Movie Review: Paradise
I’m always up for a good near-future dystopian story. Paradise is a German Netflix film that shares a slightly similar premise with the sci-fi movie In Time. Does this one deliver the goods?
The Premise
In the not-too-distant future, a method of transferring years of your life from one person to another has changed the world forever and turned a biotech startup into a billion-dollar pharmaceutical company. Max and Elena live an almost perfect life, but when the couple is faced with unexpected insurance claims that they can’t pay, everything changes in an instant. To pay off their debts, Elena must pay 40 years of her life.
Robbed of their future together, the two stand in front of the ruins of their life. Max, who works for the pharma company, tries everything he can to get Elena’s lost years back—but nothing will ever be as it was.
The Mechanics and Moral Dilemmas
While this sits squarely as a sci-fi story, the elements and explanations are not really explained in detail. However, while we don’t get an understanding of the ins and outs of the procedures that people undergo, we’re also not bogged down by scientific explanations that aren’t totally necessary for getting the gist of what’s going on. This company has figured out a way to extract years of life from people via their DNA and then give it to others.
Very quickly, we can see how this becomes a “rich feeding off the poor” scenario: the poor are tempted with large payouts in exchange for a number of years, and the higher the number of years, the larger the fee. As a result, we get to see couples where one looks much older than their significant other, presumably because one has donated years for financial gain. We also get to watch older and wealthier people get younger in appearance following their procedures. It’s a way to extend life almost indefinitely, provided you can find a match.
I like the moral dilemmas that this creates within the narrative. It asks: How much is time worth to you, and how much would you be willing to sacrifice if it meant that it could change your life circumstances or the entire trajectory of your whole family?*
Character Arcs and Plot Momentum
As I said in the synopsis, we follow Max and Elena, a seemingly very happy couple who experience a financial setback that ends up costing Elena 40 years of her life. This then leads Max to go on an all-out search to find a remedy for their problem. This is a fun arc because we watch the stress of this complication within their lives, which then leads to actions that have far-reaching ramifications. There’s also a small mystery that begins to be introduced along with the drama and the action, and it certainly has some good potential, even though it’s pretty predictable and obvious.
Within the journey that we watch Max and Elena undergo, there’s a wonderful character study of wants and desires, and how those inform and influence actions and behaviors. It also focuses on character justifications and motives: Does the end justify the means, and if so, to what end are the characters willing to go?
The movie takes on a chase-type of feel from about the midway point. It does add some excitement and even stress at times, but it’s also fraught with plot conveniences. These didn’t bother me too much, as most of them allowed the story’s momentum to be maintained (like, you know, characters would find others faster than they probably should have). It’s not a major thing, and parts of it do make sense, but the speed at which it happens isn’t always completely believable.
Missed Opportunities
The biggest issue I think the film suffers from is a lack of story development and growth when it comes to the corporation and the inner workings of those in control. I understand greed as a motivation, but there are more levels present that are either hinted at or casually mentioned, but then never explored. These could have made not only the story richer but provided more *oomph* for the pursuit and the actions that are undertaken by the corporation.
There’s also a sort of vigilante story interwoven in, and it made me think of 12 Monkeys—not that these people are trying to free animals, but there’s a revolutionary group that doesn’t agree with certain behaviors and they’re out to make a change. This felt like a tangent as it’s included in this movie. I think it could have been made a great arc and even a complication within the narrative, but it feels more like it was added as an afterthought than as an original portion within the story.
The Ending and Action Sequences
I think the ending may also leave people dissatisfied. As I mentioned, there is a character study going on within the movie, but something rather unexpected happens in terms of character behaviors. I think the shift in mindsets that we witness is both believable and a good complication, but because of how it comes about—and then those that are affected by it—it left me frustrated and disappointed. The ending then feels cheap and somewhat lazy. There is a darkness to a part of it that I think really works well, especially given the whole dystopian tone of the story, but things are also kind of wrapped up too nicely and neatly, with probably the only bright spot being that we get to see a true villain in action.
While this isn’t an action-heavy movie, there are some sequences that are a lot of fun. There’s a battle, in particular, that takes place towards the latter half of the movie, and it is violent, chaotic, and immersive thanks to the camera work. Some are continuous shots that move us from room to room, following a character; at other times, we’re up close with the subject to see the fear and the determination they possess (and sometimes we even get to see what the inside of their head looks like).
I really like Max’s arc in this. There are others that are intriguing as well, but with Max, we see him from the beginning of the story, and we get to witness all of the changes that he undergoes as a result of what he’s up against and the decisions that he makes in light of those. There’s also some decent mystery in this. Given the nature of the story, where older people can look young, it’s hard to know sometimes who may be telling the truth about their life and story. This adds mistrust to the storytelling equation, which then complicates things for us as viewers on who and what we believe.
Final Verdict
The movie is just short of two hours, and while a lot of that time is used well, some of it is wasted by not giving us the story elements and development that would make everything more impactful, weighty, and engrossing. Nefarious plans are thought to be underway, but even if they are, their reveal doesn’t pack the punch that it could have had if we had been fully immersed in the complexities of those villainous plans.
Overall, Paradise starts with an intriguing concept that has the potential for unsettling darkness. But because some key areas are left unexplored, the story loses its impact, devolving into a predictable dystopian sci-fi. The character study contained within the narrative is a strong point, and while the ending contains some dark and ominous arcs, it’s also hindered by actions that feel abrupt and unearned. From an action and filming standpoint, the gritty and invasive camera movements place us in the middle of the fray, creating excitement and stress.
This ends up being just an okay entry in the sci-fi catalog, looking similar to movies that have come before it but not achieving their level of significance.
Rating: I give Paradise 2.5 out of 5 couches.
