this is a long film, about six eras and thus it spans over 3 hours. so be prepared to sit through a movie as long as LOTR/Les Miserables.
spoilers ahead!
this movie starts off by showing each of the six eras to hook you into each story first. at first it seemed to me like Valentines' Day (2010) or New Year's Eve (2011), where the lives of the people in the stories ultimately intertwined at the end. however, one would soon realise that the stories are all separate ones and that the only connection amongst then would be the effect each story has on the other.
hence the tagline of the movie.
the first era speaks of slavery, and how a man met the eyes of a slave getting whipped. they meet again on a ship and the slave manages to earn his place on the ship instead of getting thrown off, with the help of the man Ewing. in return, the slave has loyalty towards Ewing and saves him from his 'friend' who was poisoning him slowly so that he can get his wealth. after this incident, Ewing heads back home to stand up against his father in law who feels that 'there is an order' amongst people and hence the hierachy that appears. his wife and him leave house to pursue what they believe in.
the second era is about a musician Robert Frobisher. he has a dream to be famous musician, and although he has a grand background, he abandons his family to pursue what he loves. his lover, Sixsmith, receives letters from him that describe his doings in detail at Vyvyan Aars, a famous musician's house. ultimately, he leaves the house due to Vyvyan wanting to claim credit for his proudest piece of work- Cloud Atlas Sextet- and subsequently commits suicide after completing the piece.
third era had the appearance of Sixsmith again, though he was much older already. he still kept old letters from Frobisher. Sixsmith meets an avid journalist, Luisa, by chance in a lift which broke down and he calls her in the middle of the night to tip her off about this certain nuclear reactor that was destined to be an accident which would kill many people. but before he could pass her evidence, he was knocked off by a hit man. this did not deter inquisitive Luisa though, and she receives help to expose the truth.
then there is the era of Timothy Cavendish which is set today. he was a publisher who was hunted down for money by a powerful man who was thrown into jail, and when he tried to seek help from his brother, he got tricked into a nursing home where there was a nurse who mistreated patients. together with a few others from the nursing home, they broke free. his life was made into a movie of some sorts which would be shown to future generations.
the next era was set in Neo Seoul ('New Seoul') which was aptly named due to Korea being under water more than a hundred years from now, in 2144. Sonmi is shown being interviewed right before her execution. i thought that this part of the movie was the coolest because it's so futuristic! Sonmi was a fabricant, and she was brought to live a free life by Hae-Joo Chang who was a commander in a rebel movement 'Union'. The Union rebels revealed to her that the fabricants are recycled into food (GROSS) or into future fabricants which i feel is extremely sad to hear. She was brought to Hawaii to make a public broadcast to the rest of the world about how slavery of fabricants should not be tolerated. during the broadcast, Hae-Joo was killed in gunfire as the purebloods found them.
the last era is set on post-apocolyptic Earth, and it seems that there is a primitive society portrayed, although it was supposed to be way into the future already. there is a cannibal tribe in place, whereby they prey on the 'weak' as they are the 'strong' race. it is quite incredible to me, how the writers have portrayed human evolution to be primitive once again, in the future. and this time, humans are both the predators as well as the victims. Zachry always has visions of this 'Old Georgie' guy who is the devil his tribe perceives and this led him to sacrificing the lives of his friend and his son to the cannibal tribe so that he is able to survive. Meronym, who is a 'Prescient' (people who retained technology before the apocalypse), visits the village to ask for guidance to a mountain so that she will be able to enable a certain technology to contact other people of her race who have moved to other planets during the apocalypse. (i think) Zachry offers her his help due to her saving his niece's life. Meronym tells Zachry that Sonmi is a person and not a goddess, like what his tribe believes. He only starts to believe her when he saw an actual video of Sonmi speaking and his initial reaction was utter disbelief. Zachry kills the cannibal's chief despite a prophecy telling him not to do so. Then he was almost hunted down but Meronym saves him, resulting in himself and his niece joining her to find her people.
epilogue: Zachry is portrayed telling his grandchildren stories, and Earth is a pale blue dot in their night sky.
i'm sorry that i typed so much about the movie, but this is what i remember and i really want to type all of it down so that i can relieve it again.
there are a few famous names amongst the cast too, and i was surprised to see Zhou Xun acting in it as well :)
and the era of Zachry, post apocalypse. their language is so cute, what with the 'true-true' (truth) and 'far-far' (very far). this movie is so amazing i think that it's one of the best movies i've watched so far.
it is so so so interesting, and i would like to thank nick for telling me about the existence of this movie and watching it with me! the movie was accompanied with great movie food too: Shi Lin sweet potato fries and mushroom cheese egg crepe^^
EVERYONE SHOULD WATCH IT! :)
i hope that all you guys out there who've watched this movie enjoyed it as much as i did :)