Total Recall- Sofia Prahalis, Kourosh Soleimanipak, Ivan Simic-Petrovic

TOTAL RECALL

The load down for those who do not completely recall the important aspects of "Total Recall"

Sofia Prahalis, Kourosh Soleimanipak, Ivan Simic-Petrovic

Director: Paul Verhoeven

Inspiration: Philip K. Dick’s short-story “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale”

Screen-writers:(screen-story)Ronald Shusett, Dan O’Bannon, Jon Povill

                           (screen-play) Ronald Shusett, Dan O’Bannon, Gary Goldman

Lead Actors: Arnold Schwarzenegger (as Quaid), Rachel Ticotin (as Melina), Sharon Stone (as Lori), Ronny Cox (as Cohaagen), Michael Ironside (as Richter)

Running time: 1h 53 min

("Total Recall", 1990)

GENERAL REVIEW

Douglas Quaid, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger, is a construction worker in the year 2084 who fantasizes about visiting the colonized Mars. He visits an organization called "Rekall". This organization specialises in planting false recollections into individual's minds, to experience Mars without actually going there. Something goes terribly wrong during the procedure; Quaid finds that his whole life may be just a fake memory (i.e., a lie) and that the individuals who embedded it in his mind want him dead. Quaid then travels to Mars in hopes of uncovering the truth about his existence and to save the rebels from Cohaagen, the leader of Mars', rule. Quaid discovers that his “wife”, Lori, is actually one of Cohaagen’s assassins that she was sent to keep a close eye on him. After finding out that his whole life was a false memory, Quaid starts his quest alongside Melina, his rebel-lover, to find out who he really is, why Cohaagen is after him, and finally to help the rebels repossess their air by starting up the reactor. Throughout his journey, he also questions everything that surrounds him and the essence of reality as well.

FILM TECHNIQUES

Several cinematic techniques in the film enhanced its effectiveness, including sound, lighting, sets, props, and characters. Here are a few techniques and examples that greatly strengthened our appreciation of the film.

SOUND

Ex1.) Diegetic Sound: Gun shots

This type of sound “emanates from a source in the movie environment” (Golden,13). In this case, the diegetic sound comes from gun shots during the many fight scenes, and it enhances the viewers experience by adding on more action (loud, fast-paced noise) to an already action-packed film.

Ex.2) Non-Diegetic Sound: Quaid strapped into chair

Non-diegetic sound “can be the music we hear while the title is rolling” (Golden, 14). In this scene, Quaid is fighting his way out of the chair that has him buckled down in metal handcuffs and his time is running down very fast. The intense and fast pace music playing in the background is adding on to the anxiety the viewers are already experiencing.

LIGHTING

Ex.1) High-key lighting: Kiss between Quaid and Melina

With scenes shot in this lighting, “characters’ motives are not hidden, nor are there likely to be any scares or sudden surprise” (Golden, 14). This was a very light and happy scene where the two characters shared a kiss without any ulterior motives other than wanting to proclaim their love for one another. This scene represented a very classic cliched Hollywood lightning and ending.

Ex.2) Front-lighting: Quaid being cornered by four men wanting to capture him in a public space. 

In this scene, Quaid is “brightly lit, without any shadows appearing anywhere” (Golden,15). This has the effect of proving he is the hero in the plot and it is showing his “pureness and honesty” in this situation (he has no idea what is going on) (Golden,15).

SETS

Ex.1) Underground Alien machine

The large underground alien machine scene uses a lot of old and rusty props and adds rusts to giant pillars with CGI to express just how old the machine and ruins really are.

Ex.2) Mars

Stepping foot on Mars, let alone creating a civilization on it, has not yet been done. Centering the story on Mars obviously indicates that it takes place in the future, which is reinforced when the viewer learns it is the year 2084.

PROPS

Ex.1) Underground mining drill

Though this prop seemed pretty insignificant and inocuous in the beginning of the film, it's appearance then foreshadowed what was to come. Rather than just a piece of mining equipment, it became a killing machine, and played an important part in creating one of those most exciting and nerve-wracking scenes in the film: when Quaid and Melina fought for their lives toward the end of the film. Using his superior strength, Quaid cut the pipe containing the fuel for the drill, pulled off a piece of it, used it to stab Benny and then Quaid and Melina were able to escape.

Ex.2) Chair in which memories are erased and new memories are implanted (wrist straps on first and metal ones on the second one)

In the scene where Quaid is being attached to the memory implantation chair for the first time, the flimsy straps around his wrists are clearly shown. At first, this detail is minor but as the story progresses and Quaid is attached to the same type of chair to erase his memory against his will, the straps around his wrist are firm and metal. This shows the difference between him willingly inserting fake memories into his brain and him being forced to get his brain erased.

CHARACTERS

Ex.1) Quaid

The character of Quaid needed to be played by a tall and very muscular man (Arnold) to portray his bravery and extraordinary strength. Quaid is proud, a hero fighting for the underdog, as well as sensitive and caring. Therefore, this character was made to be the “perfect man” that can fight off evil and save a planet in need of help.

Ex.2) Lori

Lori, played by Sharon Stone, is athletic, sexy yet sweet and beautiful. These qualities made it very easy for her to live a double-life. Looking as innocent as she did, made it quite easy for her to keep Quaid close and not at all suspicious (as well as the audience). On the other hand, her athleticism allowed her to fight off opponents, Quaid included.

ISSUES & BIG QUESTIONS

This film addresses issues with capitalism. The film takes place on Mars which is being run by capitalists and private corporations. In a way, the film is mocking this way of governing in order to show what society would look like, and what it has to deal with when it is under a capitalist authority. A super important question this film asks is how might we differentiate between reality and dreams? What makes us, our memories, our past, regardless of whether we don't recall it, real? Quaid couldn’t tell if he was dreaming or not, even at the end he says “I just had a terrible thought: what if this is a dream?” doubting reality. Another question/theme in this movie is, who am I? Throughout the film, Quaid was told many times who he once was, who he is now, and who he will always be. All of these perspectives on Quaid's identity which are coming from outside sources had lead Quaid to often question his identity in general( who is he?, what is his purpose?, is he good or bad?).

("Total Recall", 1990)

WORD COUNT: 1060 words

QUALITY OF FILM

In all honesty, action films are not our favourite genre of film, therefore we would not watch it again. Even though we didn’t particularly love the plot and the science-fiction in this movie, we did appreciate many of the cinematic techniques and some one-liners recited by the characters. 

Seeing as this movie was made in 1990, we found the futuristic elements used to be quite fascinating. The idea of having a skeleton X-Ray machine as well as, self-driving taxis are quite fascinating and shows a lot of “forward-thinking”. In addition, the use of the hologram added a very interesting element to the film seeing as it was both futuristic and made for a great distraction. It was also just plain silly! Furthermore, in that same scene, Quaid faked using the hologram and said “Hahaha, you really think this is Quaid?” (Verhoeven, “Total Recall”). The assassins lowered their guns and looked to each other in a confused manner. Quaid stated: “well it is” and proceeded to kill them all. Finally, the last line where both Quaid and Melina question whether this is all a dream left us mind-blown and with a slight smile on my face. For the next hour, we replayed scenes from the movie in my head in hopes of figuring what was real and what was a dream. The last line was very open-ended and left us questioning almost the entire movie.    

On the other hand, we found many flaws in the science aspect of the film, which we did not enjoy. For example, if the alien machine only made oxygen, the humans would still die because we can only survive in an atmosphere like that of planet Earth's. (For those wondering, the Earth's atmosphere contains 21% oxygen !!) (Sharp, 2017). Furthermore, the first astronauts could not have worked themselves to death because astronauts are the smartest people on Earth and the most "protected" by NASA and others. Finally, we all agreed that the use of blood in this film was quite excessive and embellished. 

Despite the movie being scientifically inaccurate, it has a unique plot which made us think about the movie deeply after it ended. We were left with many questions such as, whether or not this whole storyline was just a dream.

All in all, we would still recommend the movie to people because it brings up some good questions about the truth behind our existence and it satisfies the need for guns and action.

MOVIE RATING

CONNECTIONS TO COURSE MATERIAL

Metaphysics: Metaphysics is the “branch of philosophy responsible for the study of existence” (KIS, 21). A question that can be asked is “what is real?”. In this movie, Douglas Quaid is consistently fighting to find out what memories are real and which are “fake memories” that were in implanted into his brain. He finds out that his life of Douglas Quaid was all made up. However, when he goes to get fake memories of Mars implanted into his brain, a malfunction occurs. After that, he battles through every scene trying to differentiate who is telling the truth, who he is, and whether or not this a dream or if it is real. The last scene captures Quaid and Melina sharing a kiss after stating “this may just be a dream” (Verhoeven, “Total Recall”). 

Subjects: Subjects “are constructed by social forces and relationships” (KIS,6). On Mars, mutants and humans would be considered as equals but society has not made that possible. Mutants are treated with less respect seeing as they look like humans but are not quite the same. Their subjectivity was formed through political, social and cultural relations forced upon them by Cohaagen and his followers. The mutants’ sense of inferiority was constructed by society and had made it increasingly difficult for their rebellion to be respected from not only Mars but Earth as well. As stated by one of the Martians in the film, “people on Earth just come to visit, they do not stay to help” (Verhoeven,“Total Recall”).

For axiology, the movie has scenes like the big plot twist reveal with Quaid’s past personality. These scenes where we find out the truth about what happened in the movie and who’s behind it, they make the viewer wonder what the value of this knowledge is. What’s it worth knowing the truth? If we all live in a simulation or dream of some sort, are our lives worth anything? Do they even matter? Will it matter to anyone in real life? These scenes also make us ask; will we ever find out the truth, will our existence up until then be worth it?

QUESTIONS:

1) After having watched the movie, do you believe that events throughout depict reality or are they just implanted memories?

2)Is there any way of confirming or even simply knowing that you are living a real life and not just an implanted dream?

3) In your opinion, if we had the ability to implant people with fake memories would they be worth the same as actually making the memories yourself?

ELABORATION ON THEMES & CONTENT

1) https://sinistredestre.wordpress.com/2008/01/04/philosophical-themes-in-schwarzenegger/

This blog elaborates in great detail on certain philosophical concepts that are present in "Total Recall". The article goes into depth on class material, such as metaphysics. It makes very interesting claims about how humans seek to satisfy their desires in a fast manner. The article also raises thought-provoking questions on just how far humans will go to satiate their cravings. 

2) https://www.cinemablend.com/news/1614160/total-recall-ending-was-it-a-dream-the-whole-time

This site gives a detailed summary of the film to attempt to answer the most asked question after watching "Total Recall" which is: "was it a dream the whole time?". The site elaborates on very intriguing clues that would not be evident for non-movie connoisseurs. It reinforces small but important techniques used in the film to depict whether it is reality or a dream, such as the the ego trips, dreams, music, etc.

Work cited

Golden, John. “Introducing Cinematic and Theatrical Elements in Film.” 345-101-MQ:   Knowing the Inner Self, edited by Kelly McKinney, John Abbott College   Bookstore, 2019, pp.9-17.

McKinney, Kelly. “Knowing the Inner Self.”345-101-MQ: Knowing the Inner Self, edited by Kelly McKinney, John Abbott College Bookstore, 2019, pp.21.

NoumenalRealm. “Philosophical Themes in Schwarzenegger.” Noumenal Realm, 4 Jan. 2008, https://sinistredestre.wordpress.com/2008/01/04/philosophical-themes-in-schwarzenegger/.

Sharp, Tim. “Earth's Atmosphere: Composition, Climate & Weather.” Space.com, Space, 13 Oct. 2017, https://www.space.com/17683-earth-atmosphere.html.

"Total Recall." IMDb,IMDb.com, 1 June 1990, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100802/.

“Total Recall Ending: Was It A Dream The Whole Time?” CINEMABLEND, 8 Oct. 2018, https://www.cinemablend.com/news/1614160/total-recall-ending-was-it-a-dream-the-whole-time.

Verhoeven, Paul, director. Total Recall.