Equilibrium (2002)

nTitle: Equilibrium (2002)

nWriter/Director: Kurt Wimmer

nCast: Christian Bale, Emily Watson, Sean Bean, Taye Diggs, WilliamnFichtner

nReview:

nDirector/Writer Kurt Wimmer has had an interesting career,nthough you might not think so at first because he’s only directed three films,nhe continues working as a screenwriter in big budget Hollywood action/sci-finfilms like the recent Total Recall (2012) which in spite of being a “softer”nfilm than Verhoeven’s blood drenched original film starting Arnold Schwarzenegger,nstill managed to be an entertaining film in my book. He also wrote Salt (2010)nwhich by the way I absolutely loved; it got me to respect Angelina Jolie as annaction star. Wimmer’s first directing gig was a Brian Bosworth action filmncalled One Man’s Justice (1996) a.k.a. One Tough Bastard; but he got fired halfnway through the shoot of that film, so most of the time, he speaks ofnEquilibrium as his first directorial effort.

nWimmer directs Bale

nEquilibrium tells the tale of ‘Libria’; a world ruled undernthe tight regime of a dictator who is simply referred to as “Father”. What kindnof a world is Libria? Well, because of the horrors brought on by war, this newnsociety has decided that they want to stop feeling. In order to inhibit feelingsneveryone takes a drug called ‘Prozium’ at certain points during the day. Tonfurther hold a grip on society’s feelings, all forms of artistic expressionnhave been prohibited. This means that poetry, novels, paintings, films andnmusic have all been outlawed. Of course, not everyone agrees with this way ofnlife and groups of rebels are spread out through out the land, hiding theirnmusic records, their books and paintings in little cache’s of culturalnawesomeness. In order to find these cultural treasures and destroy them, thengovernment has the ‘Grammaton Clerics’, police men who go around burning allnforms of artistic expression. One of these Clerics is John Preston. Problem isnthat Preston has stopped taking Prozium and isnstarting to feel. Will he succumb to the wonders of sensation? Or will henremain a cold, robotic tool of the government?

nThrough his film, Wimmer comments on many things, one ofnthem being emotional repression. Films make us feel, and Wimmer whose worked innthe film industry for many, many years knows how repressed the filmmakingnindustry is. There’s no better example than Total Recall (2012); a film thatnWimmer himself wrote. In my comparison between the old and new Total Recall, Infelt this new one had been neutered, stripped of all that edgy violent coolnessnthat the 1990 version had. On Equilibrium, we meet characters who are rebels andnhave stopped feeling. One of these characters is Mary. a character that hasnstopped taking the emotion repressing drug. When she is questioned as to whynshe wants to feel she says: “Feeling is as vital as breath, and without it.nWithout love, without anger, without sorrow, breath is just a clock…ticking” Equilibriumnspeaks about how repressed society has become, and more specifically hownrepressed the American film industry is.

nCertain cultural artifacts in Equilibrium are rated ‘EC-10’nby the government, a not so subtle way of commenting on the nefarious ‘NC-17’,na rating that can kill a films chances at the box office. During a point in thenfilm we even see a foot soldier of the government burning a roll of film, sonyes, Wimmer was commenting on the repressive nature of the rating systems innthe film industry. I read an interview in which Wimmer accurately compares filmsnto a drug. We see a sad film when we want to feel sad, an uplifting one when wenwant to feel uplifted and a funny one when we want to laugh. And it is true; filmsnare like a drug that can manipulate our emotions. How many times have you foundnyourself deeply moved by a film; to the point where you even drop a tear orntwo? Ever found yourself screaming for Rocky to win? We have a rating system toncontrol what the younger population is be exposed to, but is it also used toncontrol the ideas we are presented with? Through the drug that the people ofnLibria take in Wimmer’s film, he was commenting on the Motion PicturenAssociation of America and how they try to hold back what ideas we are exposednto and what we can feel through films.

nOf course, I am not against controlling the kind of imagesnthat our children are exposed to with a film. It would be stupid to allow anchild to see a film like Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986) for example.nBut why limit this films chances at appearing on the silver screen by rating itnNC-17 and therefore limiting the amount of screens it can be seen in? Yes it isna violent and disturbing film, but it also comments about real life, in fact,nthe film is partially based on the exploits of real life murderer Henry LeenLucas. It comments on real life horrors, and this, as seen by an educated adultnshouldn’t be a problem. We all know that life is ugly, life is deadly, bloody,nnasty, but it is also beautiful and uplifting and emotional. In life, thingsndon’t always end with a happy ending; in fact the truth is that we rarely get anhappy ending to anything! So why make believe that everything is pretty andnclean and perfectly solved, when in real life this isn’t so? Aren’t films andnart a mirror image of the world we live in? Doesn’t art imitate life? If thisnis so, then part of our world is in denial of who we really are. There’s anmoment in Equilibrium when Cleric John Preston begins to feel, he looks atnhimself in the mirror and screams “look at yourself!” Maybe this is somethingnthat we as a society should start doing. Instead of trying to hide things as ifnthey didn’t exist. There should be no problem in analyzing who we are throughnfilms; or maybe this is something that the powers that be don’t want the peoplento do? Think? Analyze? Learn? Again, as has happened before, film is seen as anthreat, as a powerful tool that can change the way we see things as therefore,nit is considered dangerous. This is also a theme I talked a bit about in mynreview for Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Dreamers (2003).

nIt cannot be denied that Equilibrium is obviouslynhighly influenced by Orwelle’s 1984, Huxley’s A Brave New World and Bradbury’snFahrenheit 451 all books about societies living under fascist dictatorships. Thenburning of books, a totalitarian government ruled by a huge television screen,nchildren who rat on their parents, art and sex being prohibited, rebels whonwant nothing more then to be themselves and be free, these are all elementsnthat we’ve seen before on these books and films. What Equilibrium adds to the mixnis the action and the style. It’s 1984 mixed with The Matrix. It’s no secretnthat Wimmer loves his kung fu style action; he always finds a way to work itninto his films. This element was felt even stronger in Wimmer’s Ultraviolet (2006)na film that was taken by the studio and re-edited beyond recognition. Here’snthe deal with Ultraviolet: you can see it has a lot of cool elements to it, thenvisuals are eye candy; the film is so colorful, always changing, visually, it’snnever boring. It has a lot of that comic book style action Wimmer loves so much!nMotorcycles that ride up buildings! Sadly, the film was re-edited by the studionwho thought Wimmer’s cut of the film was “too emotional”. Again with thenrepression of emotions! The studio wanted to augment the more superficialnelements of the film. As a result, we got a film that feels like a big oldnmess. But that wasn’t Wimmer’s fault; he wanted a film that would have as muchnaction as emotion, yet it was the studio that wanted things the other waynaround. So if you find Ultraviolet to be a film that’s style over substance,nnow you know who to blame. I’d love to see Wimmer’s cut of the film!

nEquilibrium benefits from having Christian Bale in the rolenof John Preston, a member of the government who suddenly finds he doubts whatnhe does. He kills, nay, exterminates, the poor, the artistic and rebellious sidenof society. Their only crime is wanting to live in a world where they could be themselves;nwhere they can be individuals. Not a world where we all think, dress, and looknalike. Don’t know about you guys, but I fight for this everyday. For trying to benan individual, to say what I think and not be afraid to do so, to not wear anmask, to be the exception, not the norm, to be myself. This is what Equilibriumnis all about. There’s this moment in which John Preston stops taking the drugnand starts realizing that he is spilling the blood of innocents, he is nonlonger a cold robotic tool of the government, he feels and realizes he has someone’snblood on his hands. Wow, what a moment! Bale plays Prestonnin such a cold matter, with an emotionless face for a huge part of the film,nbut little by little emotion creeps its way into his life, then he is antortured soul. That scene where he hears Beethoven’s 9^th for thenfirst time, amazing stuff.

nOf course the film is not perfect. Its budgetary limitationsnsometimes show their ugly face. For example, this is supposed to be a distantnfuture, completely unrelated to the world we live in, yet the Clerics drive CadillacnSeville’s painted entirely in white? That takes me right out of this futurenworld and takes me right back to the 90’s. Performance wise Taye Diggs is thenonly weak link in the film. While Emily Watson, Christian Bale and Sean Beannall turn in great performances, Digg’s fails to portray an emotionless beingnbecause he is always smiling or screaming in anger. What happened to thensupposedly emotionless cleric? Worst part is that he says that he can detectnsomeone who is feeling even before they know it themselves. Shouldn’t he knownhe himself is showing emotion all the time? He’s constant smirking gets a bitnannoying. Also, the films comic book style action clashes with its heavy themes,nbut if you find comic book styled action entertaining (the way I do) then younjust might find enjoyment in it. Especially the martial arts called ‘Gun Kata’ that Wimmer created specifically for this film. It’s kind of like mixing Kung-Fu mixed with Guns, pretty cool stuff. Bottom line is this is a film with lots tonsay, heavy on themes, the way good sci-fi should be. It has a couple of weaknmoments that don’t allow it to be a perfect sci-fi, but it can certainly benqualified as beyond average. This is anfilm that speaks about the importance of not loosing our humanity, and thatnmatters a lot in my book.

nRating: 4 out of 5