At the Movies: “Cloud Atlas” Is a Force to Be Reckoned With

Thirteen years ago, “The Matrix” was released, and its themes of oppression and revolution connected deeply with critics and audiences alike.

November 2, 2012
4 min read
cloud-atlas

cloud-atlasThirteen years ago, “The Matrix” was released, and its themes of oppression and revolution connected deeply with critics and audiences alike.


By Noah Gittell


cloud-atlasThirteen years ago, “The Matrix” was released, and its themes of oppression and revolution connected deeply with critics and audiences alike. The filmmakers – siblings Andy and Lana Wachowski – were similarly oppressed by its success and have spent the last decade failing to live up to it. But now their time has come. In the last several years, the spirit of revolution has come alive in America in the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street, and Hollywood is finally taking notice. Themes of inequality and revolution are prevalent this year in “The Hunger Games”, “The Dark Knight Rises”, and “Les Miserables”, among others. So, it is only natural this is the year the Wachowskis release “Cloud Atlas”, their best film since “The Matrix”, and that it revolves around the same themes that have always characterized their work.

 

“Cloud Atlas” is big, bombastic, and ambitious – and its newness will surely polarize audiences and critics alike. The plot is too enormous to describe, its themes are dense and immeasurable, and its feel … well, it feels unlike anything I have seen on film. It follows the structural template of a fairly new genre, the geopolitical drama; these films, like “Syriana” or “Babel”, have large casts of characters who, while separated by age or geography, are all seeking the same things. But “Cloud Atlas” expands this world by leaps and bounds – eras and eons – with a story that encapsulates dozens of characters from the past, present, and future. While its purpose is sometimes difficult to grasp and its philosophy too bluntly stated at times, the sheer power of the film is overwhelming.

 

The film marks an unusual challenge for its cast, as each actor plays multiple roles. Tom Hanks plays a nuclear scientist in the 1970s, a tribesman in some unnamed future, and a British thug with a cockney accent. Hugh Grant appears as a sexist CEO, a sleazy restaurant manager, and an evil warlord. Jim Broadbent is the world’s greatest composer and an aging book publisher. Halle Berry is an investigative reporter, the composer’s wife, and an ambassador from the future.

 

Some of the actors even cross gender roles, and each of them portrays characters of varying age. Using actors in multiple roles to demonstrate the interconnectivity of life is a simple trick, but it works. Since each character is driven by the same things – namely, freedom and love – the actors are not required to create unique, fully developed characters. In a way, each actor plays his or her multiple roles as a singular soul, who displays emotional growth with each passing era. The Buddhist notions of karma and reincarnation factor heavily into the proceedings.

 

It is a lot to keep track of, but one of the miracles of “Cloud Atlas” is that it never confuses. The film is essentially a three-hour montage, as it cuts back and forth between storylines and eras, often with overlapping dialogue and narration. It may sound like an exhausting, head-swimming experience, but it holds together quite well and is not at all boring.

 

If the film has a failure, it’s that its philosophy never quite sticks. At its worst, it recalls the “Matrix” sequels in which the films’ philosophies were often stated directly in monologue instead of being dramatized. At times, “Cloud Atlas” suffers from the same malady, but the stories are so strong and the drama so compelling that this proves to be just a minor quibble.

 

And throughout, that spirit of revolution lifts the film from mere entertainment into what would best be termed a cathartic experience. The characters face down racism, sexism, ageism, bigotry, evil corporate schemes, and colonial domination. Even its most lighthearted sub-plot — of an elderly yet capable man who, after being wrongly imprisoned in a retirement home, plots his escape — burns with a palpable sense of purpose. Beneath its many stories beats a single soul, struggling and striving for freedom from oppression and love that is not bound by circumstance. To dig too deeply into its political subtext would be a fool’s errand.

 

“Cloud Atlas” is not meant to be analyzed, dissected or parsed for political content, but loved, hated, fiercely defended or passionately rebuked. And if that doesn’t make you want to see it, then why go to the movies at all?


My Rating: See it in the Theater



Filed Under:
Subscribe and get freshly baked articles. Join the community!
Begin typing your search above and press return to search. Press Esc to cancel.

kuwin

iplwin

my 11 circle

betway

jeetbuzz

satta king 786

betvisa

winbuzz

dafabet

rummy nabob 777

rummy deity

yono rummy

shbet

kubet

winbuzz

daman games

winbuzz

betvisa

betvisa

betvisa

baji999

marvelbet

krikya

Dbbet

Nagad88

Babu88

Six6s

Bhaggo

Elonbet

yono rummy

rummy glee

rummy perfect

rummy nabob

rummy modern

rummy wealth

jeetbuzz

iplwin

yono rummy

rummy deity

rummy app

betvisa

lotus365

hi88

8day

97win

n88

red88

king88

j88

i9bet

good88

nohu78

99ok

bet168

betvisa

satta king

satta matta matka

betvisa

mostplay

4rabet

leonbet

pin up

mostbet

rummy modern

Fastwin Login

Khela88

Fancywin

Jita Ace

Betjili

Betvisa

Babu88

jeetwin

nagad88

jaya9

joya 9

khela88

babu88

babu888

mostplay

marvelbet

baji999

abbabet

Jaya9

Mostbet

MCW

Jeetwin

Babu88

Nagad88

Betvisa

Marvelbet

Baji999

Jeetbuzz

Mostplay

Jwin7

Melbet

Betjili

Six6s

Krikya

Jitabet

Glory Casino

Betjee

Jita Ace

Crickex

Winbdt

PBC88

R777

Jitawin

Khela88

Bhaggo