We often associate the term dystopia with films or novels, fictional stories that are somewhat detached from our reality, but perhaps we already reside in one of them and have been for a while. This is one of the many feelings one gets upon finishing Asif Kapadia’s latest project, 2073. Considering his portfolio of documentaries focusing primarily on famous figures, including the Oscar-winning documentary Amy, an acclaimed portrait of the legendary musician’s life, this latest politically charged project marks a new venture for Kapadia in many ways.
From the very beginning, 2073 reflects on the dangers and importance of being able to distinguish between fiction and reality. On the one hand, these two opposing concepts are integral to the structure of the film as a whole. We are shown reality through the documentary aspects while also seeing the future through the lens of science fiction.
Director: Asif KapadiaWriters: Asif Kapadia, Tony GrisoniStars: Samantha Morton, Naomi Ackie, Hector Hewer
On the other hand, misinformation continues to proliferate on social and traditional media, leaving people with varying levels of media literacy to fend for themselves. The difference with the former is that we are never persuaded to accept this depiction of the future as fact, but rather as a cautionary interpretation of what might happen if we do not hold those in power accountable for their polarizing distortion of reality. As the film states on multiple occasions, humans will never be able to inhabit a shared reality without three integral things: facts, truth, and trust.
The first images we are presented with seem so dire that they initially seem fabricated, but they soon register the environmental havoc that humans have wrought on our planet. The climate crisis is one of four prominent themes that emerge throughout the elements of this film rooted in reality, the others being the rise of authoritarianism, advances in technology, and the collapse of democracy. The investigation into the ethnic cleansing of Uighur Muslims in China and Palestinians by Israel morphs into conversations about political dictators and the billionaire tech moguls who have contributed to the way we are surveilled. It’s impressive how much Kapadia can cram into a compact 85-minute footage. Along the way, we’re introduced to journalists, some experts in their field and others who have been persecuted for challenging corrupt systems in their respective countries.
These pressing issues documented in 2073 are incredibly relevant and substantial on their own, and for that reason, they’re conventionally addressed in individually focused documentaries. Considering the film’s brevity, it would be foolish to expect a full immersion into each of these issues, but it manages to convey what’s needed with efficient specificity. Even though it may feel like a constant barrage of information, the reminder that all of these calamitous issues are happening simultaneously on a global scale is quite poignant.
The film's science fiction component focuses on Ghost (Oscar nominee Samantha Morton) and her life in a post-apocalyptic district known as New San Francisco. She is a scavenger residing in the remains of an abandoned shopping mall with other colonists, some of whom are sentient AIs in the form of human bodies. The tipping point of how the world came to this state of disrepair is referred to as "The Event," which may sound like a singular incident, but is later revealed to have simply been the culmination of the world's political and environmental ills thirty-seven years prior.
Using the medium of voiceover, she relates her grandmother's feeling that soon there will be no passing, as those in power seek to destroy records in an attempt to erase any information that could be used to rebel. While Ghost often dumpster dives for scraps to live on, she also collects objects to learn about Earth's fleeting history. The only sincere interaction we see her have is with the Professor (Naomi Ackie), who soon after mysteriously disappears at the hands of an omniscient, surveillance-enabled state.
While the fictional segments of the film are undoubtedly weaker and feel like a rehash of the plethora of dystopian sci-fi stories that came before, interwoven with documentary footage, Ghost's life story becomes haunting. This is an accessible film that knows audiences are yearning to reach out to it, exposing them to things that can't be seen with the naked eye. While it may seem like inciting people to make changes breeds guilt, it's a reminder of the problem of collective action at hand, where nothing will ever get accomplished if everyone just sits around.
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