A One Mann’s Movies review of “2073” (2024) (From the 2024 London Film Festival).
This film is a difficult one to categorise. It’s an apocalyptic view into the near future (2073) but also a political essay on today’s dangerous elements in politics and business that might lead us there. It makes this, for me, one of the most depressing films of the year.
They should force viewers to deposit any sharp objects in a bin by the door before going into the screening for this one.
Bob the Movie Man Rating:
“2073” Plot Summary:
In the year 2073, it’s been 37 years since “the event” that changed the world. A woman (Samantha Morton) is living in the ruins of an American shopping mall trying to stay out of sight of the numerous drones that are using visual face recognition to detect and arrest those undesirable to the state. What led to this appalling state of the world?
Certification:
UK: NR; US: NR. (At the time of writing, this film had not been reviewed by the “BBFC”. I think it would be rated a ’15’ because of violent scenes and disturbing content.)
Talent:
Starring: Samantha Morton, Naomi Ackie, Hector Hewer.
Directed by: Asif Kapadia.
Written by: Asif Kapadia & Tony Grisoni.
Running Time: 1h 25m.
“2073” Summary:
Positives:
- A good discussion starter: a film that makes you seriously think about what data you put online and what apps you use.
- There’s some clever use of drop-in clips from “Children of Men” and “Minority Report”.
Negatives:
- It’s hugely depressing seeing how out of the control the world seems to be at the moment.
- Were the (well-filmed) future elements really necessary to tell the story? It all feels quite contrived.
- Although I couldn’t disagree with any of the documentary elements, it felt somewhat one-sided in its world-view: an anti-right-wing diatribe.
Review of “2073”:
Real but not real.
This is a film of two parts, with the recreations of the apolcalyptic future and then the documentary stuff using archive footage and new interviews. However, the two somehow seamlessly blend together in a disturbing way. In the “current day” (ie 2073) footage, some of the set-up shots are clearly drone footage from EXISTING bombed out cities in Iraq, Gaza, Ukraine or some other disaster zone. And the mountains of rubbish floating in the sea clearly haven’t been set up for the film: they are EXISTING mountains of rubbish from somewhere in the world.
The scenes in the mall with the excellent Samantha Morton (who I was lucky enough to meet a few weeks ago at the BFI) are really well done. Morton is mute in the film but performs the voiceover (which regular readers will know, I’m not a great fan of). In the mall scenes, again, you feel that the sights of some of the families huddling or cooking in the dark are taken from existing refugee footage which feels a bit odd.
The film manages to cheekily include little snippets from some other movies: I spotted “Children of Men” and Morton’s Agatha from “Minority Report”, which is pretty neat. There may be more Easter Eggs in there.
The only other significant player in the piece is Naomi Ackie who gets a nice cameo discussion with Morton.
There’s a nice gag at the beginning of the film with the briefest glimpse of a billboard announcing the re-election of Chairwoman Trump, with a smiling Ivanka. There’s no getting rid of them clearly.
Fact, Fiction or Leftist Propaganda?
The most disturbing part of the film are the ‘flashbacks’ to what created this totalitalian state. We zap around the world to the right-wing states and some of the atrocities being carried out in some of those:
- Drug dealers and even users being shot in the streets of Manila in the Phillipines (why have I never heard of this one before?);
- The suppression and murder of Muslims in India as the police stand by (reference the other LFF film “Santosh“);
- Nigel Farage and the Brexit vote;
- Priti Patel at a Tory conference gleefully announcing an “end to immigration”;
- Trump (of course) encouraging the ‘Proud Boys’;
- Putin and Trump;
- The Chinese government using 9/11 as an excuse to lock up millions of Sunni Muslim Uyghurs in China;
- Uganda; Ecuador;… the list goes on.
A lot of this seems fair and reasonable to attack, but there feels a lack of balance in the piece in that there is no contradictory words from anyone on the right to try to balance some of the argument.
Facial Recognition
The film next turns its firehose on facial recognition technology, with the ability to scan hundreds of faces in a crowd and pull out known law-breakers or (as featured in the story of the film) those below the state-run radar that it simply doesn’t recognise. This is delivered (in 2073) by swarms of drones littering the skies (as also envisaged in the recent “The Kitchen“) scanning the faces of anyone they see and ordering the detention of anyone suspicious.
AI
Of course, AI is seen as a major trigger to the world’s decline. The argument is that you feed it the rules of the far-right state; arm it with the facial recognition technology and human rights go out the window as the AI implements the worst form of government.
The ‘tech-bros’ of Silicon Valley are positioned as the evil masterminds in all of this. Zuckerberg, Musk, Thiel, Bezos are all tarred and feathered.
Who is supposed to take action and how?
Samantha Morton’s character implores (repeatedly) that “It’s too late for me… but maybe it’s not too late for you.” But, there is no clear call to action when it is positioned that big tech, politicians, AI and even global warming are all the problem… and they are already here. The result is that it leads you as the viewer into a spiral of depression and despair that you can’t see a way out of. It really is the most depressing film of the year I’ve seen so far…. and I’ve seen “Joker: Folie á Deux“… that’s saying something.
Monkeys?
There is a “monkey” at the end of the titles. This is of the AI giving you a 1-to-1 interrogation.
Summary Thoughts on “2073″
The film was directed by Asif Kapadia who previously gave us documentaries on Amy Winehouse, Ayrton Senna and Roger Federer. I’m sure the intentions are well-meaning, but as a target for a message it’s all too broad. He would have been better to focus in on one particular aspect of the issue and give us depth and some real ‘call to actions’ to help us address it. If you’re going to eat the Elephant mate, do it in digestible chunks.
Where to Watch it (Powered by Justwatch)
At the time of writing, this film was not yet available on the Justwatch database.
Trailer for “2073”:
The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXqvXFR-pSI.
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