The Island

—Overview
—Photos
—About this Film
—Spiritual Connections

In terms of Sci-Fi thrillers, The Island finds its way somewhere between Minority Report and The Matrix. Its plot, somewhat implausible (Do you think people with the minds of 3 year old clones could escape two Black Hawk helicopters full of Navy Seals? Probably not.), still has enough substance to make this a worthwhile movie.

The Island begins with a ‘fake’ reality (here comes another Matrix plot where your reality is not ‘real’) where clones are living in a safe haven from the rest of earth which has been contaminated and is no longer safe to live in. However, there is one unaffected piece of the earth still remaining. This ‘Garden of Eden,’ as it is referred to in the movie, is the last remaining uncontaminated part of the earth, and all of the survivors are entered into a lottery system, with the winners being awarded a place to live on this ‘Island.’

The rest of the movie deals with the questioning of ‘the reality that you are presented,’ something which is natural to ‘humans,’ to use some of the interesting lines in the movie. Although The Island will not win many hearts with its extremely long ending and its inability to answer all of the questions it raises, it opens an interesting door to the way that God views the world.

I was especially intrigued with the role that God’s power played in this movie. While talking to L6E (McGregor), McCord (Buscemi) makes a joke about God when L6E wants to know who God is. McCord says that when you close your eyes and really want something, God’s the guy that ignores you. This is a funny crack at a serious problem. After all, who has not had a prayer unanswered and wonder why God does not answer prayers at times? What makes this joke so perfect for this movie is that the rest of the movie begins to deal with this very question. Humanity has illness, pain, death, things God could end tomorrow, and yet He does not. The movie then takes these themes in many different directions.

For example, the rest of the movie features people who want to live longer (for several more decades). So, they seek out Merrick Institutes, who can provide them with that wish. Merrick Institutes is a cloning center where Dr. Merrick (Bean) clones his ‘clients’ in order to assure them new livers, skin, whatever it is that can make them look better, feel younger, and live longer. It would not be too far-fetched to say that these people are in search of eternal life. Or as McCord cracks about God, they have their eyes closed, really wanting to live longer, and since God is not granting that wish, they turn elsewhere.

However, they want their ‘long life’ even in the midst of their sin. All in all, we see glimpses of four people who had bought ‘life insurance policies’ (clones). It is interesting to note that two of these clients are on the verge of dying because of their own sin. One is in desperate need of a new liver (massive drinking?) and the other is been quite free in sexual expression, leading to a type of hepatitis that is going to kill him in the near future. This is stark reminder that sin has real consequence.

All of these ideas come to a dialogue at the end of the movie between Merrick and Laurent (Hounsou). At this point, all the benefits of cloning and one could argue, stem-cell research, are spelled out. Children’s leukemia is described as only being 2 years away from being cured (a noble goal), and that Merrick will be the only one with the cure. So Merrick asks Laurent this qusetion, Who else can cure children’s leukemia? And Laurent gives the expected response, ‘Only you and God.’

It seems that The Island is accepting the fact that God has not and will not solve our problems, namely diseases and things that resulted from our sinful lifestyles. Unfortunately, the movie never gives an answer as to why we should not clone to solve these problems. This is one of the major weaknesses to The Island. There is no question that human life is deeply valued in the film, because the clones are viewed as the heroes, while most of the ‘real’ humans are the antagonists.

However, one question remains to be answered. What is so special about the human experience that makes life so important? These questions are not given an answer in The Island. Instead, humans are merely depicted as willing to do anything to survive, even if that survival has no purpose or intent. In reality, we know that human life has value because God has created us, and in Genesis 1 proclaimed humans as ‘very good.’ Clearly that is why God has not given up on us and still loves us so deeply. Although we will always have the questions as to why God allows disease, suffering, etc., He has also promised us that there is something much better than living for another 70 years (as Merrick Institutes promised) here on earth, that in heaven there will be no more leukemia, disease or suffering. So, although there is no real island in The Island, God has created a perfect place, where the pain of this world ceases, and immeasurable joy begins.