Cloud Atlas

A film by Tom Tykwer, Andy and Lana Wachowski.

Here I go, I will start with the theme. I’m probably not the first one having this perspective and it is possibly a pretty obvious one but I’m going to say it. I feel like what Cloud Atlas tries to do is no more dimensional and human than Beats of the Southern Wild or even on a total different level, a film like A Royal Affair, even Killing Them Softly, now close to us. The majority of us realize, at some point or another, that we are nothing but these little pieces breathing in this mysterious universe that we won’t ever figure it out. Like Hushpuppy says. Like many characters from Cloud Atlas suggest. We believe what we believe. Some believe in reincarnation and those same people also believe that there’s no such thing as an environmental crisis and they don’t believe that we will eventually be submerged by water if we don’t reduce with the CFC’s. Yes, I believe there is a natural order, in maybe whatever you want to look at, and by what we do and by what we don’t do we will always have consequences to face. With A Royal Affair we see a cycle, I believe. We can see the meaning and the importance of truth. With Killing Them Softly, a solitary man believes we are all on our own. It’s a good point, it is also the truth, I believe. America is nothing but a business, he says; it also seems a good point. But I also believe that if the people, the community, didn’t voted for Obama they would be way more fucked than they are now. Yes, they’re still fucked, we all are, but I feel like it could be worse for the people in general. So what’s the truth, what’s the matter, what’s the point in all of this? Our actions do matter. Greed can bring consequences and I could go on. These questions are always good to be asked from time to time, to think it over; to wake us up a little. Cloud Atlas is or should be or tries to be a vehicle for those questions and maybe bring some answers. One thing is sure, it tells us something.

I didn’t dislike Cloud Atlas, but I didn’t love it either. I won’t say it’s too ambitious, than so should be the book, I haven’t read it either and this shouldn’t be used as a reason, I think it would be unfair. But I feel like it becomes, I hate to say it, but maybe it tries too much without significant heart or maybe it has too much heart and fails the impact. You know what? Maybe it is the word ambitious.

If I would have to choose a word to define Cloud Atlas it would have to be connectivity. I think it’s an essential theme, but these characters, the narratives through time, I feel it becomes a burden. And here’s my personal stand on it, I didn’t connect with it. There’s so much to connect that I forget to actually connect. It doesn’t mean in any way I want to take credibility from the film, I’m only speaking from the heart and I don’t want the film to be no less admired for it, because I do admire the effort. I think in this line, I will or should end up talking about the bridge between cinema and life, because this is probably where the doubtful questions of Cloud Atlas rely and it is always a good thing. Because like my friend said when she left the theater, this film is a multitude of a lot of stuff, or a multitude of drops, really, I don’t recall what she said exactly but you get the point!