Index Zero

In a miserable and bleak future world ...but we don't know why...a couple - the woman is pregnant - attempt to survive by entering the "safe" section - the United States of Europe, a hellish Orwellian world which demands a zero use of resources from its inhabitants....all, except of course from the elites that govern this world. Sound familiar? The couple finds themselves detained with little hope of making it out of a prison. Childbirth is outlawed except that allowed by corporations using artificial means...what does that mean for the heroine? Fascinating plot, excellent performances, very thoughtful film about the contemporary debate over climate and resources...well worth the viewer's time to watch.

In a post-apocalyptic society people are assigned a number based on their perceived sustainability, the goal is to reach index zero which means a person is fully sustainable, to do so an individual must follow the instructions given by a computer.

This English language Italian sci-fi film uses a futuristic setting to comment on the contemporary subject of illegal immigration. In it an impoverished couple pay a shady man who facilitates their entry into what has become known as the United States of Europe. The method used is crawling into this country my way of an underground tunnel. It's quite an original concept but the scene is dragged out to an unnecessarily long length. It's an early indicator of the problems in this film, as it has some potential in its overall setup but the execution lets it down badly. The story revolves around a couple who are very unengaging, we know nothing of them and the script does not give them anything much to do to allow us to empathise with them. They remain very distant characters and consequently it's very hard caring about their plight. The woman is pregnant but natural pregnancy has been made illegal by the authorities, yet it really is difficult understanding exactly why this is so as its never explained in much detail. Not much of anything is explained really and so it is difficult getting too involved. On the whole, this is a pretty unengaging and ponderously handled film.

Life's to short to watch anymore! If I film can't get some kind of storyline across in 25mins then I really can't be bothered watching it. At first, whatever this couple are up to was quite gripping, but slowly but surely them crawling through a tunnel with all the heavy breathing gets boring. It's calling out for a cut to where they are out (if they ever get out!). I'm now past caring if they do or not. There's much better ways to spend my Friday evening than this! Save yourself the bother and watch something else! Not often I stop film after starting but this is one of those very rare occasions.

Fantastic ideas and plot let down by lack of budget.

United States of Europe....probably will be one day. Crawling through the tunnel to get across the border was a great scene. The index zero bit was never fully explained and we spent far too long in the prison rather having the escape and chase sequence in the new world that I wanted. That's were the lack of budget comes in.

Every film has to cut its cloth according to its budget, especially with science fiction movies, but this had a great start and kept my interest through until the end.

Probably not for Marvel movie enthusiasts but fans of grown up sci fi will get something out of it.