Gattaca examines science, religion, genetic engineering and ethics

By opening the motion picture Gattaca with quotations from Willard Gaylin and Ecclesiastes, director Andrew Niccol invites us to ponder the tension between science and piety with regard to the ethics of genetic engineering. This tension is further sustained finished the complex birth of the main protagonists Vincent and Eugene, who must ultimately conquer their feature somatogenetic limitations in order to find God. As the titles reign, fingernails, pilus threads and skin particles fall to the ground in slow motion, better-looking way to an encounter of a young man vigorously scour himself.Along with a disturbing score by Michael Nyman, this obsessive-compulsive demeanour contributes to the macabre images of hypodermic needles, catheters and hospital bags of urine and blood. The shower from which Vincent has just stepped readily converts to a furnace (is this heaven or hell? ) while the inter-title in the not-too-distant coming(prenominal) runs across our screen. It is the same young man, Vincent, who provides a voice-over and our point of view in Gattaca the antiseptic setting of a futuristic space program.Here, somnambulistic employees dressed as clvirtuosos move in and out of a facility designed for insensate efficiency. transmission line the cool blue filters, curved, shining surfaces and, again, a peculiar soaking up with cleaning. Loudspeakers welcome visitors to Gattaca in various languages demonstrating that, along with space exploration, genetic showing has diminished both the significance and desire for global boundaries. We argon already aware that in this future blood has no nationality. For science right away enables variation that is far more expe separatent than simply skin colour.Vincent, a God child, is conceived without the help of genetic engineering and is quick to trustworthyise that his physical inadequacies, in particular a congenital heart condition, will stop him from reaching his full potential. It is worth noti ng that the setting where Vincents conception takes place is make natural by the inclusion of beaches and palm trees. As we remain in flash stern to where baby Vincent plays with a toy cluster of atoms (similar motifs are repeated throughout the film), we begin to understand the hypocrisy of what this brave new world has to offer. Genoism discrimination on the basis of genetic science is illegal, yet it seems that poor genetic outcomes such as Vincents prevents insurance cover, which disqualifies him from pre-school surely an issue that already has some funds in the world we inhabit today. But although Vincent feels displaced by his genetically topping brother, Anton (note how he walks into the frame just as Vincent tears his bear image out of the family snapshot), he is determined to fulfil his dream of space travel.The initial go race where Vincent is beaten by Anton serves as a biz device pre-empting the climax of the film where both brothers, now adults, play poulet on ce again. Aerial shots intensify a terrifying sea and, this time, Vincents victory. The ridicule is stark as Niccol underlines the central theme of the film what constitutes a valid human being? For surely Vincent, an invalid, has just proved that genetics has little influence over sheer determination and grit. Enter Eugene.genetically flawless but crippled both physically and emotionally from a suicide attempt (he finished second, not first, in a swimming race), he is continually compared with Vincent, whose genetic profile dictates that he will die at the age of 30. Eugene is bitter and twisted while Vincent is single-minded and driven. Both, however, are essentially blind to what it is that makes them human. Vincent, desperate to blot out his identity from Irene, is nearly run down on a frenetically busy highway, whereas Eugene deliberately go in front of a car in the hope of bring about his own death.Both are so preoccupied with their own deficiencies that they almost miss their important spiritual journey. In fact, both these men run perilously close to becoming like Anton robotic and devoid of emotion. It is Anton who provides the real paradox here by ruthlessly investigating his own brothers invalidness and, in so doing, demonstrates that genetics does not necessarily correlate with ones humanity. Indeed, it is Irene who, from the outset, seems to be more in touch with the natural world towards which Vincent is striving to return.Note the setting where she lives rolling surf, pristine white sand, the warm light inside in which she is constantly bathed, her disappointment with Vincents supposed perfection, her fascination with the sunrise, her competency to notice the change in his eyes after he discards his wholesaler lenses when most people can only recognise human differences by a deoxyribonucleic acid test. Irenes costume and hair are much softer, powder-puff and distinctively individual when she is away from Gattaca.Yet our focus continu ally returns to Vincent and Eugene, whose relationship not only dominates most of the films running time but develops an minginess that is as selfless as it is full of love. The overt twinning exertion (Eugene operates as Vincents doppelganger) combined with the homoerotic subtext belies any real attempt by Niccol to establish a meaningful connection between Vincent and Irene, with the latter finally reduced to nominal love interest.In an effort to conceal Vincents identity, Eugenes loyalty is exceedly demonstrated when, slowly and painfully, he drags his broken torso up the spiral staircase remember, hes scared of heights. Reminiscent of a DNA strand, the staircase is a metaphor for transcendence, for raising ourselves to a new train of understanding. Eugene, determined that Vincent too will break free of his earthly edge his physical being recognises the symbolism when he refers to space as upstair.Earlier, Vincent tells Eugene that weightlessness is like being in the wo mb and that in space his legs wouldnt matter. But in the end, Eugene returns to where Vincent originally emerged (this time to a self-determined cremation), his make complete as Vincent is released into space. The gift of the lock of hair is on one level a safeguard against Vincents disclosure but on another(prenominal) a unique and somewhat childlike reminder of Eugenes innocence in a world gone mad with science and its attending immersion with perfection.It is Eugene who occupies Vincents thoughts at closure, not Irene. Despite having overcome their genetic and physical dispositions, it is clear there is no real place for either of these men on earth. By accentuating the tunnels leading back to the womb-like spaceship and the foetal position of Eugene in the furnace, Niccol has both Vincent and Eugene return to where science and religion originate back to the stars, back to God, back to home.