. These are the emotions that have led to wars. Citizens are forced to take Prozium (a clever uniting of Prozac and Valium) which eliminates emotions. Of course these aren't the only feelings being erased. Man loses love, joy, happiness--you get the picture. John Preston is an elite soldier whose job it is to wipe out the "Sense Offenders", citizens who feel. One day, shortly after executing his partner who has been "feeling", Preston accidentally breaks his morning dose of emotion suppressant drug and begins to feel for the first time, setting off a chain of events.
I've always been interested in stories that take place after some sort of catastrophe. How would humans react? Could they pick up the pieces and rebuild? Should they? There are always the references to 1984 and A Brave New World, both classics of the genre.
Sean Bean, who plays Bale's partner, quotes from a poem by William Butler Yeats. He is reading from a book he confiscated from a raid on a group of sense offenders. I just thought it was beautiful and wanted to share it here.
He Wished for the Cloths of Heaven
HAD I the heavens' embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.
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3 comments:
I'm a serious sense offender. On days like today I might not mind being numb from my feelings but if you can't feel pain you can't feel love and happiness either. I'd rather feel deeply and emotionally than not at all.
I totally agree.
If you like sci-fi, watch this movie. The government burned everything that made people feel--books, art, music--I could go on and on.
I love a scene where Christian Bale is now feeling and comes across a secret room filled with candles, prints, books, and a phonograph. He accidentally turns it on and it begins to play the opening movement of Beethoven's
9th symphony. That scene alone encompassed the whole human experience for me.
Oh, spiffy!
Yes, Equilibrium is one of my husband's and mine's 'favorite' movies. I really like Christian Bale (have you seen American Psycho? Gross, disgusting, horrible, and yet funny and thought-provoking. It's an awful, awful movie, but the acting is spot-on... if you like suspense-thrillers, give it a whirl. Boy, that man can act. And he looks freaking fabu without any clothes on!! ;-) )
I'll add you to my blogroll, thanks for dropping by!
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