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Sunday, January 22, 2017

Winter Movies 2017: Elysium


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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