To be is to be perceived, and so to know thyself is only possible through the eyes of the other. The nature of our immortal lives is in the consequences of our words and deeds, that go on and are pushing themselves throughout all time. Our lives are not our own. From womb to tomb, we're bound to others. Past and present. And by each crime and every kindness, we birth our future.It is Neo-Seoul, and the year is 2144. The city is a paradigm of technology, but it belies the underground existence of the old Seoul where a revolution is brewing. Sonmi-451 (Doona Bae), a product of human engineering to populate a slave workforce for the Purebloods, is the unlikely revolutionary leader. Her love affair with Commander Hae-Joo Chang (Jim Sturgess) emerges over the course of his rescuing her from captivity and oppression.
The foregoing wise words from Sonmi-451 come as the Enforcers squelch the nascent revolution, and becomes a bible for people of the Big Isle, 106 winters after that Fall. The people believe she is indeed a goddess, but are in a bit of shock when Meronym (Halle Berry) tells Zachry (Tom Hanks) that she was simply human.
Maybe it is by cinematic and thematic design that I found Sonmi-451 the most compelling character, and the romance between her and Hae-Joo the most hard-wrought and ultimately the most tender. Their lovemaking is erotic and sublime at the same time. Bae and Sturgess cement their love further in an odd cinematic retreat-yet-advance in time. They also play Adam and Tilda Ewing, newly married, in the 1849 Pacific Islands, and their quiet revolt against her slave business-owning family follows in a scene, after Hae-Joo is shot and Sonmi-451 is executed. Moreover the handsome actor and pretty actress apparently date each other.
All of this is the context for these wise words, and there is more to draw from the philosophy of `Cloud Atlas. In time I will capture more.
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