Snowpiercer
Dir: Bong Joon-ho
2013
*****
Snowpiercer is a South Korean sci-fi thriller, filmed in English with a cross section of English, American and South Korean actors, based on a French Comic book and set on a futurist Train. It's as brilliant and as nuts as that sounds. I can totally see the French comic book influence and that it was directed by the brilliant Bong Joon-ho and I think it is wonderful that they've incorporated so many people from various different cultures within the film. After an experiment intended to clean the earths air goes horribly wrong the planet enters a new ice-age. The planet's only survivors are the ones who made it onto the Snowpiercer, a futuristic self-sufficient mile-long Train that circles the globe, powered by perpetual motion alone. The story begins at the back of the train where we see poverty, illness and the beginnings of a revolution. It's clear that people towards the front are in a better situation and that there is a social hierarchy on board the train, although nothing is ever really explained to the viewer. The overthrow of power and a forceful push forward begins a journey of brutal discovery for the train's lower classes as they learn the truth behind the way they have been living for the past 17 years. It's beautifully symbolic of the global class system that includes politics, indoctrination, wealth and power. The driver, creator and caretaker of the train, Minister Wilford, is a brilliant representation of the God delusion and other characters, such as the key master, deputy-minister, revolutionist, Mother, union leader etc, represent various different cross sections (and the simplicity and ridiculousness of each) of society perfectly. There is a great lesson that not everything we want is for the best and what is best isn't what anyone really wants. It's the entire history of mankind covered by the journey from one end of a train to another. It's wonderfully inventive and brilliantly clever and is honestly the sort of thing you'd expect George Orwell to think up if he had been born fifty years later than he was. Everyone is on top form; Bong Joon-ho's direction is exceptional, Song Kang-ho's drug taking key opener mysterious, Chris Evans delivers one of the most astonishing, shocking and emotional lines of dialogue I've seen for a long time and Tilda Swinton's Deputy minister Mason, is an amazing character that, in her own words was a middle-management style mix of Margaret Thatcher, Colonel Gaddafi, Adolf Hitler and Silio Berlusconi, with a thick Yorkshire accent and buck teeth. It's an amazing performance of a character we're not likely to see ever again. Jamie Bell, John Hurt, Octavia Spencer, Ewen Bremner, Ed Harris and Alison Pill all play their parts and symbolic roles perfectly, making for quite the ensemble cast. it's clear they all saw the importance of the story and loved every minute of making it. The claustrophobia and restrictions of being set on a train has lead to some ingenious creative thinking as far as the effects, sets and ideas go, making every scene completely different from the last and consistently exciting. The few exterior shots are nothing short of stunning. Due to a ridiculous decision by Harvey Weinstein over distribution rights (and because Bong Joon-ho refused to cut 20 minutes of footage) Snowpiercer was released in only eight cinemas in the US on it's initial release. It's had a wider release since but with very little advertisement, making it one of the best films of 2013 that very few people have seen. It's a modern sci-fi classic and will be universally regarded as such in good time I'm positive.