ELYSIUM isn’t a superhero story nor was it adapted from a graphic novel, but that’s not to say that what ELYSIUM offers isn’t familiar. For one thing, it’s an ugly future for our planet and its premise takes a page or ten not just from District 9 but from a host of other post-apocalyptic future film visions, particularly the George Miller directed movies that began with “Mad Max” back in the late ’70s. Before I go any further here’s the premise of this film.
In the year 2154 two classes of people exist: the very wealthy who live on a pristine man-made space station called Elysium, and the rest, who live on an overpopulated, ruined Earth. Secretary Delacourt, a government official, will stop at nothing to enforce anti-immigration laws and preserve the luxurious lifestyle of the citizens of Elysium. That doesn’t stop the people of Earth from trying to get in, by any means they can. When unlucky Max is backed into a corner, he agrees to take on a daunting mission that if successful will not only save his life, but could bring equality to these polarized worlds.
The premise is not new but the way the story is told is engaging. Our planet in 2150 is so wracked with pollution and garbage that the 1 percent has left from Earth entirely. They have created a gated community in a verdant giant space station called “Elysium,” hovering in near orbit, reflected as a kind of new moon in the daytime sky seen from the planet below. The space station reminded me of Kubrick’s 2001 as we see shuttle craft emerging from the axis gliding down to visit the Earth’s inhabitants that live only to serve those who live in the luxury community above.
Matt Damon plays Max, a working stiff who’s has very good reason to break Earth’s laws to get up to the paradise in the skies. Everything that can go wrong for Max does. Max takes an impossible job from Spider (Wagner Moura), a human smuggler and data thief, who’s willing to get Max to Elysium after the job is done. The one time partners in crime of this former car thief get killed on a heist while Max ends up being chased by the secret military police. On the giant space station, Delacourt, a ruthless secretary of defense played by Jodie Foster, breaks the rules of law and goes over her superiors, as well she should, because they clearly don’t care. She thinks nothing of hiring a terrestrial lunatic Kruger, played by Sharlto Copley, who is hellbent on recovering Max and the information he now carries. To complicate things more Max’s childhood love from the orphanage where he was raised, Frey, played by Alice Braga, is now involved thanks to Max seeking her out after he sustains an injury. Frey is a nurse and has a terminally ill daughter who is in need of a miracle health machine found only on Elysium for the chosen few. In addition Max has in his brain the data that can give anyone the entire Elysium operating system, data that both sides are very eager to get their hands on.
With Elysium, Blomkamp comes up with sci-fi conceits that are very familiar to your imagination. What’s eerie, is that our country is so divided that we are not far from an ELYSIUM type world. We should all listen to what our artists and our visionaries are telling us. I wish that Blomkamp took us deeper into the world of Elysium. I really wanted to see how the human species got to this point. Go see this movie, you won’t be disappointed. It will definitely open a dialog with your loved ones about the human experience.
Your beloved Raphy.