Every once in a while there comes a movie which strives to break the boundaries of cinema and storytelling and go beyond the limits of our imagination. Those movies provide unique viewing experience and leave marks on your heart as well as your mind. Just from watching the extended trailer (probably the best I've ever seen) it was apparent that the latest work from directors Lana and Andy Wachowski and Tom Tykwer falls into that category. It is a movie called "Cloud Atlas", just like the book written by David Mitchell which it's based upon.
The movie contains six interwoven stories spanning from 19th century to distant post-apocalyptic future and converging into a timeless message about love, justice and the importance of human actions. It unravels thematically rather than chronologically, showing similar situations in different stories as though they all take place simultaneously. That resulted in a lot of short scenes and required extensive editing which, although it finely underlines common themes, will no doubt prove to be too demanding for part of the audience. Another thing which could be confusing for some but really works to the movie's advantage is the casting of the same actors in a multitude of different roles. Although the characters are different, there is a common denominator to the roles played by the same actor. Sometimes it's a stereotype like in the case of Hugo Weaving who plays a villain in every story, and sometimes it's a more nuanced trait like with Tom Hanks whose characters follow their own interests whether motivated by love, greed, or self-preservation, heroes and villains alike. The casting, consisting of the actors of both genders and all of the races where each of them plays characters of both genders and all of the races, has a special and unique role in this movie carrying in itself one of the messages the authors wish to share. The one of equality between all human beings. Considering all that is said about the casting it's obvious the actors had to be in their top form, and fortunately for most of the parts they've been. It's worth pointing out Hugh Grant and Tom Hanks doing great job in roles completely against the type. Hanks is a little less convincing in his standard good-guy roles, trying maybe too hard to make a difference between them, but that doesn't diminish the great work he's done here.
As in acting, we can see oscillations in other areas such as make-up and prosthetics. While some of it looks great (Hugh Grant as a Kona Chief, Hugo Weaving as Old Georgie), some is disappointingly poor (Caucasian actors as Koreans). The same disbalance is found in the music, with great main theme and not so interesting rest of the soundtrack. Trying to cover as many genres as they could (thriller, romance, history, comedy, sci-fi, drama, adventure), the directors made a commendable effort, and even the single comedic story, which feels a little disconnected because of its tone at first, greatly fits in the overall movie. There are many other things making more sense after watching the movie for the second time, and some completely new revelations too. At first I thought some stories were weaker than the others, but now I manage to see them as one, just as the directing trio, and the author of the book of course, imagined it.
The main message of the movie is that of the importance of battle against oppression which, at least that's what the authors believe, is never in vain, for our every action leaves consequences we're not even aware of. The oppression is always that of people in power over those they consider less worthy, whether because of their skin colour, age, sexual orientation, social status or just because they are weaker. It's a story well known in today's world. We see the same thing happening all over it. Thus the message is as important as it can be.
"Cloud Atlas" is probably one of the most ambitious movies, if not ever, then certainly of this century. It connects what seems unconnectable in terms of genres, stories, characters and messages. It brings together art and entertainment in a glorious fashion, engaging all of our senses and making us think and feel at the same time. It acknowledges the obvious but still gives hope. It tells us it's worth being ourselves. And I can't think of a greater thing a movie can do.
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