Image courtesy of illustrator Nick Thornborrow's fantastic blog
“Never Let Me Go” is a simple yet chilling portrayal of a bleak world where average life expectancy is over 100 years, with people relying on replacement organs provided by “donors” – clones whose entire purpose is to extend the lives of others.
The premise is that we began cloning humans in the 1950s, but the film takes place in the 70s, 80s and 90s, and the practice is now an accepted, normal part of life.
As a result the film, based on the book by Kazuo Ishiguro, feels like a modern-day story rather than a futuristic sci-fi, which it could have easily become in the hands of a different director or screenwriter (Mark Romanek and Alex Garland).
The story centres around Tommy, Kathy and Ruth, three ‘donors’ played by Andrew Garfield, Carey Mulligan and Keira Knightley. We meet them as children at what first appears to be an upper class boarding school in the English countryside.
But when the headmistress, after finding three cigarettes hidden in the garden, gives the students a stern lecture on how it’s more important for them, than for anyone else, to care for their bodies, the reality of their life’s purpose sets in.
There are other clues to their status, as well. The students become infectiously excited when they learn there will be a sale, and they will be able to purchase items using tokens they have earned and saved over the year. They’re promised it will be a “bumper crop” of items.
But when the boxes of goods arrive, and are set out on tables for the sale, it becomes clear they are little more than the broken, shoddy, cast-off toys from real children living “outside” -- a metaphor for the second-class status that rules the donors’ lives.
But even though there’s a sad, pathetic quality to the scene, there’s also a simple beauty in the joy the children receive from the broken toys. When Tommy gives Kathy a cassette tape of soulful music, there is a heart-wrenching quality to the way she is affected by the songs.
The students also spend each year creating works of art, in hopes their pieces will be selected for the “gallery,” an almost mythical place or event that none of them seem to have ever seen or to fully understand.
Eventually, the three children grow up and leave the school – wrestling with love and jealousy along the way -- to prepare for their donation cycle. Each donor is expected to “complete” after four donations – meaning their life will end.
They go on to their own pursuits. Kathy becomes a “carer,” whose purpose is to comfort, encourage and cheer-up the donors as they go through their cycle.
Ruth and Tommy begin their donations, and it isn’t until years later that the three are once again united.
When they reunite, it’s under different circumstances. Their lives are nearing an end, and they begin to seek answers from those who have controlled their destinies. Not that they challenge their purpose in life, or rebel, because that’s just not something they do. But they are seeking a deeper understanding, or explanation, of their role in the world.
Perhaps the best answer comes when they finally ask about the art gallery they contributed to each year at school, wanting to know its true purpose.
“We weren’t using the gallery to look into your souls,” explains their former headmistress in a brutally frank moment. “We were using the gallery to see if you had souls.”
0 comments:
Post a Comment