Review : The Island

Merriam-Webster Online describes an island as follows :

ISLAND:
Pronunciation: 'I-l&nd
Function: noun
Etymology: alteration (influenced by Old French isle) of earlier iland, from Middle English, from Old English Igland (akin to Old Norse eyland), from ig island (akin to Old English Ea river, Latin aqua water) + land land
1 : a tract of land surrounded by water and smaller than a continent

Here's what should be added to the definition

ISLAND, THE : A roller-coaster type movie that kicks your ass for 127 minutes and leaves you craving more.

Now with a start-up like this, you know I'm going to give this puppy a good rating. So here goes...

First we must begin with what this movie was ripped from. Some of my Sci-Fi buddies over at Spacecast say it's a rip-off of the movie The Clonus Horror (1979). Having not seen this movie and it seems pretty "obscure" at best, I won't comment on it. But judging from the user comments on IMDB, you can tell that it is in fact a rip-off. But you know what? I don't care, don't give a shit. I often bitch about rip-offs but in this case it is forgiven because this puppy rips off something even greater, something written 516 years BCE by some guy no one knows about anymore - some loser philosopher called Plato. The story referred to in his masterpiece, The Republic, is called "The Allegory of the Cave". This very allegory is what started my path in wanting to know "why?" when I was but a wee little college student, 17 year's old and on a seemingly neverending party.

So here is the story, the allegory: Have you ever had a dream, that you were so sure was real? What if you were unable to wake from that dream? How would you know the difference between the dream world and the real world? Sound familiar? It should, The Matrix's premise is the same as this movie. One movie goes on to greatness and forever moulding our pop culture into something else; the other will be remembered as a simple Hollywood summer blockbuster. Because in the end it is what it is. The allegory goes very deep. In The Republic it goes like this... (My redux version)

Imagine you are in a cave, you are chained down and forced to look forward on a wall. On this wall are projected shadows of a nearby bridge and its travelers going about their daily lives. This is all you've known all your life, this is your reality. There are no people, only the shadows of people, but you wouldn't know a real person if you saw one. It would be alien to you. You would probably need to change your shorts if you saw one. What if one day you were freed from that cave and you crawled out of a hole from the top of the cave, the light alone could blind you and your gut reaction would probably resemble Neo's reaction when he pops the top of his sarcophagus and sees the power plant for the first time. Now essentially this is your moment of enlightenment in more ways than one (considering the harsh light of day). But if we contrast it with Buddhist elements of enlightenment, this is the equivalent of the day Buddha sat under the Bodhi tree and achieved enlightenment. And just like Buddha, our cave dweller is now befallen by a great responsibility, to free the others from their caves so that all may attain enlightenment. He must lead them out of the cave.

Article Author: David Desjardins

Dave works in the IT industry despite his better judgment. He’s an artist at heart with a critical mind. He enjoys photography more than he could ever express. Dave feels a need to tweak his brain with copious amounts of taurine to stay sharp while absorbing all kinds of media on any medium. …

Visit David Desjardins's author page — David Desjardins's Blog