Reel Pop

There is a scene in Alfonso Cuaron's Children of Men when Theo, the selfish and well-soused anti-hero, enters his cousin's luxurious London aerie and is greeted by two growling dogs -- Cerberus, anyone? -- guarding Michaelangelo's David, the left leg of which is held together by a bone-like steel joist. Theo then sits down to lunch beneath Picaso's Guernica and afterwards takes in the window view, which includes a massive reproduction of the cover of Pink Floyd's Animals.

It is a disturbing scene cluttered with art-turned-tchotchke. And When Theo asks his cousin, amid all this gratuitous opulence, how he lives without hope for the future, his cousin replies "The truth is, I just don't think about it."

It is scenes like these that disturb not for their glimpses of a dystopian future, but because in those glimpses we recognize the attitudes that define our perilous present.

And Cuaron's future film, based on the 1992 novel by P.D. James, is full of all-too-present imagery: A bomb explodes on a crowded street, the camera pans away. Hooded immigrants are detained in cages, the camera pans away. Armed Arabs protest in the street, but it's only a set piece. "You know why you're here" is an underlying theme. Throughout it all, Cuaron intersperses comic lines that show man laughing at his own follies, complemented by a recurring visual motif of crippled society -- the one-legged David, the hero limping in flip flops, a terrorist bleeding to death from a leg wound.

Children of Men is a dystopian film in the finest tradition: It dwells on relationships rather then technology and doesn't condescend to explain the history of the apocalypse, simply giving broad strokes and allowing the viewer's imagination to play in the blank spaces.

Below, in top ten order -- but not including Children of Men (we practice a year's moratorium on adding anything to a movie top ten list) -- are Reel Pop's favorite dystopian films.

10. The Running Man
Hard time or prime time? This absurd yet incredibly satisfying Schwarzenegger vehicle, loosely based on Stephen King's novella of the same name, features Arnold as a wrongfully-convicted prisoner forced to play a deadly game show in which gladiators hunt him through an underground arena. Richard Dawson plays a self-parodying role as the game show host Damon Killian. Like King's novella, the film depicts a polluted future in which the military-industrial complex is in near total control of society. Below, a tacky 80s trailer for the film.

9. La Jetée
This 1962 short film by Chris Marker, in which post-apocalyptic Parisians living underground send a prisoner through time to save mankind, was the inspiration for Terry Gilliam's 1995 film, 12 Monkeys. Unlike 12 Monkeys, La Jetée occurs after a nuclear holocaust, a timely concern given that France tested its first nuclear weapon in Algeria two years prior. The 28-minute film contains no dialogue, only a voiceover (in French, natch). You can find parts two and three on YouTube. Here's part one:

8. Brazil
You can't have a list of dystopias without mentioning Terry Gilliam's 1985 movie Brazil, which depicts a steampunk Britain beset by terrorism.  For anyone ever frustrated by bureaucracy, this is the film for you. Gilliam's film follows a daydreaming clerk as he pursues a mysterious woman who may or may not be involved with the terrorists. Below, Mr. Buttle is arrested and executed because of a clerical error.

7. Alphaville
This 1965 film by New Wave auteur Jean-Luc Godard -- not to be confused with the German synthpop band of the same name -- follows agent Lemmy Caution as he flathats through a futuro-fascist France that is controlled by Alpha 60, a supercomputer that restricts emotion and quotes Borges. The film reminds me at once of Hal in 2001, the emotional wasteland of 2002's Equilibrium, and the riddle-loving Blaine the Train in Stephen King's The Waste Lands. You can view the trailer for Alphaville here, or see this excerpt in which Caution and soon-to-be-beau Natacha Von Braun discuss the meaning of love. Or, watch and download the full version from Google Video:

6. Logan's Run
The first movie to predict the evolution of the Internet -- what? The Internet isn't sex on demand? -- Michael Anderson's 1976 film depicts a futuristic, domed society where pleasure is available on tap, but citizens are terminated once they reach 30. (um, my 30th is coming in April...) Michael York plays Logan 5, a Sandman whose job is to terminate Runners, people who try to escape their assigned death day. Logan eventually escapes to the outside world, which happens to be the Mall in Washington, D.C. He returns to the city and destroys the central, controlling computer by revealing the truth. Below, the trailer for the film:

5. Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior
The second in the three-part George Miller series was the first of those films to dwell on post-apocalyptic themes. (Mad Max was more a revenge drama, Beyond Thunderdome simply subsidized the hairspray market.) Besides sporting some of the gaudiest character names and outfits ever -- Max Rockatansky in distressed leather! Lord Humungus in a hockey mask! -- The Road Warrior exploited popular 80s themes such as mutants (X-Men, the Toxic Avenger, etc) and oil dependency. We can also thank Road Warrior for launching Mel Gibson's international career. I rather like this mashup of Road Warrior with Cake's Comfort Eagle, but below, Lord Humungus' speech (the ayatollah of rock-n-rolla!) to the besieged camp:

4. Akira
Katsuhiro Otomo's anime version of his manga of the same name depicts a post-apocalyptic (but gleaming) Tokyo beset by motorcycle gangs, anti-government revolutionaries and children with psychokinetic powers. Fantastic in scope and attention to animated detail, the film -- like most of Otomo's works -- dwells on issues of social order, evolution and cosmic consciousness. Akira was the first VHS tape I bought, and I don't know a single anime fan who doesn't recognize the cry "Kaneda!" You can find the entirety of Akira online. Below, the opening sequence to the film.

3. Blade Runner
The first Phillip K. Dick story to be adapted to the screen -- the list includes Minority Report, Total Recall, Paycheck and A Scanner Darkly, among others -- Ridley Scott's 1982 Blade Runner is also one of the finest examples of the cyberpunk genre. The film follows retired bounty hunter Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford, already playing a retired charatcer!) as he tries to "retire" four runaway replicants. Blade Runner includes themes of genetic engineering, climate change, and human consciousness, and has influenced everything from Max Headroom to Battlestar Gallactica. On a personal note, this film originally got me interested in William Gibson's Neuromancer, and in the roleplaying game GURPS. Below, the final scene, known as Tears in the Rain, in which replicant Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer) out-emotes Deckard, then dies.

2. THX 1138
The underground tunnels of George Lucas' 1971 film, in which humans are emotionally and sexually neutered by mind control drugs, have always reminded me of the austere architecture of Washington D.C.'s subway system. Similarity to contemporary settings aside, THX 1138 disturbs because , unlike Alphaville, it depicts an authoritarian cityscape without a single "evil" dictator; control seems to be metastasized throughout a willing population. You can check out the 2004 trailer for the reissue here, or watch Lucas' original short student film, Electronic Labyrinth THX 1138:4EB, which was the genesis of the feature film. Below, the iconic chase scene (filmed in San Francisco's Caldecott tunnel):

1. Gattaca
Talk about perfect casting. Ethan Hawke was born to play Eugene, an overly-emotional, genetic loser who tries to reach beyond his talent, scheming his way into bio-perfect society by taking lessons (and DNA) from Jude Law. Sarcasm aside, the film explores a dystopian society ruled by eugenics, where a child's aptitudes are quantitatively judged at birth and only near-perfect "Valids" have access to the best opportunities. The film was released in 1997 as the issue of reproductive genetics was achieving mainstream consciousness. In the clip below, Eugene's parents decide how to manipulate Eugene's DNA before birth. Such extreme genetic determinism may seem to be an avoidable evil, but its inevitability is a result of what critic Thomas de Zengotita refers to as the Justin's Helmet principle -- in discrete circumstances, we are more likely to choose better, safer options for our children. In fact, we view it as morally reprehensible, given the option, not to make sensible decisions that better their lives. Of all the dystopias mentioned above -- even accounting for Children of Men, given its unlikely global infertility problem -- Gattaca comes closest to depicting a future world that is entirely possible given present sensibilities.