EQUILIBRIUM
US, 2002, 107 minutes, Colour.
Christian Bale, Emily Watson, Taye Diggs, Angus Mac Fadyen, Sean Bean, Sean Pertwee, William Fichtner, Dominic Purcell.
Directed by Kurt Wimmer.
Equilibrium is a science fiction film, a kind of 1984 of the 21st century.
The film shows a totalitarian state with a special squad (in the vein of Fahrenheit 451) who hunt out anybody who holds any kind of culture and burns it – the film opening with the burning of the Mona Lisa. The special group of police are considered sacred, clerics. Christian Bale is the central character, a very serious cleric named Preston. His wife is executed for Sense Offences, not taking Prozium in order to suppress all emotion. It emerges that his little son and daughter also have been skipping their doses.
When Preston confronts his partner (Sean Bean) and executes him, his beliefs are challenged and he misses a dose. He begins to feel, rescues a dog, destroys a police squad in pursuit of him.
Angus Mac Fadyen (Braveheart) is the ruler of the country but behind the scenes, continuous film of Father (Sean Pertwee) always being screened in order to control the minds and behaviours, absolute obedience, of the inhabitants. There is an underground and Partridge’s partner (Emily Watson) is executed.
Eventually, Preston becomes a leader of the rebels with a commission to destroy Father. His erstwhile partner Brandt (Taye Diggs) has been trying to frame Preston.
Sets and décor are imaginative, there is a martial arts demonstration, Gun- Kata, which is faster than the eye can see in terms of destroying enemies.
Christian Bale is very good in the central role, echoing his theme as the psychopath in American Psycho and anticipating such roles as The Mechanic and Harsh Times. Taye Diggs is interesting as the vicious partner, Emily Watson has pathos as the Sense Offender to be executed.
Kurt Wimmer wrote the screenplay for The Thomas Crown Affair with Pierce Brosnan and also wrote and directed the science fiction, comic strip, Ultra Violet.
1. The impact of the film? Popularity? Aficionados of this kind futuristic science fiction?
2. The quality of the sets, costumes, décor? The re-creation of an early 21st century totalitarian world? Homes, buildings, public buildings and their fascist architecture? Public screens with Father’s videos? The musical score? Editing and style, action and pace – especially for the Gun-Kata? sequences?
3. The title, reason and emotion? The complete rationality of the clerics? The administration of the future? Blind obedience? The opposite end of emotions, Sense Offences? The ruthlessness of the clerics in following reason and destroying emotion? Maintaining an equilibrium which was geared towards reason?
4. The background and the credits, the third world war, the role of Father? The population, self-medication, emotion suppressant? The underground, the Sense Offenders, skipping doses, the artworks (the clerics hunting them down and burning the Mona Lisa)? The clerics and the performance of martial art, the prediction of the path of bullets fired?
5. John Preston, Christian Bale’s intense performance? His working with Partridge, the discovery of Partridge as a Sense Offender, executing him? The contrast with Brandt, Brandt and his ambitions? Rivalry and taunts?
6. John Preston, at home, the memory of his wife being arrested, taken for Sense Offences, her loving him? His children? The boy and his following his father’s footsteps? The later discovery that his son was not taking the drug, helping him with his work?
7. Dupont, the council, absolute obedience, ruthlessness? Speaking in the name of Father? Dupont and his reliance on Brandt? His supervision of Preston, wanting him to be the main antagonist of the underground? Preston and his pledges? Preston’s change of heart, deceiving Dupont? Dupont turning the tables, using Brandt to bring Preston to the service? The role reversal, the framing of the gun, Preston and his confrontation of Brandt (and the sliced face)? The destruction of Dupont? The destruction of the screens, the destruction of Father? The role of Father, in the war, the videos? The irony that he had been long dead?
8. Mary O’Brien?, her relationship with Partridge, her arrest, the interrogations? Preston and his fascination, taking her perfume, the ribbon? His keeping them, hiding them (and his son finding them)? His wanting to do something for Mary O’Brien? His decisions, the confrontations, his inability to save her? Her personality? The bright red dress in the totalitarian settings? Going into the furnace, her death?
9. Preston and the experience of sense, the dog, attacking the group pursuing him? Brandt and his confrontations, rivalry and taunts?
10. Brandt and the underground, meeting them, their suspicions, Jurgen and his discussions, the philosophy of the resistance? Preston and his promising to destroy Father? His leading the revolution, confronting Dupont? The destruction of the screens? The help of his son?
11. The future, the equilibrium between emotion and reason? The destruction of the computer systems, the destruction of the totalitarian state?
12. Equilibrium in the tradition of 1984, Fahrenheit 451 – and other films about the future and the fascist regimes?
