“It’s especially important that students from Hailsham never smoke”
The H-Bomb: On the surface, Hailsham seems like a typical English boarding school. The students that attend Hailsham seem like typical boys and girls. They run, they play, they attend their classes, and they’re taught to become very obedient. This includes obeying instructions to never leave the school grounds, even to fetch a ball that flew over the fence. They’re also taught to keep themselves healthy and in perfect physical condition. “It’s especially important that students from Hailsham never smoke,” they’re told by the school’s head mistress, Miss Emily (Charlotte Rampling). The students never question that nor anything else she says. To them, this is all typical.
Except it’s not, just as the students at Hailsham are not typical, nor will they grow up to have typical lives. In the 1950’s, science has perfected the art of transplanting vital organs, thus being able to cure previously incurable diseases, thereby extending the average human lifespan to over 100 years. This is all well and good, except these healthy replacement organs have to come from somewhere.
That’s where the children from Hailsham and other schools like it come in. They are people who are cloned (the film never uses this term, but it’s implied) to become “Donors.” They’re raised separately from the rest of society, closely monitored, and when they reach early adulthood, they begin their donations. Donors never live to the age of 30, and most die after their third procedure.
All of this makes “Never Let Me Go” sound like a rather icky Sci-Fi film, but it’s not. Yes, it is technically science fiction, but it’s look and feel is more like a moody romantic drama. It’s quite possibly the most un-Sci-Fi Sci-Fi film I’ve ever seen. The story revolves around three of these Donors, Kathy H., Tommy, and Ruth (Carrie Mulligan, Andrew Garfield, and Keira Knightley, respectively). The film traces this trio of friends from their childhood at Hailsham, to their adolescence at a donor-to-be residential area called the Cottages, and finally into their 20’s, where two of the three have already begun their donations.
Kathy has long been in love with Tommy, but he’s always been romantically attached to Ruth. When Kathy and Tommy finally reunite after years of not seeing each other, they then let their true feelings for each other be known, and they attempt to seek out the long retired Miss Emily in order to receive a deferral; a rumored-to-exist special privilege that allows donor couples who are truly in love to have a few extra years together before they start donating.
This deliberately understated film, set mainly in the English countryside, is one of the more provocative films I’ve seen in recent memory. It asks that same question that “Moon” asked a couple of years ago: what makes a human being human? That question is even more important here, since in this alternate modern society, there is an entire class of people who are not even regarded as human. The movie drives that point home in its most chilling scene, where a donor dies on the operating table. When the donor flat-lines, none of the doctors or nurses say a word about it, they just go about their business of removing the organ. Once they’re finished, they just leave the room without even bothering to cover the donor’s body, as if it’s just garbage being left for a janitor to clean up.
Another unsettling quality the film has is how accepting the donors are of their fate. They don’t challenge it, they don’t question it, for them, it’s just the way things are. Towards the end, two of the protagonists’ eyes are opened to the idea that it may not be right, but at that point they’re really not in a position to do anything about it.
The story does center primarily around a love triangle, which I recently lambasted another movie for doing (“Red Riding Hood”), only in this film, it was handled with subtlety and intelligence, where the characters and their emotions rang true. The fact that all three leads turn in fantastic performances helps, as well. Mulligan is low key but affecting as Kathy, the narrator of the proceedings who is slightly more clued in to what is going on in this world than other donors. Knightley, looking slightly de-glammed, gives an impressive turn as Kathy’s best friend/romantic rival. There is a tension between the two of them that is mostly unspoken, but clearly conveyed.
As good as the two leading ladies are, a special mention should go to Garfield, who is just shattering in the film. He was strong in “The Social Network”, and I’m sure he’ll do well as Spider-Man, but his performance here, as the unassuming and naive Tommy, provides the film with its most powerful moments. I can’t really get into these moments without spoiling things, but you’ll certainly know them when you see them.
Mark Romanek, best known for directing the excellent 2002 Robin Williams thriller “One Hour Photo”, takes an unobtrusive approach with the direction and simply lets the story tell itself. It’s actually an approach I wish more modern filmmakers would take; just set up the camera and let the script and the actors take care of the rest, instead of relying on flamboyant camerawork, over-editing, overusing post-production effects, and other gimmicky, distracting bullshit.
As for any flaws, the film is deliberately slow paced, therefore there are many out there in A.D.D. Land who will label the movie boring, but people like that are best left ignored. Let those mouth breathing dullards have their “Jackass 3D”. This is a film for people with brains, who don’t mind using those brains when they watch a movie. As for my own personal complaints, I for one would’ve liked to have had a better look at the rest of this alternate society, outside of the donors. As it is, we are only given glimpses.
“Never Let Me Go” is probably the best movie to come out last year that you haven’t seen. It’s an intriguing “what if” story that seems very dry at first, but becomes surprisingly moving by the end, albeit more than a little depressing, and, most importantly, it strongly resonates long after it’s over.
