Life is back to “normal” after travelling to Seattle to
celebrate Christmas with our son and daughter-in-law. Now, back in the San Francisco Bay Area, decorations have been put
away, a few resolutions have been eliminated or down sized, and the days seem
to be getting longer. Spring is still a couple of
months away, so I like to seek out a few movies where plants are the movie stars (even if only in a supporting role). This winter
I’m viewing movies with “green houses in space”. Grab some cocoa and a bowl of pop corn, and come join me!
Elysium
Our first movie is “Elysium” (2013), written and directed by
Neill Blomkamp, and starring Matt Damon, Jodie Foster, and Sharlto Copley. This
futuristic movie is set in 2054, at a time when two classes of people exist.
The very wealthy live on a man-made space station called Elysium, and the rest live
on an overpopulated, ruined Earth. Elysium is spacious, disease can be
eradicated, and the environment is like a pristine garden. On earth, the
world’s resources have been stripped, garbage is everywhere, robots police and
administer the land, and people eke out a living. The health care industry is
overloaded, and citizens of the world are prevented from visiting Elysium for
treatment (space is the ultimate wall).
Max is a parolee, trying to turn his life around, and working at a factory job “on
the line”. After a small police-related incident, he reconnects with Freya, a childhood friend at an orphanage run by sympathetic
Catholic sisters, and now a nurse, with a daughter who has inoperable leukemia. Through a series of flashbacks, we learn that, as children, Max
vowed to take Freya to Elysium for a better life. Meanwhile, a coup is
unfolding on Elysium masterminded by the ambitious and ruthless Secretary
Delacourt, with aid from unsavory criminals on Earth. After a major industrial
accident that renders Max with only days to live and nothing to lose, he signs
on to take evidence of the coup to Elysium, and obtain medical care for himself
and Freya’s daughter. An action-packed adventure ensues as he carries out the
plan to bring justice and healing.
I love science fiction as a vehicle for
exploring the what-ifs of other realities and situations. What if we failed to provide
stewardship for the Earth? What if robots ran the world? What if overpopulation
outstripped the planet’s resources? What if the disparity between haves and have-nots became too imbalanced? These themes are laced all through the action
packed, sci-fi tale. Elysium is a garden paradise, with no hunger, disease
or want, but at the expense of everyone else left behind on Earth. This movie
may not be for everyone, but I appreciated its insight and gritty action. Take
a look (click Watch Trailer): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GH75V1S?ref_=imdbref_tt_wbr_aiv&tag=imdbtag_tt_wbr_aiv-20
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