Amelia 2.0

If the teenage son of the owner of a local news station had to do a term paper for a first year philosophy class, and the news station owner decided it might get a better grade if it was a video, and told the crew at the station to make it, the video might come out something like "Amelia 2.0".

It's difficult to compare it to a movie or even a TV show because nowadays those almost always have relatively skilled professionals working on them, even if they have no talent. Regardless, the video addresses an interesting topic, but not in any meaningful way, and without the usual dramatic elements of fiction, even at the level of a docudrama or biopic.

It does have some competent professional actors, but they weren't given actual characters to portray, so it's sort of like they walked in off the street and were given lines to read. The editing was pretty tight though.

Amelia has a debilitating illness, her mind works well but her body is quickly becoming non-functional. At the same time a technology company in Cedar Rapids is working on a far out project, the intent is to take a mind like Amelia's and place it into a constructed body. Married only a few months, her loving husband is mostly at a loss for what to do. But convinced it is his only chance to remain with Amelia he signs all the paperwork and the conversion begins.

The science and technology is secondary here, our own logic says this can never happen but who really knows? This movie is more concerned with the ethics of doing something like this. Do we have souls? And would a soul remain with this type of hybrid? Would the far right evangelical politicians move to prevent this type of work? If the conversion is successful would the husband (or wife) be able to accept this new being?

Good watch, it makes you think, and overall it is very well made and acted. At home on DVD from my public library, my wife skipped, not her type of movie.

All in all, please just suspend disbelief. Doesn't get into the technical aspects of creating a simulacrum, but instead goes more after the moral implications of doing so. The choices are more on the order of black or white, not really much in between. And leave out the husband. He's there, and not really all that sympathetic, or quite mentally stable. Likely could have been better, but it seems to be more about moralizing than much else. The omnipresent, "if we can do it, should we?"

At the time I write this review, the average rating is 5.6, which makes my rating of 9 a bit of a reversal for my reviews (I'm demanding in my story-telling and tend to rate films lower than the average audience).

This is a highly unusual rating situation for me. On the one hand there is almost nothing truly exceptional about this film. On the other... I almost gave it 10 stars for sheer excellence in presentation.* This movie is slow-moving, intricate, and asks some very difficult questions. I will not spoil any of the plot by discussing precisely why I found this story so engrossing, but there are several elements that make it applaud-worthy:

1. Sensible discussion of the concept of God and contrary opinions to such without overt blasphemy. It simply presents both sides of the viewpoint... quite well in my opinion.

2. It discusses the "soul" without becoming dogmatic.

3. It addresses ethical issues in regard to reproducing humans in a non-standard manner (again, no spoilers by discussing how. All that I am going to discuss here is what's presented in the summary and trailers.)

4. It really hits the emotions of every single role and does so very well. This is some of the best directing, acting and character portrayal I have seen in a long time.

5. It presents a couple of unexpected twists that really tie the story line together very well.

This film presents the questions, the arguments, the positions and personal issues of the subject matter in a surprisingly short period of time. This could have been a lengthy mini-series and held together well. That they accomplished what they did within the time allotment of a single film is pretty awesome.

In short, this film accomplished what I see so very few films accomplish these days: it told a story and told it very well. It didn't rely on heavy CGI, had almost no "action", and focused almost exclusively on the lives and roles of the people involved. There were no sharks jumped here, no absurdities (which is admirable in itself), no great big plot loopholes where there could have been many. They did surprisingly well in almost every aspect. It came very close to getting 10 stars, which I've given to fewer films than I have fingers. It may be a bit slow and uneventful for the adrenaline junkies of today's generation-- but for those who still appreciate the art of story telling and the morality play, this is a rare gem.

* I dropped my rating to a 9 for a single F-bomb which was out of context with the entire rest of the film and unnecessary to the plot. Consequences for directorial stupidity. It would be nice just once to see someone make an entire movie based purely on great story-telling rather than resorting to shock schlock. This movie *almost* made it. Still, worth every bit of the 9 stars I give it.

This is an interesting movie about the potential effects of technology on humans. It's great to see some original subject matter in these days of comic book retreads and franchises! The cast does a fine job and it really does make you think about life and humanity. Thoroughly enjoyed it.