Maiklas3000

I'm no fan of reality TV, but I make an exception for The Colony, because it's more meaty. The scenario is that a viral outbreak has devastated Mankind, leaving relatively few survivors. The volunteers for the "experiment" are 10 individuals with diverse backgrounds, and we get to watch as they attempt to survive in an admittedly artificially constrained environment: a cordoned-off warehouse in L.A.

Two things make the show special. First, the group is so immersed in the situation that the emotions are real for them, which is fascinating. Second, they do builds that are interesting and sometimes amazing.

From comments the participants have made outside the show, it's fairly obvious that things were about as real as they could be, within this totally artificial situation. On the Discovery forums, Mike the mechanic wrote:

"WE...and I say this again,,,,,,,,WE had NO HELP from crew or anyone else!!!!!!!!!"

You can almost hear him shouting. And on his blog page, uber electrical engineer John C. wrote:

"One thing I really loved about the show was that everything they showed that worked.. actually worked.. if it didn't work.. they'd show that it didn't work.. That was really important to me."

Despite this, the director was not content to just sit back and watch things unfold naturally, and instead prodded the group with events, such as actors playing the role of raiders. This sometimes comes off a bit silly, but at least there are no stupid contests.

It's a show that some love and some hate, so your mileage may vary.

Is Dusha going crazy, or is someone *really* stalking her? Dusha is a woman from a dysfunctional family, atypical for Slovenia. Her father ran off to India, and her pragmatic mother chooses sexual partners on the basis of their useful skills, such as an auto mechanic. Dusha is having something of an early mid-life crisis at age 30, questioning whether her married lover really loves her and trying to drown her misery with drugs and dancing. She tries to find answers in the stars, without success. She becomes convinced that someone is sneaking into her apartment to unclog her sink. A shallow love story ensues with someone even more dysfunctional than she. It's a story of meeting life's adversities, starting with being towed away while still in her car and then a king cobra delivered to her home and finally a much bigger problem, and dispatching them with pragmatism and relative ease.

The acting is good, and the script is good, and this already puts it far above most Slovenian films. It's enjoyable, humorous, and offbeat. I lost myself in the story. Although in some ways the film feels shallow, I believe below the surface lurks symbolism, most obviously with the cobra and storks.

Minor complaints: The English subtitles were not edited by a native English speaker. I would have preferred the ending to have jumped forward 20 years to show how everything turns out, but being left with something to chew on has its advantages.

Hands off Starship Troopers! It's one of my favorite movies (9/10), and each time I watch it I am more impressed by the fine workmanship that went into it. For example, in response to a student saying that people are given citizenship and the right to vote as a reward for military service, Radcheck exclaims, "No! Something given has no value!" Radcheck's words make no sense whatsoever, and yet he pounds out each word like it is a fundamental truth. It is fascist propaganda, and the director intends you to think about how similar today's Earth is to this film. Yes, the film is silly, and so is our world today. Watch "Battle Line" on the History channel, or the black and white filler stuff at the end of A&E Classroom, or "Victory at Sea" on PBS, and then watch Starship Troopers again... you won't be saying you don't get it. For extra credit, watch a live speech by the President of the United States to see some current parallels. Work makes you free.