Snowpiercer

I first watched Snowpiercer after watching Parasite, Bong Joon-ho being the director of both films. I usually don't pay attention to movie directors but liked Parasite so much that I looked for his other films, though I had already seen Okja before knowing he was the director of it. The first thing that interested me about Snowpiercer was the cast, which I think was done very well and had some really great actors like Chris Evans, Tilda Swinton, Song Kang-ho, John Hurt, and Octavia Spencer. All of the actors fit perfectly with their characters, especially Tilda Swinton, who fits very well with eccentric, weird characters. Chris Evans is also very well known for playing heroic characters, like Captain America, though his character, Curtis Everett, comes from different circumstances. I recognized a lot of actors throughout the film and think that if the casting wasn't done so well, the movie would not be nearly as good.

Tilda Swinton as Minister Mason.

Chris Evans as Curtis Everett.

Bong Joon-ho tends to focus on similar social issues in a lot of his films and does so in Snowpiercer. The movie discusses social classes and uses a train as a representation. The lower classes are in the very back of the train and the higher classes are towards the front. The train was created because of global warming; the world was turned into ice, so humans could only live on the train. Curtis (Chris Evans) is in the lowest class. where there is essentially no food (protein blocks) and soldiers are constantly watching them and abusing their power; children would also be taken away with no explanation. He planed a revolt against those above him with the help of others in the same situation as his to get to the engine room in the front of the train, where they could gain control. As they fought their way up the train, they were introduced to the vastly different lifestyle of the high class. After threatening Minister Mason, who is second in command, they had her take them to the leader, Wilford, who was in the engine room. They saw upper-class children being brainwashed into thinking their leader was great like a cult. They also saw luxurious food and people partying all while they were fighting for their freedom and most lost their lives.

The back of the train.

People towards the front of the train.

Curtis ended up meeting Wilford and found out more about the train and that the children were being used to work on the train because they were small. Curtis sacrificed himself and another character played by Song Kang-ho, who accompanied him, blew up the train. The only survivors were two kids and the film ends abruptly, where the two are seen outside in the snow. There is a hint of hope at the end, but the story stops there. The ending confused me a lot at first but I still liked it and it led to more thinking and imagination. Even though the film is science-fiction and also a dystopia, it was based on things that are already happening and are currently an issue. Even if it seemed unreal, it is really not that far from reality. Snowpiercer discussed social struggle and climate change, both of which are very pressing issues.