Surrogates

- how to make a surrogate

When I was looking for info on St. Francis today at American Catholic, I was surprised to see a movie review there of the film Surrogates - by coincidence, my sister had just seen it (and liked it). The movie raises interesting questions about who we really are- our minds or our bodies or the union of both - and I wonder how surrogates touch on semiotics, but on to the film ....

Surrogates stars Bruce Willis and Ving Rhames and tells the story of a future where most people live lives of safety and isolation in their homes with android surrogates to which they are connected going out into the world in their place. One can imagine the benefits and attractions of living through a physically perfect replica ..... nobody need not fear injury through accident or crime or romantic rejection :), and more seriously, people who suffer social death due to disability or illness have a renewed chance to connect with others. But the movie mostly explores the downsides to surrogacy .... when the first real murder in 15 years occurs, Bruce Willis' character, an FBI agent, must investigate, initially with his surrogate, but then after its destruction, with his own frail self.


- Bruce Willis' character's android surrogate investigates a murder with his FBI agent partner

Here's the review from American Catholic (trailer below that) ....

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Surrogates
By John Mulderig
Source: Catholic News Service

"Life only better." So runs the advertising slogan of the conglomerate whose technological breakthrough—the development of a race of ideal-looking robotic alter egos remote-controlled by their human owners' thoughts—provides the premise for the futuristic thriller "Surrogates" (Touchstone).

This generally intriguing cautionary tale begins with a series of flashbacks showing us the profound, and seemingly positive, social changes brought about by the use of these mechanical avatars. As more and more people opt to remain in the safety of their homes and live their lives vicariously through their surrogates, for example, the crime rate dwindles to nothing.

So law enforcement authorities are shocked when the college-aged son of the man who invented surrogacy—the wheelchair-bound scientist is played, at different ages, by James Francis Ginty and James Cromwell—is murdered. Adding to their bewilderment is the fact that the young man died because his surrogate was destroyed, something that was thought to be impossible.

Assigned to investigate the high-profile case, Boston-based FBI agents Greer (Bruce Willis) and Peters (Radha Mitchell) gradually uncover a conspiracy that appears to involve the above-mentioned corporation, the Army, and even a group of anti-surrogate activists whose dreadlocked leader calls himself the Prophet (Ving Rhames).

Off the job, Greer mourns for his little son, who was killed in an auto accident, and longs to reconnect with his wife Maggie (Rosamund Pike). But Maggie—whose grief has caused her to become addicted to prescription pills—refuses to interact with him except via her surrogate, fearing that Greer will reject her if he sees the graying, ravaged figure she has become.

Director Jonathan Mostow's adaptation of Robert Venditti's graphic novel The Surrogates dramatizes the perils of contemporary technology, especially its potential to cut us off from human contact and from the world of nature. Through Greer and Maggie's troubles, John Brancato and Michael Ferris' script also explores the spiritual values undergirding a successful marriage.

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