THE CLONE BY VALERII PETROV
Directed by Valerii Petrov
In a brainwashed world where we’re all told how to feel, where to go and what to say, will we ever be able to develop independent thinking? What chance do we have of finding out the truth? And what are our odds of surviving, once we do?
‘The Clone’ takes these questions one step forward and presents a world in which people are too drugged to know the truth about their own existence. Just like Adam and Eve, they walk around naked because their intelligence is being robbed from them. But unlike Adam and Eve, they must take the pill to remain this way.
One man, Max, finds out the truth and holds the maps that can lead him out of this place. As he plans his escape over the phone with his wife, another brainwashed man appears and claims his happiness. The friend is easy to ignore until a shot is fired and he drops dead. Terrified, Max runs. His wife never makes it.
As he follows the map through the mountains, the water and the forest he comes across more of his kind. Max, just like the rest, is a body part clone, meant to be harvested when needed. The cruel reality fuels his eagerness to escape and find safety. As he finally reaches the ocean, he’s grabbed from behind. Will he overcome his enemies and make it across the sea or will he be forever forced to live as a prisoner?
The dystopian world the filmmakers created is indeed bothering, and one cannot help but to think how this film can and will be interpreted in the world we live in today.
Valerii Petrov, the director, who also co-produced andco-shot the film, did a beautiful job depicting the fear and the lack of free will in the clones’ world. Max, played by Eugene Serzin, and Boby, played by Evegeny Sannikov, revealed the different disturbing layers of being brainwashed and how far one would go to save himself. Petrovalso made a very interesting choice when he decided to present the majority of the film in black and white. The absence of color represented Max being awake and knowledgeable about his gloom reality, whereas color was used to demonstrate the deep programming and indoctrination the rest of his kind were under. They see this world as beautiful and life as worth living, where Max sees it for what it is. He discovered the matrix.
The time and effort that went into this film are apparent and resulted in a beautiful short piece. ‘The Clone’, while being unsettling and alarming in its message, was also a fun cinematic experience. One I am sure you’ll enjoy watching.
