The classic film about discrimination has a strong theme... not about the discrimination.
Premise
The most unremarkable of events. Jerome Morrow, Navigator First Class, is only days away from a one-year mission to Titan, the 14th satellite of Saturn. Quite a prestigious task. Last year over one thousand citizens from every walk of life embarked on some space mission or other. Besides, selection for Jerome was virtually guaranteed at birth. He is blessed with all the physical and intellectual gifts required for such an arduous undertaking, a genetic quotient second to none. No, there is truly nothing remarkable about the progress of Jerome Morrow... except that I am not Jerome Morrow.
-- Vincent
Not so long ago, I would have been considered a perfectly normal, healthy baby. Ten fingers, ten toes. That was all what used to matter. But now my immediate well-being was not the sole concern. My destiny was mapped out before me -- all my flaws, predispositions and susceptibilities -- most untreatable to this day. Only minutes old, the date and cause of my death was already known.
-- Vincent
Gattaca is a 1997 Sci-Fi dystopia film by Andrew Niccol about the society that has embraced the "designer baby" philosophy.
This is the story of "Jerome Eugene Morrow", a spaceship programmer and an astronaut candidate, who makes sure to leave no biological trace of himself anywhere, so nobody would realize that he's an impostor, really named Vincent Freeman. Vincent wears colored contacts, is meticulous in cleaning everything he touches, incinerates his laundry, carries hidden bags with doses of blood and urine from the real Jerome, and even has a tampered heart monitor with prerecorded routines. Regular inspections make just touching the doorknobs or handshakes dangerous if he's not careful.
Recap
The following contains spoilers.
In the backstory, we see a political shift occurring within just a couple of decades. Thanks to modern technology, a human's probability of catching "diseases" such as heart failure, obesity, violent inclinations, or attention deficit, are known from being screened before birth. A couple conceives a baby in a car and it's remarked that it happened before "love" became irrelevant. Later at the clinic, the religious mother named Marie rejects the government-paid abortion because she wants to leave the child in God's hands, to the annoyance of the nurses who state that the child will be unwelcomed everywhere and has a short life expectancy.
In this era, those who pass the screening are labeled as "Valids". On the other side, everyone who did not faces heavy discrimination, even if it's considered illegal on-paper. Young Vincent could not attend kindergarten because the staff didn't want to deal with liability of Vincent "potentially" causing trouble.
Marie and the father Antonio eventually go for another child and this time follow the government program, and are immediately given a selection of kid's available appearances and personality types as if it's a store. Marie agrees to give him perfect health, but rejects any "enchantments", and the doctor literally can't comprehend what's her problem. Skip forward 8 years, and Vincent's brother Anton is growing much stronger than him and causes Vincent to become jealous. Teenage brothers always like to compete with each other, but Anton is just better and his career options are limitless.
Vincent dreams to become an astronaut out of resentment for the planet and out of interest in conquering the unknown. But the harsh reality is that it doesn't matter what do people want, they are selected by their natural attributes and not talents. Even position in a company is decided by a personality check -- a database lookup, not a quiz. Still, Vincent wants to challenge fate.
At the ages of 17 and 15 respectively, Vincent "wins the lottery" and beats Anton in a swimming race, making the two question their future. Despite overcoming the expectations, Antonio criticizes Vincent for this. Anton however leaves the family to go on some vision quest, while Vincent takes a janitor job at the Gattaca Aerospace Corporation. It is later noted that the parents have passed away at some point. Again, everyone repeatedly remarks that dreaming is dead and Vincent will forver be "on this side of the window".
But Vincent is ambitious and contacts a black market company, as it became common to collect resources from "less successful Valids". An athlete Jerome Morrow broke his leg in an accident, became an alcoholic, and is willing to give up his identity because he would never become "better" in this society even without the injury. Vincent still has to go through some non-surgical operations to compensate for the mismatch of physical appearance, but passports became obsolete a long time ago and only genetic sampling matters. The two now live together in a symbiotic relationship. "Jerome" successfully passes the "interview", which consists of an urine test only.
In parallel, "Jerome"'s co-worker Irene Cassini has a heart-to-heart that she was hired for the intellect, not for the health, and thus can at best get one orbital mission at Earth's orbit. Vincent assures her that her passion matters and they start dating. Irene later checks Jerome's hair that Vincent has planted at a matchmaking bureau and is depressed that he's literally too good for her.
One day, "Jerome"'s mission supervisor is found murdered, and while the police handles the case, the company continues its activity. While Vincent didn't do it, despite being careful, one piece of his real hair got discovered in the corridor. The police is looking into the former janitor, but the director tries to stall the investigation because the launch is just next week and isn't worth delaying on speculation of a lower-birth detective, who takes offense to it.
Vincent panics and tells Jerome that he they should leave, who calls him a coward and reveals that his injury wasn't an accident, but a failed suicide attempt, and he wants and needs Vincent to succeed for his sake as well. Vincent and Irene visit a piano concert by a 12-finger man and comment that this even makes him better at the art. Vincent accidentally drops his contact lenses and has to improvise, and in a case of irony can't see the sunrise with Irene.
The police insists on checking the staff's blood, but Vincent again manages to cause a distraction and swap the samples. The police gets desperate and lock down the bar with the lovers. With no other way, Vincent forces his way out and confesses being an impostor to Irene, and she allies with him. Vincent reveals to Irene that he has lived past his life expectancy and encourages her to fight fate. The detective takes a closer look at Jerome's and the suspect's ID photo and makes a beeline to his apartment, but is fooled again by Jerome.
The company's director confesses to killing the manager since he planned to cancel the launch, and the case gets closed. Ironically, the director was screened earlier to not have disposition for violence. A day before launch, the detective confronts Vincent directly and reveals himself to be Anton, and still being salty, threatens to expose him. Two brothers duel with a swimming race like the old times, the "superior" Anton nearly drowns and Vincent has to rescue him again, reiterating the theme of pushing your limits. Irene also no longer minds Vincent's past.
Jerome congratulates Vincent and shows to have prepared a life-time supply of samples he's been collecting in secret. Right before launch, a sudden inspection finally catches Vincent red-handed, but the doctor fakes the results and reveals to have been doing that the entire time out of sympathy to his cause. Vincent finally gets to space, while Jeremy kills himself in the incinerator to leave no evidence, with his silver medal becoming golden for a second.
The extended credits lists names of historical figures who are known to be famous despite their disability.
I don't have the heart for this world. We came from the stars so they say, now it's time to go back. In a way they were right. If I was conceived today, I would not get beyond eight cells, and yet here I am.
-- Vincent
Themes and critique
Man vs genoism
Consider God's handiwork; who can straighten what He hath made crooked?
--Ecclesiastes 7:13
I not only think that we will tamper with Mother Nature, I think Mother wants us to.
--Willard Gaylin
The film opens with two quotes, one of which is meant to be taken against genetic engineering, and the other in support of it. Vincent's mother is moderately against it and is implied to be taking a moral high ground, while everyone else are in support. Does the film comment on the ethics of genetic engineering? Curiously, it does not. Most of the population has defeated many diseases, and that aside, there's nothing biologically special about the cast. It's not a society of engineered superhumans, they are literally regular people who are stated to be modified to not get sick and that's it. It is said that they are also intellectually superior, but it is not demonstrated. In the prologue the parents had a choice to even pick the child's appearance, but this also doesn't become relevant.
Very ironically for this movie, it doesn't really comment on the genoism itself. Despite pointing out that the discrimination based on genes is bad, it's not the designer baby program that is the problem in the movie, but the companies blindly believing that genes can accurately predict a person's work capability. As it obviously turns out, such tests are highly inaccurate. It's almost like Bigtech shouldn't blindly chase performance algorithms and need to operate based on active reality. On the other hand, the film doesn't tell that "curing" perceived weaknesses is a bad thing, instead it points out that ignoring talent among the minorities is bad. While extended credits says that with eugenics many good people wouldn't have been born, the film itself does not. The film's conflict has more to do with bureaucracy of social mobility and how it's restricted for superfluous reasons. Those who are privileged always try to monopolize their privileges.
In the setting, racism becoming obsolete could be taken as a positive point for the system, as people aren't judged by their background or skin color, though it just replaces one bigotry with the other. Nowadays, the film could strongly resonate with people of immigrant, neurodivergent, and LGBT+ communities for the themes of oppression, as minorities in the film are denied basic social benefits. But I feel the film could have allocated more time to it. Aside of a couple of slurs and people giving up on climbing their career, the oppression remains paralegal and not social. Valids don't really have an issue being around In-Valids, mainly because the film doesn't get to show it. Vincent is unfairly believed to be violent because that's what his disposition chart says, but instead of people fearing Vincent, this is used to foreshadow that people without violent disposition can still be willing to commit murder. Aside of cleaners, we don't even see In-Valids up close, and if the people at the restaurant are meant to be In-Valids, then it seems there's no hostility. I even feel people are appreciated regardless of their class as long as they do the job that fits them. In a more dystopia setting, In-Valids would likely be hunted down to preserve the gene pool while people's appearances and personalities converge to some unified standard, which is what I was expected to see before watching.
There's a brief scene where In-Valids are lined up on the streets similar to victims of totalitarian regimes and the police reason that the suspect could be "among his own". Are In-Valids living in barricaded ghettos? We don't get to know because it occurs in the background for less than a minute.
What the film argues more strongly against is genetic determinism. According to Vincent, his heart was predicted to give out when he'd be in his 30's, and it has not. While he appears to indeed start developing a heart problem, it just shows that relying on decades-ahead forecast is a really bad idea. A cover up aside, an In-Valid having a skill to fake his identity being considered unlikely just shows how blind the system is. Vincent has managed to become First Class by undergoing physical training and likely wasn't just sitting in his office doing nothing, so the fact that this talent wasn't a Valid shows that the hiring program loses a lot of efficiency by clinging to restrictive beliefs.
The scene with an extra-finger pianist is meant to be thought-provoking and is thought-provoking, but it's unclear what the author himself thought about it. It's meant to show that even people with deformities can became famous and excel, but it's not used to criticize the system, making the scene feel throwaway and irrelevant to the ongoing narrative.
As shown with Irene, Jerome and Anton, this system promotes selecting the best, but discourages actually getting better. If you've gotten a second place, you will forever be expected to be in second place and should stop trying. Aside of Vincent proving how absurd this is, Jerome's attempted suicide showcases that the system discriminates even those it meant to serve. When your standards are as high as possible with no compromise, it's surprising it would even be able to accomplish anything.
The film has some religious theming with Vincent's mother and the opening quote, and I was wondering if it's going anywhere, but nothing spiritual is ever mentioned again.
I have to criticize Vincent's motive. He wanted to be an astronaut since he was a child, and it's admirable that he tries his best. The movie presents the discrimination as the primary reason he can't go to space. It's not. He has a heart diagnosis, which according to NASA, automatically disqualifies a candidate as it's a hazard. Still, we are expected to cheer on Vincent as he forges most of his tests to get accepted. The messaging is cheating the corrupt system, but Vincent doesn't care about fixing the system. The messaging would be much stronger if it wasn't about space, Vincent just comes off as single-minded and selfish if you really thing about what he's doing. There's a good reason people don't get hired when they really just don't qualify.
Man vs fate
The film praises the resilience of human spirit against the odds. Anton is expected to be physically superior to Vincent. However, as teens, Vincent manages to best him. In the climax of the film, Anton again challenges Vincent to a race to the opposite shore, blaming his earlier loss for not being serious enough. Despite the expectations and prior training, Anton starts losing stamina part-way. When asked what's the difference between the two, Vincent tells that he always pushes forward without looking back. The movie tries to tell that Vincent achieves success when he's not destined to mainly through effort and bravery, and not because of the way he was born.
When Vincent loses his contact lenses, he has to cross the middle of a street to not blow his cover. Despite it being an incredibly bad idea to do when there's large ongoing traffic regardless, Vincent manages to avoid all cars while being effectively blind. This may be calling back to a childhood flashback where Anton ironically called Vincent out that cowards don't succeed, and Vincent got really lucky with his leap of faith. But to me it makes the messaging more blurry, just like Vincent's eyesight. He almost got himself killed just to impress Irene. While Vincent again wins against the odds, in this case the odds are so against him, instead of making up a clever excuse as always (like not wanting to cross through ongoing traffic!), his success comes to paranormal level of luck. This may undermine the point towards Vincent's efforts.
Vincent repeatedly avoids getting caught by the police, with trickery that at times feels cartoonish. He regularly cleans up his desk to leave no DNA behind, something he became known for amongst the colleagues. He then plants some of Jerome's hair to throw off anyone who tries to spy on him, which plays a role with Irene. It'd be fine if he worked in an office cubicles, but he doesn't have much privacy. He sits in the front row, meaning about 50 people including his own boss who walks back and forth can see what he's doing. Vincent is very fortunate that nobody was curious enough for almost a decade. Then there's him facing the urine exam. I kid you not, he has an entire fake johnson for this in case the doctor will be looking, which he does and turns out the only reason the doctor didn't check further is because he already knew "Jerome" was In-Valid the entire time. The way Vincent excuses himself by faking an injury at a blood test, like come on, the doctors would insist to not let him leave. Then there's time where Anton goes to Jerome's home. There's a very emotional scene of wheelchaired Jerome needing to climb the stairs to meet the guest. But it's emotional because the stakes just happened to be aligned. Why is Jerome living in a basement with no mobility elevator? Anton also checks the trash bin out of paranoia, but doesn't find it suspicious that Jerome is sitting in an inconvenient pose without moving. There are other moments that are in Vincent's favor because the company's security is explicitly said to be complacent. I'd again contribute times Vincent hasn't been caught more to luck that to his effort.
Man and woman
I'll be honest, I don't think Irene adds much to the film aside of providing Vincent with an excuse to be outside and serving as a parallel. She isn't even a foil, she's envious of Jeremy for having greater success at the astronaut selection, but the story isn't focused on her side. Vincent just encourages her a couple of times and now she's his supporter. We don't get to see the result of his encouragement, as Irene neither stands up against the company nor tries to improve her situation in any way.
She has a motive to kill the manager and has collected Jeremy's samples, and I've thought the story is going to make her a redherring if not a twist villain. But she just never antagonizes Vincent, even after having strong reasons to believe him being the murderer. His speech is just that convincing.
At one point Vincent brings up that because of her, he considers staying on Earth after all, but this line doesn't go anywhere. He remains unshaken in his ideals and leaves Irene behind after sleeping with her, twice. We just had to include the obligatory sex scene that is nothing more but kissing each other in the shoulders passionately, because Hollywood can't without one.
Conclusion
Even Charles Darwin, the man who told of the survival of the fittest, numbered amongst our frailest. Of course, the other birth that would surely never have taken place is your own.
While Gattaca has all the templates of a dystopia film, it isn't. The point isn't that the system is evil, the point is that the corporations are incompetent by trusting in statistics and are unable to account for unexpected deviations. People who were not destined for success can prevail, while those who receive high expectations can betray them. As much as it's satisfying for the protagonist to fight against the prejudice, his victory is entirely personal and relies on a lot of factors coincidentally going his way instead of defeating the system.
There are a lot of symbolic shots and foreshadows that make very satisfying cinematic wrap-ups. It's a film that requires you to pay attention because some elements get played up later in a cinematic fashion, which showcases clever writing on that front.
With the main theme being eugenics, I've expected the film to provide more commentary on it. But it's mainly used to provide a unique framing to a murder mystery. The film's message is that everyone should be given a chance to succeed, but the society that acts as an antagonistic force is portrayed more as morally gray and isn't focused on. You can see why the film is used in arguments by both pro and anti eugenics crowds.
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