The Conservative Cat

The Island is about artificially grown clones who are harvested to supply organ transplants for the super-rich. The clones live underground, and believe they are survivors of an ecological disaster that made most of the surface world uninhabitable. When a clone's organs are needed, he or she is told they are being sent to the last outpost of uncontaminated nature on the surface-- the Island. In fact, the hapless clone is killed and the necessary organs are shipped to the original person from which the clone was grown. One of the clones discovers the truth, and the bulk of the movie is a standard sci-fi chase in which he destroys massive amounts of property in order to win freedom for himself and his girlfriend.

The question asked by the film is simple: Would you be willing to kill an innocent human being so you can hang on to a few more years of life? Right away, I think fetal stem cells. I mean, that's the fear we all have on this side of the aisle, that if fetal stem cells have all these amazing benefits, women will start getting pregnant so they can kill the unborn baby and harvest the cells. This analogy is strengthened when the mad scientist in charge of the cloning program explains that in two years he'll be able to cure children's leukemia. See, if you can cure a major disease, it doesn't matter that a bunch of human beings get killed along the way.

Yow.

I seriously doubt the filmmakers want us to be thinking along these lines; however, if you don't want your audience to develop these alternative interpretations, you have to stop putting in so many chase scenes. I mean, the first time you destroy a car by dropping a one-ton train axle in front of it, it's kind of cool, but by the time the tenth axle rolls off the truck, the novelty has worn off and you're thinking about abortion again.

It gets worse. In the underground bunker where the clones live, peace is eternal and crime is nonexistent. When the mad scientist realizes some of the clones are developing independent initiative, he has thousands of them herded into a gas chamber for execution. (Of course, because it's a PG-13 film, the hero and heroine arrive in time to set them free.) This is kind of like Iraq under Saddam. Everyone lived in peace because any threat to the order of things is fixed by wholesale executions. Oddly enough, the movie leads us to believe that freedom is preferable to a tranquilized existence under a murderous dictator. Of course, it's entirely possible that I'm allowing my own beliefs to color my perception. Still, if clones deserve freedom, why don't Shi'ites and Sunnis?

See, no matter which way I turn, I run into these unintended messages.

So, if you're a young movie director and you want to make an action picture, stick to government conspiracy flicks like The Rock or disaster movies like Armageddon, and keep well clear of things like individual freedom and the sanctity of human life. It's too easy to send the wrong message.

Respectfully submitted,

Ferdinand T. Cat