12 MonkeysTime is like a snake eating its own tail: the uroboros--an animal symbol for an abstract concept greater than itself. Terry Gilliam's 12 Monkeys is a dystopian sci-fi story of time travel and the cyclical nature of time; it postulates on the anarchic and paradoxical nature of man to destroy himself through the absurd and primal image of the eponymous, rampant primates. Mankind's evolution is only building toward an ironic and predetermined act of self-destruction. Caught in this proverbial Möbius strip is James Cole (Bruce Willis), a man sent from a hellish future in an effort to discover what caused a man-made pandemic of catastrophic proportions. What he learns is that his future is inexorably bound to his past, and vice versa.
|
|
Midway through 12 Monkeys, Kathryn Railly (Madeleine Stowe)--psychiatrist, hostage, and love interest (in that order) of James Cole--gives a presentation about a psychological condition referred to as the "Cassandra complex", which as she puts it is about having the foresight for future events, but being impotent to stop them. This is the exact situation in which James finds himself, and he literally knows what is going to happen in the future (from the perspective of the Nineties). Cole is labeled as crazy from the moment he makes his sojourn back in time. He comes from a future where the survivors of a deadly plague which almost wiped out humanity live underground. (Animals have been allowed to remain above ground, given dominion over the earth once again.) Cole is a prisoner in the future, ostensibly for committing some violent crime; the details are so vague, however, that it is more likely that he is a victim of a tyrannical system that finds it more convenient to strip him of his rights and send him out for mandatory "volunteer" work. His job is to observe the surface in a body suit, and then report his findings to a panel of bizarre scientists. Cole is coerced to go back to 1996 and discover how and where the pure form of the contagion originated. This is not a mission to prevent the release of the virus, because as Cole and the scientists understand it, the catastrophe is inevitable and the past cannot be altered. When Cole is in the past--he is sent to 1990 in error on his first trip--he is able to interact with the world of the past and his actions have a rippling effect. (It is implied that Dr. Railly's exposure to Cole is what piques her interest in the Cassandra complex in the first place.) The attitude that one's actions have no impact on events is a depressing one, but fits the mindset of the despotic rulers in the future; 12 Monkeys dances along the line as to whether this is or isn't true.
Events in 12 Monkeys suggest that the past can influence the future; but despite all of the capabilities of the future scientists, the plague is something which cannot be thwarted. When Kathryn accepts that Cole is from the future, she spray paints a message on the side of a building, which serves as a marker for the scientists to send him back to her location--an event that could only have occurred as a result of Cole's intervention. Following the logic of causality, the ending emphasizes that if the events could have been prevented, the plot of the film could not have existed. Furthermore, this necessitates that time travel itself was a necessary component in the advent of this catastrophic plague. 12 Monkeys begins with Cole's dream; as a child and before the plague, he watches a man in an airport being shot in the back, and a woman--who looks like Kathryn with blonde hair--reaching out for him, shouting in desperation. The dream influences Cole's actions in the past, which in turn influences the dream, creating a closed loop--like a "chicken and the egg" paradox. Were James' actions motivated by the dream or is he set on a predetermined course, and is forced to react to it? This compelling philosophical argument is at the heart of 12 Monkeys--the eternal argument of free will versus predestination. One scene emphasizes this comes after Cole has "failed" in his first trip back in time, and is asked by one of the scientists if he "wants another chance". The real answer to that question is with another question: does he have a choice?
"Freedom" is another theme in 12 Monkeys; not only is Cole a prisoner in the future, but from the moment he steps into the past, he is immediately incarcerated. Believed to be insane--and diagnosed by none other than Dr. Railly--Cole is taken to a mental hospital where he meets the paranoid and delusional Jeffrey Goines (Brad Pitt). (Jeffrey's antics and grand statements about overthrowing the system make him a manic precursor to Tyler Durden in Fight Club.) Jeffrey has a fascination with liberation--from his desire to escape the sanitarium to the existential feeling of being trapped under the thumb of his father, the famed yet arrogant virologist, Dr. Goines (Christopher Plummer). James and Jeffrey's fates are linked together; he reunites with the long-haired lunatic, because he learns that Jeffrey has become the leader of a fringe group of eco-terrorists calling themselves "The Army of the 12 Monkeys". From what little evidence Cole has about the events leading up to the global pandemic that killed five billion people in 1996, the "army" seems the most likely culprit. All of 12 Monkeys takes place while Cole is either a prisoner or a fugitive, infusing the film with a pervading sense of paranoia. When Cole is imprisoned with Jeffrey and the other patients at the institution, the cinematography is deliberately off-kilter, suggesting a warped perspective of the world. Is Cole crazy? The audience has the benefit of seeing what horrors await humanity in the future; the question is not whether Cole is delusional about the pandemic, but that his poor quality of life and the stress that comes with it has left him with a skewed perspective. James lives in a state of arrested development; his reoccurring dream is from a time when he was a child, and there are moments where he reacts to the stresses of his journey without the restraint of maturity. When James returns to 1996, he kidnaps Kathryn and forces her to drive him from Baltimore to Philadelphia. James bounces up and down with exuberance when music comes on the radio--it takes him back to that pleasant time in his childhood, before the apocalypse. When James saves Kathryn from a rapist, he beats the man so savagely that he accidentally kills him, because he could not control his impulses.
12 Monkeys was inspired by Chris Marker's La Jetée, and shares elements from the plot to stylistic motifs; La Jetée even has a climactic ending at an airport. Dr. Railly's presentation of the Cassandra complex--including pictures of assorted doomsayers from history, all implied to be travelers from Cole's future--is an homage to this, being a series of pictures telling a story, as it was with La Jetée. The Cassandra complex Dr. Railly describes could be applied to other protagonists from Terry Gilliam's films--from Brazil to The Fisher King; they are often men who envision a version of the world that is both imaginative and considered by the majority to be delusional. Most of Gilliam's semi-eccentric protagonists are depicted as being "more sane" than the world they occupy, as though they were all "men of La Mancha, dreaming an impossible dream". 12 Monkeys meets this criteria, with Cole's naivete and the perception that all of the rest of the world is ignorant to his prognostications about the end of days.
Another motif in 12 Monkeys that is common in movies about time travel is déjà vu. Déjà vu in 12 Monkeys has more to do with the duplication of events in Cole's past and future, and the supposition that time is not a linear event, but one which radiates outward; an event that happens once will happen again, because time is an echo. For example, when Cole is a prisoner in the future, he is scrubbed down before entering the prison after his scouting mission; when he is sent to the mental institution, he is scrubbed down in virtually the same way. When Dr. Railly first meets Cole in 1990, she thinks that she has seen him somewhere before, even though chronologically this would be impossible. James and Kathryn become closer as the story progresses; she first thought of him as a delusional schizophrenic, but after she discovers evidence that he is telling the truth about his ability to travel through time, she advocates for his mission, and the two fall in love. The two hide out in a movie theater at one point and disguise themselves for a trip to the Florida Keys--which is constantly referenced as being a nice place to visit, as if a subliminal suggestion is guiding Cole there. The theater is playing Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo, showing the scene where Madeleine and Scottie are in the forest of ancient redwood trees. Madeleine comments on two distinct points in time, alluding to a past life and her experiences in it, and Cole passes out from fatigue. When he awakens, Bernard Herrmann's music from Vertigo is playing, and Kathryn is in her disguise. This scene is designed to resemble the famous scene where Judy Barton has been remade as Madeleine, and where the blond wig is the crucial detail. When Cole sees her, she has literally become the woman from his dream. This juxtaposition with the scene from Hitchcock's film is also designed to reinforce the theme of déjà vu in 12 Monkeys. (To further emphasize the comparison, Kathryn uses an alias of "Judy", the same name as Kim Novak's alter ego in Vertigo.) When Kathryn and Cole watch the movie, he comments that he seems to recall seeing the movie as a child, but that it seems different now; she replies that "the movie is different because you're different". Kathryn's comment speaks to the relativity of the past and memory, which can be unreliable--but it remains our only true experiential record of the past. Kathryn and Cole's decision to disguise themselves and their romantic exodus happens rapidly, as though they instinctively swept up in the inevitability of the past, already resigned to becoming an echo of it.
Recommended for: Fans of a philosophical tale of time travel, arguing both for and against predestination and free will. 12 Monkeys was a highly profitable movie, and its popularity as a sci-fi, neo-noir thriller led to a television series (also called "12 Monkeys") being adapted from the film.
Events in 12 Monkeys suggest that the past can influence the future; but despite all of the capabilities of the future scientists, the plague is something which cannot be thwarted. When Kathryn accepts that Cole is from the future, she spray paints a message on the side of a building, which serves as a marker for the scientists to send him back to her location--an event that could only have occurred as a result of Cole's intervention. Following the logic of causality, the ending emphasizes that if the events could have been prevented, the plot of the film could not have existed. Furthermore, this necessitates that time travel itself was a necessary component in the advent of this catastrophic plague. 12 Monkeys begins with Cole's dream; as a child and before the plague, he watches a man in an airport being shot in the back, and a woman--who looks like Kathryn with blonde hair--reaching out for him, shouting in desperation. The dream influences Cole's actions in the past, which in turn influences the dream, creating a closed loop--like a "chicken and the egg" paradox. Were James' actions motivated by the dream or is he set on a predetermined course, and is forced to react to it? This compelling philosophical argument is at the heart of 12 Monkeys--the eternal argument of free will versus predestination. One scene emphasizes this comes after Cole has "failed" in his first trip back in time, and is asked by one of the scientists if he "wants another chance". The real answer to that question is with another question: does he have a choice?
"Freedom" is another theme in 12 Monkeys; not only is Cole a prisoner in the future, but from the moment he steps into the past, he is immediately incarcerated. Believed to be insane--and diagnosed by none other than Dr. Railly--Cole is taken to a mental hospital where he meets the paranoid and delusional Jeffrey Goines (Brad Pitt). (Jeffrey's antics and grand statements about overthrowing the system make him a manic precursor to Tyler Durden in Fight Club.) Jeffrey has a fascination with liberation--from his desire to escape the sanitarium to the existential feeling of being trapped under the thumb of his father, the famed yet arrogant virologist, Dr. Goines (Christopher Plummer). James and Jeffrey's fates are linked together; he reunites with the long-haired lunatic, because he learns that Jeffrey has become the leader of a fringe group of eco-terrorists calling themselves "The Army of the 12 Monkeys". From what little evidence Cole has about the events leading up to the global pandemic that killed five billion people in 1996, the "army" seems the most likely culprit. All of 12 Monkeys takes place while Cole is either a prisoner or a fugitive, infusing the film with a pervading sense of paranoia. When Cole is imprisoned with Jeffrey and the other patients at the institution, the cinematography is deliberately off-kilter, suggesting a warped perspective of the world. Is Cole crazy? The audience has the benefit of seeing what horrors await humanity in the future; the question is not whether Cole is delusional about the pandemic, but that his poor quality of life and the stress that comes with it has left him with a skewed perspective. James lives in a state of arrested development; his reoccurring dream is from a time when he was a child, and there are moments where he reacts to the stresses of his journey without the restraint of maturity. When James returns to 1996, he kidnaps Kathryn and forces her to drive him from Baltimore to Philadelphia. James bounces up and down with exuberance when music comes on the radio--it takes him back to that pleasant time in his childhood, before the apocalypse. When James saves Kathryn from a rapist, he beats the man so savagely that he accidentally kills him, because he could not control his impulses.
12 Monkeys was inspired by Chris Marker's La Jetée, and shares elements from the plot to stylistic motifs; La Jetée even has a climactic ending at an airport. Dr. Railly's presentation of the Cassandra complex--including pictures of assorted doomsayers from history, all implied to be travelers from Cole's future--is an homage to this, being a series of pictures telling a story, as it was with La Jetée. The Cassandra complex Dr. Railly describes could be applied to other protagonists from Terry Gilliam's films--from Brazil to The Fisher King; they are often men who envision a version of the world that is both imaginative and considered by the majority to be delusional. Most of Gilliam's semi-eccentric protagonists are depicted as being "more sane" than the world they occupy, as though they were all "men of La Mancha, dreaming an impossible dream". 12 Monkeys meets this criteria, with Cole's naivete and the perception that all of the rest of the world is ignorant to his prognostications about the end of days.
Another motif in 12 Monkeys that is common in movies about time travel is déjà vu. Déjà vu in 12 Monkeys has more to do with the duplication of events in Cole's past and future, and the supposition that time is not a linear event, but one which radiates outward; an event that happens once will happen again, because time is an echo. For example, when Cole is a prisoner in the future, he is scrubbed down before entering the prison after his scouting mission; when he is sent to the mental institution, he is scrubbed down in virtually the same way. When Dr. Railly first meets Cole in 1990, she thinks that she has seen him somewhere before, even though chronologically this would be impossible. James and Kathryn become closer as the story progresses; she first thought of him as a delusional schizophrenic, but after she discovers evidence that he is telling the truth about his ability to travel through time, she advocates for his mission, and the two fall in love. The two hide out in a movie theater at one point and disguise themselves for a trip to the Florida Keys--which is constantly referenced as being a nice place to visit, as if a subliminal suggestion is guiding Cole there. The theater is playing Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo, showing the scene where Madeleine and Scottie are in the forest of ancient redwood trees. Madeleine comments on two distinct points in time, alluding to a past life and her experiences in it, and Cole passes out from fatigue. When he awakens, Bernard Herrmann's music from Vertigo is playing, and Kathryn is in her disguise. This scene is designed to resemble the famous scene where Judy Barton has been remade as Madeleine, and where the blond wig is the crucial detail. When Cole sees her, she has literally become the woman from his dream. This juxtaposition with the scene from Hitchcock's film is also designed to reinforce the theme of déjà vu in 12 Monkeys. (To further emphasize the comparison, Kathryn uses an alias of "Judy", the same name as Kim Novak's alter ego in Vertigo.) When Kathryn and Cole watch the movie, he comments that he seems to recall seeing the movie as a child, but that it seems different now; she replies that "the movie is different because you're different". Kathryn's comment speaks to the relativity of the past and memory, which can be unreliable--but it remains our only true experiential record of the past. Kathryn and Cole's decision to disguise themselves and their romantic exodus happens rapidly, as though they instinctively swept up in the inevitability of the past, already resigned to becoming an echo of it.
Recommended for: Fans of a philosophical tale of time travel, arguing both for and against predestination and free will. 12 Monkeys was a highly profitable movie, and its popularity as a sci-fi, neo-noir thriller led to a television series (also called "12 Monkeys") being adapted from the film.