Rent Never Let Me Go on Amazon Video (paid link) // Buy the book (paid link)
Written by: Alex Garland (screenplay), Kazuo Ishiguro (novel)
Directed by: Mark Romanek
Starring: Keira Knightley, Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield, Charlotte Rampling, Sally Hawkins, Domhnall Gleeson, Andrea Riseborough
Rated: R
Watch the trailer
Plot
Three friends, from their early school days into young adulthood, as they grapple with the reality of the world they live in and their purpose.
Verdict
Wow. This looks at a future free of sickness, but the question is what's it worth? How much are we willing to sacrifice? We see this through the viewpoint of the donors, and it's just so bleak. I have to question why they're so resigned, but maybe knowing your future from such a young age lessens the resistance. Things won't change because society won't go back. They'll give people a name like donors to make it sound more honorable. It will get dressed up and the true nature ignored because that's easier to stomach. That's what's so uneasy about this. It's all too easy to see something like this on the technological horizon.
Watch It.
Review
I'm a fan of Garland's sci-fi movies including Sunshine, Annihilation, and Ex Machina. When I saw this one, I had to watch it.
This is an alternate history where life expectancy has extended well past one-hundred years old in the 1960s. We follow three kids starting at a boarding school into adulthood. Kathy (Carey Mulligan) and Tommy (Andrew Garfield) become friends. He has no one else, and she's kind hearted. Kathy takes pity on Tommy who is teased for not being good at sports. They other kids just want a reaction, and he usually provides that. Ruth (Keira Knightley) is one of the kids that teased him.
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| Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley, Andrew Garfield play Kathy, Ruth, Tommy |
A teacher reveals that the children are clones, built for organ donation. That's how life expectancy has increased so much. As a kid that age, how do you deal with that revelation? Can they even understand the implication? You're life will be short. You exist to be harvested and extend the life of someone else. The teacher is quickly dismissed which isn't a surprise.
Kathy sees Tommy holding hands with Ruth. That's got to be a heartbreak. Was Ruth motivated by the fact that her life will be unexpectedly short? I didn't understand why none of the kids try to escape. It could be it's been ingrained in them to conform and follow orders. There's so much they don't know. Does ignorance resign them to their fate? I've always assumed it's human nature to survive and fight, yet they talk nonchalantly about processing centers which will be their deaths. One group of humans thrive while the other is destined for death. The reason scientists developed clones was to preserve natural born humans.
Upon graduating from the boarding school, the three live at a hostel. It seems strange they're so valued yet live meagerly. Are there so many clones that a few can be spared? I just don't comprehend how they're resigned to their fate when you see this world and know your place in it is to serve others.
Kathy becomes a carer, taking care of others as you can only survive two or three donations at most. This world makes it sound nicer than it is. This delays her donations, but I'd imagine that would only make her future more difficult seeing firsthand how others are harvested and knowing that's your fate.
The darkest aspect of this is how society knows it's wrong, but they don't want to go back to lives plagued by sickness and disease. When killing is condoned, you have to change the names from victims to donors and murder to completing. The donors are segregated because seeing them is an acknowledgement of their fate and society's misdeeds.
Part of this movie is finding meaning and solace in what little time you have. It's so bleak. You can apply for a deferral, but does it matter in a hopeless world? This society operates by giving hope to some and denying it to others. We're informed that the boarding school we see was unique. The staff wanted to prove the clones were human. No one else wanted to explore that question because of the answers at the cost of the benefits. As the final monologue closes the movie, Kathy states that we are what we've lived through and that no one ever has enough time.
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