Jean Wilson

I think the film is a cogent metaphor about the journey ‘traditional’ masculinity must take to undo the split between matter/science/mind and what that has created (the militarized, authoritarian world presented in the film) and the ‘feeling’ world of the body/heart/spirit of authentic humanity. Brad’s character says something ‘ I fell thousands of miles and survived and I feel nothing.’ When he finally does address his father in personal terms and with natural emotions he is immediately taken off the project. Viewers can see for themselves but one example of the journey occurs when he decides to disobey and board the ship: what is the meaning of entering a sewer and going through that long, dark passage? During the ‘May Day’ stop what do we see as the results of the scientific medical experiments? His father in insane but wedded to his reality: ‘Yes, I abandoned you and your mother, but I didn’t care. I didn’t want you!’ There’s a lot going on, a lot more than simplistic ‘daddy’ issues. Some critics betray their limited knowledge of neo-Freudian psychology and Attachment theory as well as contemporary scientific theory that claims that human beings are simply machines and we just don’t know it. I think the film was exploring these issues and more.