Review of Elysium (2013) by Clarisesamuels — 03 Sep 2013

In Greek mythology, the Elysian Fields are the blissful utopia where all good souls will come to rest. In this film, Elysium is a utopia that exists side by side with a wretched dystopia, which is our very own planet Earth. Earth is overrun with poverty, disease, and decay, a place where a preponderance of visible minorities hold miserable jobs and lead miserable lives. Matt Damon as Max is a poor orphan who grows up on Earth to become a reformed car thief working in an unsafe factory, and he longs to take his childhood girlfriend to Elysium.

Because the planet got so polluted and run down by the year 2154, the filthy rich evacuated to a giant space station that exists just outside the atmosphere, clearly visible from Earth, in the shape of a round wheel that is a country in itself. It has its own president, President Patel, apparently the only non-Caucasian who has made it to Paradise, and every citizen of Elysium lives in the lap of luxury with beautiful homes, exotic gardens, sumptuous meals, and clean air. Every household is waited on by obedient robots, and every household contains a med bay, which is an enclosed box with a plastic lid where a sick person lies down, gets diagnosed by a computer program, and then is instantly cured of every affliction, disease, and malady that can possibly beset humankind. The med bay not only cures, it grants immortality, barring an accident or other calamity. Desperate, downtrodden, and ill citizens of Earth try to make illegal runs to Elysium in outdated space shuttles, just to gain access to a med bay.

Playing the role of cold-blooded Secretary of Defense Delacourt, Jodie Foster is horrified by President Patel (Faran Tahir), who has an interest in human rights, even though he does not exactly go over the top with his philosophical beliefs, given that he has no interest in improving the lot of the masses back on Earth. Some Elysians visit Earth for business reasons, and John Carlyle (William Fichtner), is the CEO of an exploitative company that treats employees like slaves; as a result, Carlyle has to spend quite a bit of time back on the polluted planet. Foster's Secretary of Defense is cruelly ambitious, and she wants to stage a coup to overthrow President Patel and make herself president. For that she needs Carlyle to write a computer program that will topple the present regime of Elysium by resetting the country's entire computer system with new instructions.

Since this is science fiction, and rather engaging science fiction at that, much can be forgiven in terms of some of the logistical details. For example, when a society is as technically advanced as Elysium, will the Secretary of Defense really get her text messages on a tiny screen on her watch? Even Sean Connery's Bond could have done better than that. And when the evil John Carlyle writes the ultimate computer program that will shut down Elysium and put Delacourt in power, would he really be writing the program in assembler language in the year 2154? I could have sworn I saw the assembler language STO command (for storing numerical values in registers) rolling by on Carlyle's computer screen. And does Delacourt speak fluent French because it is a pretentious skill for the rich or because Jodie Foster graduated from a French lycee in Los Angeles?

But the movie is carried by Matt Damon, who does not disappoint. As Max, he is strong but tender, courageous but meek, and heroic but timid. He protects the girlfriend he's been true to since childhood. But more significantly, he seeks a proper distribution of income so that the repressed citizens of Earth can enjoy the same rights, opportunities, health benefits, and the blessed serenity of the rich and overprivileged dolts who are the good citizens of Elysium. It is the Day of the Revolution.

Although the plot is somewhat predictable and a little too violent, this movie gets extra points for being philosophically sound.