When I heard about the title, I imagined some angst-filled tear-jerker romance/drama movie. I wasn’t aware that it was based on a Kazuo Ishiguro novel. It was on many book-award lists, but what grabbed me was that the book was in the 2006 Arthur Clarke Award shortlist. This movie is based on a science-fiction book??? Look at the poster. Does this movie feature aliens, spaceships, or some dystopian society?
Ok, maybe it does present some dystopia. The movie begins with onscreen captions that a medical breakthrough was achieved in 1952, that doctors could now cure the previously incurable, and by 1967 life expectancy is now beyond 100 years. Yes it is “science-fiction” in the sense that it takes a scientific premise and then projects how this premise impacts the people involved. But there are no futuristic props in this movie.
I viewed this movie with a basic knowledge of the storyline. I am sure that many are familiar with the novel or have surmised the plot through several movie reviews. Giving away the plot doesn’t really rob the movie of its impact. The whole premise is revealed in the first 22 minutes. And I would like to enumerate the many noteworthy aspects of the movie. But I’d rather that you (the reader) go into this movie with as little information as possible, because when you see the students of Hailsham and how they are treated, when you sense the cold, sterile environment of what appears to be a children’s boarding school, you know that something is just not right.
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