The Under-Rated

This is the first installment of an ongoing series. Once a month I am going to spotlight of a movie, television show or album that I feel is great or brilliant but for whatever reason has been overlooked or forgotten.  Don’t worry, I will try to give as few of spoilers as possible since my intention with all this is to give the underrated work attention and convince you, the reader, to watch (or listen to) it for yourselves. This review will focus on a truly underrated science fiction drama that came out last year entitled Never Let Me Go.

The film takes place in a world where advances in medical science have allowed the human life expectancy to exceed 100 years. The secret to this miracle of science is the use of harvesting organs from clones. Now the sci-fi savvy among you will probably be asking “Say, Toaster, wasn’t that the central plot from the Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson movie The Island?" Yes, it was. However, Never Let Me Go isn’t about clones fighting the system for survival. It’s about what it means to live.

Never Let Me Go is adapted from a novel of the same name by Kazuo Ishiguro (The Remains of the Day). It is directed by Mark Romanek, who previously directed the thriller One Hour Photo as well as a slew of acclaimed music videos including Nine Inch Nail’s “Closer” and Johnny Cash’s “Hurt.”  The film stars Carey Mulligan (An Education), Andrew Garfield (The Social Network) and Keira Knightley (The Pirates of the Caribbean), who are three of the best young actors out there. 

The story centers around three friends attending a boarding school called Hailsham in England. Kathy, Tommy and Ruth grow up together and attend classes at the odd institution that focuses more on creativity than academics while making an emphasis on “keeping yourselves healthy inside.” Eventually the children find out their fate; that they have been cloned from the bottom dwellers of society and that in their twenties they will undergo a series of operations to donate their organs until it inevitably kills them.

What I find fascinating about the movie is that the children don’t rebel. They accept their fates and choose to make the most of their lives. As time passes, Kathy falls in love with Tommy, but Ruth swoops in and begins a long relationship with him. So throughout the film you watch Kathy spend what little time she has in life watching the boy she loves in the arms of another.

One of the details I love about the movie is when these clones interact with regular humans. The humans look at them and treat them with a measure of guilt, not unlike how farmers look at cattle that one day they will slaughter and eat. In one amazing scene earlier in the film, the children are excited because a man is coming by to deliver their “prizes” for good behavior. If the children were good they received tokens that can be traded in for the prize of their choice. Several children cheerfully greet the delivery man, asking him if he does, in fact, have their gifts. The man, in a nervous and almost guilt-ridden way, confirms that he does. As the children cheer the delivery man quickly goes about his business so he can leave as soon as possible; not wanting to face the cruel reality of what consequences everyone else’s health brings. The prizes, it turns out, are society’s garbage, the kind of crap that Goodwill can’t even sell. Of course, in the sheltered world of these cloned children, it is an amazing treat.

The film continues to follow the lives of Kathy, Tommy and Ruth into their young adult years. Tommy and Ruth’s relationship takes its toll on Kathy. She signs up to become a carer and subsequently leaves rather than continue to watch Tommy with someone else.  At some point in his/her late 20’s, a clone will receive notification that they are to make a donation for some sort of needed transplant be it a kidney, liver, lung, or even an eyeball. After this donation, they are sewn up and allowed to keep living until the next donation surgery. Usually a clone survives the first donation, often the second, but the third has a high mortality rate and nobody survives the fourth operation. Once the clone dies, it is considered “completion.” As a carer, Kathy watches over fellow clones and helps them during the many operations until completion. In return for these services, a carer is given a temporary reprieve from making organ donations. In the final act of the film, Kathy seeks out Tommy and Ruth ten years later, once they both have already begun donating their organs. 

Be warned, this is not a happy movie (and if I described it as such I have failed as a writer). Never Let Me Go is both sad and extremely haunting. Over a year after sitting in that theater, I am still left thinking about the characters, themes and ideas presented within, which to me is the sign of a cinematic triumph. It’s just sad to me how little attention this film received in the United States. Both brilliantly acted and amazingly poignant, I implore all of you to watch Never Let Me Go.