Snowpiercer (2013)
Director: Bong Joon-ho
Context:
In 2005, director Bong Joon-ho came across a 1982 French graphic novel series called Le Transperceneige. The story concerned the inhabitants of a train with 1,001 cars that travels the world after a new ice age has wiped out most of the life on Earth. The rest of humanity struggles to survive in this confined space. Bong was intrigued by the idea, specifically the depiction of the class struggles within this train society (which were separated car by car), and he decided to adapt the story to film. But rather than take one of the pre-existing Snowpiercer stories, Bong created his own tale based on the themes present in the original.
The quirky film attracted a notable and diverse cast, thanks to Bong's previous cultural acclaim for his earlier works. The filming was completed in 2012 but due to tension with the production company, the film didn't see it's U.S. release until 2014. This makes it a very recent film to discuss, but it's just the kind of unique movie that has a lasting effect on an audience.
All it took was one viewing and I knew it would be one of my all-time favorites.
Plot:
In 2031, the passengers of a 60-car train known as the Snowpiercer travels around the globe, waiting until the man-made ice age of the past 17 years subsides and Earth is habitable again. The inhabitants of the last cars of the train are tired of being the lowest rung on the totem pole, and a revolution led by Curtis Everett (Chris Evans) aims to lead the "Tail-Enders" to the front of the train and to take control of the engine, and their lives.
Analysis:
Snowpiercer is just the Hero's Journey. It is the monomyth. The single story of our species condensed to a tiny location and it follows exactly the path you'd expect it to. But it does so with such glory and respect for the stories of our past that it becomes an entity unto itself. And it provides just enough twists and turns that it always feels fresh.
One thing I noticed upon my reviewing of this film is that the movie is always moving forward. Both literally, in that our hero Curtis never travels backwards in the train and only progresses from one car to the next all the way to the end, and figuratively. Something new was always happening. In every car, every scene, the audience learns something new about the world we find the characters in and even though it follows the emotional path of a dystopian sci-fi action movie, we are always treated with unique visuals as we follow the beats.
Let's just look at the action sequences in the film. I'm trying to refrain from spoiling as much as I can, but the movie has three main fight scenes as the characters journey through. But rather than just make them variations on the same fight, Bong chooses to change the stylistic backdrop and motives of each. The first is a standard fast-paced burst of energy to simulate the oppressed's built up anger at their oppressors, the second is a haunting slow-motion battle that allows us to see each minor action of Curtis as he shifts to into full-leadership position (which is then followed by a quick fight in complete darkness, told mostly through sound), and the last is a tension-filled showdown with one of the main baddies in a mostly silent haze-filled room. None of these scenes needed to be artistic, yet each one is beautiful. This is just one example of how Bong puts his spin on the genre.
Every car is it's own unique environment. While the original story had a train with 1,001 cars, Bong's train appears to be about 60 cars and yet we only see about 20 of them. There is no realistic logic to how this train actually functions, or how each car can be so separate in style from the ones around it, but you aren't here for the realism. You're here for the spectacle. What's really cool about the train and the film is how perfectly each one's length complements the other. In a 2-hour film, we spend the first half hour in the gritty tail section. And this part looks just like every dark dystopia you see in all modern films.
Then we spend the next half hour traveling through the back half of the train, which is lifeless and soulless. Our heros are still struggling to survive as they slowly learn more about their surroundings. But once we hit the halfway point of the train/movie runtime, everything shifts. The tone, the atmosphere, and the color! Not to ruin the effect but watching this play out made me feel like what I imagine audiences of 1939 felt like when seeing Dorothy land in Oz for the first time.
Again, it's amazing how a film can be so simple and complex at the same time.
A lot of the brilliance in the story lies in one simple movie making rule. Everything in the film should have a point. And this story takes that to heart. Every moment, every shot, every throwaway line is there to set up a payoff later in the film. It's subtle and impressive because once you reach the ending, you start to get to see how all the pieces of this jigsaw puzzle fit into place. The film even tricks you into believing you know all of the answers early on. Even when I knew all the twists on this reviewing, I still found myself getting surprised seeing them all play out again.
There's also a lot of cool touches throughout. I particularly appreciated that the Tail Ender group were too poor to have any technology. So, instead of a photographer, there is a residential artist that draws charcoal drawings of significant moments for historical record. It reminded me about the old traditions of storytelling that this movie borrows so much from. For such a visual masterpiece of a film, this was a nice touch.
This is a movie that I encourage you just to watch, because the less you know about it, the more fun it is going in. It makes you appreciate being a part of the human species (even for all it's faults, there is still that hope at the end). It's a little weird in it's tone but that's because it isn't your standard Americanized sci-fi film. It's a South-Korean movie based on a French comic book with a culturally diverse cast. It's not an American film. It's an Earth film.
The Ending (The Engine Car):
I don't want to spoil much of what happens at the end of this film but suffice it to say that this is a brilliant conclusion to the movie. A lot of films of this nature can fall apart at the end but this one works all the way through. We get a philosophical conversation between Curtis and the Engineer (Ed Harris, which, if you've seen The Truman Show should give you a hint as to exactly how this conversation will go down and, after you've seen the film, read this article for a great analysis of the historical similarities between the two).
Even though it's your standard villain explanation of his distorted world view, the Engineer actually makes a surprisingly effective argument for his train of horrors. And, within the context of the film, it makes perfect sense. Applied to the real world, it would fall apart like a ton of bricks, but the folks on this train don't have the luxury of living in the real world. This makes the ending so effective because Curtis (who has the best tragic hero story I've seen in any film for....years) is actually faced with a difficult decision with no easy answers. And he makes a decision without any knowledge of what he's doing is right or wrong. Of course, it's a movie, and it's the right one that his character needs to make in a nice symbolic kind of way.
Final Thoughts:
This film is the essence of a story. It's straightforward, intriguing, and enjoyable every step of the way. There is no aspect I would want to change. I knew coming into it that the premise of the "eternal train" was farfetched, so it allowed me to appreciate the film as it was. It was clear that everyone involved enjoyed making this film and are proud of what they accomplished. The best thing I can do is recommend it to everyone I can.
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