Children of Men

18 years of infertility has caused civilization to collapse. The only functional government that still existed was the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom had been raging war with refugees who violate the government’s immigration laws. Theo Faron (Clive Owen) a normal working civilian was kidnapped by the Fishes, an underground band of rebels. Theo agrees to aid them after he is persuaded by a large sum of money. The group needed transit papers for a young refugee named Kee Miriam (Clare-Hope Ashitey); Theo was able to obtain these papers from his cousin, who works as a government minister. Though Theo was reluctant he agreed to escort Kee to the coast, along with Julian Taylor (Julianne Moore) his former wife, a member of the organization, Luke (Chiwetel Ejiofor) a leader of the Fishes rebellion, and Miriam (Pam Ferris) a trusted friend of Kee. Unfortunately they were unable to reach their destination after being ambushed by an armed group. Kee reveals to Theo that she is pregnant, and pleads Theo to stay until the baby is save. Theo realizes that the ambushed was staged by Luke who desires to use the baby as a political tool to aid the revolution. Immediately Theo alerts Kee and Miriam the untold plan Luke has secretly orchestrated. Theo, Miriam, and Kee escape by stealing one of their cars, then driving to Jasper Palmer (Michael Caine) house, a friend of Theo.  From this scene on it’s a journey to located the human project; there is limited information on what the human project actually is, although we can assume it’s an organization of people who are striving to preserve the human race.

It was interesting how society without order, results in complete agony chaos. That humankind has the tenuous to separate into individual groups rather than be united. I believe the reason for this is clearly explained in the film, humans instinctively want to survive and will undergo any circumstance that will allow them to accomplish this. In Children of Men, war was accepted as a normal part of life. Infertility had devastated society; people saw life to hold no true value. The film did a remarkable job showing that humanity can be restored from a baby being born. Throughout the film Kee was hesitant in publicizing her baby, for the free of the unknown. However, when people saw her baby optimism was regenerated in their lives. One of my favorite scenes of the film was when Theo is reunited with Kee, by alluring to the sound of her baby crying in the midst of an ongoing battle. Then everyone in the building starts gravitating towards the sound of her baby, and both sides stop shooting. It’s significant why the fighting stop I believe it’s because the absent of hope had been restored in each person.

I relished the final scene of Children of Men. When Theo and Kee are in the rowboat relieved that they had made it, then Theo express to Kee that he has been fatally shot. This twist in the plot intensifies the film. Kee reacts to the condition by changing her baby's name to Dylan, Theo’s son’s name. Theo dies in happiness knowing that his life has benefited civilization. Immediately when Theo dies a ship emerges from the fog named tomorrow. This was a great way to end the film, for you can infer that Kee and her baby safely made it to the human project. It was also interesting how her baby was a girl, I believe this was done intentionally because a woman bares children and having a girl baby symbolizes growth.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind was a unique modern love story. In this film two individuals with opposite personalities fall in love. Joel Barish (Jim Carrey) a man, who enjoys consistency in life, is reunited with his girlfriend Clementine, (Kate Winslet) an outgoing individual who enjoys taking risk. They don't realize it now, but two years ago they were former lovers, until their memories of one another were eternally erased. Clementine was the first to consent to erasing Joel from her memory. Joel was devastated by the news and decided that he to would undergo the procedure. Most of the movie is taken place inside of Joel’s mind. During the procedure Joel realizes that he still has feelings for Clementine, he tries to keep his memories of Clementine from deteriorating. Though his attempts only slow down the erasing of Clementine from his memory. When a patient would give their consent, they would undergo a series of procedures. The first step, the individual would remove all physical objects from their house that had correlation with the memory they were trying to get rid of. At the comfort of their own house, they would take a pill causing them to fall into a deep sleep. The doctor who performed the operation would place the patient under a device; this would allow the doctor to focus on erasing a certain portion of their memory. This film evoked the idea it was possible to erase bad memories. On the surface this sounds ideal, a fresh start. However, you are sacrificing your good memories when you chose to eliminate the bad memories. I would be against the removal of memories. Your mind would have no reconciliation of previous mistake you made; this would only cause your subconscious mind to repeat the past.

            The cast did a superb job portraying their characters. It was interesting how the director starred Jim Carrey in this movie. Usually Jim Carrey is casted in movies for his silliness, however this movie he undertook a serious acting role. By doing this I believe the audience is drawn more to his character. Kate Winslet protracted a sillier character (Clementine) though her acting wasn’t over the top, making the film to overdramatic. The character’s costumes were also carefully selected to represent their personalities. Joel often wore sweatshirts and beanies throughout the film. This is symbolic with his character for sweatshirts, and beanies stereotypically represent a person who is laid back. Having Jim Carrey hair just above his eyes made Joel look like a kindhearted individual. Clementine expressed her outgoing personality through her bright clothing; an orange sweatshirt, blue shirt, a pink jacket are a few examples of Clementine's clothing. It was brilliant how the film correlated Clementine’s hair color with the emotional presents Joel was experiencing when his memories were being erased. The first time Clementine hair is blue, that scene of the movie Joel is reliving falling in love with Clementine. The color blue symbolizes: trust, loyalty and confidence. When Joel was resisting the memory of Clementine from being erased from his brain, Clementine hair was red. Red is often associated with determination, desire, and love. The final scene of the movie where Joel accepts the reality of Clementine being erased from his memory, Clementine hair is dyed green. The color green means life, nature, and harmony. Hope is created in this scene from Clementine's last words, meet me in Montauk.

Animal Farm

Animal Farm

I particularly enjoyed reading George Orewell novel, Animal Farm. Animal Farm is a story that deals with morals that humans have struggled with since thee begin of time, and will keep struggling with until the end of time, power. The novel was not limited in telling a story, it illustrated how a society upheld by a dictator will result in corruptness. Throughout history dictators have lied to people, to promote their self-interest, forcing individuals to adhere to their every command. Napoleon was the leader on Animal Farm, who took advantage of the society’s lack of knowledge, which allowed him to execute his own will. Napoleon starved the society and forced the animals to work longer more intense hours, while he reaped all the benefits. This is why I believe Animal Farm is warning us against dictatorship.

I enjoyed how the novel used animals to tell the story. It allows the author to take an intense subject and simplify the story without diminishing the stories meaning. It also allows the reader to focus more on the content of the story, than indulging into the personal lives of the characters. Some of the characters in Animal farm were: Boxer who was depicted as a horse, Squealer (pig), and Snowball (pig). I found these characters interesting because they all at one point or another promoted Napoleon. Boxer was the strongest, hardest working animal on the farm, though his strength and lack of knowledge was often taken advantage of by Napoleon. Boxer’s dedication and loyalty to Napoleon was often expressed through his two motto: “I will work harder” and “Napoleon is always right.” By constantly referencing these remarks he unintentionally promoted Napoleon. Squealer obviously was Napoleon propaganda; he constantly distorted the truth to promote Napoleon political leadership. When Boxer was taken to the glue factory, some animals recognized this for the print on the trailer clearly stated glue factor. The animals started to question Napoleon's decisions. Though Squealer was able to manipulate the animals, by assuring them Boxer had been taken to the hospital, and the print on the side of the trailer was a simple explanation, the humans had recently bought the trailer and forgot to change the sign. Snowball was a very intelligent pig, who lead the revolution to over through Jones. However, Napoleon exceeded Snowball in power by physically using dogs to chases Snowball off the farm. In his absence, he was blamed for all misfortunes that had occurred on the farm. For instance, Snowball originally had an intelligent idea to build a windmill; the windmill would provide the animals warmth in the winter, and allow the animals to work shorter hours. Napoleon diminished the idea of building a windmill; he clearly stated it would be a waste of time. After Snowball passing Napoleon changed his views and actually encouraged the idea. He lied to the animals and said: he had supported the idea from the beginning, and Snowball actually stole the windmill blueprints from him. The windmill was finally built, and the animals celebrated in their accomplishment. Not long after, a storm passed over the farm and desolated the windmill. Snowball was blamed by Napoleon for blowing up the windmill. Napoleon also used the animal fear and hatred toward Snowball to reconstruct history to promote himself.