Code 46

 

 

Create your own review

This is an authentic science fiction film.

Code 46, starring Tim Robbins and Samantha Morton, is another low-budget effort that for the most part could have been a stage play. The director is Michael Winterbottom.

That's right. This one is about the acting, and Robbins and Morton excel. But the premise is pure science fiction. What if biotechnology had become very advanced, and humans were widely reproduced through in vitro fertilization and cloning in order to regulate the emergence of troublesome genes?

This particular effort is low budget enough that there was no attempt to construct futuristic settings. Shanghai seemed a sufficiently futuristic city, so the crew operated in that city for two weeks (due to limited funds) - and the interiors were shot largely in London. The buildings, household items, and vehicles are exactly those you would have seen in 2003 when the movie was filmed.

Particularly during the scenes inside the vehicles, with evident contemporary Toyota logos, I was once again reminded of Godard's use of "intergalactic space" in Alphaville.

The film is set nominally in a future different than our own due primarily to the presence of advanced biotechnology (fingers can also be regrown), ozone-piercing ultraviolet radiation from the sun forcing a nocturnal lifestyle, further multi-ethnic blending in the world's leading urban centres, and the rigid segregation of the genetically pure from the genetically tainted.

However, given that there was so little effort dedicated to creating a futuristic set, my own preference would be to consider this an alternative reality film. What if Alejandro Zaffaroni had been born 50 years earlier and nothing had been done about chlorofluorocarbons? Let's just think of this as a self-reproducing fractal universe parallel to our own, courtesy of superstring and inflation theory (now perhaps increasingly in question, due to oscillating universe theory, but that's another matter).

Now, let's add a couple of additional elements. How about a virus that is neurologically active, enhancing empathy? Add to this a chance meeting with a woman who might be the clone of your mother - but she is young - near your age. Your genetic similarity is 50%, and perhaps you have never met your mother, due to being raised by host parents.

How might you respond to this person with whom you are deeply biologically but not experientially linked? There is only enhanced empathy to guide you.

How refreshing that this is not a film "about" technology. Nor is it a disguised thriller, action or horror movie.

Code 46 is quite simply the story of how two human beings might respond to a new type of situation that could be made possible only through the implementation of technologies which are presently conceivable, but not yet in application.

Robbins and Morton seem to understand this intuitively, and everything in the film is focused around their very human solution to this dilemma - a solution, of course, which the genetically regulated society cannot permit. I do not think this film could have been better acted. It is first rate.

Watch and enjoy. It's the real thing!

The world in which the movie takes place is interestingly rich. We see a world where all cultures have merged, and Spanish words have passed into English to describe common objects (papel, palabra). The world is a bit of a dystopia in that there are two classes of people: those who are inside, and those on the outside. Biotechnology and cloning permeate everyday life. This leads to interesting and slightly esoteric technology, and seemingly has led to legislation regarding human relations. Code 46 essentially outlaws certain types of incest only possible with widespread cloning. And here is where the story begins - and where I jump off.

Although all of the above makes for great science fiction, I found myself wholly unconcerned by the main characters' predicament. They fall in love, but their relation is so foggy and empty that I disbelieved their willingness to sacrifice anything, let alone what they do end up sacrificing, to pursue the relation. Unwilling to believe the story, I was unable to enjoy the movie very much.

Despite its shortcomings, I do wish there were more movies like this, set in a believeable future, rich and complex and uncertain.

A really amazing film!!!!! Not your typical SciFi or love story. In the not so distant future a married man investigates a counterfeiter and he falls inlove. What was really amazing about this was that it was a love story in a Sci Fi. Winterbottom's use Highbredity (mixture) in Cinema. Winterbottom constantly used elements from other cultures so welll and so correctly, which something I dont see to often and when do see it is incorrectly used.

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review

› See all 3 customer reviews on Amazon.ca

 

Search Customer Reviews
Only search this product's reviews

Search Listmania!