Gattaca
A genetically inferior man assumes the identity of a superior one in order to pursue his lifelong dream of space travel.
- Director: * Andrew Niccol
- Genre:Drama / Sci-Fi / Thriller
- Runtime:106 minutes
Cast
Ethan Hawke : Vincent Freeman
Uma Thurman : Irene Cassini
Gore Vidal : Director Josef
Xander Berkeley : Dr. Lamar
Jayne Brook : Marie Freeman
In “the not-so distant future”, where liberal eugenics is common and DNA plays the primary role in determining social class, Vincent Freeman (Ethan Hawke) is conceived and born without the aid of this technology. As a result he is born with a high probability of heart disorder and a life expectancy of only 30.2 years. His parents regret this, and his younger brother, Anton, is conceived with the aid of genetic engineering. Growing up, their father clearly favors Anton, the stronger, taller and more perfect son. Vincent dreams of a career in space, but his parents remind him that his imperfections will preclude from ever achieving this. Vincent and Anton enjoy playing a game that they called “chicken”—both would swim out into the sea, and the first person to tire out and swim back to shore would be the loser. As children, Anton always won due to his superior genes. However, one day when they were older, Vincent, for reasons not entirely clear at the time, overtook and beat his brother. Anton cried out to his older brother for help as he was about to drown. Vincent saved him by pulling him to the shore. Vincent then left his home shortly thereafter.
Suffering from the nearly eradicated physical dysfunction of myopia, as well as being given a heart disorder probability of 99%, Vincent faces extreme genetic discrimination and prejudice. The only way he can achieve his life-long dream of becoming an astronaut is to break the law and impersonate a “valid”, a person with appropriate genetic advantage.[2]
He assumes the identity of Jerome Eugene Morrow (Jude Law), a former swimming star who, despite a genetic profile “second to none”, won only a silver medal in a high-profile competition. He attempted to commit suicide by jumping in front of a car, but again fell short of his goal in that he only succeeded in paralyzing himself from the waist down. However, as the incident occurred outside the country, no one knows of his newly acquired disability. Thus, Vincent can “buy” his identity with no one the wiser. Though he requires limb lengthening to increase his height, persistent practice to favor his right hand instead of his left, and contact lenses to replace his glasses while matching Jerome’s eyes, he can use Jerome’s “valid” DNA in blood, hair, tissue and urine samples to pass any genetic test — as long as he takes extreme measures to leave no traces of his identity as an “in-valid”. But, where he was once an object of scorn and pity, he is now a perpetrator of an unspeakable fraud. Legally, exposure would only subject him to fines, but socially the consequences would be far more extreme — he is now a heretic against the new order of genetic determinism. Vincent is now a “borrowed ladder” (a play on words referring to both the structure of an un-coiled DNA strand and the idiom of altitude as social status) or in harsher language, a de-gene-erate.
With Jerome’s impressive genetic profile he easily gains access to the Gattaca Aerospace Corporation (his interview consists entirely of a genetic analysis of a urine sample), the most prestigious space-flight conglomerate of the day. With his own equally impressive determination, he quickly becomes the company’s ace celestial navigator. But a week before Vincent is scheduled to leave on a one-year mission for Saturn’s moon Titan, the mission director is found bludgeoned to death with a keyboard in his office, and evidence of Vincent’s own “in-valid” DNA is found in the building in the form of an eyelash. The presence of this unexpected DNA attracts the attention of the police, and Vincent must evade ever-increasing security as his mission launch date approaches and he pursues a relationship with his co-worker Irene Cassini (Uma Thurman). Read more
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