A.I : the movie
Stanley Kubrick was a great film-maker. And he did total justice by giving the script to another genius Spielberg. The outcome of both of them is a brilliantly depicted, thought-provoking, science fiction-philosophical movie. A.I manages to capture the very essence of the subject beautifully by showing all that there is to it. The movie can be seen as in four parts:
- The birth of A.I
Its sometime in future, where the world has nearly come to an end. Most of the world is deserted. However somewhere in America, people are building Mechas ( organic robots with A.I), which can feel emotions and is capable of love. One such creation is David, a child robot capable of love, and is almost as real as can be. He is unique because there hasn’t been any one like him before, and he is the first of his kind. He is the experimental robot on which future A.I robots would be built.
Spielberg captures this part of the movie by mixing a little philosophy and science fiction. During the meeting before creating David, a woman asks a deep philosophical question : If a robot is capable of loving humans, what responsibility does the human have towards that robot?. This was something that blew me away! Wow! That is something really to think upon. If I had a A.I that loves me and relates to me, will I love it the same I love humans? There is no answer to the question in the movie, and largely because the very question is answered further in the movie.
- The Vision of A.I
Part two: A family is coping up with their child who has gone into a coma. There is nothing they can do about to bring him back to life. The father Henry, who works for the company that built David, decides to get him home as a replacement for his child whom they have lost in coma. However his wife Monica is reluctant. David comes home and wins over her heart by his innocent look and words. He is so real like that Monica believes he is son.
Trouble crops up, when their son who was in coma comes back to life. Suddenly, the human gets more attention than David. The human kid Martin despise his presence in his house, and tries his best to get him out. He challenges him to tasks to which David agrees to prove his superiority. One fine night, while Monica is telling a story about Pinnochio to her human child, he over-hears the part where the blue fairy makes pinnochio a real-life boy…and this stays within him. As tensions in the family rise due to the escalating differences between David and Martin, the family decides to abandon David. Monica, his mom, abandons him at loose in the forest and goes back.
The second part of the movie is mixed with some nice humor with emotions. The vision of what A.I can actually achieve is beautifully shown here. A.I learns with time, and how humans too can get attached to it is shown beautifully here. Monica almost believes he is her son, till her real life kid comes back. Once trouble starts, Henry asks another brilliant question to her: If David is capable of love, he must be capable of Hate? Think about it! Even when David is meant to love everyone, he cant help developing some kind of hate towards his brother. The very essence that A.I learns with behavior is shown superbly in this segment of the movie. David also understands that his mommy is going to leave him alone in forest because he is not a real kid. This part of the movie really makes one wonder of the same question again as to what responsibility do we have towards a robot who loves us.
- The Danger of A.I
Once Kubrick establishes the best part of A.I, he then progresses to show what COULD be the worse side. Once dumped in the forest, David is all alone. He is captured by Psychos who are humans, and who take pleasure in killing all mechas ( robots with A.I) as they think they have taken over humans. They are humans who believe that A.I has made them dumb because, those robots are too clever. The scenes following this are quite gross in nature, and this is where most of the viewers feel a let down. The scenes don’t progressively suggest much, but in themselves are very gross. Certainly, Spielberg could have add his own bit here. But David gets saved from their clutches, because of his so real behavior and people mistake him for a human. David meets a male gigolo, who helps him run away from there.
Spielberg’s use of gross scenes was not necessary in this part of the movie. In trying to present the other side of A.I, he became too gross, and nearly created a horror show!
- The journey of David
The last part is certainly the most imaginative part of the movie. Once free, David thinks that if he became a real boy, his mommy would love him more. So he sets out in quest of the Blue fairy of the pinnochio to ask her make him into a boy. What follows next a set of brilliant photographic and cinematic special effects. They are superb! Finally, David does get to meet his creator, and as well as the blue fairy ( which is a idol in a submerged New York MANhattan, the last place on earth). David sits there asking the fairy to make him into a real boy for ages together, and 2000 years pass by. Humans have completely eliminated, the world has frozen and nothing is alive. Some aliens come to earth, discover him and read his mind. They then create a Artificial World for him based on his thoughts, where in a fairy too lives. The fairy finally fulfills his wish, but just for one day by making his mom come back. The aliens do this by taking his thought process, with a physical sample of his mom’s hair and looking back into a time-space warp to find her instance!!! Some physics this!
Spielberg’s final twenty minutes of the minutes are simply spell-binding. David’s progression from a mecha to a human-mecha who sheds tears in the end is simply breath-taking. All along, the journey Spielberg makes the importance of A.I and how it evolved over time. But there in he also balances the limitations of A.I. For example, David never grows out of his mommy love throughout the journey. All he craves is that one day with his mom where he can prove that he is real. This really is something to wonder that What if and A.I wanted to become real, and very nearly became one?. The movie ends brilliantly with David in that Artificial World created by the aliens for him!
Harry Osment’s performance as David is brilliant. If you pay close attention, he never blinks his eye through out the movie except once. Over all, this is definitely one of the most ORIGINAL and IMAGINATIVE films I have ever seen in my life. If there is Kubrick’s imagination in it, Spielberg combines it with his own genius to give a thought provoking movie. The movie really makes one wonder about Artificial Intelligence! This movie is certainly not for every one. To appreciate this movie, one should see this film, not as a movie, but a as exploration of artificial intelligence.
And it definitely made me wonder: What if this were the future?
Happy Viewing!