★★★★★ (Essential Viewing) "They used to say that a child conceived in love has a greater chance of happiness. They don't say that anymore."
Released in 1997 (and titled Gattaca internationally, often subtitled A Experiência Genética in Portuguese markets), Andrew Niccol’s debut film arrived as the world stood on the precipice of the biotech revolution. Dolly the sheep had been cloned just a year earlier. The Human Genome Project was racing toward completion. Suddenly, the film’s grim, beautiful, and terrifying vision of a future built on DNA didn’t feel like science fiction. It felt like a news report from tomorrow. In the not-so-distant future, society has abandoned the randomness of nature. Reproduction is no longer an act of love or luck, but of selection. Parents visit geneticists to curate their children: disease-free, tall, intelligent, and predisposed for success. These individuals are called “Valids.” The natural-born—conceived without intervention and left to the genetic lottery—are dubbed “In-Valids,” the new underclass. GATTACA - A EXPERIENCIA GENETICA
But Vincent dreams of space. He dreams of Gattaca—the aerospace corporation that represents humanity’s reach for the stars. For an In-Valid, getting through Gattaca’s doors is impossible. The entrance exam isn’t a test. It’s a drop of blood, a hair follicle, a skin scrape read by a mass spectrometer. To cheat his DNA, Vincent assumes the identity of Jerome Morrow (Jude Law), a genetically perfect athlete who was paralyzed in an accident. The transaction is chillingly practical: Jerome provides the urine, blood, skin, and hair samples; Vincent provides the ambition. ★★★★★ (Essential Viewing) "They used to say that
Gattaca asks: If we scrub the roulette wheel of birth clean of risk, do we also scrub it clean of art, of surprise, of the incalculable spark that makes a Vincent Freeman beat a Jerome Morrow? The Final Scene: No Handicaps In the film’s transcendent finale, Vincent finally boards the rocket to Titan. As the countdown ends, he turns to Irene and says, “They’re gonna send me up now. You want to know how I did it? This is how I did it, Irene: I never saved anything for the swim back.” The Human Genome Project was racing toward completion
The film’s genius is its quiet terror. There are no black-clad stormtroopers. No thought police. No walls. The oppression of Gattaca is voluntary. Parents choose to edit their children because they love them. Employers choose to screen applicants because it’s efficient. Society chooses to worship the genome because it promises to eliminate suffering.
He has beaten the system. Not by being genetically superior, but by being willing to drown.
He did it with a heart that wasn't supposed to beat long enough to try.