Cloud Atlas (2012)

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nCloud Atlas (2012)

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nDirectors: The Wachowskis

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nCast: Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving,nJim Sturgess, Doona Bae, Ben Whishaw, Keith David, James D’Arcy, SusannSarandon, Hugh Grant

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nAnother film to add to the “films that shouldn’t havenflopped” file. I’m actually kind of sad that I never got around to watchingnthis one until now, but I am glad I finally got to watch it because I wasnmissing out on an excellent, profound film. Cloud Atlas comes to us from threendirectors, Andy and Lana Wachowski (the two siblings behind The Matrix trilogy)nand Tom Tykwer, the director behind the gruesome and beautiful Perfume: ThenStory of a Murderer (2006). Tykwer also directed the ultra stylized Run LolanRun (1998). Why three directors you might ask? Well, this film is extremelyncomplex; it involves various stories occurring in different timelines. It’s anstory that spans throughout many decades, past, present and future. ThenWachowski’s directing this one makes sense because they are used to directingncomplex films with a lot of special effects and having Tom Tykwer involvednmakes sense as well, his Run Lola Run was all about how our smallest actions cannprofoundly affect other people’s lives, which is essentially what Cloud Atlasnis all about.

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nI’ m not going to attempt to explain or mention the premisenfor each of the story lines here because that would make for a convolutednreview, instead, I’ll present you guys with the films themes in a nutshell.nThis is a story about people fighting for injustices throughout history. Inneach of the story lines, an atrocity is being committed against humanity, be itnthrough racism, bigotry or plain and simple evil. In each of the story lines, charactersnare fighting against said injustices. The most interesting aspect of the wholenfilm is how all the characters are connected, as if each one of them had comenback through reincarnation to continue fighting evil in their new life or tonevolve. There’s this prevailing idea that we evolve through time; in one life ancharacter might be a scoundrel, but in the next he has learned his lesson and hasnevolved into a kind hearted individual. At the center of it all is the ideanthat truth, love and goodness must prevail and that we cannot let evil slipnthrough the cracks.  

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nI remember when this film was first released; it got a lotnof “worst of the year” reviews. I cannot understand why; It’s a beautiful filmnwith something important to say. Fight the injustice, human rights need to benrespected, we all need our dignity and our freedom to be who we want to be innthis world. But I guess movies with a good message aren’t as popular as nonsensicalnaction movies and yet, here’s the thing, Cloud Atlas proves to be annentertaining film as well. It’s not preachy, or boring, in fact, it has somenkick ass action in it! In this way, it reminded me of a recent favorite ofnmine, Brad Bird’s Tomorrowland (2015), which while giving a valid, positivenmessage to the masses still managed to be wildly entertaining and includenincredible visual effects. Same thing with Cloud Atlas, a poignant film thatngot lost in the shuffle.  Some willnundoubtedly find it a “messy” story, but in all honesty, if you have a brain innyour head and stick with the story all the way to the end, you will “get it”,nyou will see that there is a cohesiveness to the tale, you will see that itnwill all make sense in the end. You will see the inter-connectivity between thenstories and you will see that they all relate to the message of fighting theninjustices in our society. You will see that it’s all about us, fighting fornour rights to be free, to live our lives in spite of the fact that there arenforces out there that would have it otherwise. 

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nProduction wise, it must have been a daunting task to makenthis movie. Actors recount how one day they’d be dressed as a pirate, the nextnday as a doctor, the next day as someone from the future, I have to say it allnworked out in the end, which is what matters. The Wachowski’s have been makingnunsuccessful movies for some time now, Speed Racer (2008), Cloud Atlas (2012)nand most recently Jupiter Ascending (2015), which makes me wonder if we’ll seena film from them again. If I know how Hollywood works, we probably won’t.nStill, if you haven’t given Cloud Atlas a chance, then maybe you should. It’sngot a formidable cast composed of Tom Hanks, Halley Berry, Susan Sarandon, HugonWeaving, Keith David, I mean it just goes on and on and each actor plays variousncharacters throughout time, it’s interesting to see them portraying all thesendifferent characters. Bottom line is, you probably missed out on this one whennit originally released (like me), but you should give it a shot, the Wachowski’snmade a good one and most of the world missed it.  

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nRating: 4 out of 5    

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