The Colony

Vampire Owl: I feel that there will be a lot of dead humans in this movie.

Vampire Bat: Humans will still continue to exist with their souls.

Vampire Owl: Why are the humans supposed to have souls?

Vampire Bat: I guess that is because we are always in need of evil human spirits.

Vampire Owl: You mean, like the ghost which cleans the rooms of the castle?

Vampire Bat: Yes, such works are specifically reserved for the strange souls rejected by heaven, hell and purgatory.

Vampire Owl: I thought that they were souls of wizards or sorcerers. The costume seemed to point in that direction only.

Vampire Bat: Well, that is a lady who died during a fashion show.

Vampire Owl: Okay, at least it is not someone who died during a Halloween party.

Vampire Bat: You can at least be glad that this is not an evil spirit who wants to haunt the castle during the nights.

[Gets a ghee roast and three cups of Wayanad tea].

What is the movie about? :: The story takes place in a distant future in which multiple reasons like climate change, war and pandemics have made the earth not worthy of supporting life. But the elite class has successfully escaped from the misery to settle on Kepler 209, a space colony. After two generations, the rich and the elite are ready to try and find out if a return to Earth is possible through the Ulysses Project. Even though they have advanced science and technology out there, the heavy radiation has left the people of Kepler 209 mostly infertile. First mission to Earth was lost shortly after landing, but the second one named Ulysses 2 begins shortly enough. Louise Blake (Nora Arnezeder) arrives with her crew and crashlands on Earth. Tucker (Sope Dirisu) is the only other survivor of the crash. They are glad to understand that there is no radiation on Earth, despite all those terrible wars of destruction and global warming. They hope to collect enough data from the planet and take them back so that the scientists up there can make an analysis about the same.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: They are able to find lifeforms which are able to reproduce, and wonders if they will be able to adapt to the situation and be able for reproduction if they indulge in sex too. It also seems that the weather has managed to become a little too intense than they had known, and there is so much of flatlands with less visibility all around. At the same time, a few people attacks the space shuttle, and attacks both of them, taking them prisoners. These people seems to have very primitive technology in comparison to what they possess. The people talked in some strange languages and used bows and arrows as weapons, while living in an area which seems to be in the middle of nowhere. They destroy almost everything in the pod which can be used for communication or exploration. Tucker who lost too much blood decides to commit suicide against Blake’s assurance that he is eight seven percentage fertility match for her to have a child if they have sexual intercourse soon enough.

And what more is to happen in this world which seems to have no hope for future? :: After the death of Tucker, Blake is left in a well which has water up to her thighs. She almost drowns as water comes into this particular settlement, and is only saved at the last minute. She remember what she was taught about the planet, and continues to hope about Earth. She remembers that there were always hope about the planet if they could find the right area to grow a new Earth, as much as there was chance for reproduction against all odds. Soon, the area is raided by a group of hostile humans who kidnap all of them. The locals are captured and taken to a huge space that is located above the continuous storms and floods which terribly affects the people around. Now, Blake finds herself in a situation for which she was not prepared at all. Now, the question remains if she can defy all odds to get what she wants. With more ruthless humans being added to the list of enemies that she has to face, can she do what is enough to help these people and also those who are left in their space station? Is there still hope for a better future on Earth?

Defence of The Colony a.k.a. Tides :: This is one post-apocalyptic movie which is imaginative enough, but at the same time, is also close enough to keeping the whole thing as real as possible, despite having the chances to go the other way on many occasions. Nora Arnezeder who leads the cast comes up with a pretty good performance too. The world is nicely created, with water all around, and the premise helps it to progress nicely to the one goal that is revealed later. They surely have done some nice work with the computer generated imagery and some special effects to make it feel real.It does have the theme of racial supremacy in there too, as the races having advanced science and technology with them don’t stop enslaving people – such need for control and hatred for the other within humans is reflected yet again, and so is the corruption of science which goes deep into humanity. There are also some small twists added in here, and the secrets of this mostly devastated Earth could use a sequel too. It is still nice to see that they haven’t chosen Mars or its moons this time, and makes use of another world, even though that area is not shown.

The claws of flaw :: The movie begins slow, and is mostly predictable through its first half of the run, until things do change in the later moments. As we have movies like these, there are always those things which keep on getting repeated. With a fine premise in here, the movie could have always done better, and it doesn’t add anything further, even though the chance for a certain fortification was always there. The central problem here shifts to the need for reproduction instead of having a green Earth to live on, and that is a quick transformation, and same doesn’t get explored properly either, as the movie changes the focus to emotions and kids added to take it further. There could have been some bigger shocks and twists related to the same, but the movie just continues to play it safe, and the question remains if there was the need for the same. It is also surprising that a technologically advanced group of humans depicted in the film are not good enough to expect or fight the rather primitive locals who have lived without science and technology for so many years on Earth – even their space shuttle is not good enough when we look close.

How it finishes :: Also known as Tides, this is a less known movie which can surely use our attention. There has been some interesting post-apocalyptic science fiction works with a certain amount of depression associated with them like Oblivion and Io. For the full action apocalypse, we have always had Resident Evil movies or those belonging to the Mad Max world. Then there would be Elysium with a message. Our movie here has its own space. The divergence that we see here is pretty much acceptable. Well, we know what the future of our world will be about, and we are waiting for the terrible things to happen, just like what is seen in the movie or even worse – the wars are there, ready to go nuclear; the global warming is also there, ready to devour the lands and people; pandemics have been unleashed, ready to bring more deviations of viruses; we can only be prepared for the same, and watch movies like this one. As we know at all times, the reflection is here, as the most scientifically advanced community will always be the most godless and the most advanced in not believing in goodness.

Release date: 27th August 2021
Running time: 104 minutes
Directed by: Tim Fehlbaum
Starring: Nora Arnezeder, Sarah-Sofie Boussnina, Iain Glen, Joel Basman, Sebastian Roche, Bella Bading, Sope Dirisu, Cloe Albertine Heinrich