Everything is connected

Maybe the best novel I’ve read this year was actually published in 2004. It’s Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. He also wrote one of my favorite novels from last year, The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet. So when I learned that Cloud Atlas was being made into a movie, I thought, I want to see this.

You may have seen articles about how this book seemed impossible to film. It is told in six stories, beginning in the 19^th century, then moving to 1931, then 1973, then the present (2004 in the book, 2012 in the movie), then 2144, then the far future, in a postapocalyptic time. The first half of the narrative moves in that order, telling half of each story, then goes in the opposite direction in the second half, ending in the 19^th century. It’s an intriguing setup that Mitchell pulls off, using different styles, even different genres, for each story. He also connects the stories in subtle ways as he develops overarching themes.

Lana and Andy Wachowski, who directed the Matrix films, and Tom Tykwer, who directed Run, Lola, Run, wrote and directed the film Cloud Atlas. Rather than tell the stories the way Mitchell did, they divided up the entire narrative into many scenes and moved back and forth among the six stories.

I’ve read some pretty negative reviews of the film, which I saw yesterday, so I went in without high expectations. But I liked it. I thought the editing throughout was excellent and at times ingenious. There were some miscues, and the Wachowskis (I’m guessing; I don’t know who directed which parts) are too in love with futuristic chase scenes, but overall I thought it was good.

A group of excellent actors play multiple roles, often in elaborate makeup (probably an Oscar nomination here): Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Susan Sarandon and Hugh Grant being the best known.

The movie makes the themes more overt than does the book. One overarching theme is that everything is connected (I realize that's a cliché), and the film shows how the actions of individuals, often against repressive systems, reverberate through time. It also plays up superficial connections, such as a birthmark that appears on a character in each story.

The book and film help us think about the sweep of human history, the constant struggle for not only survival but meaning. They ask, What does it mean to be human? Is there some life beyond death? Do our lives recur through history?

I don’t know how well a viewer of the film who has not read the book will be able to follow the story (stories). Even if it is confusing, though, the overall effect of the film is powerful. Having read the book and knowing the basic narrative, I could focus on the film’s images, the acting, the emotional impact.

It may not be my favorite film of 2012 (there are still many films to see), but it’s a contender.