A train that circumnavigates the world encapsulates it rather well, providing some intriguing social commentary along the way.
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Spoiler Free until noted.
I got around to seeing Snowpiercer this week, an odd movie by any measure. I pressed play with a healthy balance of optimism balanced against caution considering the nature of the plot and studio behind the movie. Suffice it to say I was not disappointed with the previous two hours once the credits started to roll.
If you are unfamiliar with the title, Snowpiercer tells the story of a near future where Earth has entered an ice age created by the failed experiments to reverse global warming. Instead of healing for the planet it was plunged into a winter that killed almost every living thing. A small group of humans were able to survive by retreating onto a train that circumnavigates the globe using the power from an “eternal” engine to chug along and keep them alive. The people on the train live in a drastically separated class system that is mirrored in the living quarters of the two classes; the poor who live in cramped squalor at the tail and the wealthy that live in the exuberant front sections of the train.
The story follows the latest in a series of revolts by those of the lower class as they attempt to gain better lives and get back the children who are taken from them periodically. This revolt is led by Curtis (Chris Evans) who has spent half of his life on the train and wants only to reach the front of the train to make those responsible for their state of living pay.
While there are plenty of scifi scenes and ideas they stay just out of focus for the majority of the film. By the end I was left wanting answers to a long list of questions about the world and the train itself but I was glad that the set pieces did not become the point of the movie, instead they stayed on to compliment the story and ideas presented by the film. Snowpiercer struck a balance that is hard to find in modern cinema with the apparent trend heading towards huge budget effects that leave anyone paying attention to the story very disappointed.
Snowpiercer was very much worth the watch. Good acting, good storytelling and dialogue, and some fantastic visuals blended together to bring about a nice surprise for the middle of the week. The casting was a huge plus with Chris Evans, Tilda Swinton, Ed Helms, and John Hurt all doing well in their characters and together. Add to that some phenomenal social commentary and a few scenes that make you question yourself and the world, and it makes sense that the movie is getting acclaim everywhere.
If you plan on seeing Snowpiercer stop here, Spoilers Ahead.
While the movie surely holds its own in the cinematography and special effects department (more than once I found myself surprised at the quality of exterior shots for this relatively low budget film), its social commentary and the introspection from Curtis bring forth the real weight of Snowpiercer.
The class system, and the very design of the train itself, acted as an extreme version of the disparity of wealth that our world currently sees. While we aren’t quite as forceful with how lower classes are treated by the upper crust, there are plenty of glass ceilings that make a rise from the bottom extremely difficult. The train has physical doors and armed guards that keep the poor in the tail of the train and we in the U.S. have a faulty education system and some false ideologies on what is valuable to society.
There is a particular scene that puts into light just how the upper class citizens of the train feel about those from the rear. It takes place in a school car where the children, as they are wont to do, parrot out the phrases and ideas that they learn from the adults around them. The lower class is seen as being lazy, free loaders who in some way deserve their fate. This superiority is mirrored in the layout of the train as the rich occupy the cars closest to the front thereby literally pulling the poor along and keeping them alive.
The movie never explains the reasoning behind the classification of those on the train, only that everyone onboard is only there because they had a ticket. It’s easy enough to infer that the social statuses of the passengers are the same as they were before boarding and the differences are magnified by the microcosm that is the train.
The movie does handle this seeming imbalance in a very intriguing way; by presenting the train (and by extension the real world) as being similar to an ecosystem that must be kept in balance. The missing value to this balance is revealed in the final part of the movie when Curtis discovers that the children taken are forced to work as slaves to keep the engine running. Without the poor and their forced sacrifices the life of luxury in the front would be impossible as would any form of life at all aboard the train.
At the same time Curtis learns that the balance of the train is kept in check not by nature but by design, the revolts are the product of careful planning and are a necessary part of the continuous cycles that make up the tangible and ethereal parts of the locomotive. Every revolt is decided down to the exact number of survivors (for the poor as the front section guards quell the uprising with better equipment and weapons) so that both classes can enter a period of relative plenty that brings peace for a time. Then as the poor are allowed to procreate so that another round of children can be taken their population grows until the suffering reaches another breaking point.
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It really did a good job at making me question the way our world is. Yes our current system works, but that isn’t the hallmark of the best option only the sign of the easiest one. We are on a path, or track if you will, that would be very hard to deviate from. As with the ending of the movie it would take an extreme event to change our heading. I’m not saying I have any answers, only that there must be some out there.
Humans have this weird little ability to defy nature on a regular basis. We constantly are doing things that shouldn’t be possible; chalk it up to our stubbornness or pride but we certainly love to defeat the odds. Yes we exist in a world governed by the rules of nature but that doesn’t mean we have to always play by them. It’s entirely possible that the next great revolution could very well break the cycle that we find ourselves in and bring an end to all the terrible parts of the human condition. Maybe I’m just being hopelessly optimistic, but I don’t want to resign our species to live the rest of our days as animals that only get ahead by using the backs of those we deem lesser than ourselves.
–Photo:Trailer