The Invasion Contemplates a World Where "Human Beings Cease to be Human"
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In the process The Invasion makes us wonder if that might not be a bad thing. Bloody Thumbs Up!
Written by BHM Contributor Horror Queen
August 17, 2007
Release: August 17, 2007 (U.S.)
Directed by: Oliver Hirschbiegel
Written by: David Kajganich (screenplay), Jack Finney (novel The Body Snatchers)
Starring:
Nicole Kidman as Carol Bennell
Daniel Craig as Ben Driscoll
Jeremy Northam as Tucker Kaufman
Jackson Bond as Oliver
The Invasion is based on the sci-fi thriller The Body Snatchers, yes. But it stands on its own as a unique portrayal of the evils of man as he exists today attacked by an alien organism bent on achieving…Utopia? In other words, take a world (ours) in which man is consistently giving in to his aggression toward other men, i.e. war and other atrocities, introduce a spore that causes him to lose any emotion, and what ensues? Peace! We believe life without emotion would be worthless, right? The Invasion suggests that good or bad, the absence of emotion may in fact be the only answer to the evils that plague our world.
The Invasion opens with a space shuttle crashing to the
earth, and with its fuselage come the alien organisms. Curious stupid
people touch the debris and get the icky slime on themselves. Not a
good thing.
Enter single mother and psychiatrist Carol and her young son Oliver, living in Washington. Carol’s estranged ex-husband Tucker reappears in her life suddenly demanding to spend time with his son. Stricken by his weird demeanor and monotone speech, Carol is reluctant but eventually agrees and sends Ollie off with his father for the weekend. Meanwhile, more and more people in Carol’s life (her patient’s husband, a census taker) begin to show signs of “altered states” similar to her ex.
Lucky for Carol, her best friend and for some odd reason not her love
interest, Ben, happens to be a scientist. When one of
Oliver’s “altered” friends leaves a bit
of slime behind one day, a frightened Carol immediately zip locks it
and takes it to Ben’s lab where it can be studied. Much to
her surprise they are already aware of the substance and the havoc it
is beginning to wreak globally. And although other countries around the
globe are reporting an “epidemic” of the mysterious
life-altering spores, America’s government is keeping it
close to the cuff and labeling it a “flu”. As if a
government would lie to its own people.
There is a poignant scene in which Carol and Ben are dining with a Russian Ambassador (because that happens) who attacks Czechs for being Czech, Americans for being imperialistic, etc. Her retort is a dissertation on how man has evolved and is continuing to evolve over time. Little does Carol know to what extent man is “evolving” as they speak...
So how does altered man conquer unaltered man in order to spread the organism? No, not with a gun. He simply follows him around and vomits on him, causing him to undergo the metamorphoses. Violence is obsolete. War is obsolete. In fact we see news footage throughout The Invasion indicating that peace is breaking out in areas of genocide (Darfur), war (Iraq) and even in the severed relationships between heads of state (America’s and Venezuela’s).
In other words, altered man is emotionless, a machine if you will, with no need to fight or struggle. He is becoming the highest form of himself, or as in the last line of the film creating a world where “human beings cease to be human”.
Is there a happy ending to The Invasion? Carol is hell bent on making sure altered man does not succeed in his mission. After all she has a little boy. I can tell you that everything eventually does return to normal. But you tell me if that’s a happy ending.
Horror Queen Says: Bloody Thumbs Up!
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