Cloud Atlas, both the film scripted by The Wachowskis (The Matrix Trilogy) and Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run), and the book by David Mitchell, have so much to offer from excitement to dire prediction, from brilliant story-telling to deep knowledge.
All images below are sourced from: Warner Bros
For one, watching the film on the big screen was a roller-coaster ride of an experience in itself. When I wasn't one hundred percent engrossed and present, it was because I was reflecting on the fact that I was so captured (enraptured) by the film, that I didn't have time or the inclination to stop to think or analyse. Waste of time (mind) you say? I agree! Having read the book first, I had great expectations! Ah… but these are fun aren't they? A line in the book that tickled me didn't feature in the film. One of the heroines, Sonmi, reveals that she succeeded in downloading the works of "two Optimists… Orwell and Huxley." Either the author is enjoying delicious irony, as here we have two of our most famous (Western) dystopian writers, or we are to believe that their texts have been rewritten. In any case, to explore dystopia such as in Brave New World or Nineteen Eighty-Four or Cloud Atlas, can also become a practice in seeing present (and possible future) injustices for what they are, and heeding the warnings of those who speak the "True True". More...
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