This is one of the best films in recent years that deals with a dystopian future caused by human beings who destroy the balance of things. There seems to be a lot of films that embrace this theme: DIVERGENT, 28 DAYS LATER, ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK, EQUILIBRIUM. It’s a lengthy list. It’s almost as if there is a collective fear that this will happen within the near future. The only question seems to be which proposed scenario will be the cause of the collapse of life as we know it?
My cultural/political filters also see bad management & the evil political manipulation that makes ‘Trickle Down Economics’ (the stuff of Ronald & Nancy Reagan and Margaret Thatcher) as critical underpinnings to a full understanding of this endless train ride. The selling of a system that elevates mediocrity at the expense of the basic needs of the vast majority of humanity is the branding that we have settled for. Waves of eye-level, published nostalgia about Ronald Reagan give credence to the brilliant salesmanship of bad government. The same holds true for the selling of Margaret Thatcher as a visionary. These were dreadful people who gave not a tinker’s piss about the Commonweal. As long as they got their votes & had their ducks in order for their supporters, the rest of us could rot.
This film is a metaphor, first class, second class, third class–each person in his/her PRE-ORDAINED place, never to change, never to experience the true abundance of Mother Earth. Mother Earth is destroyed to provide elephant tusks for paperweights. Such cynical politics contains the seed of discontent, always to be placated by lies, deception, and (in this case) literal cannibalism.
Full of irony & brilliant performances (is there ANYTHING that either Tilda Swinton or Ed Harris can’t do & do splendidly?), this film is a wonder of eye opening surprises & an ending that leaves the audience wondering: Will we make it? Will we survive the self-absorbed, destructive habits of our nature? Will we continue to enslave ourselves to the Donald Trump prototypes of the world & the endless bad photocopies of his corporate whoreish ways?
This train ride is a thought-provoking experience…and watch out for squeaky-clean, elementary school teachers. That’s where the indoctrination starts.
YOU TUBE TRAILER FOR SNOWPIERCER-2013-Released 2014
Thomas Outt 