Gattaca (1997) was written and directed by Andrew Niccol and, though it passed under the radar of the general audience, it is an intelligent and stylish science fiction movie.
Vincent Freeman (Ethan Hawke) has dreamt of venturing into space all of his life and has worked hard to become qualified for it. The only catch is this: Vincent was born naturally, which is against the current practice of being genetically engineered. People born naturally are labeled ‘invalids’ and are discriminated heavily against, putting them in a lower class and with no chance of attaining anything great in their lives. All the prominent careers go to the ‘valids’, the ones who have been given the best genes from both parents and these can go on to do pretty much anything they want to.
A stylish and fashion conscious future
Vincent finds an opportunity to take a valid’s identity, a practice that is becoming common in the black market. He meets up with Jerome Morrow (Jude Law) who has a very high genetic profile, but was rendered wheelchair bound after breaking his back. Vincent can now use Jerome’s identity as a valid to get into Gattaca where all the space missions are run. In order to pass as Jerome he needs constant urine samples, blood samples, hair samples etc to pass the constant tests that keep Gattaca free from invalids. He also tries to get rid of any of his own DNA by cleaning his workstation constantly and taking vigorous showers and minimizing any dead skin that could give him away.
After a grueling interview process (literally just a urine sample) Vincent gains access to Gattaca and soon comes in line to venture off into space. All goes well until the final week before the mission when the mission director is murdered. Police investigating find an eyelash belonging to Vincent who has been missing since he took up Jerome’s identity. Vincent is innocent of the murder but the police don’t know that and, besides, catching him will reveal that he is an invalid posing as a valid.
Alan Arkin investigates
We now have Vincent’s struggle to remain unnoticed by both the police who suspect him to be a murderer and testing everyone for DNA, and the Gattaca Corporation from discovering his true identity.
What I like about this movie first of all is that it is set in a semi-plausible future. If we could genetically engineer our children if we wished, how would the natural ‘inferior’ people be treated? Technically they are inferior but does anyone have the right to discriminate against them? Racism and sexism seem to be done away with to make way for a prejudice on a genetic level and your parents’ choice in reproduction methods will affect your future. These are obviously the themes that the movie explores the most but there are numerous others that it deals with from human spirit, ‘what is perfection?’, personal identity and sibling rivalry to name but a few.
The whole movie looks great, from the stylish suits and outfits that could come right out of a 50’s noir movie, to the sets which, again, go for style rather than the ‘hey this is a sci-fi movie, let’s go crazy’ craze of bigger budget equivalents.
The acting is good all round; Hawke is a confident guy despite his ‘disadvantage’, Law is the depressed guy despite his ‘perfections’ but learns much from Vincent. Uma Thurman, looking more elegant than ever, plays Vincent’s colleague and love interest well, you never know her agenda and as she gets close to discovering the truth you’re unsure as to how she will respond. The support cast is equally as good by the likes of Alan Arkin as the detective, Xandar Berkeley as the doctor who does the daily tests and Gore Vidal as director of Gattaca.
Anyone wishing to watch a movie that is intelligent, yet not complex at all, looks fantastic and raises many issues for you to ponder over afterwards should definitely catch this movie. The pace is perfect, it’s an interesting set up, well delivered in its execution and definitely needs more attention than it got at its cinema release.
Best Line:
For someone who was never meant for this world, I must confess I'm suddenly having a hard time leaving it. Of course, they say every atom in our bodies was once part of a star. Maybe I'm not leaving... maybe I'm going home.
Star Turn:
Ethan Hawke; 'inferior' than the rest but his confidence and slyness shine through.
Best Moment:
Unveiling how he can pass off as someone else
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