What does it mean to be human? How do we know that we belong to a race by such a title? Is there a way to tell if we bear the right attributes? Can we discover our true selves by somehow connecting with the wider world? Can our surroundings deaden our desire to know or grow beyond the confines of our person? What is freedom? Are the boundaries to which we capitulate true markers of reality? Whose authority will we take as truth? Are our ethics driven by physical longevity? Should we estimate the value of lives other than our own? By what standard? And is life measured by some purpose, some program, or are we simply castoffs awaiting our brief usefulness for another?
Questions will haunt the viewer long after the credits role for Never Let Me Go. The audience is led through a labyrinth; each passage marks the beginning of a new maze. British subtlety creates the cinematography and storytelling. Dexterity in murky atmosphere is well represented by England’s overcast skies. Gentleness is the proper tool in the hands of director Mark Romanek who may be best known for his direction of the universally loved Johnny Cash music video Hurt. “Understated” is the correct word to describe the actors’ roles. Keira Knightly displays depth and range in her craft which has made her famous elsewhere (Pride & Prejudice, Atonement). Andrew Garfield (The Social Network and the next Spiderman) is a ghost in his own body, marked beginning and end by his primal screams. But it is Carey Mulligan’s (An Education) role as Kathy H. whose delicate handling is best described by the moments noted by a solitary tear. Dulled by propagandized education, the young people do little more than age physically—their spirits are devoid of a soul. Indeed, a critical concern in the film is whether or not the characters have souls at all.
What defines humanity may bring to mind films with a similar agenda. One might consider Coma (1978) or Extreme Measures (1996). The first thrills, as the viewer discovers the wrongs right along with the characters, building to an ultimate climax of disbelief. The second is heavy-handed; true American cinema where the final scenes flash a neon ethical message. Never Let Me Go, while dedicated to similar science-fiction themes, focuses on the fragile strings of our humanity. Affectionate sadness envelopes us as we contemplate our own mortality. Tenderness etches new lines across our thoughtfulness. Campus film night discussions about this science-fiction drama might continue for days. But for those whose age finds them closer to the end than the beginning, questions of longevity and possibilities of science may rival those of Ponce de Leon. Never Let Me Go is a title riding the razor’s edge of a love story which cuts us to the core of what it means to be human.
Rated R for brief nudity (pictures in a pornography magazine) and a brief scene of sexuality.
Mark will be thinking about this movie for weeks, pondering its implications. It would make a great college campus Friday night film discussion.