What’s going to save you from the inevitable climate catastrophe
that will wipe all human existence? Al Gore? Mars real estate? A time machine?
Dennis Quaid? Well according to director and writer, Joon-ho Bong of the film
Snowpiercer (based off the graphic novel Le
Transperceneige), it will be a train. A train that circles the earth along
an endless loop, running off a self sustainable system that requires a clean up
every so often. It is upon this train, run by the callous Wilford, that Bong
takes us on a trip through “the whole wide train”. On this journey viewers
explore a dystopian hierarchy that may cause some real world reflexive
‘autonomy’.
We are first introduced to the back of the train along with its
poor scavenging residents. The back of the train compresses more filth and
squalor into one claustrophobic space that you can’t imagine any part of the
train getting worse. But in a sense of the word, it does. No living situation
can top the back of the train. But as Bong pushes us along to the front of the
train he paints a picture of a dystopian class structure that gets worse and
worse. Each section of the train seems to reveal something more twisted than
the last. When we finally get to meet the tyrant Wilford he explains that
“everything must be in place” and in order to maintain this structure the train
must be ruled by “pain, fear, and horror.”
Bong does a fantasticate job transferring this “pain, fear, and
horror” onto the audience as he uses immersive visual narrative. Bong has
viewers following the protagonist Curtis, played by Chris Evans, putting us in
his preordained boots. At many points in the film Curtis is faced with
difficult moral decisions as the leader of the rebellion. Every Frame a
Painting’s video essay (link below) is keen to point out the use of Bongs
camera movement from left to right in order to portray a decision that Curtis
has to make. Using the camera instead of dialogue to display Custis’s options
is a way to absorb the viewers to see his perspective.
The audience sympathizes with Curtis as we see him being
suffocated by the limited lateral decisions he has to make. We excuse his
dehumanizing decisions as he believes it to be for the greater good of the
train. As the film progresses we learn the options aren't limited to forward or
back. Middle passengers of the train include Namgoong and his daughter Yona
played by, Kong ho-Song and Ah-sung Ko who bring an international flair and an
enlightened vision to the film. Middle passengers of the train have access to
windows. Contrary to front and rear passengers, they have a panoramic
perspective like no other characters. They are able to see the horrors of the
back of the train, the corruption of the front of the train, and wonders of the
outside nature from the train. Together they realize that changing the order of
the train is useless for humanity. They know the answer isn't in the front of
train but rather outside the train.
The middle passengers are used to represent the middle class. The
ones who are given the the full panoramic perspective and a sufficient
education. Although what we learn from the school, in the middle of the train,
is that sometimes education is a facade for what is really propaganda. Bong
teaches us that the best history teacher, the best educator, is the artist. The
artist who is pure can teach us more than any book, this is exemplified by The
Painter, played by Clark Middleton. Stay informed through the artist and pay
attention to what directors like Joon-ho Bong have to show us.
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