When
Equilibrium begins, a voiceover
tells us, accompanied by stills of Stalin and Saddam Hussein,
that World War III in the early twenty-first century so devastated
the world that a new order arose to prevent World War IV.
The new order, Librium (obviously named after the once-used
tranquilizer for calming irritable bowels), embarked on a
mission to stamp out the cause of World War III--human emotion.
Everyone in Librium, under the rule of The Father, must take
injections of Prozium (a pun of a familiar drug) to neutralize
the tendency to develop emotions. Many science fiction films
about implacable invaders from outer space end up demonstrating
that human emotions saved the day. Directed by Kurt Wimmer,
Equilibrium is in the genre of social science fiction, but
again the enemy of a newly imposed order consists of humans
with emotions, an underground movement found in the "nether
world." John Preston (played by Christian Bale) is a
Cleric assigned to root out the enemy, so he goes to the nether
world quite often. On his first such encounter in the film,
he locates a cache of paintings, including Da Vinci's original
Mona Lisa, and sets fire to them. However, Preston gradually
becomes challenged by the senseless crusade against emotion.
His partner Partridge (played by Sean Bean) pockets contraband
literature, and soon there is a martyr of sorts to the
cause of human emotion. Later, Mary O'Brien (played by Emily
Watson) is arrested, pleads guilty to the disease of "feeling,"
and is sentenced to death, though she insists that her cause
is right and is prepared to endure a Christlike martyrdom.
The third challenge comes when dogs are to be executed, one
of which escapes machine gun execution to come up to Preston,
whereupon he licks Preston's face. Then one day Preston locates
the headquarters of the underground, including the leader
(played by Francesco Cabras), who in time pleads with Preston
to kill The Father so that freedom can prevail again. The
outcome of the film, in short, is obvious. Preston, who stops
taking the prescribed anti-emotion drug, escapes from dangerous
situations and displays martial arts skills while killing
many Darth Vader types in his new quest. MH
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