#9 12 Monkeys Page

9. 12 Monkeys

This is a recent edition to those ground breaking sci-fi movies

which are truly innovative and intriguing. It is directed by Terry

Gilliam ("Brazil" and member of "Monty Python") who leaves

enough possibilities open in this film to lend itself to multiple

interpretations. This is a truly worthy film.

The film opens on Bruce Willis (James Cole) who appears to

be a prisoner in a futuristic underground penal colony. Part of

his duties are to venture to the surface which is uninhabited by

humans due to a virus which killed all but 1% of the human race

in 1996 (though the animal kingdom was unaffected). Man cannot

live above ground now but prisoners are sent to find new

specimines of the virus in an attempt to isolate and remove it. The

scientists need the virus in an unmutated form in order to counter it

so they must send the prisoner "volunteers" back through time to

locate the origin of the virus. Unlike the traditional notion of time

travel, these scientists are not attempting to change the past but

merely want the virus in a pure form so they can retake the Earth

of the present.

Time travel is not an exact science in this society and

problems with such travel are that the year may be wrong and that

more commonly the prisoner remembers nothing about going

back in time due to the strain of the trip. Willis (Cole) is chosen

because he is well grounded by a traumatic experience which

occurred his childhood. This experience replays itself over and

over in his mind with subtle changes as time is altered due to

his actions and presence in his past.

Cole first finds that he arrived 6 years too early (1990) and he is

placed in a psychiatric hospital where he is diagnosed as a

paranoid schizophrenic. While at this hospital Cole meets Brad

Pitt and a doctor who may be able to help him due to her

research into this area of people who have appeared to have time

traveled. Eventually, Cole is pulled back to the future and they

get him into the right time (1996) where he is supposed to look for

the Army of the 12 Monkeys, a radical group believed to have

spread this virus. When Cole decides to take things into his own

hands then things get a little bit, well, complicated.

An Alternate Interpretation: Terry Gilliam posed this in an

interview once. Are we even sure that Cole has time traveled

at all? The movie is shot in such a way that that question can be

asked. Remember that Cole spends a significant part of his time

in a mental hospital and the rest of it he is being hunted by the

police as an escaped lunatic. What is to say that all or part of the

entire movie isn't an extended delusion in the mind of Cole that

we are watching through his eyes? The future scenes are very

surreal and there appear to be a few details which can't be readily

explained away by time travel. Cole is a very unstable person

and there are several scenes where we must question his sanity.

Anyone who has seen "Brazil" might agree that you can't quickly

discredit the idea that it is all in Cole's head.

Time travel or no it is an excellent movie and a creative new

twist to the sci-fi genre. It is a must see. For further insight and

speculation about this complex and fascinating film go to my

12 Monkeys page.

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This is a recent edition to those ground breaking sci-fi movies
which are truly innovative and intriguing. It is directed by Terry
Gilliam ("Brazil" and member of "Monty Python") who leaves
enough possibilities open in this film to lend itself to multiple
interpretations. This is a truly worthy film.

The film opens on Bruce Willis (James Cole) who appears to
be a prisoner in a futuristic underground penal colony. Part of
his duties are to venture to the surface which is uninhabited by
humans due to a virus which killed all but 1% of the human race
in 1996 (though the animal kingdom was unaffected). Man cannot
live above ground now but prisoners are sent to find new
specimines of the virus in an attempt to isolate and remove it. The
scientists need the virus in an unmutated form in order to counter it
so they must send the prisoner "volunteers" back through time to
locate the origin of the virus. Unlike the traditional notion of time
travel, these scientists are not attempting to change the past but
merely want the virus in a pure form so they can retake the Earth
of the present.

Time travel is not an exact science in this society and
problems with such travel are that the year may be wrong and that
more commonly the prisoner remembers nothing about going
back in time due to the strain of the trip. Willis (Cole) is chosen
because he is well grounded by a traumatic experience which
occurred his childhood. This experience replays itself over and
over in his mind with subtle changes as time is altered due to
his actions and presence in his past.

Cole first finds that he arrived 6 years too early (1990) and he is
placed in a psychiatric hospital where he is diagnosed as a
paranoid schizophrenic. While at this hospital Cole meets Brad
Pitt and a doctor who may be able to help him due to her
research into this area of people who have appeared to have time
traveled. Eventually, Cole is pulled back to the future and they
get him into the right time (1996) where he is supposed to look for
the Army of the 12 Monkeys, a radical group believed to have
spread this virus. When Cole decides to take things into his own
hands then things get a little bit, well, complicated.

An Alternate Interpretation: Terry Gilliam posed this in an
interview once. Are we even sure that Cole has time traveled
at all? The movie is shot in such a way that that question can be
asked. Remember that Cole spends a significant part of his time
in a mental hospital and the rest of it he is being hunted by the
police as an escaped lunatic. What is to say that all or part of the
entire movie isn't an extended delusion in the mind of Cole that
we are watching through his eyes? The future scenes are very
surreal and there appear to be a few details which can't be readily
explained away by time travel. Cole is a very unstable person
and there are several scenes where we must question his sanity.
Anyone who has seen "Brazil" might agree that you can't quickly
discredit the idea that it is all in Cole's head.

Time travel or no it is an excellent movie and a creative new
twist to the sci-fi genre. It is a must see. For further insight and
speculation about this complex and fascinating film go to my
12 Monkeys page.