Gattaca is a 1997 American science fiction
film written and directed by Andrew Niccol.
It stars Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman, with
Jude Law, Loren Dean, Ernest Borgnine, Gore
Vidal, and Alan Arkin appearing in supporting
roles.
The film presents a biopunk vision of a future
society driven by eugenics where potential
children are conceived through genetic manipulation
to ensure they possess the best hereditary
traits of their parents.
The film centers on Vincent Freeman, played
by Hawke, who was conceived outside the eugenics
program and struggles to overcome genetic
discrimination to realize his dream of traveling
into space.
The movie draws on concerns over reproductive
technologies which facilitate eugenics, and
the possible consequences of such technological
developments for society.
It also explores the idea of destiny and the
ways in which it can and does govern lives.
Characters in Gattaca continually battle both
with society and with themselves to find their
place in the world and who they are destined
to be according to their genes.
The film's title is based on the first letters
of guanine, adenine, thymine, and cytosine,
the four nucleobases of DNA.
It was a 1997 nominee for the Academy Award
for Best Art Direction and the Golden Globe
Award for Best Original Score.
Plot
In "the not-too-distant future", eugenics
is common, and DNA plays the primary role
in determining social class.
A genetic registry database uses biometrics
to instantly identify and classify those so
created as "valids" while those conceived
by traditional means and more susceptible
to genetic disorders are derisively known
as "in-valids".
Genetic discrimination is forbidden by law,
but in practice genotype profiling is used
to identify valids to qualify for professional
employment while in-valids are relegated to
menial jobs.
Vincent Freeman is conceived naturally without
the aid of genetic selection, and immediately
after birth, his genetics indicate a high
probability of several disorders and an estimated
life span of 30.2 years.
His parents, regretting their decision, use
genetic selection to give birth to their next
child Anton who is genetically superior to
Vincent.
The two brothers play a game of "chicken"
by swimming out to sea with the first one
giving up and returning to shore determined
the loser, which Vincent always loses.
Vincent dreams of a career in space travel
but is reminded of his genetic inferiority.
One day, Vincent challenges Anton to a game
of chicken and bests him before Anton starts
to drown.
Vincent saves Anton and then leaves home on
his own.
Vincent works as an in-valid, cleaning office
spaces including that of Gattaca Aerospace
Corporation, a space-flight conglomerate.
He finds the opportunity to be a "borrowed
ladder", posing as a valid by using genetic
hair, skin, blood and urine samples from a
donor, Jerome Eugene Morrow, a former swimming
star now paralyzed after a car accident.
With Jerome's "second to none" genetic makeup,
Vincent gains employment at Gattaca, and is
assigned to be navigator for an upcoming trip
to Saturn's moon Titan.
To keep his identity hidden, Vincent must
meticulously groom and scrub down daily to
remove his own genetic material, and pass
daily DNA scanning and frequent urine tests
using Jerome's samples.
Gattaca becomes embroiled in controversy when
one of its administrators is murdered a week
before the planned flight.
The police find a fallen eyelash of Vincent's
at the scene.
An investigation is launched to find the murderer,
Vincent being the top suspect.
Through this, Vincent becomes close to a co-worker,
Irene Cassini.
Though a valid, Irene is aware that her higher
risk of heart failure will prevent her from
joining a Gattaca mission.
Vincent also learns more about Jerome, and
discovers that his paralysis is by his own
hand; after coming in second place in a swim
meet, Jerome became depressed and threw himself
in front of a car to attempt suicide.
Vincent is able to avoid scrutiny from the
investigation, and soon it is revealed that
Gattaca's mission director was the killer,
as the administrator was threatening to pull
the mission.
Vincent learns the identity of the detective
that closed the case, his brother Anton, who
is aware of Vincent's presence.
Anton warns Vincent what he is doing is illegal,
but Vincent asserts he has gotten to this
position on his own, and did not need help
as Anton did the last time they played chicken.
Anton challenges Vincent to one more game
of chicken.
As the two swim out in the dead of night,
Anton is surprised at Vincent's stamina, which
he claims is because he never saved any energy
for the swim back.
Anton turns back and starts to drown, but
Vincent rescues him and swims them both back
to shore safely using celestial navigation.
The day of the launch arrives.
Jerome reveals that he has stored enough DNA
samples for Vincent to last many more years
upon his return and gives him an envelope
to open once in flight.
After saying his goodbyes to Irene, he prepares
to board but discovers there is one final
genetic test before he can board, and he currently
lacks any of Jerome's samples.
He is surprised when Lamar reveals that he
has been aware that Vincent has been posing
as a valid, but admits that Vincent has set
a good example for his son, and wipes this
information from the test, passing Vincent
as a valid.
As the rocket launches, Jerome dons his swimming
medal and burns himself in his home's incinerator;
Vincent opens the note from Jerome to find
only a lock of Jerome's hair attached to it.
Vincent muses on this, stating "They say every
atom in our bodies was once a part of a star.
Maybe I'm not leaving; maybe I'm going home."
Cast
Ethan Hawke as Vincent Anton Freeman/Jerome
Eugene Morrow
Mason Gamble as young Vincent
Chad Christ as teenage Vincent
Uma Thurman as Irene Cassini
Jude Law as Jerome Eugene Morrow
Loren Dean as Anton Freeman
Vincent Nielson as young Anton
William Lee Scott as teenage Anton
Gore Vidal as Director Josef
Xander Berkeley as Dr. Lamar
Jayne Brook as Marie Freeman
Elias Koteas as Antonio Freeman
Maya Rudolph as Delivery nurse
Blair Underwood as Geneticist
Ernest Borgnine as Caesar
Tony Shalhoub as German
Alan Arkin as Detective Hugo
Dean Norris as Cop on the Beat
Ken Marino as Sequencing technician
Cynthia Martells as Cavendish
Production
The exteriors, and some of the interior shots,
of the Gattaca complex were filmed at Frank
Lloyd Wright's 1960 Marin County Civic Center
in San Rafael, California.
The parking lot scenes were shot at the Otis
College of Art and Design, distinguished by
its punchcard-like windows, located near LAX
in Los Angeles.
The exterior of Vincent Freeman's house was
shot at the CLA Building on the campus of
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.
Other exterior shots were filmed at the bottom
of the spillway of the Sepulveda Dam and outside
the The Forum in Inglewood.
The solar power plant mirrors sequence was
filmed at the Kramer Junction Solar Electric
Generating Station.
Design
The movie uses a swimming treadmill in the
opening minutes to punctuate the swimming
and futuristic themes.
The futuristic turbine cars are based on 1960s
car models like Rover P6, Citroën DS19 and
Studebaker Avanti, and futuristic buildings
represent modern architecture of the 1950s.
Release
Gattaca was released in theaters on October
24, 1997, and opened at number 5 at the box
office; trailing I Know What You Did Last
Summer, The Devil's Advocate, Kiss the Girls,
and Seven Years in Tibet.
Over the first weekend the film brought in
$4.3 million.
It ended its theatrical run with a domestic
total of $12.5 million against a reported
production budget of $36 million.
Home media
Gattaca was released on DVD on July 1, 1998,
and was also released on Superbit DVD.
Special Edition DVD and Blu-ray versions were
released on March 11, 2008.
Both editions contain a deleted scene featuring
historical figures like Einstein, Lincoln,
etc., who according to the texts are supposed
to be genetically deficient.
Critical reception
Gattaca received positive reviews from critics;
the film received an 82% "fresh" rating from
Rotten Tomatoes, based on 55 reviews, with
a rating average of 7.1/10.
The critical consensus states that "Intelligent
and scientifically provocative, Gattaca is
an absorbing sci fi drama that poses important
interesting ethical questions about the nature
of science."
On Metacritic, the film received "generally
favorable reviews" with a score of 64 out
of 100.
Roger Ebert stated, "This is one of the smartest
and most provocative of science fiction films,
a thriller with ideas."
James Berardinelli praised it for "energy
and tautness" and its "thought-provoking script
and thematic richness."
Despite critical acclaim, Gattaca was not
a box office success but it is said to have
crystallized the debate over tampering with
human genetics.
The film's dystopian depiction of "genoism"
has been cited by many bioethicists and laymen
in support of their hesitancy about, or opposition
to, eugenics and the societal acceptance of
the genetic-determinist ideology that may
frame it.
In a 1997 review of the film for the journal
Nature Genetics, molecular biologist Lee M.
Silver stated that "Gattaca is a film that
all geneticists should see if for no other
reason than to understand the perception of
our trade held by so many of the public-at-large".
In 2004, bioethicist James Hughes criticized
the premise and influence of the film Gattaca,
arguing that:
Astronaut-training programs are entirely justified
in attempting to screen out people with heart
problems for safety reasons;
In the United States, people are already discriminated
against by insurance companies on the basis
of their propensities to disease despite the
fact that genetic enhancement is not yet available;
Rather than banning genetic testing or genetic
enhancement, society needs genetic information
privacy laws that allow justified forms of
genetic testing and data aggregation, but
forbid those that are judged to result in
genetic discrimination.
Citizens should then be able to make a complaint
to the appropriate authority if they believe
they have been discriminated against because
of their genotype.
Accolades
Soundtrack
The score for Gattaca was composed by Michael
Nyman, and the original soundtrack was released
on October 21, 1997.
Track listing
Legacy
Television series
On October 30, 2009, Variety reported that
Sony Pictures was developing a television
adaptation of the feature film as a one-hour
police procedural set in the future.
The show was to be written by Gil Grant, who
has written for 24 and NCIS.
Political references
U.S. Senator Rand Paul used near-verbatim
portions of the plot summary from the Wikipedia
entry on Gattaca in a speech at Liberty University
on October 28, 2013 supporting Virginia Attorney
General Ken Cuccinelli's campaign for Governor
of Virginia.
Paul accused pro-choice politicians of advocating
eugenics in a manner similar to the events
in Gattaca.
See also
List of films featuring surveillance
Transhumanism
References
External links
Official website
Gattaca at the Internet Movie Database
Gattaca at AllMovie
Gattaca at Box Office Mojo
Gattaca at Rotten Tomatoes
Gattaca at Metacritic
Gattaca Screenplay
Genetic Determinism in Gattaca
