Movie Equilibrium Review – As it has been quoted by many great artists, “cinema” is the mirror of society. However, cinema does not only give the real-time reflection of the society but becomes a bridging element between present and future and helps the society peek into its coming fortune. As an art form, making a movie is a very delicate task, entitled with layers of responsibilities marked upon the creators to familiarize the indifferent with their conscience. Here, of course, we are not discussing the commercially made movies with the sole purpose of printing bills; rather, the subject of the matter here is the poignant movies, with a message, or even just an acknowledgement of the present.
And what delivers those messages along with the screenplay is the set, the props, and the backdrop of the story. Architecture has long been the strongest visual aid for communication. For any cinema, architecture is the subtle tool used to give away the story’s position in the timeline. It sets the mood for the story as well. Many a time, it’s even complementary to the actual plot as in Inception and Shutter Island.
Equilibrium is a 2002 Kurt Wimmer written and directed American science fiction action film. It stars Christian Bale, Emily Watson, and Taye Diggs in the major role.
Architecture | Movie Equilibrium
The subject of discussion, the architecture of the film set, is a culmination of neoclassical architecture and brutalist architecture. If you look at the city of Liberia, you will find the inspiration to be taken from neoclassical architecture. The repetitive nature of the building style adds up to the monotony and lack of taste. While zooming in at individual buildings of concern, the heavy implication of brutalist architecture style can be witnessed. With no ornamentation and raw concrete finishes, the lack of emotions in the inhabitants has been depicted.
The high ceilings are strategically designed for the spaces where the sense of authority has to be given away. The actual origin of Brutalist architecture has a somewhat parallel analogy to the architecture at display in the movie. The big concrete masses piled upon one another with indifference for the form and serving solely to the functional needs are the outcome of a war-torn economy.
The Plot
The story is about a senior officer of a civilization that is devoid of human emotions. Post-third world war, the governing body of the civilization decided to eradicate any sort of emotional feelings from the population to avoid rage and conflicts among people. Inhabitants are subjected to take a regular dose of a psychoactive drug called “Prozium II” to suppress their emotions.
Anyone not abiding by the law and daring to feel convicted as “Sense Offender” and is taken out or captured and later incinerated. The movie revolves around the protagonist’s conflict with his understanding of feelings and rebellion against authority.
Colour Palette | Movie Equilibrium
There are two sides to the story, one where the city of Liberia is shown, which is home to the civilization devoid of human emotions, and the other one called “Nether”, an outside city that homes the sense offenders. The scenes shot for Liberia are filled with cold colours ranging from blue, black, grey, etc., while the shots in the Nether have a reddish tone to the scenes. The contrast between warm and cold colours has been strictly deployed to weigh in on the concept of the movie.
Mood
The mood set for the storyline is as pensive as the concept is. For a maximum of the time, the scenes have a gloomy overcast setup with little to no vibrancy. The clean unsoiled objects are on display everywhere, giving away a sense of discipline and eliminating chaos from the environment, which again has been done deliberately to emphasize the central idea of the film.
Discipline
A sense of discipline has been marked both subtly and advertently. On a closer look, one would notice that all the residents of Liberia were exclusively clean-shaven with no traces of ungroomed hair. Inhabitants of Liberia are shown sitting in straight lines in some sort of concentration camp setup.
Mass of the public moves around in an orderly manner with a straight face with no visible emotions. Although it is not explicitly implied, in no scenes are the residents of Liberia shown consuming any sort of food since food is not only a necessity for humans, but eating is also an enjoyable deed.
The Conflict | Movie Equilibrium
There is a public message circulated by the authority in governance where they mention the dose of Promizium II, anaesthetize grief, annihilate jealousy, obliterate rage. However, the sister’s impulses towards joy, love, and elation are anaesthetized in stride. Yet the authority promulgates to accept that as a fair sacrifice.
On the other hand, the sense offenders believe that without love, anger, and sorrow, breath is just a clock ticking. And all of the pain that comes along with the sense of feeling is just a small price to pay. This movie is a delicate display of this conflict of choice between the values and the instincts of the protagonist. Director Kurt Wimmer has done a commendable job at capturing the internal battle with self for Christian Bale and complementing the screenplay with his wise choices of direction.
Click Here for the trailer of the movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raleKODYeg0
