Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Still captivating!, February 24, 2009
More than a decade later, this remains a timeless classic. I was prompted to write this review by recent news about criminal investigators' ability to reconstruct people's faces from a bit of DNA left at a crime scene. This follows earlier news about home DNA testing kits that allow people to check their genetic risk for cancer, and also -- even more apropros to this film -- fast-track lines at airports that scan travelers' irises. How prophetic Gattaca was, in predicting the widespread use of such technology and in sounding a warning about its risks. Great story, superb acting, suspenseful delivery. A gripping science fiction thriller; I recommend it highly.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Historical Background, October 2, 2008
To understand Gattaca, it helps to know a little history.
About a century ago, progressives took up what the New York Times in 1912 called the "wonderful new science" of eugenics. Because of improvements in medicine and public health, eugenists said, the "unfit" were having more children than the "fit." Their solution included both positive eugenics--encouraging the "fit" to have more children, and negative eugenics--preventing the "unfit" from having children.
Forced sterilization laws in some 37 states were their greatest achievement, with California being the most zealous in applying its law. But legislation in more conservative states, particularly in the South, was blocked by claims that forced sterilization was unconstitutional. That barrier was shoved aside in a 1927 Supreme Court decision, Buck v. Bell, which regarded forced sterilization laws as no different from laws requiring vaccination. Regard some children as a blight on society, and sterilization serves the same disease-eliminating function as vaccination.
The feminists of that day had no problem with negative eugenics. They believed that the birthrate of the "unfit" should be lowered by any means possible. Charlotte Perkins Gilman, a prominent feminist sociologist, made eugenics a key feature in her 1915 feminist utopia, Herland. What they objected to was "forced motherhood," meaning social pressures on women like themselves to abandon professional careers for children.
Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger took up their cause. She was vehemently opposed to positive eugenics, but zealously championed negative eugenics. Most of those regarded as "unfit" were recent immigrants from Southern Europe (Catholic) and Eastern Europe (Jewish). Because sterilization laws were only effective against people in state institutions, they could do little to lower immigrant birthrates. Her answer was to build birth control clinics in immigrant neighborhoods, starting with the Brownsville neighborhood in NYC. Poverty would be used as a lever to force down immigrant birthrates. You can read her arguments in her still-in-print 1922 bestseller, The Pivot of Civilization. To understand what is going on today, simply substitute blacks and Hispanics for those earlier Catholic and Jewish immigrants. And of course abortion has replaced birth control as the tool of choice.
Gattaca envisions a future world run by people much like those early twentieth century eugenists and birth controllers. If your parents allowed geneticists to manufacture you to the proper specifications, then life will be good, with all the best career paths open. But if, like the Vincent in this movie, your parents conceived you the old fashioned way, then you're consigned to menial jobs. In Vincent's case that meant cleaning the headquarters of Gattaca, an organization tasked with exploring the solar system.
Since he was a child, Vincent has wanted to explore space. Not being a member of the genetically programmed elite, that path seemed forever closed to him. This movie describes how he worked to beat the system. I won't give away details and spoil your fun, but I do suggest you pay attention to the clash between Vincent and his genetically programmed brother in their `who will turn back first' swimming challenge. This film reminds us there are aspects to our personalities, particularly courage, that can't be programmed in. They're the result of the choices we make. Vincent wins because he risks everything for his dream, saving nothing for the swim back.
This an excellent film. You won't regret watching it.
--Michael W. Perry, editor of: The Pivot of Civilization in Historical Perspective: The Birth Control Classic and Eugenics and Other Evils : An Argument Against the Scientifically Organized State
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5.0 out of 5 stars
"I never saved anything for the swim back.", October 5, 2008
Ten years after the movie they have gone and done it. We now know how the genetic make-up of human beings. Some Job descriptions even say without consideration of age, race, religion or genetics. We also have electric cars and wrist radios. This is no longer sci-fi; it is speculative fiction. Or at least it is speculative. Anyway I have a friend that had a back problem in his youth. They left some dye in him and it was spotted during a job interview physical for a desk job; you guessed it.
Anyway this is a spectacular film. The sound track helped support the movie. They did a good job of picking the actors. The characters were believable. Uma did not even have to show her Thurman's. Ethan did a convincing transformation and Jude was good enough that you almost thought the film was about him. The scenes were breath taking. I was most impressed with the sunrise on the solar panels and the swim competition.
Two points to look for on your second viewing are:
1. Several times the brothers compete physically and logically. Even with his handicapped origin Ethan Hawke" Vincent Freeman" surpasses his brother Loren Dean "Anton."
2. Jude Law "Jerome Eugene Morrow" Was not without ambition. He was disappointed that his advantage was not advantageous enough for the gold and receives his gold thought the actions of Vincent.
Vincent who was conceived in the Rivera, as child of God (taking their chances) must compete in a world where all the negative genetic dispositions are usually removed as was his brother's case. Vincent is tagged for failure at birth. To overcome this social barrier and obtain his goal of going into space, he borrows the genes of an athlete gone astray. The director where he is working (GATTACA) is killed as the last obstacle to the mission. Will Vincent be found out? Irene (Uma Thurman) suspects the number one candidate for the space trip Jerome of the murder. She never suspects that he is really Vincent.
Bottom line is if you aren't genetically correct the movie may scare you.
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DVD ~ Casper Van Dien
DVD ~ Scarlett Johansson
DVD ~ Tom Cruise
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