It begins with two seemingly contradictory words: 1. Consider God's handiwork, who can straighten what he hath made crooked
. 2. I not only think that we will tamper with Mother Nature, I think Mother wants us to. I think not only human beings will transform nature, but nature also hopes to do so. Can human beings change nature and everything that nature has given us? And is such a change a human choice or a natural gift? In the film, the answer is as follows: We changed the most impossible things, and we have to bear the consequences.
In a society where everyone believes that genetic selection is the best way to reproduce, Vincent's parents were initially reluctant and incompatible outliers. They chose to conceive Vincent by natural conception, but with the birth of their children, Unexpected defects and diseases are brutally and nakedly displayed in front of them. Advanced science and technology display all the diseases that this newborn may suffer from, predict his lifespan, and pronounce his fate. The father who suffered the blow was unwilling to inherit his name from this "inferior product", and the mother who was weak after giving birth could only hug the baby to comfort herself. The subsequent plot came naturally. Under the persuasion of the genetic doctor, the parents gave up the persistence of natural shortcomings, and through technology, they had a perfect son who perfectly inherited the parents' optimal genes and "could not have conceived 1,000 times under natural conditions". .
Since his birth, Vincent has been suffering from the discrimination against "natural persons" by society, family and siblings. No one wants to know about this young man, who is not willing to be left behind, his talents and ambitions. In such a ruthless society where genetic determinism is rampant, his soul is also condemned as "inferior" like his body.
On the contrary, Jerome is an outstanding person who is envied and admired by all kinds of people. Even among the "normal people" screened by genetics, he is a well-deserved champion. It seems that he has been the first place since birth. However, Such a proud man chose to commit suicide due to world-weariness, resulting in disability. How ridiculous, human beings have exhausted all the possibilities of genetic diseases, but they can't resist the unpredictable fate, let alone predict the direction of people's hearts.
The screenwriter asked the two to exchange identities, one is a natural person who is desperately climbing up, and the other is a genetic person who gives up on himself. When Jerome came on stage, in a wheelchair, he slowly slid out from behind the spiral staircase that symbolized the DNA chain. Because of the contempt of the "natural man" by the superior, he does have this capital, perfect appearance, strong body, smart mind, no accident, he will live a long and healthy life until he is tired of this life. However, as the best carrier of excellent DNA, he is ridiculously disabled. Up to now, the meaning of his life seems to be only to provide perfect genes and become a long-lived and strong human body container, and such a lingering way of life stems from the society's oppression of the elite's highest expectations, which makes Jerome struggle miserably. Without a championship, everything he has is meaningless.
Whether for Vincent or Jerome, genetic determinism had an irreversible impact on their lives: Vincent had to spend dozens, hundreds of times more time, energy and effort than "normal people" to prove his worth, Resist the discrimination of the world and realize his ambition; Jerome is confined to the shadow of the champion, and he has suffered the curse of the first place all his life, so that after suffering defeat, he denied himself and committed suicide. There is a scene in the film where Jerome came to Vincent, who was studying hard, took out his silver medal, and repeatedly asked: What can you do that even my well-deserved first place can't do it! Why? As the audience, we are also secretly asking, compared with other excellent astronauts, Vincent's resources are too limited. Unknowingly, we also seem to be living in the society in the film, and our hearts are full of the argument that genes determine life, and we are more sympathetic and compassionate to Vincent. However, is this compassion absurd contempt for the experience of life, denying all Vincent's efforts to this end? And when Jerome tried his best to climb the spiral ladder for Vincent's dream to deal with the investigation of the detective's younger brother, at this moment, Jerome also found a way for himself to resist social oppression and shared Vincent's grand soul world.
Going back to the beginning of the film, Vincent single-mindedly wants to erase all the information about himself as an "inferior", nails, hair, dander, these are the marks of his shame as a "natural person", a little laxity may lead to his own 's previous successes were abandoned. Living in the "fear" created by false identities, Vincent's situation is indeed just like the title of the film.
So when Irene received the glove from the pianist, Vincent was surprised to find that it was 12 fingers. It stands to reason that a pianist with 12 fingers should be screened out. He is even more "disabled" than Vincent. In a society where individuals respect perfect genes and pursue the best combination of genes, physical disability is obviously a great obstacle. . But the pianist has achieved his own great achievements, not only did not rot at the bottom, but has supreme praise, and played the piano music composed only for 12 people, only he can play it, which is the unique value of his life. portraiture. Here's a close-up of Vincent and we see, for the first time, incredible relief on his thin, handsome face.
The mark of shame he desperately wanted to erase, even after spending a spring night with Irene, was apprehensive, and the mark washed with gravel by the seaside in near despair, became a marvelous miracle for the 12-finger pianist. Human beings self-righteously exclude all "inferior genes", and almost fanatically praise the "survivors" after genetic screening, but do not know that even if ours can calculate all possible probabilities, the probabilities are just cold numbers, it cannot be asserted Is it the 1% who are independent and unique individuals, their short and wonderful life? How do the numbers we calculate become God's scales, giving us the right to be bossy? Like Vincent, he has a 99% chance of dying of a heart attack, but what does this mean? There is only one life, not 100 reincarnations. He will die of heart disease 99 times. How does each unique individual Can be displayed in a cold digital museum, dissected. What is the meaning of life? The point of the film is at least very clear. The value of life does not lie in the quality of the genes as carriers, but in the game and experience of the soul.
In the swimming competition between the two brothers in the film, Vincent won the key twice. The first time gave him the courage to conquer the world and resist discrimination. The second time allowed him to win his brother's understanding and compromise, and successfully realize his space dream. . As an important image in the film, the sea is not only a proving ground, but also nature. The competition between the two brothers also reflects the characteristics of the weak and the strong, and natural selection. There are several overhead shots of the two brothers in a final race like sperm in the thick black sea, the winner will continue to multiply and the loser will be wiped out. Therefore, the victory of the younger brother is taken for granted by the audience. It is precisely in such a situation that Vincent's persistence, tenacity and turning defeat into victory have caused an extremely strong impact on us. "I never save my energy to swim back." , Unreservedly making a living in natural selection is the selection and survival of the fittest that nature tells us.
What "The Last Call" tells us is not only a wake-up call for technology to play God, but also a philosophical reflection on the meaning of life. Vincent transcended secular prejudices, broke the limitations of genes, and gave genetic determinists a resounding slap in the face, and Jerome, in cooperation with Vincent, understood that genes do not determine everything about a person, on the contrary Yes, only sparkling dreams are an important reflection of the value of life. The death of the supervisor is a wake-up call. "Normal people" brutally murdered opponents for their own selfish desires. In this way, the elites who have gone through layers of screening have committed serious crimes without humanity. There are many ways to realize their dreams, but It is definitely not to exclude dissidents and to fight with the same party. This may be an easy shortcut, and in the end, it will become a hell that will kill you. Human nature is so complex, and the end of technology is philosophy. In any case, the scepter and scale that humans try to control are by no means played by cold numbers. God to God, king to king. The matter of the soul can only be handed over to each unique life, and no means or organization has the right to kill or kill.
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