http://blogs.takepart.com/2008/02/13/top-10-dystopian-future-films-telling-us-to-act-now/
There is an entire genre of film out there that examines the darker side of humanity and what the future looks like if that darker side continues to thrive. It seems to me that these films offer us a great opportunity to turn a negative into a positive and thus I present you with the Top 10 Dystopian Future Films Telling Us to Act Now! The films below are the best of the dystopian bunch, each one offering us a great cinema experience as well as insight on how to make the world better today! 1. Metropolis : My # 1 dystopian adventure is also the oldest. Fritz Lang’s 1927 silent, Metropolis, is about a society in 2026 (so soon!) that is split is two, with the rich living above ground and the workers below. When one of the elite goes underground, he falls in love and those above use technology to keep their delicate class system in order. The story’s simple and the messages it provides are abundant. ______ 2. Brazil : Terry Gilliam’s futuristic tale finds us all in a world of bureaucracy, where the tiniest clerical error, as our hero Sam Lowry will find out, can make you an enemy of the state. Full of images of the future and of fantasy, along with great performances from Robert DeNiro, Bob Hoskins, Ian Holm, Jonathan Pryce and especially Michael Palin, Brazil shows us how the real villain is an inefficient government. ______ 3. Children of Men : Alfonso Cuaron’s movie finds us one year later than Lang and paints quite a different picture of life. Children of Men’s 2027 is a world of fear and a world without children, as women have stopped having babies (it’s also a well photographed world, with amazing cinematography from Emmanuel Lubezki). Countries are crumbling and immigration policy is beyond tight, with folks having no chance to seek a better life. The film is dismal to say the least, but if you’ve seen it, there is some hope. And of course it isn’t 2027 yet. ______ 4. Code 46 : Michael Winterbotton takes us to a world of rules and regulations in Code 46. His future is filled with 2 worlds in a sense, there are cities and to live in a city you must have the proper paperwork, if you don’t, you live on the outside, in a world seemingly left behind. Our heroes are played by Samantha Morton and Tim Robbins and even though they aren’t supposed to, they fall in love and violate Code 46, a rule that speaks to the genetics of reproduction. ______ 5. The Matrix : There probably isn’t much I can say about The Matrix that you don’t already know. Beyond amazing special effects and action moves, the hugely popular film gave us a glimpse 0f a future that wasn’t real - or that is, most folks in the world of The Matrix weren’t really experiencing the actual future. ______ 6. Blade Runner : Ridley Scott’s world of the future finds humanity fighting a group of human-like robots they created called replicants. Harrison Ford’s Deckard is one the folks given the task of destroying the replicants that have escaped their off-world colony. Deckard and the replicants play out a fantastic film noir-esque story where the state of the planet and those on it suggest a world where An Inconvenient Truth never got released. ______ 7. Fahrenheit 451 : Of all of the dire future scenarios this one somehow seems the worst to me. Francois Truffaut’s 1966 film finds us all in a world without books and it is the job of Oskar Werner’s Guy Montag to burn any books found. When Montag meets a subversive young woman with a collection of books, he finally realizes the power of them and sets off to escape his oppressive society. ______ 8. THX 1138 : This cautionary tale finds a city underground where people watch sex and violence on TV, while taking drugs that control them. Beyond this, George Lucas’s future is one without real love and without sex. When Robert Duvall’s THX 1138 stops taking his drugs, falls in love with his roommate and they make a baby, they are then both taken to jail. From here on, the film follows THX as he tries to find his lost love and escape to the surface of the earth. ______ 9. A Clockwork Orange : Stanley Kubrick’s violent future tells the story of Alex, a Beethoven-loving young fellow, who along with his pals, engages in a bit of ultra-violence every night. When Alex is caught and sent to jail, he receives aversion therapy to shorten his sentence and upon his release finds that he now hates violence - although his old groups of friends doesn’t share his new opinions. ______ 10. V for Vendetta : The Wachowski Brothers film is a world where the government is scared and are using that fear to detain people and control everything. One of their detainees, Natalie Portman’s Evey, is able to escape and joins with V - a mysterious fellow that rescues her. Together they begin to work on a plan to take down their totalitarian government.
