The Last Mimzy

We just got done watching the film The Last Mimzy. It’s a fascinating story about two children who are “contacted” by people from the future, trying to recapture their humanity. The movie is full of religious references most of which I’m unable to parse, since they’re not Christian (although one of the final images is a male and female stripping down to nakedness and walking together into the light, the “parents” of a new humanity). In particular, Tibetan mandalas form a crucial plot point.

I can't help wondering what Buddhist communities think of the film, but at least at the moment there's no speculation on the web that's easily accessible. I'm going to be keeping my ears/eyes open to see what might emerge. So much popular film has played with Christian symbols, it was only a matter of time before other religious symbols started being lifted free of their sources and circulated in this way.

There's also a lot of science presented -- mostly DNA or neurological speculation. Here I couldn't help being reminded of the pseudo documentary "What the Bleep?!" Mostly I'm left with the feeling that science fiction once again has the ability to provide some hope, both in terms of acknowledging the "mess we're in" (there are ecological themes in the film, too), but also closing a story with a nice conclusion. In another way the film does a "flip" on the traditional storyline: instead of someone from the future reaching out to "fix" the mess we're in, the future reaches back to attempt to fix the mess we become.

So, there are religious resonances there. Anyway, it's an entertaining film with a couple of luminous child actors, and definitely worth watching with kids.