SUBMERGENCE

Germany/US, 2017, 112 minutes, Colour.
Alicia Vikander, James Mc Avoy, Alexander Siddig, Jannik Schumann, Celyn Jones.
Directed by Wim Wenders.

One of the difficulties in approaching this drama is coming to grips with the title. It is not just about submerging, although there is that in the film, but experience of being submerged, wherever that might be.

The film was based on a novel by JE.K.lead to guard and, given the time available to read and absorb, to reflect, the book might have been a thoughtful experience. However, for some it works very well as a symbolic and philosophical drama. Others, however, have been found to be gripped by it.

We are introduced to Danny, only civic and, walking on the ocean bed in elaborate covering. She is a scientist, wanting to explore the depths of the sea, hoping to discover the secrets in those depths which will help the future of the human race.

This is in contrast to an introduction to James, in a desert African country, imprisoned, his arm reaching out of a hole so that children playing football and passing by could give him something to eat. He is interned in squalor and darkness.

Each of the characters, in their way, are being shown as submerged, different kinds of submergence.

Then the film goes back in time, to a luxury hotel on the Normandy coast, Danny and James there enjoying the holiday, she going back to where she was taken when she was a child, he getting ready to go again on a mission to Africa. They meet on the beach, are attracted, dined together, talk together, begin a passionate affair.

The rest of the film into cuts the two stories, there submergence is. And all the time, there is a longing for the presence of the other, separated, isolated, no communication but a great deal of concern.

Danny’s story is somewhat straightforward. She goes on the expedition, there are various members who dive into the depths of the ocean is beyond island, Iceland and Norway, including her own important experience in going down with a small crew several thousand metres beyond the surface of the ocean.

James’ story is in some ways more conventional. We have seen in being contacted while visiting and art gallery in England, communicating by radio but getting a commission to go to Kenya, and involvement in Somalia. But, on arrival, he is arrested and imprisoned. It is not always clear as to why his being imprisoned, the different ways in which he is treated, starved, left in filth, threatened with execution by rifle, encounters with the doctor who is a compassionate man of healing but also a committed to hardest.

We are asked to identify with their submergence is, be affected by their love for each other and their separation, and, finally, to reflect on the human condition and the different kind of submergence is that people have because of their talents and abilities, but which could also be their fate.

1. The title? Going into the depths of the oceans? Identities and roles? The dangers of submergence, claustrophobia, imprisonment, possible death?

2. The themes of the film, scientific advances and hopes for world development, the contrast with terrorism in Europe, the agents, in Africa, the jihadists?

3. Danny and James, different personalities, initially seeing them in their situation, Danny in the water, hirsute, the team, the plans, the diets? The contrast with James imprisoned, his hand through the hole in the wall, the children playing ball, giving him something to eat, his desperation in the darkness?

4. The occasion for their both remembering? Danny, her background, her father, taking her to the hotel, France, the ocean, enjoying the holiday, preparation for her mission? James, in the Gallery, the agents giving information, his cover, going to Africa, the rest in France before going, jogging, encountering Danny on the beach, the meetings, the affair, the impact on each of them, the romantic attitudes, meals and discussions, on the beach and Danny going into the water, the Normandy coast and the bunkers?

5. The separation, the phone call to the car? The return to the present, Danny and her feeling of loneliness, isolation, no communication from James? James, imprisoned, brutalised, starved, the rotten food, his sickness?

6. The audience being asked to reflect on the links between the two characters? Their roles, their ambitions, their talents? Philosophical ideas underlying their stances and talents?

7. Danny, on the ship, the team, her associates, the captain? The plan of going around the oceans, the range of dives, beyond Ireland, beyond Iceland, Arctic waters? Danny and her pining for James? The team and their concern for her? Her being days aside her writing? The possibility of death?

8. The actual mission, the technology, the depths, getting the samples, seeing the ocean floor thousands of metres below, the difficulties, the technology, rebooting, coming up – and the audience left to speculate whether she survived or not?

9. James, audiences more in tune with this kind of espionage and imprisonment, the treatment by the soldiers, some sympathetic, some brutal, his going out into the sea, to be executed, though not shooting, his soiling his pants in fear, their bringing him back? The encounters with the doctor, treating him, their discussions, the Koran, conversion, the doctor and his work, separating his work and compassion from Jihadist intentions?

10. James, activating the device, on the beach, going underwater, the bombardment of the jihadists? His floating the sea, movement, surviving giving his life for his cause?

11. The adverse reviews, audiences not being gripped – the potential, realised or not, the performances, the career and work of the director?