if you had a chance to create a genetically perfect child , would you do it ? " gattaca " is a film which presents a future where society has answered " yes " to this question , but then ponders if this was actually the right decision . " gattaca " came out only a couple months following the first genetically engineered creature , the lovable dolly the sheep , and with this in mind , the film only becomes more frightening . the way the realm of genetics is heading , it may only take a couple decades until the future " gattaca " presents becomes true . contrary to the misleading trailers , " gattaca " is not a sci-fi thriller , in the way that there's lots of murder , hitchcockian suspense , and chase scenes . this is a quiet , sad film about intelligent theories . in fact , the film seems like it would have been written by george orwell or aldous huxley ( the latter who's novel " brave new world " featured genetically engineered children ) . it's a film that may likely become a cult hit to people who are frightened by a promise of shallow utopia , which is exactly what " gattaca " presents . . . and the main reason i dug it so much . the story revolves around the genetically insufficient vincent freeman ( ethan hawke ) , a man with high hopes but a 90% chance of heart problems , and a prospected life span of around 30 years . as a child , he was put down because of the threats of genetics , while his younger genetically perfect brother , anton ( loren dean ) , was promised whatever his heart desired . vincent yearns to be an astronaut , but when he gets a job at a giant space company , it's as a janitor ( ernest borgnine plays his boss ! ) . but one day , he finds out that it's probably possible that his desires can come true in the form of a business deal brought out by a black market geneticist ( or something ) , german ( " wings " ' tony shalhoub , who did like hundreds of cameos in films back in '97 : " men in black , " " a life less ordinary " . . . ) , who's client is a genetically perfect man , jerome morrow ( jude law ) , who has unfortunately been crippled . fortunately , though , there's no record of the accident , and he's willing to give someone else his life . since vincent looks a bit like him . . . after a couple alterations ( some minor , some really major ) , he has donned the life of jerome , and is doing his job . there , he meets a genetically imperfect woman , irene ( uma thurman , who's genetically perfect in real life anyway , hee hee ) , and the two begin a kind of relationship , albeit a very shallow one since romance is deemed by how great a man's stats are . however , a murder of a high-level worker at his office is killed , and one of vincent/jerome's eyelashes is found by the anal retentive investigators headed by a semi-wily inspector , hugo , ( alan arkin ) , and none other than vincent's long lost brother , anton , who hasn't seen him since they were teenagers . we know vincent/jerome didn't do it , but with his older picture being posted everywhere , not only vincent/jerome's in trouble , but also the real jerome , who's as much in it as he is . however , there isn't many big suspense set pieces , which is actually a blessing because if they were tossed in , the film would lose it's message and descend into just being a sci-fi thriller a la william gibson . the suspense in the film comes from the idea that vincent and jerome can easily be captured just by dropping a hair or dead skin . while there are several scenes which are pretty frightening , there are no big distractions from the point of the film , much to the dismay of commercial audiences . what is actually portrayed is the lack of life in the utopian society that is created . irene has no real spunk in her life , and is rather amazed by the sheer beauty of a sunrise rather than genetically perfect people . and the genetically flawless jerome is in actuality a bitter man , claiming that his accident was really no accident . what jerome has done is fool the system in giving a man who yearns for better things a chance at that , and the ending is shocking as it's a definite work of dystopian propaganda , but doesn't have the down ending of other works of this kind . the production design of this film is probably the best i've seen this year : it's stunning , very pleasing to the eye , but still very cold . since genetics has ruled out any chance of improvement , the world has cooled into a state of inhumanity , and the sets echo a sense of shallow misery . and the sequence of all the high-level workers doing their jobs has a kind of gilliam-esque feel to it , showing the nightmare of slipping into a routine zombie-like life . the ability to perfect people has left humanity cold and generally unhappy . the acting from everyone is great , with thurman giving a wonderfully cold performance , and hawke creating a character who has been beaten down by the system but has found a new sense of optimism by a bitter man who was willing to give it out anyway ( interesting pointless fact : uma and ethan started dating after this film , and currently she is pregnant with his child ) . but the best performance belongs to jude law , who steals every scene he's in , and creates a character filled with the pessimism over having such a horrible burden placed on his burden . i think that people are generally tempted by the fact that genetics can actually create perfection in a child , but whether or not they would actually act on this temptation is something i'm not sure of . " gattaca " warns us not to go any farther , chiefly because we'll create a world of elitism where the elite are shallow and unhappy , and as bitter and angry as the lesser people are . and when i see a possible future featuring a 12-fingered piano player , well folks , that just creeps me out .
