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sci-fi

Harrison Bergeron

Welcome to the future. It’s a no-brainer.

“All men are not created equal. It is the purpose of the Government to make them so.” This is the premise of the Showtime film, Harrison Bergeron. The film centers around a young man (Harrison) who is smarter than his peers, and is not affected by the usual “Handicapping” which is used to train all Americans so everyone is of equal intelligence. (Glenn Kurtzrock)

Harrison Bergeron is a dystopian science-fiction short story by American writer Kurt Vonnegut, Jr,, first published in October 1961 in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. The story was republished in the author’s Welcome to the Monkey House collection in 1968.

Our adaptation of Vonnegut’s five-page story was produced in the studio and on location in Toronto, Canada by Atlantis Films Limited as an original movie for Showtime. Cited as “a satirical film as important as the best work of the sorely missed Paddy Chayefsky” by Kurt Vonnegut — Read the complete text of Kurt Vonnegut’s letter to Jon Glascoe here. Cypress developed the script, deficit-financed the production and, along with Atlantis Films Limited, served as co-producer and co-distributor.

There is now a more recent adaptation of Harrison Bergeron, called “2081.” Here is a link to the website: www.finallyequal.com. Based on the trailer it looks pretty good–and it stars Armie Hammer and Julie Hagerty, among others. (10/09)

Read the Vonnegut short story here.

Good, smart sci-fi

Bruce Pittman’s intelligent and modest TV adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut’s short story is a wonderful and much under-appreciated piece of high sci-fi. Films of this kind are rarely made, simply because there’s not much potential audience for low-budget science fiction – most people are in sci-fi mainly for special effects and impressive battles. Harrison Bergeron, though, is one of those few adaptations made of real philosophical sci-fi, the kind that creates an image of the future as a reflection of our own reality. And it succeeds quite well in delivering its message, and for what it is it could be enjoyed by almost everyone – though I doubt it could have done well in the theaters.

The film revolves around two wonderful lead actors – one is Sean Astin, who recently gained success and fame as Sam Gamgee in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. The other is the wonderful British actor Christopher Plummer, remembered by sci-fi buffs as the Klingon General Chang from Star Trek 6: The Undiscovered Country. Brilliant comedian Eugene Levy gives an eerily funny performance as the President. The story is of a future America in which equality is achieved by discouraging exceptional talent or intelligence and creating forced mediocrity. Harrison (Sean Astin) is one of the exceptional few whose intelligence surfaces despite the government’s best efforts and is therefore given the chance to work for the government. There he discovers the timeless Orwellian truth of Fascist regimes – all are equal, but some are more equal than others. Astin’s interplay with Plummer (the classic ‘Big Brother’) is wonderful, and the ending is beautiful. The script does an excellent job of expanding Vonnegut’s very short [five page] story into a 100 minute film.

Harrison Bergeron is well worth watching – if you can get your hands on it. As far as I know there isn’t a DVD available, but the VHS can be ordered on Amazon and the movie plays occasionally on television. If you’re interested in science fiction literature of authors like Vonnegut, Philip K. Dick, or Isaac Asimov, this wonderful little think-piece is a good purchase.

TOP REVIEW
IMDB.COM – 9/10

Watch the Trailer

Watch the movie on Vimeo.

credits:

An Atlantis Films/Cypress co-production for Showtime

release date:

1995

director:

Bruce Pittman

writer:

Jon Glascoe (as Arthur Crimm)

starring:

Sean Astin, Christopher Plummer, Miranda de Pencier, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Howie Mandel, Buck Henry

produced by:

Jon Glascoe, Jonathan Hackett, Joseph Pierson

cinematography:

Michael Storey

editor:

Ion Webster

production designer:

Susan Longmire

music:

Louis Natale

casting:

Darlene Kaplan & Clare Walker