I finally saw Cloud
Atlas (with Halle Berry and Tom Hanks) the other day, and was so
struck by the classic, epic nature of the story that I ended up
taking notes.
The key characters, who were all tied together in stories that went back and
forth from their past lives to future ones, said some profound things –
key concepts that embody the human experience, and, to me, seem to reveal the moral behind the stories we call life.
We first heard,
“There’s a natural order that must be protected at any cost,”
while turn of the century white aristocracy walked through the fields
where black slaves labored all day. They comforted themselves with
the thought that the slaves “didn’t feel the heat like civilized
folk.”
This “natural
order” idea was also used to destroy the life of a brilliant, gay
musician, who ended up taking his life. The man-made "natural order" made slaves of some, while exalting others over them throughout
the past and future.
The only hope I could see in escaping that cycle seems to have apocalyptic implications. Toward the end of the movie, the natural order of Tom
Hanks' primitive life was destroyed by painted barbarians, After his family was murdered and his home destroyed, he went off with a futuristic Halle Berry -- where they
lived happily ever after, telling stories to their grand kids. Still, escaping corruption and destruction is not the same as healing the world and the souls that are intertwined in our lives in hidden ways.
Concept #1:
“There is a natural order that must be protected.”
Without order, there
can be no peace. So, order must be protected. Unfortunately, this
order has always been protected by corrupt humans -- people who focus
on their position of authority, while ignoring their unity with those
less fortunate than themselves.
This class struggle
was identified in great detail in the movie, even using quotes from
Solzhenitsyn.
However, for me, the
powerful quote was the one that recurred on several occasions in the
various scenes from the past, present and future, where people’s
rights were ignored and abused. At these times, a key character
would always say: “I will not be subjected to criminal abuse.”
The central plot
involved an oriental slave woman, who worked 18 hours a day. That
phrase, which she discovered in an old movie, became the seed thought
for the wisdom she espoused throughout the movie, until she was
executed at the end. (Spoiler, sorry.)
Concept #2:
The natural order, after getting corrupted by humans, leads to
the marginalizing of much of the population and the compromising of
human dignity, to put it mildly. In fact, many die because of the
selfish goals of the elite. Seeing this, those in power rationalize that the
death and intolerable conditions of the underclass must be part of the “natural
order.”
Some, like our
brilliant musician, will even take their own life because of the
unbearable situation they find themselves in as a result of the
corrupted values of their civilization. However, others will stand
up and threaten the elite by pointing out their “criminal abuse.”
This gives us hope
for change. However, in reviewing this movie and world history, the
most any individual has ever done is to inspire hope. This corruption
of the elite, which disenfranchises the masses in order to maintain their
own position, ties all the characters in the story together with karma that continues long after all the individuals pass on, bringing us to the last major precept.
Concept #3:
“Our lives are not our own. From the womb to the tomb, we are
bound to others, past, present and future.”
We each have control over our own lives, but only to a point.
While discovery of those limits may be disheartening for who are dismayed, it's also is the realization that holds the power to perfect our creator's natural order on earth!
While discovery of those limits may be disheartening for who are dismayed, it's also is the realization that holds the power to perfect our creator's natural order on earth!
IF the elite, who
try so hard to isolate themselves from the rest of us, realized that
their past and future is connected to how they treat others in their
current life, they may try a little harder to relate to the plight of
the common man.
The world could meet
it’s end waiting for that miracle. Still, unless we can fly off
like Tom Hanks did with Halle Berry, it is our only hope.
