Coluna Claquete – April, 5th 2013
Movie of the Week: “The Host”
Whenever we think about aliens coming to Earth, it appears in our minds an apocalyptic vision of monstrous beings destroying everything and enslaving humans. But what if they came to save us from the destruction that we promote to ourselves? This is the motto of the movie “The Host”, inspired by the book by Stephenie Meyer, author of the Twilight series.
In the opening minutes of the film, the viewer is informed that Earth has changed. There is no more hunger, wars and injustices. Everybody lives in harmony, and nature was preserved. The problem is that Earth no longer belongs to humans.
The planet has been invaded by a strange race of aliens that has the ability to adapt to the body of an intelligent being, fully mastering his mind, his body and even his memories. The majority of Earth’s population has been dominated, leaving just a few human resistants hiding fom the Seekers.
Melanie Stryder (Saoirse Ronan), one of these fugitives, is cornered by the Seekers, and she prefers to jump from a building, choosing death to avoid being dominated and reveal the whereabouts of his brother and boyfriend.
But she is saved by his pursuers, led to a healing center, where her wounds are treated, and her body gets a Soul, as the aliens call themselves. Melanie receives Wanderer’s soul, a being who has ever lived a thousand years, in several different planets.
But what seemed to be a simple adaptation reveals being increasingly complicated as the conscience of Melanie resists domination, and Wanderer, even controlling the body, can not silence the voice inside it.
Increasingly pressed by Seeker (Diane Kruger), Wanderer is startled to discover that she will be removed from that body, and that it will be destroyed. Unable to agree with someone’s death, she flees into the wilderness in search of Melanie’s family.
After days walking through the desert, she is found almost dead by Jeb Stryder (William Hurt), the uncle of Melanie. Despite knowing that Melanie’s body was dominated by an alien, yet he does not allow anyone killing her. Reluctantly, the rest of the group leads Wanderer to their hideout inside an ancient volcano.
Wanderer’s arrival causes great commotion in the group because Jared (Max Irons), her boyfriend, and Jamie (Chandler Canterbury), her brother, have dificulties dealing with someone who was so beloved, but now is controlled by another mind.
The situation is complicated when Ian (Jake Abel), who at first tried to kill Wanderer, change his attitude after being saved by her from certain death, and falls in love for this strange creature that walks, talks and plays with the body of the girlfriend of his friend …
Some funny situations happen due to this duality, which somewhat resembles the rivalry of Edward and Jacob in Twilight, but now with a clear division in the heart of the girl (or girls, of course).
The author of the book participated of the movie as a producer, and had a voice in the choice of director Andrew Niccol, who had directed two great sci-fi movies, “Gattaca” and “In Time”. Saoirse Ronan, who was nominated for Supporting Actress for her role in “Atonement,” did not need to work hard to live Melanie / Wanderer. Who steals the show whenever appears is the veteran actor William Hurt, showing that a king never loses his majesty.
The story of Stephenie Meyer presents some interesting points, such as an utopian civilization where there is no more competition and anger, hate or greed. But there are not also typically human emotions, which intrigues Wanderer a lot.
The film makes its bet on which would be the ideal world, neither that pasteurized Utopia of the Souls, and neither the danned mess in which we live. We could even associate the proposed philosophy with the message of “Astral City: A Spiritual Journey” – indeed, the ambiance totally “clean” remembers very much the idyllic spiritual town described by Chico Xavier.
Although the romantic tones of the film disturbe the majority of critics, who can not break away from the comparison with “Twilight”, “The Host” brings something new to the science fiction genre, an approach that evades the sameness of Aliens and Predators.