Movies - Equilibrium

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	Movies - Equilibrium

Equilibrium is a 2002 action/science fiction film written and directed by Kurt Wimmer. Similarities to classic dystopian novels such as Nineteen Eighty-Four
, Fahrenheit 451
, and Brave New World are evident, as well as the Outlanders series of novels. Christian Bale has the lead role in the film and is supported by Taye Diggs, Emily Watson and Sean Bean.

Tagline: In a future where freedom is outlawed outlaws will become heroes.

Synopsis

Following an apocalyptic third World War, the strict government of the dystopian city-state Libria has eliminated war by suppressing all human emotion. In the monochromatic and sedate society, artifacts from the old world are destroyed and the population is required to take sedatives. Grammaton Cleric Preston, a man trained to locate and arrest those guilty of feeling emotions, finds himself abandoning the drug and experiencing outlawed feelings. As he struggles to contain his feelings from his superiors, colleagues, and family, Preston finds himself drawn into a sinister world of double-crossings and lies, and becomes an unwitting pawn in a sophisticated plot which ultimately changes the repressed society forever.

Plot

Equilibrium is set some time in the future, in the dystopian city-state of Libria. The film explains how, in the early years of the twenty-first century, a devastating Third World War breaks out, the impact of which brings civilizations across the planet to their knees. After the war ends, world leaders fear that the human race cannot possibly survive a Fourth World War, and so set about building a new society which is free of conflict. Believing that human emotion is responsible for man's inhumanity to man, the new leaders ban all materials deemed likely to stimulate strong emotions, including art, music, and literature (these materials are rated "EC-10" for "emotional content" and typically destroyed by immediate incineration). Furthermore, all citizens of Libria are required to take regular injections - "intervals" - of a liquid drug called Prozium, collected at the distribution centres known as "Equilibrium". Prozium suppresses strong emotions, creating a sedate and conformist society. The loss of emotions is a heavy price, but it is considered to be one paid gladly in exchange for the elimination of war and crime.

Libria is governed by the Tetragrammaton Council, which is led by a reclusive figurehead known as "Father". Father never interacts with anyone outside the ruling council, but his image is omnipresent throughout the city in a strong cult of personality. The Tetragrammaton Council strives to create identical lives for all Librians, and uses its police state apparatus to enforce unity and conformity. The procedure for dealing with criminals is well-established in Libria - "processing" and trial pursued via the Palace of Justice, prior to terminating enemies of the state in furnaces (except in the case of unidentified persons, subject to "summary destruction"). At the pinnacle of Librian law-enforcement are the Grammaton Clerics, a special order of police trained in the deadly martial art of Gun Kata, an art which teaches users to predict the actions of opponents during firearm combat. The Clerics exist for the purpose of locating and destroying EC-10 materials, and for pursuing, apprehending, and, if necessary, terminating "sense-offenders" - people guilty of feeling emotions.

Despite the efforts of the police and Clerics, a resistance movement exists in Libria, known as "The Underground". Members of this movement believe that war and crime are a small price to pay in order to experience human emotions, and consequently they are responsible for terrorist activity against Libria, targeted specifically against the Prozium factories. The leaders of the Underground believe that if they can disrupt the production and distribution of Prozium for a short period of time - even a single day - then the Librians will rise up and destroy the Tetragrammaton Council. The Underground operates within Libria itself, but also has contact with resistance groups residing in "The Nethers" - the ruins of cities destroyed during World War III. These outsiders hoard objects and artifacts from the old society before World War III, including art and literature. Subsequently, they are the targets of Librian death squads composed of police and Clerics.

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